Top 5 Foods to Lower Your Cholesterol Numbers

According to the Mayo Clinic, the Top 5 Foods to Lower your Cholesterol are:

1. Oatmeal, oat bran and high-fiber foods
Oatmeal contains soluble fiber, which reduces your low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the “bad” cholesterol. Soluble fiber is also found in such foods as kidney beans, apples, pears, barley and prunes.

Soluble fiber can reduce the absorption of cholesterol into your bloodstream. Five to 10 grams or more of soluble fiber a day decreases your total and LDL cholesterol. Eating 1 1/2 cups of cooked oatmeal provides 6 grams of fiber. If you add fruit, such as bananas, you’ll add about 4 more grams of fiber. To mix it up a little, try steel-cut oatmeal or cold cereal made with oatmeal or oat bran.

2. Fish and omega-3 fatty acids
Eating fatty fish can be heart-healthy because of its high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, which can reduce your blood pressure and risk of developing blood clots. In people who have already had heart attacks, fish oil — or omega-3 fatty acids — reduces the risk of sudden death.

Doctors recommend eating at least two servings of fish a week. The highest levels of omega-3 fatty acids are in:

Mackerel
Lake trout
Herring
Sardines
Albacore tuna
Salmon
Halibut
You should bake or grill the fish to avoid adding unhealthy fats. If you don’t like fish, you can also get small amounts of omega-3 fatty acids from foods like ground flaxseed or canola oil.

You can take an omega-3 or fish oil supplement to get some of the benefits, but you won’t get other nutrients in fish, like selenium. If you decide to take a supplement, just remember to watch your diet and eat lean meat or vegetables in place of fish.

3. Walnuts, almonds and other nuts
Walnuts, almonds and other nuts can reduce blood cholesterol. Rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, walnuts also help keep blood vessels healthy.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, eating about a handful (1.5 ounces, or 42.5 grams) a day of most nuts, such as almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, pecans, some pine nuts, pistachio nuts and walnuts, may reduce your risk of heart disease. Just make sure the nuts you eat aren’t salted or coated with sugar.

All nuts are high in calories, so a handful will do. To avoid eating too many nuts and gaining weight, replace foods high in saturated fat with nuts. For example, instead of using cheese, meat or croutons in your salad, add a handful of walnuts or almonds.

4. Olive oil
Olive oil contains a potent mix of antioxidants that can lower your “bad” (LDL) cholesterol but leave your “good” (HDL) cholesterol untouched.

The Food and Drug Administration recommends using about 2 tablespoons (23 grams) of olive oil a day in place of other fats in your diet to get its heart-healthy benefits. To add olive oil to your diet, you can saute vegetables in it, add it to a marinade, or mix it with vinegar as a salad dressing. You can also use olive oil as a substitute for butter when basting meat or as a dip for bread. Olive oil is high in calories, so don’t eat more than the recommended amount.

The cholesterol-lowering effects of olive oil are even greater if you choose extra-virgin olive oil, meaning the oil is less processed and contains more heart-healthy antioxidants. But keep in mind that “light” olive oils are usually more processed than extra-virgin or virgin olive oils and are lighter in color, not fat or calories.

5. Foods with added plant sterols or stanols
Foods are now available that have been fortified with sterols or stanols — substances found in plants that help block the absorption of cholesterol.

Margarines, orange juice and yogurt drinks with added plant sterols can help reduce LDL cholesterol by more than 10 percent. The amount of daily plant sterols needed for results is at least 2 grams — which equals about two 8-ounce (237-milliliter) servings of plant sterol-fortified orange juice a day.

Plant sterols or stanols in fortified foods don’t appear to affect levels of triglycerides or of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the “good” cholesterol.

Other changes to your diet
For any of these foods to provide their benefit, you need to make other changes to your diet and lifestyle.

Cut back on the cholesterol and total fat — especially saturated and trans fats — that you eat. Saturated fats, like those in meat, full-fat dairy products and some oils, raise your total cholesterol. Trans fats, which are sometimes found in margarines and store-bought cookies, crackers and cakes, are particularly bad for your cholesterol levels. Trans fats raise low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the “bad” cholesterol, and lower high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the “good” cholesterol.

