Low Fat Low Cholesterol Diet – The Best Foods that Lower Cholesterol
Going on a low fat low cholesterol diet is one of the best ways to cut back on the amount of food you eat, improve the quality of the stuff you put in your mouth, and improve your overall health.
If you eat foods that lower cholesterol, you won’t have to worry about heart attacks, strokes, and all the other things that can be caused by high cholesterol. The best low cholesterol diet plan will provide you with all the nutrients your body need, but you will be able to lower your bad cholesterol and raise HDL cholesterol in order to be healthy.
Want to know what a diet for lowering cholesterol involves? Read on to find out everything you need to know about lowering cholesterol naturally, how to lower your cholesterol with exercise, which foods are cholesterol lowering foods, a great cholesterol and triglyceride lowering diet, and so much more…
The Best Low Fat Low Cholesterol Diet Plan
When it comes to a lower cholesterol diet, the secret is switching out the foods that are not so good for you (or are actually harmful for you) in favor of the foods that are high quality and contain all the goodness your body needs to work well. Your body is basically like a machine that only runs if it is oiled properly, and cholesterol is like chewing gum that clog up the gears and mechanisms of your body and causes it to break down. If you want to stay healthy, you need to keep out the cholesterol by following a lower cholesterol diet.
Let’s take a look at a lower cholesterol diet example, a single plate in your meal plan:
Brown rice, kidney bean salad with vinaigrette dressing, skinless chicken breast, and water
Now let’s break down that meal:
- Brown Rice = Whole Grains – When it comes to eating healthy with a lot fat low cholesterol diet, whole grains are the way to go. Whole grains are incredibly rich in fiber, which your body needs to soak up the cholesterol and get rid of it via your digestive system. If you don’t get enough of the healthy fiber in your diet, you end up with too much cholesterol, fat, and sugar in your system, and you end up very unhealthy. In order to keep your cholesterol low, you need to eat the foods that lower cholesterol and contain lots of fiber.
- Kidney Beans and Skinless Chicken Breast = Lean Proteins – Everyone knows that protein is needed by your body to build muscle, and it also comes in handy when your body needs a shot of energy. However, the lean proteins like legumes, fish, and poultry (with the high fat skin removed) are much better than pork or beef, as they have a much lower fat content than the other proteins. Protein is great for you, but you have to eat the ones that are lower in fat for your lower cholesterol diet.
- Salad = Vegetables – Next to whole grains, vegetables are the best things to eat to lower your cholesterol naturally. While fruits are also rich in fiber, they contain a good deal of sugar that can add to the sugar in your body (sugar gets turned into fat and cholesterol). Vegetables, however, are low in sugar, meaning that they will be very effective at providing your body with lots of fiber without adding to your cholesterol. You should eat vegetables as much as possible in order to fight away the nasty cholesterol.
- Vinaigrette Dressing = No Dairy – Dairy products are very high in fat, and they are directly responsible for causing high cholesterol. For your low fat low cholesterol diet, you should do as much as you can to avoid any kind of dairy unless they are low or no-fat. Obviously these versions of milk, yoghurt, and cheese aren’t going to be as tasty as the delicious full fat ones, but they will contain far less cholesterol and fats than their fatty counterparts. If you can replace dairy products with other low fat substitutes, you’re well on the road to a lower cholesterol diet.
- Water = No Sugar Drink – One of the main things that cause people to have high cholesterol is the sugar that they consume, and sugar is found in incredibly high amounts in your average soft drink. If you drink water instead of juice or soda, you will reduce your sugar consumption significantly. Add to that the fact that water helps to eliminate cholesterol, and you will find that drinking more water is very important.
This lower cholesterol diet example can help you to realize which foods that lower cholesterol are the most important to eat.
Diet for Lowering Cholesterol
When it comes to your diet for lowering cholesterol, it can be hard to know how and what to eat. In order to help you as you plan your low fat low cholesterol diet, here are a few things you need to know about eating right to cut back on your cholesterol:
- Eat Lots of Lean Proteins – As mentioned above, lean protein is the way to go in order to cut back on your cholesterol. However, if you want to enjoy the food you eat, you can’t just eat one kind of protein for the rest of your life (“Beans again?”). It is important that you find a number of recipes with all kinds of lean proteins, including fish, beans, chicken, turkey, lentils, garbanzos, and egg whites. Changing up your meal plan will help you to enjoy your low fat low cholesterol diet much more.
- Eat Food Regularly – One of the main reasons that you end up eating more than you should is due to the fact that you think you are hungry when really you aren’t. If you want to combat your body’s desire to eat food when you really don’t need it, try and eat smaller meals every 3 or 4 hours. If you eat five small meals a day, you are less likely to be hungry and more likely to be careful with what you eat.
- Eat the Good Stuff More – Rather than trying to cut back on the amount of food you eat, replace the things you eat with all the good things like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, etc. As the lower cholesterol diet example above shows you, eating all the foods that lower cholesterol will be one of the best ways to eliminate the problem. If you want to stay healthy, eat more of the good stuff and see your desire for the bad stuff go away.
- Eat Less Fat – Anyone who has learned anything about cholesterol knows that it is directly related to fat, and eating more fat means higher cholesterol. However, on the flip side, eating less fat means less cholesterol in your body, so it is important to cut back your fat consumption in order to eliminate all the bad stuff.
- Eat Fat Wisely – A bit of fat is necessary for your body, but it should be a limited part of your diet. For this reason, it is essential that you choose your fats wisely, as some fats can be great to lower cholesterol while others will send it through the roof. Cut back on your trans fats and saturated fats, and find foods that contain unsaturated fats that can actually help to get rid of your cholesterol.
Eating right really is the secret to getting rid of your cholesterol.
