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You’re thinking about how breakfasts must suck without your crispy bacon, poached egg, a cup of espresso, and fried toast. But you want to know what really sucks? High cholesterol levels.
We’re talking heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular diseases. Bet you don’t want that, do you? So why don’t you educate yourself on how you can enjoy a whole hearty morning meal with a low cholesterol breakfast.
Cholesterol is an animal sterol/lipid present in the blood tissue and blood plasma of animals. Its highest concentration is usually found in the liver, spinal cord, and brain.
Cholesterol supports your body’s good health by playing multiple roles, including:
Other functions include playing a role in brain synapses, the immune system, and food digestion through bile.
Cholesterol has two sources which are liver and food. From the liver, it’s called blood cholesterol, whereas dietary cholesterol is from animal-based foods such as meats, poultry, kinds of seafood, and dairy products.
Blood cholesterol from the liver, other organs in the body, and cell membrane attributes to 80% of the body’s total cholesterol. Because your body can’t produce anymore, the remaining 20% comes from dietary cholesterol (11)
If you consume more fats, your liver could compensate by lowering its production and removing excess cholesterol. However, that’s only theoretical since our bodies have different efficiency levels.
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Cholesterol is essential for several roles in your body; however, there can be a negative side to it. Since lipids can’t travel themselves in blood, they need protein called lipoproteins to carry cholesterol throughout the body (8).
During transport, there are three distinctions:
LDL is the “bad” cholesterol because excess of it causes a buildup on the walls of your blood vessels. The more LDL, the more your arteries continue to form the fatty deposit, leading to atherosclerosis (2).
As this continues, your arteries, which provide oxygenated blood to your heart and organs, will keep narrowing. Less blood is transported, raising your risk for heart diseases, stroke, angina(chest pain), other cardiovascular health issues (3).
If this is new for you, you probably don’t know what to eat. Here are over ten low-cholesterol breakfast ideas.
These foods contain soluble fiber that lowers your bad cholesterol by attaching it to your digestive tract and helping you remove it from the body. It also reduces its absorption into your bloodstream.
Examples of low cholesterol breakfast recipes with high fiber foods include five grams or a pack of dietary soluble fiber from oats, barley, or bran, paired with fruits such as apple slices, a pear, a banana, and berries for added fiber. Avoid adding sugar.
Next up is whole-grain breakfast sandwiches made from whole grain bread. Sandwiches offer the best way to eat low cholesterol, high protein breakfast because you can’t miss adding protein content to your sandwich. Delicious additions for your sandwich could include:
When it comes to baking your breakfast, you also have several options, including homemade muffins made with whole-grain flour, vegetables, fruits, and plenty of nuts. You could also make apple bran muffins, which are classic and contain two fiber sources, apples and bran.
Read More: Why Is Breakfast So Important? The Truth About The First Meal Of The Day
Fish contains the highest concentration of omega-3 fatty acids. They’re good fats that increase healthy HDL cholesterol in your body and reduce triglycerides in your bloodstream. Examples of fish you could incorporate in your breakfast include salmon, mackerel, trout, tuna, and other oily fish. These contain the highest concentration of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.
To be on the safe side, stick to broiling, grilling, and steaming. These methods will help you avoid adding unhealthy fats to your meal.
First off, soybeans. They are a great protein alternative that can also lower your bad cholesterol by about 5% to 6% for every 25 grams of soy protein you consume. You could make it as a soup, make a chili with it or eat it with your toast.
Other beans such as kidney beans. Black-eyed beans, lentils, and chickpeas are rich in soluble fiber, which will help you reduce LDL cholesterol. There are many different ways you can cook them just ensure you don’t add in too much fats. Stick to healthy oils such as olive, sunflower, flaxseed and soybean oil.
Nuts contain healthy fat and protein that can aid improve your blood cholesterol. All nuts are high in calories, but there are great nut options such as walnuts and almonds filled with healthy fats, fiber, magnesium, and vitamins. Consuming about two ounces of nuts a day can equally lower your LDL cholesterol by 5%.
Toast doesn’t have to be boring. Smear on some avocado, and you have a healthy and trendy breakfast choice.
Avocados are high in monounsaturated fatty acids that lower cholesterol and reduce your risk of cardiovascular diseases. They are rich in plant-based sterols that also lower cholesterol and are high in soluble and insoluble fiber.
Egg yolk contains all the cholesterol from an egg, leaving egg whites to be cholesterol-free and packed with protein. You could scramble a couple of egg whites and eat them together with a handful of vegetables for added fiber.
Orange juice is an excellent source of vitamin C. It is a great add-on to your breakfast to make sure you meet your vitamins and minerals requirements.
