
natural peanut butter and ½ cup sliced strawberriesĢ egg whites scrambled with 1 cup fresh spinach, seasoned with black pepper or salt-free seasoning, and a medium appleģ oz. 1% milk and ½ cup fresh or frozen berriesġ slice of whole wheat toast with 1 Tbsp. walnuts, 1 tsp brown sugar and 1 medium bananaġ hard-boiled egg, 1 slice whole wheat toast with 1 tsp jam and 1 orangeġ cup whole grain cereal with 4 oz. Oatmeal, 100% rolled oats or steel-cut, 1 cup cooked with 1% milk (4 oz.) with 2 Tbsp.

Sample Meal Ideas to Lower LDL Cholesterol Breakfast See how much soy protein you get from some soy-based foods below: Including soy protein (25 grams) from soybeans, edamame, soy nuts, tofu, tempeh, soy milk, soy yogurt, or textured soy protein may help lower your LDL cholesterol. Include a vegetarian style meal once per week. Eating plant proteins from beans, peas, lentils, soy, and nuts may help lower your LDL cholesterol. Choose activities that you will enjoy such as a brisk walk, biking, swimming, or running. If you add exercise it may also help you to lose weight.Īim for 30 minutes of physical activity 5 days per week. Get at least 150 minutes (2.5 hours) of exercise every week. Exercise can help increase your levels of HDL (good) cholesterol which helps to remove LDL cholesterol from the blood. To help you lose weight, you can:ĭecrease added sugars from sugar sweetened drinks.Įat smaller portions by using smaller plates. If you are overweight, losing 10 pounds may help you to lower your LDL cholesterol. Include daily supplements such as CardioSterols or Cholestoff capsules and Benecol chews. To add these in your diet you can:Īdd foods fortified with stanols and sterols. Stanols and sterols are found in fortified foods or supplements. This may help lower your LDL cholesterol. Include 2 grams of plant stanols or sterols per day. Include oat bran, oatmeal, barley, legumes, and ground flax seed more often as they are high in soluble fiber. Have beans or nuts as a topping on salads or as the protein in a veggie wrap. (Whole grains such as wheat, barley, brown rice, wild rice, quinoa, oatmeal, or oat bran). A few helpful tips to increase the fiber in your diet are:Įat 2-4 servings of fruit and 2-4 servings of vegetables per day. This prevents stomach aches, bloating, gas, constipation, and diarrhea. It’s best to slowly increase the amount of fiber in your diet.

Foods that are high in soluble fiber are better at lowering LDL cholesterol. Include tofu, soybeans, soy nuts, tempeh, and edamame more often.Įating foods that are high in fiber helps in many ways besides lowering LDL cholesterol. In cooking, use canola, olive, avocado, peanut, soybean, corn, or safflower oils.Īlmon, mackerel, herring, lake trout, sardines and albacore tuna 2 times per week.Īdd a handful of nuts and seeds such as walnuts, almonds, peanuts, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, or chia seeds. To use avocados or nut butters for spreads or toppings. Omega-3 fats are also healthy fats and are often called “polyunsaturated fats.” These are better at lowering LDL cholesterol. These are liquid fats also called “unsaturated fats” which can help lower LDL cholesterol. Try to limit saturated fats to about 13 grams per day or less and trans fats to 2 grams a day or less. Limit foods which contain partially hydrogenated oils.

Use liquid oils (canola, olive, avocado) instead of solid fats (butter, lard, shortening, coconut and palm oils).Īdd beans, soy products and nuts to your diet. Some helpful tips to lower saturated fats, trans fat, and cholesterol are:Įat no more than 6 ounces of lean meats or poultry or fish each day.Ĭhoose skim or low-fat dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream). Many of the foods rich in saturated and trans fats are also high in dietary cholesterol. Trans fat is found in shortening, stick margarine, frozen pizzas and donuts. Saturated fat is found in fatty meats such as beef and pork, whole milk, cheese, heavy cream, coconut oil, butter, fried foods, egg yolks and baked goods.

Limit saturated fat, dietary cholesterol and avoid trans-fat Discuss your individual goal with your provider. LDL cholesterol goals vary and are based on individual risk factors. This build up increases the chance that you will have heart disease. LDL (bad) cholesterol can build up in the arteries.
