Low Cholesterol Foods - High Cholesterol Foods
Low cholesterol foods for better health
Low cholesterol foods are an important part of a healthy diet, especially for those with high cholesterol levels. High cholesterol can lead to one or more forms of heart disease, which affects close to 61 million Americans.
Most people think that their cholesterol levels are directly related to the cholesterol that they take in. Eating low cholesterol foods will mean that you will have low cholesterol levels in your blood...right? Wrong!
Over 75% of your body's cholesterol is produced by your liver. The cholesterol you take in from low cholesterol foods or high cholesterol foods is only a small factor in influencing your body's total cholesterol level.
Nevertheless, you should certainly watch what you eat to help keep your cholesterol down. Low cholesterol foods are one part of the equation.
However, you should not rule out fats and cholesterol all together; fats and cholesterol are necessary parts of the diet, removing them can be dangerous.
Low Cholesterol Foods - What are Low Cholesterol Foods?
Dietary Recommendations
Here's a quick list of what you should avoid and what you should eat:
1. You should try to lower your intake of the bad cholesterol (LDL), yet maintain your intake of good cholesterol (HDL).
2. Reduce your intake of trans fats found in margarines and spreads and hydrogenated oils found in processed and refined foods.
3. Use extra virgin olive oil and garlic in your cooking...both have been shown to lower LDL cholesterol.
4. You should definitely add Omega 3 essential fatty acids to your diet. A good source of these are flax oil and cod liver oil.
5. Even better perhaps is fish oil, which contains two essential fatty acids, DHA and EPA, which have been recently shown to increase heart health. These fatty acids are extremely helpful in promoting general health and well-being.
Maintaining Cholesterol Levels Within the Body
As we mentioned above, only 25% of your body's cholesterol comes from your diet anyway. So along with following a low cholesterol foods diet and watching your daily intake, you might want to consider natural ways to help with the other 75% of your body's cholesterol.
High cholesterol levels can be due to a variety of factors, one of which is genetics. This is a problem that affects millions of people. Many doctors prescribe cholesterol medications called statins, which lower LDL levels in the body.
But there are problems with these statin medications:
1) They can have serious side effects such as liver damage and severe muscle pains. One such medication called Baycol was taken off the market because of serious damage and even deaths as a result of its use.
2) These medications actually deplete a vitamin-like substance called Co-Enzme Q10, a nutrient found naturally in the body that strengthens heart muscle. So these cholesterol medications are counterproductive.
So what is the alternative to cholesterol lowering medications?
We recommend lowering cholesterol naturally with the following cholesterol lowering herbs, minerals and nutrients:
Cholesterol Lowering Herbs
Guggulipid - an ancient Indian herb that has been shown to lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Guggulipid reduces LDL (bad cholesterol) levels and has performed better than modern drugs in several trials.
Turmeric - a powerful herb used in curry dishes, turmeric contains curcumin which lowers LDL levels and improves blood circulation.
Green Tea - among its many therapeutic benefits green tea has been shown to lower the amount of LDL's in the blood stream, and aids in the prevention of blood vessel constriction.
Olive Leaf - native to the Mediterranean region, studies have shown that olive leaf extract may lower cholesterol levels, as well as facilitate blood flow and lower blood pressure.
Ginger - according to a study in the New England Journal of medicine, ginger helps reduce cholesterol in the body. This powerful herb used often in Chinese cooking also helps lower blood pressure and thins the blood.
Other Cholesterol Lowering Nutrients
Policosanol - a powerful extract from sugar cane wax that has been widely studied. Policosanol has been shown to lower bad cholesterol (LDL) and increase good cholesterol (HDL).
Chromium Polyniconate - this organic version of chromium can help lower LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, as well as raise HDL (good) cholesterol.
Niacin (Vitamin B3) - in high dosages niacin has been shown to help reduce total cholesterol levels.
Why should you lower cholesterol naturally?
1) By lowering cholesterol naturally rather than taking prescription medications you can avoid the side effects of Lipitor and similar medications.
2) Natural ingredients can not only lower LDL cholesterol levels, but also increase the good HDL cholesterol which is important for cleaning out LDL in your body. Cholesterol medications do not help with HDL levels.
3) With natural ingredients you can lower your cholesterol and also improve the health of your heart and other body systems at the same time.
Should you take all of these herbs and minerals separately or together in one comprehensive formula?
We recommend that you take these nutrients together if possible for many reasons:
1. Taking each herb and mineral separately could prove very costly.
2. Mixing and matching herbs on your own could be dangerous to your health.
3. They have to be balanced perfectly in order to be effective.
We have found a comprehensive cholesterol lowering product that we believe is ideal. It contains all of the natural cholesterol lowering herbs and nutrients we mention above in a perfectly balanced formula.
We researched the company that makes this natural formula and have found that they adhere to strict GMP compliance, which is the highest manufacturing standards in the world. This ensures the quality and effectiveness of the ingredients.
Also, they only use standardized herbal extracts, the purest herbal extracts with the highest potency and therapeutic benefits.
It contains a synergistic blend of cholesterol lowering herbs and minerals along with essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients to help lower cholesterol naturally as well as promote general well-being and health.
The product is a special
cholesterol lowering formula
that contains a synergistic balance of herbs and nutrients to lower cholesterol naturally.
We also found a product that works in conjunction with the cholesterol lowering formula called Total Balance which acts to improve heart health as well as promote general well-being.
Some of our editors as well as our visitors have experienced success with the Cholesterol Lowering Formula as well as Total Balance to lower cholesterol naturally and for its many other therapeutic benefits. They have followed a diet of low cholesterol foods as well.
As with all heath supplements, results vary from person to person so be sure to consult your physician or qualified herbal professional before taking any supplements to lower cholesterol naturally. You should also follow a diet of low cholesterol foods in conjunction with supplementation.
Low cholesterol foods are only a small part of lowering your cholesterol levels. In addition to low cholesterol foods, you should consider adding cholesterol reducing herbs, vitamins and minerals to your diet. In conjuction with low cholesterol foods, you can significantly reduce your LDL cholesterol levels with these natural ingredients.
more than low cholesterol foods on our heart health & lowering cholesterol page
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