5 Things You Need to Know About Lowering Cholesterol With a Vegetable Diet

1. Lower Your Cholesterol With Veggies

Most doctors recommend a balanced diet and exercise to lower cholesterol before trying prescription medications. Cholesterol medications have side effects, and once you start them you'll usually need to take them for the rest of your life. If you've recently discovered your cholesterol is too high, try lowering it with a vegetable diet.

2. Variety is the Spice of a Vegetarian Kitchen

If you're eating a vegetarian or mostly vegetable-based diet, incorporate a wide variety of vegetables into your diet. If you've never eaten kale, parsnips, fennel or daikon, add them to your vegetable lineup. Aim for an rainbow of vegetables each week with particular emphasis on green vegetables, such as spinach, peas and broccoli, and brightly colored veggies, such as orange, red, yellow or green peppers and tomatoes, which are rich in antioxidants. When you eat lettuce, choose the dark "red leaf" variety, which is filled with nutrients. Go for the unusual with greens like dandelion, a natural blood purifier.

3. Never Miss Meat Again

Vegetable-based diets are hard for many individuals because they miss the texture of meat. Seitan, literally "wheat meat," is made from wheat gluten and is the closest vegetarian food to meat in terms of texture. You can purchase seitan at natural food stores or make it yourself with vital wheat gluten and spices. If you can't give up meat entirely, limit your red meat consumption to just once per week, and make sure the majority of your meals are vegetable-based. If you want some chicken, eat it just once a week and never consume it fried.

4. Try Tofu

If you miss chicken on a vegetable-based diet, try tofu instead. Marinate it in virtually any flavor you like. Eat it on its own or bake tofu in the oven and combine with a vegetable-based mayonnaise product to make a mock chicken salad. Tofu is low in calories and cholesterol-free, so it's a great meat substitute when you're eating a vegetable-based diet. You can also find soy substitutes for meat. Soy sausage links often taste like the real thing.

5. Serve Them the Way You Like Them

If you've been eating a lot of meat, transitioning to a vegetable-based diet might be difficult. Prepare your vegetables any way that you enjoy them. It's more important that you eat them than whether you choose to boil, broil, bake, saute or steam (the healthiest option). Use butter sparingly or opt for a vegetable-based margarine instead. Even better, drizzle olive oil over the veggies. Over time, you'll learn to eat vegetables plain or with a light dash of your favorite spices.