Mecholesterol

Recipes to help lower cholestrol

Making lifestyle changes like losing weight, by eating a healthy low-fat calorie controlled diet, and starting an exercise regime can have a dramatic effect on your cholestrol, lowering it within a few weeks in some cases. Buy books of recipes to help lower cholestrol or use the following cholestrol lowering foods in your recipes to help lower cholestrol:-

Oats – Eat oats as porridge or in homemade muesli with other great sources of fibre like rice bran.
Wholegrains – Find recipes for wholegrain breads and muffins. Wholegrains are great sources of nutrition.
Eat more beans and pulses. Add beans and pulses to recipes like casseroles and curries. Try out bean soup recipes to help lower cholestrol.
Add sources of Omega 3 fatty acids to your recipes – flax seed oil and linseed oil. Add walnuts to yogurts and cereals, they are great for lowering cholestrol. Eat more oily fish like salmon, fresh tuna, sardines and mackerel. Check out the fish section of your recipe books.
Fruit and vegetables. Try vegetarian recipes and fruit desserts to ensure that you eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables per day. Replace your usual meat with vegetables. Cook vegetable casseroles, vegetable moussaka, vegetable curry etc. This will also help you cut down on saturated fat (in meats) and will also boost your intake of cholestrol lowering soluble fibre. Try to eat some fruit peel, don’t peel apples and pears as the peel contains vital fibre. Look for recipes for fruit smoothies, they are a great breakfast idea.
Add garlic to recipes. It is great fried with onions in olive oil in recipes for curry or bolognese. Garlic has been found to help lower cholestrol and to be good for your heart.
Use products containing cholestrol lowering plant sterols in recipes to help lower cholestrol. You can buy spreads, low-fat milks and yogurts which contain these sterols.
Avocados – find a recipe for guacamole. You can also use avocado oil in recipes to help lower cholestrol.
Add spices like cayenne pepper, turmeric and cinnamon to recipes. Research has shown that these may help lower cholestrol levels.
Eat or drink soya products and use them for recipes. Canadian research has shown that eating a vegetarian diet rich in soya can be as good at lowering cholestrol as some medications. Use soya milk instead of your regular milk.
Replace butter in recipes with polyunsaturated spreads and replace lard or oils with olive oil which is a mono unsaturated oil and is actually good for your heart and cholestrol levels.

Think of ways to incorporate the above foods into your everyday meals. If you lack inspiration then treat yourself to a cookbook or two full of recipes to help lower cholestrol.

How to Lower Your cholestrol

High cholestrol can be treated by changing your diet and lifestyle, using drug-free natural methods and products, and also by drugs prescribed by a doctor. Medication can have side effects so it is important to know how to lower your cholestrol naturally.

How to lower your cholestrol by diet

Many people suffer from high cholestrol because of the food that they eat. They have unhealthy diets and consume foods that are too high in saturated fats and full of cholestrol. Saturated fat is found in animal products like whole fat milk, cheese, meat and butter. Another bad fat is trans fat or hydrogenated fat which is found in coconut oil, palm oil, commercially baked foods like cakes, cookies and pastries and also in fast food. These types of bad fat raise our cholestrol levels and put us at a greater risk of coronary heart disease. You can lower your cholestrol by simply replacing the bad fats in your diet with good fats that raise the good cholestrol in the blood to protect yourself against heart disease.

Simple changes to make:-

Use polyunsaturated spreads instead of butter.
Cook with olive oil.
Bake with polyunsaturated spreads or olive oil instead of lard or butter.
Reduce your intake of meat. Eat more oily fish or eat vegetarian meals and incorporate soya into your diet.
Use fat free milk or soya milk instead of whole milk.
Use cholestrol lowering products like those containing plant sterols which lower bad cholestrol and increase good cholestrol.

Fibre is also very important in lowering cholestrol. Soluble fibre is found in beans, pulses, wholegrains and fruit and vegetables. Replace meat in casseroles with beans and pulses, eat more fruit and vegetables and swap your usual processed white bread for a wholegrain bread.

How to lower your cholestrol by exercise

The best way to lower high cholestrol is to combine a healthy low calorie and low fat diet with a regime of aerobic exercise. Aerobic or Cardiovascular exercise works the large muscle groups and the heart and lungs. Not only will it lower your cholestrol but it will help you to lose weight and put you at a lower risk of many serious health problems. Examples of aerobic exercise are brisk walking, jogging, cycling, trampolining, step aerobics, dance aerobics and kick-boxing. Try to exercise at least 3-5 times a week for 20-30 minutes at a time.

How to lower your cholestrol by other natural methods

Start taking vitamins and supplements known to lower high cholestrol such as Anti-oxidant vitamins (A, C and E) and Omega 3 Fatty Acids. Garlic supplements are also good for cholestrol and for protecting the heart.
Consume wheatgrass juice – research has found this to be effective in lowering high cholestrol levels.
Homeopathy – see a Homeopath for advice on which homeopathic medicines might work for you.
High dose Niacin or Vitamin B3, when prescribed by a doctor, increases levels of good cholestrol.
Herbs and spices such as Gugulipid, Cayenne pepper, cinnamon, turmeric and caraway seeds have all been shown to lower bad cholestrol levels. Use them in your recipes.

Learning how to lower your cholestrol by natural methods is much better than having to use medication.

