How to Lower Cholesterol Levels

Surprisingly, there are foods that can help lower cholesterol levels. Just as there is food that can raise your cholesterol, there are also foods that can lower it. Foods that are high in fiber are great cholesterol reducers. Foods, such as oatmeal, fish, and nuts are three of the highest fibered foods that can lower your cholesterol. Fish is high in omega 3, which is a fatty acid that can lower your blood pressure, as well as prevent blood clotting. The recommended fish portions are to eat at least two dishes of grilled or baked fish every week. The best fish to eat that can help with lowering cholesterol are trout, mackeral, sardines, herring, halibut, salmon, and albacore tuna. People can also eat foods that have canola oil, or flaxseed. Vegetables and lean meat can also be consumed which will help to lower cholesterol. The key is to stay away from trans fats, which are greasy fatty foods that include hamburgers, french fries, greasy fried chicken, butter, doughnuts, cookies, and popcorn. A good indicator that foods are high in cholesterol is if they have hydrogenated oils. The bad thing about trans fat is that it highers the LDL cholesterol levels, and lowers the HDL cholesterol levels. The LDL cholesterol levels are bad, and the HDL levels are good, so if the good cholesterol levels are being lowered, and the bad ones are being raised that is heart attack central.

Even eating foods with 0.5 levels of trans fat can still be harmful if eaten many times throughout the day because the person is consuming more and more trans fat foods. The most harmful foods with hydrogenated oils are processed foods. Some dairy and meat products will have small amounts of trans fats, but they are not as harmful as the fats in processed foods. Grilled and baked chicken are great meals when finding less fatty foods. Other recommended foods are soy based foods that have less saturated fats, eggs whites, walnuts, almonds, wheat bread, pastas, brown rice, wheat flour, fresh fruit, and vegetables. The most important thing that a person can do is to raise their HDL levels by eating foods that are high in fiber, and less foods that have grease and a lot of sugar. The six key words that people should pay attention to are LDL and trans fat is bad. When looking at the labels while shopping, a person should take note of all of the trans fat that they find in the foods that they buy. Knowing that trans fat is what causes cholesterol levels to spike up, they can now control what they put in their diet.