LOW CHOLESTEROL FOODS AND DIETS

Low cholesterol foods and diets play important roles in our fight to lower LDL cholesterol levels. If you are looking at which foods are low in cholesterol, which foods actually lower your cholesterol, which low cholesterol diet to embark on, you need to be armed with relevant, up to date, well- research information.

There is a large amount of literature on low cholesterol foods and diets freely available on the internet. Many offer different and sometimes conflicting information, leaving the reader confused. Instead of focusing only on specific low cholesterol foods to take, we want to take a more complete approach to learning about low cholesterol foods and low cholesterol diets.

 

WHAT ARE LOW CHOLESTEROL FOODS?

Let’s start off with a piece of good news. In your quest to lower LDL cholesterol levels, you may find that you can (or should) actually take more of certain low cholesterol foods.

You may think that healthy foods probably will not taste as good as the unhealthy ones (otherwise, everyone will be eating healthy foods and no one will have any health problems). However, with some creative cooking of these low cholesterol foods and combining them with some not so healthy ones (in MODERATION, please), you will be pleasantly surprised that a low cholesterol diet is not as bad as it sounds. At the very least, they taste better than pills and water.

We do recognize that low cholesterol food may not appeal much to the taste buds. BiosLife™ Complete is designed to taste good and lower cholesterol at the same time.

A low cholesterol diet should ideally consist of the following:

• Unsaturated fats instead of saturated fats

• High in fiber (especially soluble fiber)

• High in complex carbohydrates (starch and fiber)

• Rich in vitamin C and antioxidants
  

UNSATURATED FATS INSTEAD OF SATURATED FATS

Unsaturated fats, grouped into polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, are known to be good for your heart and actually lower your LDL cholesterol levels. Unsaturated fats are low cholesterol foods. Whenever you can, replaced all or part of saturated fats with unsaturated fats.

Polyunsaturated fats are commonly found in cooking oils like corn oil, sesame oil and soybean oil. Polyunsaturated fat is found in fatty fish in the form of omega-3 fatty acids (also known as Essential Fatty Acids - EFA). Fatty fish high in omega-3 fatty acids are salmon, herring and mackerel. You can also take fish oil or flax seed oil for omega-3 fatty acids.

Monounsaturated fats are commonly found in olive oil and canola oil (rapeseed oil). These oils can be used for cooking as well as salads dressings. For olive oil, use extra virgin olive oil whenever possible. It gives the best benefits as a low cholesterol food.

There is another kind of fat known as trans fat. Since this section is about low cholesterol foods rather than high cholesterol foods, we will not go into much details here. You can read more about trans fat and its harmful high cholesterol effects in “High Cholesterol Foods” and “Cholesterol Diet”. For now, just avoid any trans fat if you can identify it.

 

HIGH IN FIBER

Foods high in fiber, especially soluble fiber, are very good low cholesterol foods. Soluble fiber binds cholesterol in your body and gets rid of them before they can enter your bloodsteam.

Foods rich in soluble fiber include whole grains, barley, oats, beans, peas, fruits, vegetables and BiosLife™ Complete. Include them in any low cholesterol diet.

An added bonus of these low cholesterol foods is that they are also low in fat and fats contribute to your LDL cholesterol levels.

 

HIGH IN COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATES (Starch And Fiber)

Good sources of complex carbohydrates include breads, pasta, rice, potatoes and cereals.

Many popular diets advice you to cut down on your carbohydrate intake. As a result, people tend to shun carbohydrates. Actually, foods high in carbohydrates are lower in calories than foods high in fat. Besides being low cholesterol foods, they are also good sources of different vitamins and minerals. As long as you are careful about the preparation of these carbohydrates by not adding too much fat in the cooking process, complex carbohydrates are an important part of any low cholesterol diet.

 

HIGH NATURAL ANTIOXIDANTS AND OTHER VITAMINS

Natural antioxidants are good low cholesterol foods. Vitamins A and C are natural antioxidants.

Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin that acts as an antioxidant, making it a valuable agent against heart disease. Your body does not produce its own stores of vitamin C so it must be obtained through diet.
Besides acting as an antioxidant, vitamin C has also been shown in various studies to lower cholesterol, slows down atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), prevents blood clots, heart attacks, strokes, and high blood pressure.

For vitamin C, take:

Apples
Grapefruits
Oranges
Papayas
Broccoli
Brussel Sprouts

Vitamin E is a fat soluble antioxidant that also prevents the oxidation of LDL particles, thus lowering LDL cholesterol and preventing or slowing down atherosclerosis. A study by Carr, Zhu, and Frei in 2000 showed that vitamin E appears to mildly supplement the effectiveness of vitamin C.

For vitamin E, take:

Nuts
Wheat Germ (and Wheat Germ Oil)
Sunflower Seeds

Besides the above, beta- carotene, lycopenes, penththine, copper and copper all shows indications of having some lowering cholesterol properties and may be useful in any low cholesterol diet.

If you don’t enjoy eating fruits or vegetables, find it difficult to include the above in your low cholesterol diet or simply find the list of low cholesterol foods too long to remember, take vitamin supplements instead.

