As we age, we tend to look for food that lower cholesterol in hopes of developing a healthy heart. In truth, excessive cholesterol can never do good to your body. Fortunately, experts discovered and shared different food and snacks that can help lower one’s cholesterol.
Food is something that helps provide nutrients beneficial to the human body. Nutrients are substances that give energy for us to be capable of doing things using our physical body. Aside from that, it also helps all functions of the body, including breathing, digesting food and keeping our body warm.
While foods are the number one source of nutrients, they could also sometimes provides us with bad cholesterol. Concerning this, did you know that cholesterol can be good and bad?
Unfortunately, excessive cholesterol causes several health problems to our bodies in the long run. You might develop fatty deposits in your blood vessels if you have high cholesterol.
A person’s heart can be of a disadvantage if the deposits grow fast; it makes it difficult for enough blood to flow through arteries. The stakes can break suddenly and form a clot, resulting in a health attack or stroke.
Fortunately, experts found ways to prevent worse-case scenarios from happening. Recently, an experienced cardiologist shared good food and snacks that lower cholesterol and strengthen our hearts’ health.
5 Healthy Food and Snacks That Help Lower Your Cholesterol
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Dr Elizabeth Klodas is a cardiologist from the United States. With years of experience as a medical health practitioner, she was able to treat thousands of patients with one most common health concern—high cholesterol.
According to her, the best way to treat people with high cholesterol is not always through pills. Instead, the right and healthy food can significantly help lower an individual’s cholesterol. She emphasizes the vital role foods play in keeping a person’s cholesterol low.
If you keep experiencing high cholesterol, you do not need to be disheartened any longer. You don’t need to stress over complicated dietary restrictions that are unnecessary to see positive changes in your cholesterol levels. To help you out, here are 5 healthy snacks and food that help lower your cholesterol:
Watermelon
Eating watermelon can provide you with several health benefits. Watermelon contains lycopene and citrulline, which helps and support heart health by lowering blood pressure and cholesterol.
According to experts, watermelon is one of the popular fruits that can be an excellent addition to a cholesterol-lowering diet. It is good alternative food if you are a fan of sugar snacks.
If you are not a fan of eating watermelon, do not worry! There are other fruits which are beneficial in lowering cholesterol aside from watermelon. Below, we listed alternative fruits that lower your cholesterol like watermelon:
- Citrus Fruits
- Strawberries
- Grapes
- Apples
- Avocado
Almonds
Many studies in the past discovered that almonds are one of the best sources of good cholesterol. Experts use the term HDL, which stands for high-density lipoprotein and sometimes call it “good” cholesterol.
Almonds can help improve blood cholesterol. It would be better if you could supplement your diet with nuts as it can also help lower the risk of heart complications among individuals with a history of heart problems.
Suppose you do not like almonds; no need to worry! Other tree nuts can help lower cholesterol as much as almonds do. Check out our list of nut alternatives that also strengthen your heart’s health:
- Macadamia nuts
- Walnuts
- Hazelnuts
- Pistachios
Chia Seeds
Many people nowadays are fond of using chia seeds when eating, drinking, or having snacks. Good thing! Chia seeds contain fibre—mainly soluble fibre and mucilage. It is the substance responsible for the gluey texture of moistened chia seeds.
In addition, the fibre that chia seeds have is also the fibre which can help lowering cholesterol. It also slows down digestion which helps in preventing blood sugar spikes.
Furthermore, chia seeds can provide plenty of essential omega-3 fatty acids. When an individual increases their consumption of healthy fats daily, it could reduce the risk of cardiovascular issues.
Oatmeal and Oat Bran
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Oatmeal and oat bran are some of the best low-cholesterol snacks that people with high cholesterol can consume. These snacks can be beneficial in maintaining every individual from having a healthy heart.
In relation to this, oats contain a generous amount of fibre, such as soluble fibre. This fibre helps reduce cholesterol absorption in a person’s digestive system. It also helps prevent insulin spikes which can drive up that bad cholesterol.
If you don’t like oats in general, we suggest you try changing milk with oat milk to your usual morning smoothie. Alternatively, you can switch your regular coffee or tea creamer with oat milk.
Broccoli
Like the other foods mentioned above, broccoli is also generous in providing soluble fibre. Soluble fibre does a great job of lowering cholesterol. Fortunately, you don’t have to munch on flavourless broccoli just to lower your cholesterol.
You can simply add it to your meal or cook it with a healthy amount of salt and other seasonings. If you do not have much like for broccoli, you might want to try other cholesterol-busting veggies. Below, we identified a few veggie alternatives that work like broccoli and other food that lower cholesterol:
- Collard Greens
- Okra
- Eggplants
- Spinach