Foods To Lower Cholesterol -- What You Should Be Eating

By Joe Dungait

If you are looking for specific foods to lower cholesterol then there are some available, however before we get into those you have to bear in mind that they are not in fact the highest determining factor to how much cholesterol body produces. Ultimately the amount of cholesterol in your body is going to come down to how much is produced by your liver. Despite that, there are certain foods to lower cholesterol and even if it is just a small amount it all helps. So let's take a look at some of those foods.

One of the first food groups to be included is oily fish such as salmon and tuna. The reason for including these kind of fish is because the omega3 in them contains essential fats that not only raise good cholesterol and reduce the amount of bad cholesterol in the blood but also help to reduce triglyceride levels too, all of which are important in helping to reduce the likelihood of heart disease, which is a byproduct of high cholesterol levels.

Another important food group to include is vegetables. The reason for this is because vegetables more often than not contain sterols, and the sterols are very similar in structure to cholesterol. Because of this, what happens in the gut is that they compete with the cholesterol for absorption into the gastrointestinal tract, and they are chosen ahead of the cholesterol molecules. Another reason for the vegetables being so good for you is because of the fiber they contain, which assists by stimulating the liver to absorb more cholesterol from the blood for reprocessing.

Lastly, a group of foods to lower cholesterol that is very efficient is oats. Oats are so efficient at helping control cholesterol levels because they reduce the LDL and raise HDL cholesterols. They do this because they contain soluble fiber. And adding oats to your diet is probably the easiest food group to include because they make a tasty nutritious breakfast.

In addition to the above, you can also get foods to lower cholesterol in supplement form. For instance, garlic and artichoke leaf extract are foods known to be effective at controlling cholesterol levels and are widely available from health food shops in the forms of supplements. In addition to them you can also get natural blended supplements, which are a group of different ingredients all with properties known to help combat cholesterol levels that are being taken together and blended to form one single supplement. Some of these natural blended tablets can actually be as powerful as statins but without worrying side effects that statins have. - 32389

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