What Foods Lower Cholesterol?

Many people are looking for information on what foods lower cholesterol in order to improve their health. High cholesterol levels resulting from eating fatty junk food is a growing problem for many people. So, what foods lower cholesterol? The most healthy strategy to take first is to stop eating so much food that is highly charged with 'bad' LDL cholesterol. This basically means eating less red meat, butter, full fat milk and then wondering about what foods lower cholesterol.

What Foods Lower Cholesterol?

Rather than eating foods to reduce your levels of LDL (bad cholesterol), it is better not to ingest the foods that contain LDL in the first place. Foods that contain this LDL are red meat, full-fat dairy products and hydrogenated vegetable oils. If you replace your consumption of these foods with mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated oils, your LDL levels should fall naturally.

However, some people might have high levels of LDL for hereditary reasons. If this is the case, you may be wondering what foods lower cholesterol. The main type of food to go for here is high fibre food like oatmeal and bran. Porridge oats is great, so is lentil soup, as are whole grain bread and pasta and brown rice.

When thinking about what foods lower cholesterol, think roughage and fibre, like oat bran, grains, walnuts, almonds and other nuts and fruits and vegetables. Then you cannot go far wrong.

Low Fat Low Cholesterol Diet

You can follow a low fat low cholesterol diet quite easily by trying to eliminate the main sources of LDL (low-density lipoprotein) from your diet. The main sources of LDL are red meat, full-fat dairy products and trans-fats (hydrogenated vegetable fats).

Therefore you should try to replace these saturated fats and trans fats with more useful mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fats which can be found in oils like olive oil. However, going on a low fat low cholesterol diet is a good way to lower your cholesterol.

Low Cholesterol Diet Recipes

A myth has sprung up about some foods. Many people think that liver, eggs and prawns cannot form a part of low-cholesterol diet recipes. This is not true. Although liver, eggs and prawns do contain a certain amount of cholesterol, it is not readily absorbed by the body, so they can be part of your low-cholesterol diet recipes, if you enjoy eating them. Other items of food that ought to be the backbone of your list of foods for low cholesterol diet recipes are pulses, beans, seeds, grains, cereals, oat bran, fatty fish, vegetables and fruit.

Lowering Cholesterol Without Medication

The British Heart Foundation has recommended five ways of lowering cholesterol without medication. They say that the first thing to do is to reduce the amount of saturated fats (animal fats and trans fats) that you eat. The second way of lowering cholesterol without medication is to replace your cooking oils with olive oil and mono-unsaturated fats and poly-unsaturated fats.

The third way of lowering cholesterol without medication is to eat grains and fruits. The fourth way of lowering cholesterol without medication is maintaining a correct body weight and the fifth way of lowering cholesterol without medication is exercise.

Food That Lowers Cholesterol

There is food that lowers cholesterol. It is believed that soya bean protein will reduce cholesterol naturally and you do not need much of it. Twenty-five grammes (about an ounce) of soya bean protein per day can reduce cholesterol (260-300) by 15-25%.

There are also several types of margarine and salad dressing that reduce LDL by as much as 10%. Foods that lower cholesterol naturally nuts, soya and fatty fish. Walnuts and almonds are said to lower LDL.