Examples of High Cholesterol Foods

In order to know what foods help maintain cholesterol levels normal, its important to learn what types of foods increase cholesterol levels so that we try to stay away from it.

A Cheeseburger Is Not Paradise
If you are like many Americans, you sometimes have lunch at a fast food restaurant. Before you order that double cheeseburger, consider this: A McDonald’s Big Mac has 85 mg of cholesterol and a Wendy’s Classic Double With Everything has a whopping 175 mg of cholesterol. You might want to hold the fries and the shake, or better yet, order a plain burger instead.

Macaroni and Cheese
The typical mac-and-cheese ingredients — whole milk, butter, and cheese — are loaded with saturated fats and cholesterol. But this all-American comfort recipe does not have to be a high-cholesterol food. By substituting 1 percent milk and evaporated milk for butter and whole milk, and using low-fat cheese, you can decrease your calories and have your macaroni and cheese with less than half the fat and cholesterol of the traditional recipe.

Ice Cream for Dessert?
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, America produced 1.55 billion gallons of ice cream in 2007, and the cold, sweet stuff is a staple in 90 percent of American households. Ice cream beats cookies and brownies as our most popular frozen dessert, but did you know that a single cup of ice cream has more fat than a hamburger and more cholesterol than 10 glazed doughnuts? Skip the scoop and try a cup of fresh fruit for dessert instead. Fruit is low in calories and high in the fiber, vitamins, and nutrients you really need — making it one of the best things you can eat for lower cholesterol.

What’s Better Than a Rib-Eye Steak for Dinner?
Even under the best of circumstances (with the fat well-trimmed, and cooked in olive oil), a 4-ounce rib-eye steak takes up a big chunk of your recommended daily allowance for saturated fat and cholesterol. With nothing else on your plate, you will be eating 20 percent of your allowable saturated fat and 22 percent of your cholesterol, which doesn’t leave much room for the rest of the day. If you’re not ready to say goodbye to beef, consider leaner cuts of meat — such as tenderloin, flank, round, rump, or tip steak — for lower cholesterol.

Do You Really Want That Muffin?
Not all muffins are created equal. Sure, you can get an English muffin with no saturated fat and no cholesterol, but many muffins — especially those tempting treats loaded with extra ingredients that you can buy or bake at home — could have up to 8 grams of fat in a single serving. A low-fat bran muffin made with whole-wheat flour that gives you some fiber, a lot less fat, and lower cholesterol is a much better choice.

Seafood: Is It a High-Cholesterol Food?
Some types of seafood are good for you, but others are loaded with cholesterol. Lobster, for example, is not a good choice if you have heart disease or high cholesterol. Three ounces of lobster has 61 mg of cholesterol — and that’s before you dip it in melted butter. If you go out for seafood, stay away from the butter and remember that broiled is much better than fried. You also need to keep in mind the amount you eat, as a double portion will also double the cholesterol.

Even Chicken Can Be a High-Cholesterol Food
Although chicken is usually considered to be a good low-fat meat choice, how you cook it can make a big difference. For example, one chicken leg with the skin still on it has more fat and cholesterol than a cup of ice cream or a hamburger. Keeping the skin on poultry or frying it can turn it into a high-cholesterol food. Also, remember that dark poultry meat has more fat than white meat. When making chicken choices, opt for skinless and skip the dark meat.

Just Say No to Liver
Liver is loaded with iron — which could be good for you — but it is also high in cholesterol. Cholesterol is made and stored in the liver, and the most concentrated levels of cholesterol in animal meats are found in organ meats like the liver. Remember, the American Heart Association says no more than 300 mg of cholesterol for a healthy adult. Three ounces of cooked beef liver will give you 331 mg of cholesterol. Skip this high-cholesterol food if your cholesterol is high and stick with lean cuts of meat instead.

Snacks Also Count as High-Cholesterol Food
Trans fats can turn a healthy food into a high-cholesterol food. These fats result from adding hydrogen to vegetable oils, which are then used in many commercial baked goods or fried foods such as cookies, cakes, French fries, onion rings, and crackers. Whether it’s fried, au gratin, crispy, or stuffed, many of the things we love to eat are bad for our cholesterol levels. Know the allowable numbers for fat and cholesterol. Read the labels, cook smart, order wisely, and remember smaller portions are another way to cut back on high-cholesterol foods.