Tips for Reducing Cholesterol
The 10 steps of reducing cholesterol
1. Regular exercise increases the amount of ‘good’ cholesterol in the body.
2. Eat lots of fruit and vegetables because they include antioxidants that help prevent harmful changes to cholesterol that can lead to atherosclerosis and heart disease.
3. Eat lots of starchy carbohydrate foods such as whole grain breads, pasta, rice, oats and starchy vegetables, plus beans and pulses such as lentils.
4. A balanced diet also requires moderate amounts of protein such as meat, but choose lean red meat, or skinless poultry, or game and cut off visible fat to avoid increasing your saturated fat intake.
5. Avoid fatty meat products such as pies, pates, sausages and other processed fatty meats because they are high in saturated fat which contributes more to raised cholesterol levels than the amount of cholesterol eaten in foods such as shellfish and offal.
6. Saturated fat is also found in “hydrogenated vegetable fats” so avoid products such as biscuits, pies, peanut butters and other processed foods that contain these – check ingredients lists on the label.
7. A balanced diet also contains dairy food for calcium, a mineral needed by the heart and for healthy bones, but choose low fat dairy milk, yogurt and so on to avoid the saturated fat in full-fat versions.
8. A balanced diet also contains dairy food for calcium, a mineral needed by the heart and for healthy bones, but choose low fat dairy milk, yogurt and so on to avoid the saturated fat in full-fat versions.
9. Alcohol in small amounts can also raise levels of ‘good’ cholesterol, and red wine in particular additionally contains antioxidants that help prevent hardening of the arteries by damaged cholesterol.
10. Replace the saturated fats in your diet with polyunsaturated from vegetable oils, or monounsaturated from olive oil, rapeseed oil and nuts.
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