How to reduce cholesterol
Do you know how to reduce cholesterol when values begin to be dangerously close to the norm's limits? In your daily diet it is advisable to carefully choose foods to reduce cholesterol along with sports, healthy living, little alcohol and no smoking, to stay healthy longer, we see which are the most effective.
How to reduce cholesterol: food and recommended diet
Cholesterol is one of the values on which most of the eye falls when blood tests are done. As we age, it must be kept under control and, therefore, it is necessary to follow precise guidelines on how to reduce cholesterol.
High cholesterol (hypercholesterolemia)
High cholesterol levels increase the incidence of coronary heart disease by a factor of twenty. High levels of LDL cholesterol in particular can cause arteriosclerosis and cardiovascular disease, including a serious heart attack and stroke. However, there are natural foods and diets that help reduce cholesterol.
In fact, high cholesterol is associated with an unbalanced diet. But also to a sedentary lifestyle, diabetes and overweight.
Only in rare cases, hypercholesterolemia is due to genetic alterations. To verify them, it is always better to visit specialists to detect the presence of a disease.
In general, a healthy lifestyle and constant physical activity are essential.
However, the matter depends on the power source. The best prevention is a diet with foods of vegetable origin and with few fats.
In addition, there are some foods that can help us, such as fruits and vegetables that, with their properties, can regulate the fats in our blood and, consequently, reduce high cholesterol.
Before analyzing in detail our tips on how to reduce cholesterol, let's see what our "enemy" is.
What is cholesterol
Cholesterol is a fat in the blood that is produced mainly by our body. Only minimally it is introduced through the power supply. It performs several functions:
Participate in the formation of vitamin D
It favors the construction of cell walls; intervenes in the digestion process, thanks to the formation of bile.
Allows the production of hormones such as testosterone and estrogen.
Cholesterol is highlighted in:
"Bad cholesterol" (or LDL), or what is deposited in the internal walls of the arteries causing risk factors.
"Good cholesterol" (or HDL) that cleans the LDL from the walls and transports it to the liver.
How to reduce cholesterol with food
It is true that endogenous cholesterol is mainly (70%) and only partly determined by diet (30%), but there are small tricks and precious food that we can put on the table: a healthy diet helps to reduce blood cholesterol between 5 % and 10%.
Some of the following indications are known, others are the result of a new investigation:
Source
Cholesterol is found in foods high in animal fats: meat, butter, sausages, cheese, egg yolk and offal.
N and foods of plant origin, however, are not present. In general, our diet should be low in saturated fats (those of animal origin that increase LDL levels) and rich in polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.
Therefore, condiments are based on unsaturated fats such as oilseeds and vegetable oils obtained from them, such as seed oil (sunflower, corn) or extra virgin olive oil.
Vegetables and legumes
Vegetables and legumes should be consumed at least 2 to 4 times a week, giving preference, for example, to less common ones such as lupins. In fact, this legume contains traces of inhibitors of lecithin, trypsin, isoflavones and cyanogenic compounds.
Due to the coexistence of these substances, lupine is the subject of research on its ability to prevent cardiovascular diseases and reduce total cholesterol and LDL.
Fibers: oat bran
The fibers reduce the intestinal absorption of dietary cholesterol and the reabsorption of bile acids from the gallbladder (rich in turn in the endogenous cholesterol).
It is good to eat cereals, especially whole wheat, such as oat bran. The latter is particularly effective in reducing cholesterol because it is rich in soluble fiber (15.4 g per 100 g r) and polyunsaturated acids (2.8 g per 100 of product).
Foods rich in omega 3
The foods that contain omega 3 have an anti-thrombotic, anti-inflammatory and hypotensive function, in addition, they improve the metabolism of all the lipids transported in the blood, from cholesterol to triglycerides.
The main source of these precious fatty acids is fish (salmon, tuna and crustaceans), but they are also present in tofu, almonds, nuts and some oils such as flaxseed oil.
Foods rich in omega 3 should be consumed at least twice a week to obtain appreciable benefits. In the case of nuts, about 50 grams a day is recommended, in addition to lowering cholesterol levels, its consumption is recommended in the prevention of heart problems.
Fruit: oranges, apples and strawberries
A healthy diet in general should be rich in fruits. People with high cholesterol should eat at least five servings of fruit a day.
In addition, recent research has shown that some fruits in particular are important for lowering LDL cholesterol.
For example, a Canadian research, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggests that daily consumption of orange juice (at least 750 ml) increases good cholesterol at the expense of the bad.
Remember that orange is rich in antioxidants, such as vitamin C and flavonoids, which protect cells from free radicals, aging and are valuable allies for the heart.
According to other studies conducted by researchers from the UNIPM (Polytechnic University of Marche) and the University of Granada and Seville, strawberry would also help reduce bad cholesterol thanks to anthocyanins. Specifically, in this research, it was discovered that with a diet based on strawberries, the bad cholesterol was reduced (13.72%) as well as triglycerides (20.8%) and total cholesterol (8.78%).
Apples are also precious: eating an apple a day for four weeks would reduce bad cholesterol by 4% (Journal of Functional Foods). According to the researchers, the polyphenols it contains determine its properties: being antioxidants, they reduce the oxidation of LDL cholesterol, which is responsible for the rigidity of the arteries.
Brussels sprouts are also useful. Rich in amino acids and antioxidants, it helps keep blood vessels clean, decreasing bad cholesterol.
Lower cholesterol with probiotics
After detecting the cholesterol level outside normal, the most common decision is to adopt a diet that eliminates foods high in animal fats, crustaceans and yolk. egg, reducing the condiments and paying special attention to desserts and cheeses.
In fact, probably without taking such drastic measures, but sticking to a diet low in calories, even better if it is based on organic products, you could get the same benefits.
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Control of cholesterol levels
To control cholesterol naturally, specialists generally recommend adopting a daily diet based on fruits and vegetables. To this you can accompany the probiotic products:
Do not be scared by the name, probiotic products are nothing more than yogurt based skim milk with the addition of phytosterols in 1.5 to 2 grams variable amount and with the classic lactic f ermenti in vivo of normal yogurt .
This type of probiotic products allows the control of LDL cholesterol, the so-called bad cholesterol, which is already considered at risk when it reaches a value of 160.However, consider that to calculate the cardiovascular risk index, the relationship between total cholesterol and HDL (good cholesterol) should be taken into account. This should always be less than 5 for men and 4.5 for women.
Therefore, containing the LDL cholesterol level is fundamental and the probiotic products are particularly functional for this purpose.
Composition of probiotics
The phytosterols contained in these yogurts are naturally present in vegetable oils, fruits and dried vegetables. From the chemical point of view, they are very similar to cholesterol itself:
Phytosterols act by competing with cholesterol taken as food. In this way, intestinal absorption is reduced.
Once hired, they are safely expelled with their stools in an absolutely natural way.
In conclusion, high cholesterol can be controlled, just follow simple and effective rules.
As I have explained, they are based on making a healthy life, following a physical activity, having good nutrition, making specialized visits and keeping up with natural resources. As the studies confirm, natural remedies are valid and have no side effects.
