If you want to live healthy, you need to eat healthy, which is why you should take a look at our list of 11 foods that lower cholesterol fast.
Technology has advanced tremendously, and nowadays we have to put in hardly any physical exercise to get by, which has led to many unwanted consequences. On the surface, our average life expectancy may have gone up, but living a long life does not necessarily mean living a healthy life. Who wants to live a long, yet diseases ridden life? Sorry for sounding blunt, but there is no point in sugar coating the facts, especially when sugar is something you should try to avoid as much as possible, if you wish to keep fit and healthy. If you want to enjoy living, you need to be fit, otherwise a long life might not be in the cards for you. Only a tiny bit of effort on your part can afford you a healthy and active life even in your golden years. Of course we are not talking about body shaming here, being a bit big is nothing to be ashamed of, but it is quite unhealthy and will cause you a lot of trouble down the road if you are not trying your best to keep fit. Have you ever wondered “how quickly can you reduce your cholesterol levels?” It may not happen over night, but it can definitely happen with some simple changes.
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If you want to know what foods to eat to lower cholesterol and “how can I lower my cholesterol naturally?” you’re in the right place. As the title says, we will be talking about foods that lower your cholesterol levels fast, which is something you want to integrate to your diet. You’ll learn how to reduce cholesterol without medication, as well as more about cholesterol and almonds. However, if you are looking for an overall solution to your health, you should check out our list of 15 Classes in NYC That Promote a Healthy Lifestyle. Cholesterol is a fat-like substance that’s found pretty much in every cell in your body. Now, cholesterol is something that the body needs to produce hormones, vitamin D and substances that help you digest. However, there is a kind of cholesterol normally known as LDL or Low-density lipoprotein that is something you want to steer clear of because it can clog up your arteries and give you a serious health condition, that can easily lead to heart diseases and even death. If you want to avoid LDLs then you should learn about the 17 High Cholesterol Foods Not To Eat.
While it is very easy to just eat your way to dangerously high LDL levels in your blood, doing the opposite is thankfully easy as well. You can make subtle changes to your eating habits and forget about having high cholesterol levels just like that. You just need to start eating the foods that lower the levels of LDLs in your body, and we’ve created this list to help you out. Now, we cannot guarantee that eating these food items will help you lose weight, but we can certainly say with confidence that these food items will definitely make your heart and your arteries love you a bit more. Every food that made it into our list has the magical properties to combat the effects of heightened LDLs and also increase its quantity in your blood stream.
To find out these food items we sought help from various reputable online sources such as Harvard, Prevention, Health Cabal and several others. We also employed Google’s search engine to its fullest potential in order to thoroughly search a variety of foods. Eventually, we ended up with a sizable list, and we are not going to share it with you. One more thing to note here would be that, the list is not ranked in any manner, as even the scientists and nutritionists are still in dispute regarding which food items neutralize harmful LDLs the most.
If you are ready to change the way you eat, let’s get the list of 11 foods that lower cholesterol fast.
11. Beans & Lentils
Beans & lentils are a great source of soluble fibers for the body. Soluble fibers help prevent diseases and also help with the process of digestion. Beans and similar kinds of food also take a while for the body to digest, thus it keeps your tummy full for quite some time, which is very helpful, if you are trying to lose weight as well. There is a lot of variety of beans and lentils out there, so you get the option pick and choose, which is very important for staying on a diet.
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10. Garlic
Garlic is not really something that you can eat on its own, but it is used all over the world as a condiment or seasoning. Another interesting fact about garlic is that it has the ability to lower the cholesterol levels in your body. It keeps the blood from clotting, prevents infections and reduces blood pressure. Pickled garlic is also able to add a little bit of zing to any dish, if you love pickled things. If you do not use garlic in your food, then you should start using it more often, because you just cannot go wrong with it, besides the smell.
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9. Oats
At number 9 on the list of foods that lower cholesterol fast, we have oats. Oatmeal used to be the staple breakfast back in the day, but things have changed in recent years. However, a bowl of oatmeal is still extremely useful to your body. You could either go with a bowl of oatmeal or oat-based cereals for your breakfast, and you are going to shave off chunks of harmful cholesterol every day. It’s tasty, it’s easy to prepare (just add in a handful of berries of your choice and you are good to go) and it is extremely healthy for the whole family. What else do you need from your breakfast, the most important meal of the day?
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8. Eggplant & Okra
If you are not used to loving vegetables, then start falling madly in love with them, because vegetables may not taste the best when it comes to food, but they definitely do you a lot of good. Eggplant and okra are so amazing that they can be considered as having therapeutic properties. Eggplant and okra are chock full of soluble fibers and all sorts of vitamins that help your entire body heal, and of course, reduce cholesterol from your blood.
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7. Red Wine
Drinking to one’s health has been a long and enduring tradition. Recent scientific studies have shown that red wine made from Tempranillo red grapes which are incidentally high in fiber can help reduce cholesterol. However, it must be said that when it comes to consumption of alcohol, it must be done in moderation as there are many other drawbacks to it as well. So, raising a toast of red wine to one’s health can actually benefit all the involved parties.
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6. Salmon and other fatty fish
Fatty fishes like salmon contain Omega 3. Now I am sure you are not interested in learning about the chemical formula of Omega 3, just know this when it comes to fat, you do not want to cut down on Omega 3. It offers a lot of health benefits to the body, including, but not limited to, reducing the level of cholesterol in your body. Omega 3 is also known for having profound effects on reducing heart disease, dementia and a lot of other diseases. Please try to include fatty fishes in your diet as much as possible.
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5. Nuts & Seeds
Nuts and seeds have a lot of benefits for the entire body, especially for the heart. A moderate amount of nuts and seeds consumption keep the heart healthy and also helps reduce cholesterol from your blood. Nuts are another source from where you can get Omega 3 alongside fatty fishes. Almonds, cashews nuts, walnut all are great for your heart and lowering cholesterol. So when it comes to nuts, just go nuts over them. However, just try to not live off of nuts alone, because that will be something really difficult to pull off.
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4. Barley and whole grains
We have already stressed how important it is to have soluble fibers in your diet, and barley and other whole grains are just another amazing source of adding soluble fibers to your diet. If you like whole grain stuff, then you should try to eat more of that. It is scientifically proven that barley and other whole grains greatly reduce the cholesterol levels in the blood and help immensely with digestion.
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3. Vegetable oils
We established early on that vegetables are good for you health while also lowering levels of cholesterol. The same is true for venerable oils as well. If you are using too much lard or butter in preparing your meals, then you are gaining an unhealthy amount of LDL, Low Density Lipoprotein, with every bite. However, if you were to switch to vegetable alternatives to substitute for lard and butter, such as canola, sunflower, safflower oil, you will be able to cut down on LDL intake while also enjoying the LDL reducing properties of such substances at the same time.
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2. Apples, grapes, strawberries, citrus fruits
You are definitely aware of the saying “an apple a day, keeps the doctor away”. Well, an apple a day can also lower the cholesterol level in your blood as well. And it’s not just apple, as we already covered grapes, but strawberries and citrus fruits are also a great source of pectin, which is a substance really great at reducing LDL from the blood. So, whenever you feel like eating, look for fruits and if you find one near, just grab a bite.
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1. Tea
The final entry to our list is going to be tea. A cup of good tea does a lot more than freshen you up and relieve you from a daily stress. It has been proven that tea has loads of cancer preventing antioxidants and apparently a cup of tea can also prevent the buildup of LDL in the blood while increasing the production of HDL (High-density lipoproteins) which is the good kind of cholesterol that is good for you body.
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This wraps it up for our list of 11 foods that lower cholesterol fast.
