Healthy Eating Tips to Help Lower Your Cholesterol

Too much cholesterol in your blood can lead to problems, such as blocked arteries. This can lead to heart attack and stroke. Replacing foods high in saturated fat with foods containing unsaturated fats can help lower LDL cholesterol. Below are eating tips to help you do this.

There are 2 main kinds of cholesterol in your blood:

• HDL (good) cholesterol. HDL helps carry cholesterol from your arteries back to your liver, where your body can remove it.
• LDL (bad) cholesterol. When LDL levels are high, cholesterol can build up in the walls of your arteries and form plaque. Plaque can narrow or block blood flow, increasing your risk of heart attack and stroke.

The cholesterol in your blood comes from 2 sources. It comes in food that you eat. And it's also made by your liver. Your body needs some cholesterol. But too much can cause problems. Limiting the amount of certain fats can help. Your body makes more cholesterol when your diet is high in bad fats.

There are 3 kinds of fats in foods and drinks:

• Unsaturated fats. These include monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats can help lower LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. Sources include olive, sunflower, corn, and soybean oils, as well as fish, nuts, and seeds.
• Saturated fats. Eating too much saturated fat can raise LDL cholesterol and increase your risk of heart disease. Sources include fatty cuts of meat, poultry skin, whole-milk dairy products, butter, tallow, and ice cream. Coconut oil, cocoa butter, and palm oil are also high in saturated fat.
• Trans fats. Trans fats can raise LDL cholesterol and lower HDL (“good”) cholesterol. Partially hydrogenated oils were once a major source of trans fats in processed foods, but they have largely been removed from the U.S. food supply. Small amounts of trans fats occur naturally in some meat and dairy products.

The tips below will help you create healthy eating habits to lower your blood cholesterol level:

• Talk with your doctor before starting a new diet.
• Read nutrition labels. Learn what healthy portion sizes look like.
• When cooking, use unsaturated vegetable or plant oils. These include sunflower, corn, soybean, canola, peanut, avocado, and olive oils.
• Limit saturated fats. These are in animal products, such as meat and whole-milk dairy foods. Poultry skin also has this type of fat. Plants high in saturated fats include coconut oil, palm oil, and palm kernel oil.
• Eat more meatless meals. If you eat meat, eat smaller portions. Choose lean cuts. This includes round, chuck, sirloin, or loin.
• Replace meat with fish at least 2 times a week. Fish is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids. This is a type of unsaturated fat. This fat may lower the risk of heart disease. Prepare fish baked, broiled, grilled, or boiled rather than breaded and fried. Choose fatty fish, such as salmon, tuna, trout, sardines, mackerel, and herring.
• Replace whole-milk dairy products with low-fat or nonfat products. Try soy products. Soy helps to reduce total cholesterol.
• Eat more fiber. Try soluble fiber, such as oat bran. These lower total cholesterol.
• Eat plant-based foods, such as avocados, olives, nuts, such as almonds, walnuts, pecans, and hazelnuts, seeds, such as chia seeds, hemp seeds, and ground flaxseeds, and whole grains, such as oat bran, whole and rolled oats, and barley. These foods lower both cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Triglycerides are another type of fat in the blood.
• Limit the amount of white rice or white bread you consume. Try eating brown rice, quinoa, whole-grain breads, and whole-grain pasta instead.
• Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables daily.
• Limit fast foods, commercially fried foods, and baked goods, such as pastries, pie crust, cookies, and crackers. Assume they have saturated fat and trans fat.
• Look for processed foods made with nonhydrogenated oil rather than saturated fat or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.