1. Lower Your Stroke Risk
The most common type of stroke, also called a brain attack, occurs with a sudden interruption to the blood flow to the brain. Look to blocked arteries as the culprit for this interruption. A stroke happens quickly, often before you know what's happening, so the best intervention is to prevent strokes from happening in the first place. Lower your stroke risk by adopting healthy habits like no smoking, losing weight, exercise and treating high blood pressure. However, if you want to stop blocking those arteries in the first place, you need to look at lowering cholesterol levels. High levels (over 160 mg/dL) of LDL cholesterol deposit plaque on artery walls. Conversely, you want high HDL cholesterol levels because HDL carries cholesterol away from arteries.
2. Just Say No to Saturated Fat
You can find several ways to lower LDL cholesterol levels, including taking medication. Exercise and stress reductions may also help. However, preventing a stroke with a low-cholesterol diet is one of the most successful ways. Find cholesterol in foods also high in saturated fats. The two substances go hand in hand in food that comes from animals. Meats, some poultry, seafood, butter, cheese, egg yolks and whole milk all carry large amounts of cholesterol. Get protein from egg whites, skim milk, low-fat yogurt and cheese, and skinless white-meat turkey or chicken.
3. Munch on Plant Sterols and Stanols
Unlike medication, using diet to lower cholesterol carries no side effects. It's just about good nutrition. Replace meat-eating ways with a diet high in vegetables, fruits and whole grains. In addition to containing no cholesterol, some of these foods actually lower cholesterol. Vegetables from plants containing sterols and stanols reportedly lower LDL cholesterol levels by up to 35 percent. These substances block the small intestine from absorbing cholesterol. The food industry has taken this news to fortify other foods with sterols and stanols, including Minute Maid's Heart Wise orange juice and "healthy" margarines like Benecol and SmartBalance OmegaPlus.
4. Fill Up on Fiber
According to the American Heart Association, boosting your intake of soluble fiber to 10 to 25 grams a day limits cholesterol by helping the liver convert cholesterol to bile acids instead. Legumes like beans, high-fiber cereals, vegetables and fruit all contain soluble fiber. Often, it's just a choice of choosing an apple over a banana or carrots over potatoes. Dried fruits like prunes also carry soluble fiber. Increase fiber in your diet slowly; too much at once may cause cramping or diarrhea.
5. Go a Little Nuts
Nuts may be high in fat, but it's usually a good fat monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat. Studies show that several varieties of nuts may lower LDL cholesterol, including pecans, peanuts, macadamia, pistachios and walnuts. However, the most drastic results come from studies showing almonds as the best nut at fighting cholesterol. So, go a little nuts each day with a single serving of almonds or other cholesterol-lowering nut.
