If you want to follow a one-week diet to lower your cholesterol, you can get off to a healthy start by planning your grocery shopping with heart health in mind. Stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables, select a variety of breads, pastas and other grains and buy meat with the mindset that 1 lb. will make four servings. Add few or no processed foods to your cart.
Limit Dietary Fat
Get into the habit of reading food nutrition labels and restaurant nutrition guides. MayoClinic.com recommends that you include no more than 22 g of saturated fat and no more than 2 g of trans fat in your daily diet. You can include up to 78 g of total fat in your daily menu if your choose more healthy fats such as those in olive oil, fish, nuts and seeds. Nutrition information can help you make healthier choices, such as a grilled chicken sandwich instead of a cheeseburger and a piece of fruit instead of cookies.
Breakfast
Boredom can kill the best diet intentions. High-fiber cereals make good breakfast choices, but a week's worth of plain oatmeal can prove dull. Try adding chopped apples, cinnamon and almonds one day and a sliced banana and pecans another. Instead of cooking oatmeal with water, use soy milk, almond milk or non-fat dairy. You can also make cold cereal -- a bowl of bran topped with blueberries and walnuts, for instance. If you don't like cereal, make a bowl of berries and top with plain, non-fat yogurt. Top whole wheat toast with almond butter, peanut butter, avocado, lean ham or low-fat cheese. When time permits, make oatmeal pancakes topped with cooked apples or an egg white omelet filled with vegetables.
Lunch
If you bring your own lunch to work or school, you can avoid the temptation of fast-food restaurants. You can make tuna, turkey or chicken sandwiches. Top them with lots of vegetables and serve on a variety of breads -- a wheat bagel, seven grain bread or whole wheat naan. You can also make salads such as a spinach salad with orange slices, walnuts and sesame seeds tossed in an oil-and-vinegar dressing or a fruit salad with mixed berries and almonds tossed in a fat-free yogurt dressing. If you dine out, aim for high-fiber, low-fat choices such as beans and rice, a vegetable stir-fry or a bowl of vegetable soup.
Dinner
The omega-3 oils in fish can help to lower your cholesterol. At dinner, try halibut with a baked sweet potato and a mixed green salad or salmon with wild rice and green beans. If you like pasta, try whole wheat spaghetti with mixed vegetables and marinara sauce. If you want to eat meat with dinner, keep choices lean and portions small. A 3 ½ oz. portion of beef sirloin fits comfortably within a low-cholesterol diet, but a half-pound burger does not. Serve meat with vegetables and whole grains -- a spinach salad and brown rice, for instance -- and add fresh fruit for dessert.
References
- MayoClinic.com; High Cholesterol; June 24 2010
- University of California San Francisco Medical Center; Cholesterol Content of Foods; Feb. 2 2011
- MayoClinic.com; Nutrition and Healthy Eating -- High-Fiber Foods; 2009
- MayoClinic.com; Healthy Diet: End the Guesswork With These Nutrition Guidelines; February 2011
