Finding out that you have high cholesterol or elevated triglycerides may come as a surprise especially if you consider your diet a healthy and balanced one. High cholesterol can in fact be from a lack of nutritious heart protecting foods in your diet, such as soluble fibre, omega-3, plant sterols, and folic acid. By visiting a dietitian you can obtain simple and easy dietary advice to use daily into your lifestyle and reduce your cholesterol by up to 10% in a 3-5 week period.
A healthy balanced diet can directly lower total blood cholesterol, triglycerides, total sodium and lead to weight reduction. It seems from population based studies and recent trials of dietary intervention that the “Mediterranean” diet is ideal. This is an “unprocessed” diet however, not a traditionally rich Italian or French diet. It includes lots of plants and vegetables, olive oil, fish, occasional meat and dairy. The other population with very low cardiovascular disease rates come from certain areas of Japan. Their diet is high in soy, fish, fruit and vegetables.
Here are some simple steps that you can implement into your diet now aiding in lowering your cholesterol.
- Consume fish, salmon, tuna 2-3/week
- Consume plenty of green leafy vegetables for your folic acid
- Consume a handful of nuts each day
- Include soy based products in your diet e.g. tofu
There are many more steps that you can also include into your diet to lower cholesterol, so feel free to visit a dietitian for further advice including weight loss, diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or high blood pressure.
Cholesterol lowering spreads – do they work?
Logical or Pro-active spreads provide a source of plant sterols in the diet. Plant sterols can reduce cholesterol absorption by interrupting the absorption of fats into the bloodstream. Plant sterols are naturally found in canola and olive oils, nuts, legumes, wholegrains and soy based products. It is recommended to consume 2-3 grams of plant sterol per day in order to reduce LDL cholesterol by 10% in 3 weeks. For optimal results, 2 tablespoons of cholesterol lowering spreads are to be consumed daily.
