Top 7 Foods That Lower Cholesterol Levels – Healthier Options!
Cholesterol is an essential factor in the human body.
It is fat made by the liver but the food items that we eat also increase the level of cholesterol which is not good for our health.
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Which Are The Best Seven Foods That Reduce Cholesterol Levels?
Everybody needs cholesterol to develop healthy cells, and to produce many hormones, and vitamins.
Reasons For High Cholesterol
The main causes of high cholesterol are excessive eating habits and poor dietary patterns.
High cholesterol is actually an inherited disease but now it’s a lifestyle disease.
Our lifestyle changes like our eating habits, use of drugs, lack of exercise, and unhealthy diet everything changed the situation.
Food is a good thing but too much food is a too bad thing.
Types Of Cholesterol: Levels And Tests!
There are mainly two types of cholesterols that are, LDL and HDL.
Low-density lipoprotein is LDL and is also known as “Bad Cholesterol” and high-density lipoprotein is HDL which is “Good Cholesterol”.
LDL can increase the risk of heart disease. 125 to 200mg/dL is the healthy level of cholesterol in your body.
Less than 130mg/dL is the Non-HDL, less than 100mg/dL is the LDL level, HDL is 50mg/dL or higher. The lipid panel is a blood test, which is the complete cholesterol test.
Food Items That Reduce Cholesterol
Various ways are found to reduce cholesterol. Eating healthy food is the main factor and a best way to control cholesterol.
Here are the top seven food items that cholesterol patients can include in their life to reduce their cholesterol levels.
Oats
Oatmeal is a highly soluble nutritious fiber food that helps to reduce cholesterol in the blood. Cholesterol patients are recommended to include whole-grain oats in their breakfast. It will help to decrease LDL cholesterol and improve their health and nutrition. Oats has 13grams of protein, 5 grams of fat, and 51grams of carbs.
Vegetable Oil
Vegetable oils are safe for high cholesterol. It contains linoleic acid which helps to lower LDL and vegetable oils are safe for the health of the heart. Olive oil, peanut oil, sunflower oil, corn, and canola are the best oils for high cholesterol and these oils contain monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats that are not harmful to health.
Eggplant
Eggplant is a rich fiber food and is low in fat. This food helps to improve heart function and reduce LDL. It comes from the nightshade family and is grown worldwide. It contains 0.18grams of fat and 0.98grams of protein.
Okra
Okra is a vegetable that contains high fiber and antioxidants. It is mainly used by diabetics and has been found to lower the level of blood cholesterol.
Soy
It is an important food item that helps to reduce bad cholesterol. Soy milk which is a drink produced by soybeans has no cholesterol content. Soy has 6.4 grams of fat and 12.35 grams of protein. It is a great food that helps to gain weight and it can be included in the daily diet.
Fatty Fish
Tuna, Salmon, Herring, and Mackerel these fishes are fatty fishes that have high levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Omega3- fatty acids reduce blood triglycerides and slightly increase the HDL good cholesterol. This is good for the health of the heart and your whole body.
Citrus Fruit
It has soluble fiber and contains many compounds that help to reduce cholesterol levels. Eating citrus fruit items is reduce strokes and heart attacks. Grapefruit, Lemon, Lime, Sweet oranges, Mandarins, pomelo, papeda, etc. are some citrus fruits to consume. Pears and apples are also fruits that have high fiber and low cholesterol.
Avoid Food Items And The Effects Of High Cholesterol
Deep fried food items, fat on meat and skin on chicken, ghee, lard and copha, coconut oil, takeaway foods such as hamburgers and pizza, processed foods, chocolates, pastries, eggs, cheese, shellfish such as Shrimp, organ meat, etc are the cholesterol-rich food items to avoid in our daily life.
All people are addicted to materialistic life and junk food so very easily affected by many diseases.
Junk food contains high calories and low nutrition. The fat it develops in the body is deposited in the blood vessels and it blocks the flow of blood which leads to heart attacks and strokes.
