High Cholesterol Diet: Heart UK estimates more than half of British adults are living with high cholesterol. Although it has no symptoms, high cholesterol puts you at increased risk of suffering a heart attack, stroke or developing vascular dementia. Changing your diet can help manage your cholesterol and bring the amount of bad cholesterol in your bloodstream down, but what foods should you eat to reduce cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a natural and necessary substance in your blood, however, when you eat foods that add cholesterol to your blood, you can develop dangerously high levels of cholesterol.
A fatty substance, too much cholesterol can stick to your arteries and lead to them clogging up.
Eating a healthy, balanced, diet can bring your cholesterol down and improve your overall health.
Here are six changes to your diet you can make today to lower your cholesterol in the long run.
1 – Swap deep-fried food for healthy fats
Your body needs fat to function, and despite high cholesterol being linked with a fatty unhealthy diet, so-called healthy fats can actually help lower your cholesterol reading.
“Healthy” fats are unsaturated fats mostly found in whole foods.
Foods rich in healthy fats include:
Oily fish
Avocado
Olive oil
Avoid saturated fats, including those found in seemingly healthy oils like coconut or palm oil.
2 – Eat more fruit and vegetables
Every healthy diet will recommend you to eat more fruits and vegetables.
Eating a diet rich in plants gives you plenty of nutrients to boost your overall health as well as your energy levels.
For those with high cholesterol, you should definitely eat all your fruit and vegetables as they can help you maintain a healthy weight.
Furthermore, they are rich in fibre which can help lower your cholesterol levels.
3 – Nuts
The perfect snack for those with high cholesterol, nuts are another source of healthy fats.
Nuts are not only full of healthy plant-based fats but are high in fibre, as well as natural plant sterols to help reduce your cholesterol.
If you find yourself fancying a snack between meals, reach for a handful of nuts: they’ll keep you satisfied until mealtime.
5 – Plant spreads
Butter is high in saturated fat, so if you’re on a mission to get your cholesterol down, look at swapping it for a cholesterol-friendly spread.
You should buy spreads with added plant sterols and stanols.
Plant sterols and stanols are substances that help inhibit your body’s absorption of cholesterol.
You can also get yoghurts and drinks containing these heart-healthy natural substances.
6 – Soya
Soya products are full of protein, vitamins and minerals while being low in saturated fat.
By replacing fatty meat with a soy alternative, or using soya cream instead of double cream, you can cut down on the amount of saturated fat in your diet.
Source: | This article first appeared on Express.co.uk