How to Lower LDL Cholesterol
If you want to cut back on your cholesterol, dealing with the LDL cholesterol is the most important thing. LDL Cholesterol is the bad stuff that clogs your arteries, and it is the stuff you want to get rid of. Don’t know how to do it?
One of the best ways to lower LDL cholesterol is to do more exercise. Doing exercise helps your heart to get rid of all the bad stuff in your body, and a lower body weight means a lower cholesterol percentage in your body.
Finding foods to help you lower your cholesterol is important, as they will be just as effective as exercise. Rather than avoiding the foods that will raise it, you should go to the opposite extreme and find the foods that will actively get rid of the cholesterol in your body.
Quit your smoking in order to cut back on the cholesterol in your body, as well as to reduce the risk of serious problems arising as a result of the cholesterol. Smoking is pretty much the worst thing you can do if you have high cholesterol.
If you want to know how to lower LDL cholesterol, you may want to look into medications that can help you to get rid of all the bad stuff. These medical options are only good if you can’t get rid of your cholesterol naturally, but you should find other ways to eliminate LDL cholesterol naturally before going the medical route.
Lowering Cholesterol Naturally
Lowering cholesterol naturally is much more pleasant than doing so via medications, as by lowering your cholesterol through natural methods you can save yourself from having to suffer through all the side effects of the cholesterol medications. The good news is that there are a few things that you can do to cut back on your cholesterol, so here are some tips to help you:
- Get tested – Testing your cholesterol levels will help you to know whether or not you are in danger of having high cholesterol. If you are, then it is wise to start finding ways to lower your cholesterol naturally.
- Eat right – Eating the right foods will be surprisingly effective at helping you to cut back on your cholesterol levels, and the tips above can help you to choose the right foods for your low fat low cholesterol diet.
- Do exercise – Exercise is one of the best things you can do to cut back on cholesterol, fat, and pretty much everything else that is bad in your body. Below you can find more information on exercise and cholesterol.
- Sleep well – Surprisingly, sleep helps to lower your cholesterol, although indirectly. Sleeping well helps keep your body balanced, and it will stop you from being hungry. Not being hungry means you won’t snack or binge eat, meaning you have more control over the things you consume.
- Take supplements – There are some excellent supplements to help you improve your cholesterol numbers, and you should consider these supplements. Check out the Diet to Lower Cholesterol and Niacin for Cholesterol pages to find out more on healthy supplements.
These few things may not seem like a lot, but you will be surprised at how effective they can be at helping you to cut back on your cholesterol levels and stay as healthy as possible.
Raise HDL Cholesterol for Greater Success
One of the things that many people forget is that not all cholesterol is bad for you. High total cholesterol means that you have too much bad cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol is the stuff that clogs your arteries (making a team effort with triglycerides). However, HDL cholesterol is actually the good kind of cholesterol, and it is important to raise your HDL cholesterol in order to succeed at getting rid of the bad stuff.
What does HDL cholesterol do? When fat bonds with protein particles, they form lipoproteins (lipids + proteins). The low density lipoproteins (LDL) are the bad cholesterol, and they float around your body gumming up the works and causing general mischief. However, the high density lipoproteins (HDL) are the ones that take the bad ones by the hand, give them a good spanking, and send them to bed in the liver where they are thrown out with the bath water (urine).
The higher levels of HDL cholesterol you have in your body, the less likely you will be to suffer from cholesterol problems. The reason for this is that more HDL cholesterol means that there are more superheroes to fight off the villainous LDL cholesterol, and more good guys can get rid of the bad guys much more easily.
For this reason it is important to raise your HDL cholesterol in order to fight off the bad cholesterol.
Cholesterol and Triglyceride Lowering Diet
Both LDL cholesterol and triglycerides are bad for you, which is why a cholesterol AND triglyceride lowering diet is important.
What does this cholesterol and triglyceride lowering diet entail?
- Stop eating so much fat
- Stop eating so much sugar and refined sugars
- Stop eating the wrong kinds of fat
- Stop drinking so much alcohol
- Stop skimping on the good, healthy foods
- Stop sitting around and start doing exercise
This simple diet plan can help you to lower both your triglycerides and your harmful cholesterol, so start doing it TODAY!
How to Lower Your Cholesterol With Exercise
When it comes to fighting off cholesterol, doing exercise is one of the best things you can do. Why is that, you may wonder:
Exercise raises your HDL cholesterol, thus helping your body to take out the trash more effectively.
Exercise helps you to control your weight and actually lose the stuff you don’t need.
Exercise helps to pump blood through your body, which burns away the clots that could cause problems.
Exercise helps to strengthen the walls of your arteries, and keeps all of your organs working well.
Amazing how much 30 minutes of exercise a day can do for you, isn’t it?
Cholesterol Lowering Foods Matter
Following a diet of cholesterol lowering foods can be hard, as these food are the ones that you may enjoy least. If you are going to diet, however, it is important that you do it right. If you aren’t so good at dieting, here are some tips to help you stay faithful to your low fat low cholesterol diet:
Tip 1: Drink more water and drinks that have no calories.
Tip 2: Don’t eat unless you really are hungry.
Tip 3: Focus on eating the right foods instead of the wrong foods.
Tip 4: Be wary of eating snacks right before you hit the hay.
Tip 5: Eat smaller meals more often during the day.
Tip 6: Get more protein with each meal, but make it lean protein.
Tip 7: Keep yummies outside of the house.
Tip 8: Add spicy things to stimulate your taste buds and help you “crave” smaller portions.
Tip 9: Make the good things your favorite.
Tip 10: Get active to take your mind off being hungry.
These tips can help you to stay faithful to your low fat low cholesterol diet, thus helping you to stay healthy and heart attack-free.