By eating healthy and exercising regularly, you can lower your blood cholesterol levels. Adopting healthy lifestyles, like consuming a balanced, nutritious diet and staying active, may also aid in preventing cholesterol levels from rising.
Controlling your cholesterol is important since high cholesterol levels increase the risk of stroke and heart disease. If you are concerned about this, chat with a doctor. If you are between 40 and 74 years old, you can check your cholesterol as a portion of the NHS health exam.
If your consultant has instructed you to adjust your diet to lower the blood cholesterol levels, you should reduce saturated fats and eat the foods discussed below:
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Oats
An easy initial step to reducing cholesterol is a bowl of cold oat grains or oatmeal for breakfast. Oats give you 1-2g of soluble fiber. Add another half gram by consuming some strawberries or banana. Current dietary guidelines suggest getting 20-35g of fiber per day, with a minimum of 5-10g of soluble fiber.
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Nuts
Another tasty food that is great for lowering cholesterol is the nut. An extremely tasty alternative to sugary, high-fat snacks is pistachios and almonds. These are another food group that lowers cholesterol and protects the heart. These nuts are relatively low in calories, so you ought to show a little moderation when you eat them. But they are an excellent food you should try to include in your diet. Take care to avoid roasted or salted nuts typically sold in the bars, among other places.
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Oily Fish
Fish is most likely the best recognized healthy food – try including it in your diet regularly, especially oily fish. Oily fish is high in fat known as omega-3, which is especially good for lowering blood pressure and caring for the heart. Try to consume fish a minimum of 2 times every week. Be sure to bake or grill the fish while cooking, but don’t fry unless you want to ruin all your great work.
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Soy Products
These include soy milk, tofu, edamame beans, and soybeans. There is some evidence that eating soy regularly can help lower LDL cholesterol and “bad” triglycerides.
Tip: Select soy foods that are close to nature, such as soybeans, unflavored tofu, and regular unsweetened soy milk.
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Fruits and Vegetables
Intake of a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables each day can assist in protecting you against stroke, heart disease, and some other illnesses. Many fruits and vegetables are rich in soluble fiber, which aids in reducing cholesterol absorption and LDL cholesterol in the blood.
Tip: do not remove the peel in vegetables like kūmara, pumpkin, and carrots to maximize your fiber intake. Use lemon and orange peels in sauces and dressings.
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Beans
Beans are particularly rich in soluble fiber. They moreover take time to be digested by your body, which means you feel fuller for longer after consuming the food. That is one reason why beans are a portion of beneficial food for people trying to reduce weight – using so many options, from kidney and navy beans to lentils, chickpeas, black-eyed peas, and more. There are also many ways to cook them, making them a versatile food.
Conclusion
The foods mentioned above are great for reducing cholesterol. If you want to seriously improve your health, start including these foods in your diet today. In case of high cholesterol levels, they help in lowering it, but even if you are healthy, it’s still best to include them in your diet, at least a little bit, as nobody knows what is around the corner and a little aid for your heart can do marvels for the future.
