Lowering your cholesterol can be a challenge, especially if you day’s schedule doesn’t have a moment to spare. Here are 3 foods to cut fat and cholesterol.
Eat an apple a day. It’s not just an old wife’s tale that an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Consuming a 5 ounce apple means you’re adding 3 grams of pectin to your diet. Pectin is a soluble fiber that binds to bad-for-you fats cleaning them out of your system. Apples have flavonoids which are compounds that prevent cholesterol’s ability to cling to the inner walls of your arteries by as much as 38%. That’s good news because it decreases your risk of a heart attack.
D-glucaric acid is a substance that decreases the body’s ability to form LDL cholesterol, the bad cholesterol, in the liver by 35%. As an added bonus pectin also adds a feeling of fullness which means you can less than you usually do, lose weight, but still feel full. It’s best to eat the apples raw to get all their benefits. Apple slices spread with peanut butter is a good way to start your day at breakfast.
Another fat fighter and food that lowers cholesterol are nuts. Only 2 ounces a day reduces the liver’s production of LDL cholesterol by 33% and increases the good HDL cholesterol by 11%.
Nuts are rich in monounsaturated fats. Not only do monounsaturated fats cut cholesterol they also act as an appetite suppressant. Any kind of nut will do but almonds and walnuts are especially beneficial.
Nuts make a terrific snack by themselves. 2 ounces is what would fit in your cupped palm or about 2 tablespoons. Nuts can be added to salads, fruit smoothies, breakfast cereals and cooked vegetables. One red grapefruit daily decreases LDL cholesterol up to 20% and is twice as effective as white or pink grapefruit. The reason is red grapefruit is richer in antioxidants which curb the liver’s tendency to produce cholesterol.
As an added bonus one study showed that women who ate any color grapefruit daily lost 20 pounds in three months without any other change in their habits. Eat the whole fruit rather than just drinking the juice to take advantage of all the fiber.
Adding these three foods to your daily diet can help lower your bad cholesterol levels, increase your good cholesterol and as an added bonus help you lose weight.