A healthy diet and lifestyle are the best weapons to protect against heart disease. According to research findings, incorporating heart-healthy foods, exercising more, maintaining a healthy weight, and not smoking can help reduce cardiovascular disease-related deaths by 50 percent.
In this article, we’ll look at the causes of high cholesterol. We’ll also look at foods that can either help or hurt your efforts to lower cholesterol. Finally, we’ll give you a 7-day sample meal plan to lower cholesterol.
Cholesterol is carried through your blood, attached to proteins. This combination of proteins and cholesterol is called lipoprotein. There are two different types of cholesterol, based on what the lipoprotein carries (15):
Another type of fat in the blood is called triglycerides, which also influence your risk of heart disease in combination with cholesterol (11).
The biggest factor in determining your overall cholesterol levels is heredity (10). Your genetic makeup might make it more difficult for your body to remove LDL cholesterol from your blood or break it down in the liver. This doesn’t mean that you’re doomed to develop unhealthy cholesterol levels, but you do need to be proactive in keeping them under control.
Because diet and lifestyle are important factors, controlling them can help promote heart health. If you have a family history of high cholesterol or heart disease, it’s especially important to incorporate these changes into your daily life.
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Although factors like genetics are beyond your control and aging can sometimes cause this condition, the underlying cause of high cholesterol is often an unhealthy lifestyle. High cholesterol levels can be caused by the following risk factors (3):
High cholesterol levels can cause a dangerous accumulation of plaque on your arteries (14). This accumulation inhibits blood flow through your arteries; resulting in complications such as:
As mentioned previously, your genetic makeup plays a big role in determining the overall health of your cholesterol levels. But it’s still important to be proactive with a healthy diet, lifestyle, and weight management if you want to maintain good heart health.
Some foods naturally contain cholesterol, called dietary cholesterol. According to the NHS, dietary cholesterol has much less of an effect on the cholesterol levels in your blood than saturated and trans fats (17).
Foods high in dietary cholesterol (and safe to eat in moderation) include:
Eating too many foods high in saturated fat can raise the level of cholesterol in your blood. This is because saturated fats cause your liver to produce more LDL cholesterol. It’s best to replace saturated and trans-fats with healthy unsaturated fats.
Foods high in saturated fat include:
Trans fats can also raise cholesterol levels (24). Foods containing trans fats include:
Read more: A Beginner Intermittent Fasting Meal Plan To Fit Your IF Journey
Unsaturated fats don’t increase your cholesterol levels. They’re actually beneficial because they lower overall cholesterol and blood pressure while still providing energy for your body (1). You can find them in:
A diet that’s low in salt, sugar, and saturated/trans fats and rich in omega-3 fatty acids can lower LDL cholesterol (18). You should also aim to eat three (3) portions of fatty fish per week. A portion will be around two average-sized servings or 140g.
A diet high in fruits and vegetables is a must if you want to maintain healthy cholesterol levels.
The fruits and vegetables highest in soluble fiber are plums, pears, apples, and oranges.
Soluble fiber binds with fatty substances in your gut so that they get excreted from your body instead of entering your bloodstream (4).
The Mediterranean and Vegetarian diets are particularly suitable for reducing cholesterol. We take a look at each of these diets below.
The Mediterranean diet is a way of eating that contains foods typically consumed in countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. This includes items like olives, olive oil, garlic, fish, vegetables, and whole grains—all of which help lower cholesterol levels naturally (22).
The Mediterranean diet consists of natural foods like fresh fruits, vegetables, olive oil, and fish. These foods contain phytochemicals that help reduce cholesterol levels in the body by preventing your body from absorbing as much cholesterol from the limited high-fat foods you consume (5).
The Mediterranean diet also encourages regular exercise, which promotes heart health and aids with the circulation that helps keep blood pressure down.
The diet is based on whole foods, as opposed to the processed food that has dominated much of our daily diets. The following are some examples of the foods recommended in this diet:
Fish
Salmon, halibut, and sole are fish high in omega-3 fatty acids that help to lower cholesterol levels (18).
Vegetables
Carrot salads, eggplant, and zucchini grilled or steamed with other vegetables are recommended on this diet because they are low-fat and high in nutrients.
Check out our previous post: The Best Low Cholesterol Soups To Make This Winter to see how you can incorporate vegetables into your soup dinners.
Olives
Olives are used frequently in recipes common to this diet. They contain polyphenol molecules that function as antioxidants, which also lowers cholesterol levels (8).
Seeds
Pumpkin seeds, flaxseeds, and sesame seeds all help lower cholesterol through their beneficial oils.
Red Wine
Red wine contains the component resveratrol, an antioxidant that helps fight free radicals. Resveratrol prevents LDL (bad) cholesterol from turning into plaque buildup in the arteries by inhibiting a certain enzyme called HMGCoA reductase (21).
Cooking does not affect the resveratrol content of a wine. A Mediterranean diet includes red wine only in moderation, because too much alcohol can counterbalance the positive effects that resveratrol has on heart health.
Vegetable Oils
Olive and canola are the two vegetable oils suggested on this diet. They contain monounsaturated fats that help lower cholesterol by increasing HDL (good) cholesterol in your body (2). When consumed in excess, saturated fats, like those found in butter, may have the opposite effect and actually increase LDL cholesterol levels.
Any food with trans fat. Your goal is to eat as little trans fat as possible while still following a balanced diet.
Foods high in trans fat include fried foods such as donuts and french fries, commercially baked goods like cookies and cakes made with partially hydrogenated oil, margarine spreads, fast-food fries, processed and packaged snacks.
