Eating to Lower Cholesterol – Make Sure You Avoid These Foods

Eating to Lower Cholesterol – Make Sure You Avoid These Foods

When you are eating to lower cholesterol levels there are certain foods that you want to avoid and some that you that you want to include. The reason that there are some foods that you want to include is because when you are eating to lower cholesterol you are looking to only lower what is known as the bad cholesterol which is LDL, because at the same time you want to be looking to increase the good cholesterol which is HDL.

First of all we will start by looking at the foods you should be avoiding eating to lower cholesterol. The first of these foods are the likes of red meats and dairy products, the reason behind this is because they contain saturated fats. This has been a widely held theory from many years, but now there are some groups that are starting to contest this as they believe that the saturated fats are in fact not bad for you. My personal opinion on this is that if you eat a lot of red meat and dairy products it won’t do any harm to cut back on it a touch. In my opinion it is the next group of foods that you really want to avoid as they are well known for spiking your bad cholesterol levels.

The foods that you really want to avoid eating to lower cholesterol are foods that contain man made fats; these are more commonly known as trans fats. Trans fats are made when vegetable oils are made into a solid form by the use of hydrogenation. These hydrogenated fats are then used in foods such as cookies, pastry products and ready-made meals. Additionally this fat is also used for deep frying by many restaurants and in particular fast food outlets. The risks of foods containing or cooked in these fats and the effect that they have on your cholesterol and heart are so well known now that certain states in the USA have already banned their use and they are also banned from being used in Denmark and Switzerland.

So, those are the foods to avoid eating to lower cholesterol, then what are the foods that we need to eat to raise the good cholesterol? The first group of foods that you should really be including are foods that contain omega threes, in particular foods such as flaxseeds, walnuts and oily fish. All of these are known to help with your cholesterol levels and promote good heart health. In fact most major health organizations around the world recommend eating at least two portions of oily fish per week for your good heart health.

Another type of food that you want to increase the amount you eat is plant based food such as vegetables. The reason for this is because they contain a substance known as sterols and sterols are very similar in molecular structure to cholesterol. This then leads to both sterols and cholesterol competing for the same space in the gastrointestinal tract for absorption, and the upshot of this is that less cholesterol is absorbed into the bloodstream. You can also get sterols from fruit, however there is not as much in them as there is in vegetables.