Great Foods to Lower your Cholesterol

There’s a great old song that goes “ You’ve got to Accentuate the positive, Eliminate the negative , And don’t mess with Mr In between”. It’s an excellent approach when planning changes in your diet to increase your health. If you have been told you have high cholesterol, you will have to make changes in your diet to decrease the risk of heart disease and an early death. Let’s accentuate the positive and look at the foods that will help decrease your cholesterol. You may know that oats help lower cholesterol, but new research is showing barley will too. Add barley to soups or have it instead of rice with your meals. Potatoes too can help lower cholesterol, all the better for your health if they are served cold, so tuck into a lovely potato salad. While we’re talking about salads, all vegetables will help decrease cholesterol, aubergines (eggplant), globe artichokes and orka especially help. Fruit too has been shown to risk of heart disease and raised cholesterol. This is a great time of year as avocados are in season; they contain no cholesterol, may help lower cholesterol and triglycerides, and are high in Vitamin E which helps generally with cardiovascular health.  There are some terrific fats you need to eat. Olive oil and almond oil can lower cholesterol. Almonds, peanuts and nuts generally can help lower cholesterol, but don’t go overboard 2-5 nuts at a time are fine, a handful may not be. Fish of all sorts are an excellent source of the omega 3 fats are excellent for general health and decrease cholesterol.  Last but not least eat garlic , this is fantastic for lowering cholesterol and risk of heart disease. OK we’ve accentuated the positive. It’s a terrific start but , you also need to eliminate the negative , and the “don’t  mess with Mr in between”  part means get focused, make the changes now, and enjoy the great new foods you’ll be eating!

February 2009