Diets to Lower Your Chlorestol

Maintaining a healthy cholesterol level can help to reduce the chances of heart disease and stroke, both of which are potentially fatal. The good news is that high cholesterol levels can be reversed with lifestyle changes such as regular exercise and a healthy diet. Adhering to any of the three following diets may help to reduce total cholesterol levels.

Vegetarian and Vegan Diets

Vegetarian and vegan diets focus on dishes that are plant-based instead of animal-based. Animal-based foods such as meat and dairy products tend to be high in saturated fat and cholesterol. Also, vegetarian diets are good not only because of what they don't include, but what they do include. Whole grains are abundant in vegetarian diets. They are rich in soluble fiber that helps to remove cholesterol from the body. The fats in a vegetarian diet tend to be healthy fats that come from plants such as soybeans, nuts, flaxseed and canola. These heart-healthy fat sources actually raise HDL levels (good cholesterol) while lowering LDL (bad cholesterol).

Mediterranean Diets

Mediterranean diets are rich in several foods that raise good cholesterol while lowering bad cholesterol. They include fish that are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, DHA and EPA. Salmon, tuna and mackerel are some examples. This diet is also rich in healthy fats that are native to the Mediterranean region such as olive oil. Keep in mind that the typical Mediterranean diet tends to be high in total fat, even though these fats tend to be healthy fats. Eating too much fat, even if it's healthy fat, leads to obesity which increases the chances of heart disease and other chronic illnesses. To get some of the benefits of the Mediterranean diet without the high fat content, consider taking a fish oil supplement to experience the effects of Omega-3 fatty acids, DHA and EPA.

Low-Fat Diets

The same foods that are high in fat tend to also be high in cholesterol. This is especially true of animal-based foods. The American Heart Association recommends that no more than 30 percent of total daily calories come from fat with less than 10 percent of total calories from saturated fat. Therefore, following a low-fat diet may likely result in reducing cholesterol intake. Use the following tip to quickly scan a food label to find out if it's too high in fat calories. Find the fat calories per serving and multiply it by three. If the result is higher than the total calories per serving, then it's more than 1/3 fat which isn't suitable for a low-fat diet.