Keeping your cholesterol at a healthy level is critically important for heart health—and your diet plays a huge part. Making a point of enjoying the number-one food to lower cholesterol can help you prevent a high cholesterol diagnosis, which raises your risk of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.
Meet the experts: Tracy Paeschke, M.D., a preventive cardiologist at Heart Health Prevention and Wellness; Michelle Routhenstein, M.S., R.D., C.D.C.E.S., a preventive cardiology dietitian at EntirelyNourished.com.
But before adding the right foods to your daily meals and snacks, you need to make sure to avoid the ones that could be raising your cholesterol levels. “The best way to lower your cholesterol through diet is to stop or decrease your intake of foods that increase cholesterol, such as trans fats, saturated fats, and tropical oils,” says Tracy Paeschke, M.D., a preventive cardiologist at Heart Health Prevention and Wellness.
Once you’ve done that, Dr. Paeschke says you can start to focus on adding in foods that keep your cholesterol low. “Adequate amounts of both insoluble and soluble fiber, unsaturated fats, polyphenol-rich foods, and a targeted, nutrient-adequate diet can help lower cholesterol,” explains Michelle Routhenstein, M.S., R.D., C.D.C.E.S., a preventive cardiology dietitian at EntirelyNourished.com. “These foods work together to help bind cholesterol in the gut for excretion, and also help to clear and recycle lipids to reduce its production.”
So, what’s the easiest food to add to your diet to lower cholesterol? Dr. Paeschke recommends nuts, aiming for about 1/3 cup of unsalted nuts per day, such as walnuts, almonds, pistachios, and cashews. A review published in Nutrients found that nuts consistently decrease levels of total cholesterol, LDL (bad) cholesterol, and triglycerides, as well as apolipoprotein B, the protein that makes up the structure of harmful LDL cholesterol and plaque. “[Eating nuts] also lowers blood pressure and cardiovascular mortality,” Dr. Paeschke adds.
If you’re already snacking on nuts on a daily basis, Routhenstein suggests adding more lentils to your meals to help reduce cholesterol levels. “Lentils are not only high in soluble and plant-based fiber, but they also have zinc, magnesium, and potassium that support healthy blood pressure and the vascular environment,” she explains. “Their soluble fiber can also help bind cholesterol and bile acids in the gut so more is excreted, which can lower LDL within a context of an overall heart-healthy diet.” A different study in Nutrients found that eating lentils daily lowered both total and LDL cholesterol levels.
Ultimately, adding one or both of these to your diet, either on a daily or a weekly basis, will be a smart choice for your cholesterol levels and your overall heart health.
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