8 Foods That Lower Cholesterol


Over 100 million people in the USA alone have hazardously high cholesterol. This number is echoed all over the world, from Europe to Asia to South America. When you have high cholesterol, you place yourself in high risk categories for strokes, heart attacks, and other forms of heart disease. Naturally there are plenty of medications made to lower cholesterol, but there are plenty of ways to lower cholesterol on a natural way, including incorporating these eight healthy foods into your diet.



Walnuts are an ideal food for lowering cholesterol. In 2004, a study showed that when walnuts were used as an alternative to foods with heavy calories, such as olives, in Mediterranean foods, the cholesterol levels of the test subjects went down significantly. Walnuts have many omega 3 fatty acids, which are extremely beneficial to the heart. Although olives and other foods are, like walnuts, filled with monounsaturated fats - which is good - they are much higher in calories than the nuts, which is bad.



Shitake mushrooms are a favorite in many cultures, and they just so happen to lower your cholesterol. This is primarily due to the fact that shitake mushrooms contain eritadenine as their active component. Plenty of this component in your diet can take your cholesterol down quite far.




Blueberries are extremely good for you, mainly due to the fact that they are rich in an important antioxidant, pterostilbene. Studies which focus on animals have shown unequivocally that by incorporating blueberries into a daily diet, cholesterol levels are lowered quite efficiently.




Soy, especially if it is not cooked, can also lower cholesterol. Specifically, if you simply have two servings each day, you can lower your cholesterol by as much as 9%. However, to be fully effective, it should not be cooked. As mentioned, omega 3 fatty acids are very good for you. Salmon is rich with them, making the fish extremely effective not only in lowering LDL cholesterol, but also in improving and increasing HDL cholesterol, which is good. As a bonus food, garlic will do the same. Avocado, many will be happy to know, is another monounsaturated fat; it, too, can significantly lower your cholesterol. In fact, eating plenty of avocados for a week will decrease your LDL while increasing your LDL.






Black beans and other vegetables - especially the green and leafy variety - are perfect for improving your cholesterol levels. The beans have lots of dietary fiber, which is a very good thing. Leafy green vegetables - notably kale, Swiss chard, collard greens, and spinach - do a great job of lowering your cholesterol. As for number eight, that old adage is true: an apple a day really will keep the doctor away.





Apples have plenty of fiber and pectin, not to mention a number of antioxidants with a lot of power. Catechin, chlorogenic acid, quercetin, phloridzin: all of these go a long way towards not only lowering those bad cholesterol levels, but also raising the LDL levels.

When you lower bad cholesterol and raise good cholesterol, you are doing wonders for your health and your heart. There are so many foods that can help you, most of which you may already love. A little research in this area goes a long way - and it will help you go a long way as well.

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