Lower your Cholesterol and keep it lowered

If every once in a while you are a patient that tends to have high LDL cholesterol, you should absolutely change your lifestyle.  Examine your awareness and promise to adopt new diet habits, not only temporarily until you LDL lowers, and then going back again to the fats and junk food, but keep up this healthy diet.

The first thing you need to do is eliminate saturated fats, refined sugar and start an exercise routine.  Aerobics are best.

You should also include fruits, vegetables, grains and plenty of liquid; however, if you are hypertensive you need to watch your salt intake (in this case, not drinking enough water).

Fruit

When talking about fruits, the following will help regulate your cholesterol:

Strawberries

Due to their large content of vitamins C and E, they prevent good cholesterol from turning into bad cholesterol, which is damaging to the arteries.

Apples

Two apples can reduce up to 20% of your bad cholesterol, due to their large amount of pectin contained therein.  Likewise, their malic acids and tartaric acid help digest foods that are too fatty.  Eat them fearlessly as a snack or a small bite.

Other healthy fruits are pineapple, mandarin, watermelon, cantaloupe, oranges or grapefruit.

Oily fish

One food that can’t be left out of your diet is oily fish, especially tuna, salmon, sardines, as well as trout.  It’s recommended to consume them at least 3 times a week, and it’s even better if it is smoked, baked, or fried with olive oil.  They will help raise your good cholesterol levels and will really increase the omega-3 in your body.

Sancha ichi oil and virgin olive oil

According to recent medical studies, sacha inchi is one oil that will help reduce elevated cholesterol and prevents cardiovascular disease.  It’s healthy to take one tablespoon of it each day, before breakfast, and don’t go overboard with it.  Another indispensible oil in your diet should be extra-virgin olive oil.  This is a wonderful ally for arteries as it slightly increases good cholesterol, thanks to its tocopherols (vitamin E).

Legumes

Do not forget to include legumes in your daily diet.  Add a good portion of legumes, like green beans, lentils, sweet peas, or fava beans, which have a lot of protein, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins and minerals, and fiber.

Avocado

One or two avocados a week provide a large amount of mono-unsaturated fat that improve good cholesterol levels while reducing the bad.  The vitamin E that they contain protects arteries.

We’re going to add a few more to this, like spinach, oats, carrots, artichoke, pumpkin, barley, rye, linseed, asparagus, dehydrated fruit, egg whites and Swiss chard.  If you are going to drink dairy, make sure it is skimmed.

Apple cider vinegar

In order to reduce your LDL cholesterol levels, taking some apple cider vinegar at least three times a day could also be helpful.  Thanks to the component inositol, apple cider vinegar removes fats from the body.

Do not consume…

We also have a list of non-recommended foods.  There is also a blacklist, which are those that put you at risk of increasing LDL cholesterol.

Whole milk, butter, cheese with a high fat content, pork, chicken and turkey fat, ribs, animal entrails, hamburgers and sausages.

Vegetable butter, sweet and salty cookies, and other baked commercial products that are made with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, french fries, doughnuts, and other fried commercial foods.

So now you have better guidelines regarding what you can eat and which foods to include in your diet.  As you can see, you have several different options, and with a bit of creativity and ingenious, you will be able to combine them to eat healthy and tasty foods.

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