With this simple 1500-calorie meal plan, you’ll protect your heart and lose a healthy 1 to 2 pounds per week in the process. The meals and snacks in this diet plan feature heart-healthy foods that are part of the Mediterranean diet.
Total daily calories: 1504 calories
Total daily calories: 1496 calories
Total daily calories: 1492 calories
Total daily calories: 1503 calories
Total daily calories: 1512 calories
Total daily calories: 1491 calories
Total daily calories: 1499 calories
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The vegetarian diet offers many health benefits, and one of them is lowering cholesterol levels. A vegetarian lifestyle not only helps you shed off excess pounds, but it also helps lower your LDL (bad) cholesterol as well. This way, the risk for heart problems like high blood pressure and heart disease can be decreased significantly (12).
A diet that consists of no animal products is quite low in total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol, which are considered the main culprits in increasing bad cholesterol levels in the body. Furthermore, this kind of diet has been known to help reduce blood triglyceride levels effectively.
Non-meat protein sources such as soy products have been associated with an increase in vitamin B12 levels. These vitamins are essential for lowering the risk of stroke (25).
While on a vegetarian diet for lowering cholesterol levels, you should eat foods that are rich in complex carbohydrates, fiber, antioxidants, and phytochemicals.
Vegetables, fruits, and whole grains are all excellent sources of fiber and other nutrients. They should be included in your diet if you want to lower your cholesterol level naturally with the vegetarian diet (23). Such foods include:
A vegetarian lifestyle also includes a lot of vegetable oils that contain phytochemicals, which help reduce bad cholesterol levels by preventing LDL from being absorbed by the body (19). Some foods high in these antioxidants include:
The vegetarian diet excludes the following foods:
With this simple 1500-calorie meal plan, you’ll protect your heart and lose a healthy 1 to 2 pounds per week in the process. The meals and snacks in this diet plan feature heart-healthy foods that are part of the vegetarian diet.
Total daily calories: 1502 calories
Total daily calories: 1499 calories
Total daily calories: 1501 calories
Total daily calories: 1499 calories
Total daily calories: 1503 calories
Total daily calories: 1509 calories
Total daily calories: 1515 calories
Read more: Vegan Weight Loss Meal Plan and Prep Tips
Exercise is a vital part of any cholesterol-lowering regime. Exercise increases blood flow to your muscles and organs and helps you maintain a healthy weight (13).
Controlling stress is an important part of maintaining good heart health too. Stress can raise levels of LDL cholesterol, so it’s important to have a good work-life balance. You can meditate or take up yoga.
If your cholesterol levels are high but falling within the normal range, you may be able to stop taking statins if your doctor agrees.
Statin medication can cause side effects such as muscle pain or liver dysfunction, so it’s important to follow a healthy diet plan and try not to exceed the recommended daily intake of saturated/trans fats and cholesterol.
No single food can magically reduce your cholesterol levels in just 7 days. However, incorporating certain foods into your diet and making healthy lifestyle choices can help lower your cholesterol over time (16). These foods include:
7 days is a short amount of time to significantly lower your cholesterol levels. However, making healthy lifestyle choices and incorporating the above-mentioned heart-healthy foods into your diet can help get you started on the right track.
Here are some tips for naturally lowering your cholesterol:
Drinking certain beverages can also help lower your cholesterol levels. These include:
Water: staying hydrated can help keep your body functioning properly and may also impact cholesterol levels.
Bananas are considered a heart-healthy fruit and can be incorporated into a cholesterol-lowering diet. They are high in fiber, potassium, and vitamin C, all of which can help lower cholesterol levels.
However, it’s important to note that simply eating bananas will not lower your cholesterol on its own – incorporating a variety of healthy foods and making lifestyle changes is necessary.
Some healthy ways to eat bananas include:
In our Low-Cholesterol Breakfast guide, we share a simple and delicious oatmeal banana pancake recipe that is perfect for starting your day off on a heart-healthy note.
The worst foods for cholesterol are those high in saturated and trans fats. These include:
Limiting your intake of these foods is important for maintaining healthy cholesterol levels
(20).
Aside from the foods listed above, it’s also important to limit your intake of added sugars and salt, as they can contribute to high cholesterol levels. Reading nutrition labels carefully and making informed choices when grocery shopping can help you avoid these harmful ingredients.
Some studies have suggested that intermittent fasting can help lower cholesterol levels, particularly LDL (bad) cholesterol (7). This is because IF can lead to weight loss and reduced inflammation, both of which are factors that contribute to high cholesterol levels.
However, more research is needed to fully understand the effects of intermittent fasting on cholesterol levels. It may not be suitable for everyone and should be approached with caution, especially if you have any underlying health conditions.
That said, incorporating intermittent fasting into your 7-day meal plan could potentially have positive effects on your cholesterol levels.
The intermittent fasting 19/5 method, where you fast for 19 hours and have an eating window of 5 hours, may be a good option for those looking to improve their cholesterol levels.
19 hours is long enough to trigger autophagy, the body’s process of breaking down and eliminating old or damaged cells. This can help reduce inflammation in the body, which is key for maintaining healthy cholesterol levels.
During the 5-hour eating window, it’s important to focus on whole, unprocessed foods that are low in saturated and trans fats. These include fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats like avocados and olive oil.
Our blog titled: Intermittent Fasting 19/5 goes into more detail about this method and provides ideas for meals within the 5-hour eating window.
A well-balanced diet can be used as part of a healthy lifestyle plan to help reduce cholesterol levels and lower the risk of developing heart problems. Mediterranean and vegetarian diets are not only good for heart health but also quite easy to follow if you’re looking to lose weight as well.
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