You can make a smoothie with just about anything. The ingredients are what’s important to keep it healthy and cholesterol-free. Things you can add to the smoothie include:
You can also use milk from soybeans and almonds to add to your breakfast cereals or drink it by itself.
Lastly, yogurt parfaits, which are low in fat. You could pair it with fruits such as bananas and berries, nutritional seeds, and high fiber foods such as oats.
Orange juice has sterols and stanols extracted from plants which help to reduce cholesterol by limiting the body’s ability to absorb cholesterol from food. There are other foods you can get such sterols and stanols include margarine, some granola bars and chocolate. Besides, chocolate too can help with reducing LDL cholesterol (1).
You can opt for supplements from the store or go for these healthy options. At least 2 grams of plant sterols or stanols a day can help reducing your cholesterol levels.
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Traditional breakfast foods such as crunchy bacon, poached eggs, and buttery pancakes are high in cholesterol. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy your breakfast. Below are tips on how to achieve a low cholesterol breakfast.
Before we jump into the tips, note that the best way to lower bad cholesterol is by regulating your dietary cholesterol. You can do so by reducing the consumption of saturated and trans fats. The American Heart Association recommends reducing saturated fat to less than 6% of total daily calories. For someone eating 2,000 calories a day, that’s about 11 to 13 grams of saturated fat. (11)
Hence, this means that you need to limit or completely avoid saturated fats from animal products such as cheese, butter, milk, and meat. Luckily, even though low cholesterol breakfast foods don’t include sausages, ham, and fast food, you can still achieve a healthy meal.
Let’s have a look at ways you can prepare several breakfast items the healthy way.
Eggs are a given in any breakfast option. However, they contain fats and cholesterol that’s unhealthy for you. To make them healthier, you have three options:
If neither of these options works for you, you can also skip the eggs altogether and go for a substitute such as beans or seafood.
Cereals are filled with refined sugar, high carbohydrate content, and other processed ingredients which add cholesterol to the meal. To make healthy changes, consider these options:
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Here’s yet another breakfast classic, except in this case, you will not go drizzling your favorite syrup. Instead, here are a few changes you can incorporate:
Whether it’s bread, sandwich, or bagels, you can prepare it the right way. Often foods such as bagels are calorie-dense and have other ingredients that add cholesterol. To make a healthy choice, you can:
Other ways to achieve a healthy low cholesterol breakfast include:
Cutting down on cholesterol doesn’t mean simply consuming a low-carb, low cholesterol breakfast; it also means lifestyle changes. Here are excellent ways you can use to lower your cholesterol.
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute reports a couple of medications that can treat high cholesterol levels. They include:
These medications are the most prevalent choice among all other cholesterol drugs. They work by reducing the amount of cholesterol produced by the liver, allowing more absorption of dietary cholesterol. Consequently, they help reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes, which is why they are so widely prescribed.
Available status in the USA include:
You could also use drugs in combination. For example, medications such as Advicor® (lovastatin and niacin), Caduet® (atorvastatin and amlodipine), and Vytorin® (simvastatin and ezetimibe).
Statins may be common but not prescribed to everyone with high cholesterol levels. They work in the liver, so you shouldn’t be taking the drugs if you have liver issues. Otherwise, side effects of the drug may include muscle pain and memory loss.
Another common medication includes bile acid sequestrants. They’re also called bile acid-binding drugs, which treat high cholesterol levels by clinging to the bile acid. These resins restrict the use of cholesterol for digestion, forcing the liver to make up more bile using more cholesterol, ultimately clearing up the cholesterol in the blood.
These drugs include:
These resins are also not prescribed to everyone as they have side effects such as constipation and stomach problems.
Fibrates, also known as fabric acid derivatives, are more effective at cutting triglyceride levels than reducing LDL cholesterol. They may also help to boost levels of HDL cholesterol.
These products include:
Other drugs that healthcare providers may prescribe to aid with decreasing LDL cholesterol include:
If your or a family member has hypercholesterolemia, a genetic condition involving high cholesterol levels, your doctor may recommend these medicines to lower cholesterol.
Some medications work through your genes. After trying out other medications and lifestyle changes, your body may still have issues with high LDL cholesterol. Therefore, doctors use a process called lipoprotein apheresis, which is genetic, to alter your genes.
They will use a piece of equipment to remove lipoproteins from blood and plasma and then return the blood and plasma to the body. The process is often combined with some of the new drug treatments such as statin or inhibitors.
Endeavor to start your day with a low cholesterol breakfast that’s filled with good cholesterol, nourishing foods, and low carb/low-fat alternatives. Use the above tips to prepare delicious meals and keep up with the lifestyle practices to lower and maintain your cholesterol.
This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not address individual circumstances. It is not a substitute for professional advice or help and should not be relied on for decision-making. Any action you take upon the information presented in this article is strictly at your own risk and responsibility!