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Lower Your Cholesterol With Just Four Foods
Latest statistics reveal an alarming fact. More and more younger people are taking drugs to lower their cholesterol. High cholestreol is blamed for heart disease, high blood pressure and strokes. These figures also indicate that the obesity epidemic is showing no signs of abating.
Latest statistics reveal an alarming fact. More and more younger people are taking drugs to lower their cholesterol. High cholestreol is blamed for heart disease, high blood pressure and strokes. These figures also indicate that the obesity epidemic is showing no signs of abating.
Normally older people take these drugs but there has been a big increase among the younger age group (20-44). In fact the increase is just under 70% in the last five years. One way of looking at these figures is that more and more young people are taking heart disease prevention more seriously. But the general consensus is one of alarm.
The most effective and widely tested cholesterol drugs are called the statins, which block the formation of cholesterol in the liver and increase the production of the receptors on liver cells that clean the bad cholesterol from the blood. If you are worried about the side effects of statins, you may want to consider lowering your cholesterol levels a more natural way and that is through a healthy diet. Here are my four top foods which will definitely lower your cholesterol without having to take any drugs.
Top of the list are tomatoes. They contain a very valuable substance called lycopene which acts to stop the oxidation of LDL which is the bad cholesterol. Once this oxidation occurs, it starts to form plaque in the arteries and that is dangerous. There have been studies on this and they have confirmed that lycopene is a valuable ally in the fight against high cholesterol.
There have been lots of studies done on Eskimos to ascertain why their levels of heart disease and cholesterol are lower than ours. Because they eat lots of fish such as whale meat which contains good fats such as Omega-3, they live longer healthier lives than we do. So, my second top food is high fat fish such as mackerel, herring, trout, sardines and wild salmon which should be baked or grilled. Other great sources of Omega -3 are flaxseed and canola oil.
Soy is in third place for me although the American Heart Association has found that soy has a minimal effect on blood pressure and cholesterol. I know that it is ful of vitamins and minerals and more importantly it provides me with low-fat protein which is an important element in my diet. That saves me from eating too many eggs and red meat, which in my opinion gives it a high ranking.
Researchers have shown that if you consume about 200 calories of nuts a day (let us say you are 1,200 a day), then this can in some cases reduce your cholesterol levels by about 12%. That is not bad - just by adding a very important food to your diet. That is why nuts are in my top four - any nuts will do- walnuts, almonds and cashews. Nuts are a great source of healthy fats not to mention some valuable minerals and trace nutrients as well.
These top foods I have outlined are just a few of those mentioned in the Mediterranean Diet which has been the at the centre of attention for a long time now. Studies show that people living in the Mediterranean basin actually have a lower rate of cholesterol and heart disease than many other nations. It has nothing to do with the sun - it is what they eat !