Lowering Cholesterol Levels With The Right Foods

Most of us know that we can’t lower cholesterol levels by eating foods that are high in fat. We may find that we love the taste of butter on corn and potatoes, have a hankering for that late night dish of ice cream, or yearn for that salty chip with some creamy dip but these are foods that send out cholesterol numbers through the roof. So what is one to do when the late night munchies hit and the need to feed the steed is greater than the desire to worry about the potential impact?

The new catch phrase when it comes to lowering cholesterol through food is “functional foods.” We’ve all heard of the amazing super foods. Now we can add functional foods to our list for the market. Functional foods have been proven to lower cholesterol when used as a stand in for some of the high cholesterol foods that we know we still love.

So what are these functional foods that will lower cholesterol? You can start with fatty fish. Fatty fish? While it may seem counterintuitive to use the word “fatty” with the concept of lowering your cholesterol, but fatty fish has some essential oils, Omega fatty acids, and nutrients that help improve brain function, heart function, and lower your cholesterol among other things.

Fatty fish is the ticket to lowering the fat in the blood flow known as triglycerides. Triglycerides are part of your overall cholesterol count, and having a high number of these can be detrimental to the health of your heart. Strokes can happen, especially to women with high cholesterol, younger than age 50 if the diet and treatment for high cholesterol isn’t approached aggressively.

Fatty fish includes many types that you are probably already quite familiar with. Tuna, especially tuna steaks versus processed tuna, salmon, trout, sardines, and mackerel are all considered functional fatty fish that can help keep your high cholesterol a bit more under control.

Walnuts, almonds, and even cashews have a strong impact on your health as well. It’s ironic that any of these are considered to be functional foods considering that all nuts have a relatively high fat content. Regardless, grabbing a handful of these nuts here and there can help fight your cholesterol levels and reduce the fats that are present in your blood flow.

Whole grain and oat or oat derivatives such as oat bran are also wonderful cholesterol fighting foods. You can’t expect to eat a few functional foods, like a bowl of oatmeal, and then run carte blanche throughout the rest of the day downing hotdogs and pizza. Fighting your cholesterol levels is a process that requires weight control, exercise, and chronic good choices when it comes to the foods you eat.