There are many who advocate taking fresh fruits and vegetables rather than supplements. While there is some validity in this view, many people do find it difficult to include these foods in their low cholesterol diet (or they might simply dislike the taste of vegetables). It is better that you get your daily intake of vitamins and antioxidants from supplements than not at all.

In addition to all the low cholesterol foods listed above, look for food which contains natural ingredients like:

Policosanol, a sugar cane extract known to lower LDL cholesterol.

Phytosterol, a phytonutrients with similar structures to cholesterol and therefore competitively inhibit the absorption of cholesterol from the diet. Studies show the lowering of LDL cholesterol with phytosterols are 5 to 15% over 4 week periods.

Chrysanthemum Morifolium, a flower extract linked to the enhancement of cholesterol metabolism.

These ingredients can also be found in BiosLife™ Complete. See “Lowering Cholesterol Naturally” for more information on the complete cholesterol lowering ingredients of BiosLife™ Complete.

 

HOW ABOUT FOODS THAT ARE LOW IN CHOLESTEROL CONTENT?

While it is a good practice to eat food with low cholesterol content, eating food with high cholesterol DOES NOT NECESSARILY increase your cholesterol levels.

Your body make its own cholesterol, which is actually essential for its healthy functioning, and this cholesterol is perfectly balanced in your blood. The cholesterol you take in from the food you consumed (dietary cholesterol) does not have a significant effect on your blood cholesterol levels. Your liver simply makes less cholesterol to compensate for the increase in dietary cholesterol. See “High Cholesterol Foods” and “Cholesterol Diet” for detailed explanations.

One more thing: you may drop the soy and garlic. Studies have shown that their value as low cholesterol foods is minimal at best.

The cholesterol lowering benefits of these highly- touted healthy cholesterol foods have yet to be positively proven. In fact, studies have shown that they have no significant effect on a low cholesterol diet.

An American Heart Association committee reviewed a decade of studies on the health benefits of soy. In early 2006, these findings were published and the conclusion is that soy- based foods and supplements do not contribute significantly as a low cholesterol food.

Previous studies had shown that soy protein many be a good cholesterol lowering food if consumed in large amounts. However, subsequent research found that soy only minimally lowers LDL cholesterol and had no effect on increasing HDL cholesterol. In addition, this reduction in LDL cholesterol came only from eating large quantities of soy, which is not practical since most food products have only small amounts of soy. Separate analysis of soy isoflavones also show that they had no effect on lowering LDL cholesterol.

The Archives of Internal Medicine reports that both fresh garlic and garlic supplements do not contribute significantly as low cholesterol foods.

Due to previous studies from animal testing and research, there has been interest in garlic's potential as a low cholesterol food. The tests and research results suggested that crushing garlic produces a sulphur- containing compound, Allicin, that might block cholesterol synthesis. However, recent blood tests revealed that none of the garlic tested (both fresh garlic and popular garlic supplements) had any "clinically relevant effect" on lowering LDL cholesterol, either in the short or long run.

The conclusion is that neither dietary garlic nor garlic supplements are likely to offer any significant benefit to most people seeking a low cholesterol diet.

INCREASING HDL CHOLESTEROL

No information on low cholesterol foods and diets is complete without a section on increasing HDL cholesterol levels. HDL cholesterol is the “good” cholesterol that is essential for a healthy body. See “What is Cholesterol” for more information on the different types of cholesterol.

You can increase the level of HDL cholesterol by the following:

Eat foods high in soluble fiber. Soluble fiber is found in whole grains, oats, brown rice, legumes, lentils, most fruits and vegetables. Soluble fiber increases HDL cholesterol and lowers LDL cholesterol.

Use oils higher in monounsaturated fats, such as canola or olive oil. Monounsaturated fats raise HDL levels.

Consume more polyunsaturated fats like flax seed oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, or omega-3 fatty acids from fatty fish.

Avoid trans fats. Trans fats increase LDL cholesterol and lowers HDL cholesterol, which is the opposite of what we want to achieve with a low cholesterol diet. Trans fats are often found in commercially produced foods like biscuits, cookies, and other snacks containing sugar. It is also found in fried foods, margarine and shortenings.

Lastly, moderate intake of red wine (about a glass a day) has been shown to lower LDL cholesterol and increase HDL cholesterol. However, there are many adverse effects of alcohol consumption, such as high blood pressure, obesity, stroke, cancer and alcoholism.

Another thing you should note is that there are many subclasses of HDL cholesterol. Different subclasses of HDL cholesterol have varying degree of effectiveness. Alcohol is believed to increase the less important subclass of HDL cholesterol.

Therefore, if you are not already a drinker, it is not recommended that you start just for the purpose of increasing HDL cholesterol levels. The risks outweigh the reward.

 

Also see:

High Cholesterol Foods for information on the foods and diets to avoid if you want to lower your LDL cholesterol levels.

Cholesterol Diet for comprehensive information on the best low cholesterol foods and diets that help you to lower your LDL cholesterol levels.

Lowering Cholesterol Levels home page.