Cholesterol is on everyone’s mind these days. Gone are the days when an aged relation complained of high cholesterol at a ripe old age of 60. These days, men and women who are as young as 30 years, sometimes have a blood cholesterol level which is above normal.
What is cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a natural waxy substance found in all parts of your body, simply because it is part of all cell membranes. It might amaze you to know that you actually need cholesterol to function normally. Naturally occurring cholesterol surrounds and protects nerves, and is required for the synthesis of vitamin D, bile, and some hormones. So, how did we end up becoming so paranoid about cholesterol?
Good Guy, Bad Guy
All the cholesterol that you need for normal health and functioning is produced by your body. Any extra cholesterol that you consume through your diet clogs the arteries. Another detail that you need to know is that there are two kinds of cholesterol - Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. LDL is the villain and HDL is the hero. LDL promotes the clogging of arteries while HDL acts like a vacuum cleaner and prevents the clogging. When your arteries are clogged, your heart has to work harder to pump blood all over the body. So you should aim for a higher HDL level and a lower LDL level to keep your heart healthy.
Cholesterol Management
Given the mind boggling array of options for cholesterol management, it is natural for you to be wary of diet plans that promise to magically lower your cholesterol. Start off by acknowledging that you can’t lower your cholesterol overnight. And you can’t bring the level down to normal by simply sitting around or making marginal changes to your lifestyle. Increasing your activity level will go a long way in improving your cholesterol and keeping associated problems like high blood pressure at bay.
Change Your Diet
What will have a more long lasting effect on the cholesterol situation is dietary management. Indeed, it is possible to achieve low cholesterol level in the blood by including certain foods in your diet and excluding others. How can you lower your cholesterol through your diet? What are the best foods to reduce your cholesterol?
Did you catch the advertisement with the middle aged man thanking his wife for starting him on a breakfast diet of oats? The wife goes on to explain that oats bind the cholesterol in the bloodstream and prevent the arteries from clogging. To elaborate, oats contain soluble fiber, which binds to cholesterol laden bile as well as dietary cholesterol and helps in its excretion. Soluble fiber has a special propensity for LDL. Research has proven that if you consume 5 to 10 grams of soluble fiber in a day, your LDL cholesterol will decrease by about 5 percent.
Oatmeal is a great breakfast and snack option which is also heart friendly. And if you don’t particularly fancy oats, there are other food items high in soluble fiber to choose from - kidney beans, Brussels sprouts, apples, pears, psyllium, barley and prunes.
Your grandmother must have shoved mouthfuls of walnuts down your throat insisting that they is good for your brain. Well, she was off the mark, but not by much. This brain-shaped nut is actually good for your heart. Research has shown that walnuts can reduce blood cholesterol. The polyunsaturated fatty acids found in walnuts keep your arteries healthy. Almonds seem to have a similar effect.
All nuts are laden with calories. If you eat too much, you may gain weight. And being overweight will put additional pressure on your heart. So exercise moderation while eating nuts; generally, a handful a day will suffice.
3. Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Monounsaturated Fats
Until recently, it was widely believed that any kind of fat was injurious to the heart and health. But research has now proved that there are ‘good’ fats and ‘bad’ fats. As a rule, you need to stay away from trans-fats and saturated fats. But omega-3 fats and monounsaturated fats are actually heart friendly. Take a lesson from the life of Eskimos. With diets rich in fish, whale and seal meat, the Eskimos show a lower rate of heart disease.
Omega-3 fatty acids have a profound triglyceride lowering action. They also seem to make the blood thinner and less likely to clot. Additionally, they raise the HDL cholesterol level and that, as we know, is good for the heart.
Doctors recommend that you should eat at least three servings of fish such as wild salmon, sardines, anchovies and mackerel. If you don’t eat fish, go for soybeans, ground flax and walnuts. For monounsaturated fats rich food, opt for olive oil and olives, canola oil, avocado, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, peanuts, cashews, pistachio nuts and peanut butter.
4. Foods fortified with plant sterols and stanols
Plant sterols and stanols are natural substances found in the cell membranes of plants. They are deceptively similar to cholesterol in their structure. This similarity enables them to compete with cholesterol for receptors which bind with them in the small intestine. Effectively, plant sterols and stanols block the absorption of cholesterol to a great extent.
Sterols are found in relatively high amounts in pistachio nuts, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, and wheat germ. There are a lot of food items available today which are fortified with plant sterols and stanols such as orange juice and margarine. These are known to reduce LDL cholesterol by more than 10 percent. But to get these results, you have to consume at least 2 grams of plant sterols and stanols.
The first step towards lowering your cholesterol through the diet is to cut your intake of the ‘bad’ fats. Reduce the amount of saturated fats and trans-fats and supplement your diet with the cholesterol lowering food groups. Try to eat a combination of these foods to get the maximum benefit.
Xpert Opinion
Junk the junk food. Crisps and other snacks are full of ‘bad’ fats which do alarming things to your cholesterol levels. Munch on nuts, sunflower seeds and oat snacks instead. Lowering your cholesterol is not such a hard thing to do. If only you’d take our advice and make the necessary changes in your diet. Regular exercise is also recommended along with the required dietary changes.
.jpg)
(54).jpg)
.jpg)
