GUEST POST: How to lower your cholesterol

by Dr Deborah Lee, Dr Fox Online Pharmacy

Lowering your cholesterol has to be a number one health priority. 56% of UK adults have a high cholesterol level. This affects all age groups including younger people aged 16-44.

When your cholesterol is too high, this causes fatty deposits to be laid down in your artery walls. These fatty plaques weaken the artery and make it more prone to rupture, causing an internal hemorrhage, or if a small fragment of the plaque breaks off, the artery can become blocked, which means that oxygenated blood cannot reach the distal tissue. This is what happens in a stroke or a heart attack. You can prevent damage to your artery walls by lowering your blood cholesterol level.

Here’s the good news! It’s perfectly possible to lower cholesterol by changing your diet. Some people however, will also need to go on statins. However, much can be achieved by eating the right foods.

Foods that lower cholesterol

My top foods for lowering cholesterol are as follows  –

Unsaturated fats – these are plant fats such as olive, sunflower, avocado or rapeseed oil. Avoid animal fats which are saturated fats, such as butter, lard or ghee.

Oats – These are super efficient at lowering cholesterol. They contain a specific type of dietary fibre called beta-glucan which forms a sticky paste in the intestines, binding to bile acids, and preventing cholesterol from being absorbed into the bloodstream.

High fibre foods – There are many:

• Whole grains (not refined grains – so go for brown bread, rice and pasta and not the white alternatives.
• Legumes – lentils, peas, beans, chickpeas and peanuts.
• Nuts and seeds – Any nuts and any seeds.
• Fruit and vegetables – All contain fibre. Get into the habit of eating apples, bananas, pears, strawberries, grapes and kiwi fruit. Green leafy veg and root veg – all contain loads of gut-healthy fibre. Try and eat 10 portions a day if possible!

Oily fish – Mackerel, herring, salmon, trout, sardines, anchovies and pilchard. These contain large amounts of EPA and DHA which are specific types of fatty acids that lower cholesterol. Eat 1 portion a week – don’t overdo it.

• Plant sterols and stanols – These are found in fortified products such as Benecol and Flora Proactiv. You need to consume 3 g a day of these specific products to lower cholesterol – which means
• 2 x teaspoons of fat spread, or 1 x 250ml glass of milk, or
• 1 x 120 g yoghurt, or
• 1 x  65 – 100g bottle of yoghurt mini-drink, or
• 1 x cereal bar

Green tea – Green tea is produced in a different way to black tea, so it contains around twice as many antioxidants as black tea. Drinking 2 0r 3 cups of green tea a day can lower cholesterol.

Do’s and Don’ts for diet and cholesterol

To effectively lower your cholesterol you need to make changes to the way you eat, eat the right foods and the right variety of foods. Here’s some ‘do’s and don’ts’.

Do …

Read food labels and observe the traffic light system. Green means low fat/low saturated fat. Choose green whenever you can.

Eat porridge or whole grain cereal for breakfast – but with no added sugar. A high-sugar diet also increases the risk of heart disease. You can flavour it with fruit, cinnamon, and nuts. If you need a sweetener, use hone, or a natural artificial sweetener such as Stevia.

Ensure you eat plenty of fruit and veggies every day – go for 10 a day if possible. Eat an apple or a banana as a snack instead of biscuits or crisps.

At a main meal, make sure at least half of your plate is covered with salad and vegetables.

Get in the habit of steaming veg instead of boiling them as this retains more vitamins. Leave the skin on, when possible, as this is absolutely full of fibre.

Eat plenty of lean protein. Women need 45 g per day and men 55 g. Options include skinless white meat, fish and shellfish, lean beef or pork, eggs, low-fat cottage cheese and Greek yoghurt, and beans, nuts, lentils and tofu.

Cook from scratch so you know what is in your food. Cook with unsaturated oils such as olive or sunflower oil.

Get into the habit of adding beans, chickpeas, and lentils to soups, stews and casseroles.

Add nuts and seeds to cereal and salad.

Eat fresh fruit with low-fat natural yoghurt topped with seeds and nuts.

Swap to low-fat dairy products including skimmed milk, and low fat yoghurt and cheese.

Eat oily fish at least once a week. If you don’t like fish, consider a fish oil supplement.

Eat products fortified with sterols and stanols.

Drink 2-3 litres of water a day. Don’t drink fizzy drinks, concentrated fruit juice, smoothies with ice cream and cream or energy drinks. Water and skimmed or semi-skimmed milk are the best drinks.

Drink green tea every day.

Don’t …

Overdo the protein – excess protein is converted and stored as fat.

Buy ready meals or takeaways.

Buy shop-bought cakes, puddings, desserts and other treats. If they are not in the house – you can’t eat them.

Eat more than 70 g of red meat a day. In fact, you should not eat red meat every day – substitute this for chicken, turkey, fish, eggs or a vegetarian meal perhaps made with soy or tofu. We should all be reducing our red meat consumption. Vegetarians have a 22% lower rate of heart disease compared to those who eat meat.

Have too much salt – try to reduce the amount of salt in your diet.

Drink more than 14 units of alcohol per week which is the recommended alcohol limit.

What else is needed to lower cholesterol?

Other things you can do to lower your cholesterol are  –

• Being more physically active  – This helps lower LDL cholesterol and raises HDL cholesterol. Exercise also helps you to lose visceral fat (abdominal fat), as well as lowering blood pressure, and reducing the risk of type-2 diabetes.

• Stopping smoking  – Cigarette smoke contains a toxic substance called acrolein which interferes with the way your body metabolises LDL ‘bad’ cholesterol. When you stop smoking, this metabolism reverts to normal, and your LDL cholesterol levels are likely to fall. Smoking lowers HDL ‘good’ cholesterol, so stopping smoking is linked to a rise in HDL cholesterol – ‘good cholesterol’.

Final thoughts

You can lower your cholesterol by eating a balanced, varied diet full of lean protein, plant oils, fish, fruit and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds.

Staying away from too much red meat, processed and ultra-processed food is the key.

• What changes could you make to your diet from today to lower your cholesterol?