Cholesterol Lowering Foods
(Part Two)

Oatmeal

You won't be surprised to hear that oatmeal porridge is one of the best cholesterol lowering foods. This is because the protein in oats is a good source of the amino acid L-arginine, from which your body produces nitric oxide.

Nitric oxide has many jobs to do in keeping your heart healthy, including reducing oxidation and inflammation.

Although arginine may help treat high blood pressure and other markers of heart disease, some research find it also helps reduce cholesterol.

In one study, 45 healthy elderly volunteers took either arginine supplement or a placebo for 2 weeks. Those taking the supplement showed significant drops in their total and LDL cholesterol levels, but those taking a placebo experimented no change.

By the way, you also find arginine in peanuts, pine nuts, black cumin, butternut, watermelon, pumpkin, sesame and soy.

Barley

It's really delicious and it's good for lowering your cholesterol, too. In fact barley is one of the richest sources of beta-glucans, the plant component that is also in oatmeal and and has an exceptional cholesterol lowering power. But a cup of barley can offer three times more beta-glucans than a cup of oatmeal.

I suggest you cook up a pot of barley once a week, then have some as a side dish at dinner or you can make it into a lentil and barley soup or some for breakfast instead of oatmeal.

Beans

Most if not all edible bean varieties pack a double whammy in terms of cholesterol control, with their fibre and lecithin, a plant-based fat that - believe it or not - is used in milk chocolate to keep the milk and chocolate from separating.

It turns out that lecithin can help lower cholesterol. The two together - fibre and lecithin - are probably behind beans' amazing benefits when it comes to blood fats. One study found that just 1 1/2 cups of dried lentils or kidney beans a day could slash cholesterol levels by a whopping 19%... read more about the healing power of beans on heart disease

Soya beans

Many studies find that when soy protein is substituted for high-fat protein sources like most red meats, there is a huge decline in cholesterol levels.

One of the most palatable types of soy is edamame. You just steam or boil them for about 5 minutes, sprinkle them with salt and pop them out of the pod into your mouth. But let me warn you - they can be addictive, although that is not a bad thing considering that they are one of the best cholesterol lowering foods.

Dark chocolate

That's because dark chocolate (and it must be dark to be healthfully helpful) packs a powerful wallop of antioxidants, which neutralize nasty free radicals. One study found that supplementing a typical American diet with 0.5 ounce/15 grams of dark chocolate and about 0.75 ounces/ 20 grams of cocoa powder was all it took to reduce LDL oxidation.

Cinnamon

About 1/2 tablespoon a day slashed LDL cholesterol levels by nearly a third in one study, cutting total cholesterol by 26%.

Try putting a sprinkling of cinnamon in your coffee before brewing. It also makes a pretty good tea, either of its own or fenugreek.

Cranberries

This fruit is good for more than just preventing urinary tract infections, but are amongst the cholesterol lowering foods.

Not only are cranberries (and cranberry juice) one of the best sources of antioxidants around but they also yield extracted chemicals that can increase the amount of cholesterol your liver takes out of your bloodstream.

Once in the liver, that cholesterol can be processed for removal from your body.

Tea

Aim for about 5 cups a day; a government study found that after 3 weeks of drinking this amount, total choleterol dropped by 6.5% and LDL cholesterol by 11.1%.

For some more cholesterol lowering foods look at Page 1

Previous page l Top of the page

New! Comments