A LOW CHOLESTEROL DIET

A low cholesterol diet is important for a healthy and long life, as long as it is high in good cholesterol, HDL, which helps the body to rid itself of the bad cholesterol, LDL. As fat is important for energy, it is even more important to reduce or eliminate bad fats from any foods that we eat, even from what we drink. Too much fat and cholesterol can cause serious health problems, including heart disease.

The following things will lead to better health:

A diet free of saturated fat

A diet low in bad, LDL, cholesterol

A diet high in good, LDL, cholesterol

Limiting salt intake

Increasing fiber intake

Avoiding bad carbohydrates

Eating more complex carbohydrates

Keeping to a healthy body weight

Lowering calorie intake to a sensible amount

Doing plenty of exercise, including aerobics

The most highly recommended low cholesterol diet comes from the American Heart Association, who cannot say enough about the ‘Mediterranean Diet’. This diet is used by many countries, all of whom have the following list of commonalities:

Lots of fruits

Lots of vegetables

Limited whole wheat breads and cereals

Limited potatoes

Lots of legumes (peas, beans, lentils, etc,

Lots of nuts

Lots of seeds

Lots of extra virgin olive oil

Low-fat dairy products

Fish

Chicken

Very little red meat

One or two eggs per month

Moderate red wine amounts

The ‘Mediterranean Diet’ gets the majority of its energy from good fats, but needs to have the calories kept under control. Too much of anything is a bad thing. The diet is very low in saturated fats, and the consumption of olive oil provides healthy monounsaturated fats that keep bad cholesterol at bay, and the overall cholesterol levels low.

Here is an example of a ‘Mediterranean Diet’ that can be incorporated into any personal menu or low cholesterol diet plan:

Breakfast Lunch _________

¾ cup Whole grain cereal 1 cup, lentil soup

½ cup, 1 or 2%, or no-fat milk 1 whole grain roll

1 banana** ½ tbsp., extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp., low-fat olive margarine 1 cup, baby spinach

1 slice, whole wheat toast 1 cup, lettuce (radicchio)

½ tbsp., extra virgin olive oil ¼ cup, mushrooms, sliced

½ oz., sliced almonds 2 radishes, sliced

1 Roma tomato, sliced

½ oz, balsamic vinegar

Dinner Snack_______________________

1 ½ cups, wholegrain pasta ½ cup low-fat organic yogurt

½ cup, tomatoes, diced 1 cup blueberries**

½ cup, broccoli

¼ cup, red peppers, diced

¼ cup, mushrooms, diced

2 tbsp, extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp, low-fat parmesan, grated

½ cup, white kidney beans

½ oz., balsamic vinegar

2 elephant garlic cloves, crushed

3.5 oz. fish, chicken or low-fat red meat***

1 slice, whole wheat or grain bread

½ cup, red seedless grapes

** Note: these fruits can also be substituted with oranges, strawberries, and apples.**

***Note: red meats should only be eaten once per month, and can be substituted for buffalo, bison, veal, turkey or pork.***

It is easy to avoid bad fats and cholesterol by eating foods that are healthy. Most food packages now have labels that list the nutrient values per serving. These will list the percentages and amounts in other units of cholesterol, bad fats, minerals and vitamins.

How much cholestrol in Shrimp

Many people are wary of eating shrimp. It is well known that shrimps are high in cholestrol and it is said that the average American eats about 1kg or 2 ½ pounds of shrimp a year! Many Americans have heard that shrimps are high in cholestrol and are worrying that they need to give up one of their favourite foods. They are typing in “How much cholestrol in shrimp” on search engines!

The amount of cholestrol in shrimp is a bit of a worry when we know that our body only needs 20% of its cholestrol requirement from the food that we eat.

So, how much cholestrol in shrimp?

According to dietitian Joanne Larsen there is 150mg of cholestrol per 3 ½ ounces of shrimp. This is only 70% of the cholestrol that is found in one egg yolk. Eggs are also high in cholestrol but medical advice is that we can enjoy an egg about 4 times a week, so I guess that we can enjoy shrimps about 4 times a week too or substitute a serving of shrimps for an egg.

The good news about shrimps

Shrimps are very low in fat and do not contain any saturated fat. Shrimps are also a good source of Omega 3 fatty acids and are a low calorie food. Omega 3 fatty acids increase good cholestrol level in the blood and are good at lowering bad cholestrol level. These benefits may outweigh or cancel out the amount of cholestrol found in the shrimps.

Further good news is that the American Heart Association has given the thumbs up to shrimps. Although shrimp contain more cholestrol than the equivalent weight of chicken or beef they have about a tenth of the saturated fat of beef and, as we said earlier, are a brilliant source of Omega 3 fatty acids.

So, there really is no need to ask how much cholestrol in shrimp.

Cooking shrimp

Of course if you are going to batter your shrimp and deep fry it then it is not going to be very healthy. However, there are plenty of healthy ways to cook shrimp.

Barbecue or grill them. You can marinade them or just grill them as they are. They will take about 7-10 minutes.
Boil them and make a shrimp cocktail. Use low fat mayo and tomato ketchup seasoned with salt and pepper to make the sauce. Stir in the shrimps, serve on a bed of shredded lettuce, sprinkle with paprika and serve with wholegrain bread and a slice of lemon. Easy, tasty and healthy.
Stir fry in a wok on a high heat. Use olive oil which is a monounsaturated oil or just put a little water in the wok. Stir fry with vegetables like peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts. Serve with wholemeal noodles or rice. If you want you can season with Chinese spices or a Chinese sauce.

Enjoy shrimp and stop asking how much cholestrol in shrimp. It is not a real concern.

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