Many people are trying to lower their cholesterol. The reason for this is because a high amount of cholesterol in your blood, over time, builds up in the walls of your arteries and then proceeds to cause “hardening,” an occurrence that narrows your arteries, in turn slowing down and partially blocking the blood flow to your brain. This can lead to multiple conditions in your brain, heart and other vital places in the body. Because of this it is absolutely crucial that you stop your cholesterol from rising to high. According to the CDC (Centers For Disease Control and Prevention) 71 million American adults (33.5%) have high/bad cholestrol at least 2/3rds of those people don’t have it under control. One of the main causers of cholesterol spikes is food, changing your diet means changing your cholesterol.
Ready for some high-cholesterol fighting foods? Great… Let’s get right into it.
First Off. High Fiber Foods
Something that’s quite effective against “bad” cholesterol is fiber, so naturally you’ll want to be eating a lot more fiber-rich food, among the best of them are foods like apple, prunes, barley, kidney/black/pinto beans and oats. Eating 5-10 grams of soluble fiber everyday is a great way to do this and can reduce the amount of cholesterol that blood stream actually absorbs into it. This reduces your cholesterol and in turn, gives your blood stream a boost while also minimizing your risk for plenty of heart and brain conditions. Some hot oatmeal with apples/bananas on top and maybe even some cinnamon is awesome for this.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Hurray for Omega-3s, they reduce the chances of developing blood clots, lower your blood pressure and fight against the chance of getting a heart attackFatty fish contain high levels of omega-3 fatty acids and can reduce the development of blood clots, lower blood pressure and the risk of heart attacks.
Do you dislike fish with a passion? You’re not the only one and you’re in luck because fish oil capsules have not of the fishy taste and very similar benefits. But if you’re just super determined not to eat fish, or you just want another option, then chia seeds, walnuts, soybeans and even spinach have plenty of Omega-3s in them.
Go Nuts!
We just mentioned walnuts before, but in fact, most nuts have a good amount of Omega-3s and polyunsaturated fats in them. These include white walnuts, pecans, black walnuts, pine nuts, pistachios, almonds and macadamias. These fats help to heal your heart, lower cholesterol and even strengthen blood vessels. Not only that but they also decrease the risk of heart disease.
Olive Oil
Now we don’t want you to go pour yourself a tall glass of olive oil and chug it down, but we do want you to start sautéing more foods, especially vegetables in olive oil instead of butter in order to avoid consuming the bad stuff that comes along with the good taste of butter. Also, try to add olive oil to your salad vinaigrettes or just make your own, it’s ridiculously easy and tastes delicious to do it yourself.
