Foods that lower cholesterol

Changing your foods can lower your cholesterol and improve the armada of fats floating through your bloodstream. Adding foods that lower LDL, the harmful cholesterol carrying particle that contributes to artery-clogging atherosclerosis, is the best way to achieve a low cholesterol diet.

Oats: An easy first step to lowering your cholesterol is having a bowl of oatmeal or cold oat-based cereal for breakfast. It gives you 1 to 2 grams of soluble fibre. Add a banana or some strawberries for another half-gram.

Barley and other whole grains: Like oats and oat bran, barley and other whole grains can help lower the risk of heart disease, mainly via the soluble fibre they deliver.

Beans: Beans are especially rich in soluble fibre. They also take a while for the body to digest, meaning you feel full for longer after a meal. That is one reason beans are useful food for folks trying to lose weight.

Nuts: A bushel of studies shows that eating almonds, walnuts, peanuts, and other nuts are good for the heart. Two ounces of nuts a day can slightly lower LDL, on the order of 5%.

Vegetable oils: Using liquid vegetable oils such as canola, sunflower, and others in place of butter or shortening when cooking or at the table helps lower LDL.

Apples, grapes, strawberries and citrus fruits: These fruits are rich in pectin, a type of soluble fibre that lowers LDL.

Fatty fish: Eating fish two or three times a week can lower LDL in two ways: by replacing meat, which has LDL-boosting saturated fats, and by delivering LDL-lowering omega-3 fats.