8 Foods That Help Lower Your Cholesterol

Adding beans to your diet is fantastic for your health in a number of ways. The first is that beans are a good source of protein and can be used in place of foods that contain high amounts of saturated fats. “Beans are a great replacement for meats,” Zumpano says. The second is that beans are high in soluble fiber, which can help lower LDL levels.

Get more beans into your diet by adding them to soups, salads, or burritos. You can also swap a beef burger for a black bean veggie patty.

Nuts are an excellent source of protein, unsaturated fats, and soluble fiber. When used as a replacement for animal products that contain saturated fats, they discourage high LDL cholesterol levels, while their soluble fiber can help reduce LDL. There’s also research suggesting that nuts can lower your risk of heart disease.

Since nuts are very energy dense, you’ll want to limit your serving size to about one ounce, and make sure the brand you choose is low in added sugars and salts. You can bring them into your diet in the form of a handful as a snack, sprinkle them on a salad, or add nut butters to a sandwich or smoothie.

Plant-based oils, in general, are a good source of heart-healthy fats, as long as they are liquid at room temperature. Olive oil, in particular, is a very good heart-healthy oil, one that can replace unhealthy fats and promote good cardiovascular health.

In a recent study, participants who ate a Mediterranean diet rich in extra-virgin olive oil had a slower progression of plaque formation than participants who ate a low-fat diet.

Add olive oil to your diet by using it in place of butter on your bread, use it in vinaigrettes, and use it to sauté, fry, and roast.

If you are worried about how olive oil will handle higher heats, one study showed that extra-virgin olive oil was the most stable cooking oil, resisting degradation better than oils with a higher smoke point.

Seeds are often overlooked as a source of heart-healthy fats, and they also contain a lot of soluble fiber. “Seeds do double duty, because not only do they have the fiber, but they also have unsaturated fats,” Schmidt says.

Examples include chia, flax, pumpkin, and sunflower seeds. When it comes to adding these into the diet, possible ways include adding ground flaxseeds to a bowl of oatmeal, using sunflower butter in a sandwich, adding chia seeds to a pudding, or eating a snack of roasted pumpkin seeds.

Apples are an excellent source of soluble fiber, which helps lower your LDL levels. Research found that study participants who ate 550 grams of apples a day had lower cholesterol levels by the end of the study. This effect was not seen in study participants who drank clear apple juice, which had the fiber removed.

Since the fiber is primarily found in the skins of apples, you will want to keep the peel on. Ideas for adding in apples include eating them whole as a snack, eating sliced apples with some heart-healthy natural peanut butter, or making no-peel applesauce.

“Anything with avocado is going to have a really good ratio of monounsaturated versus polyunsaturated fats,” Schmidt says. Although both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are really good at lowering your cholesterol, “too much of only the polyunsaturated fats can lower your good [HDL] cholesterol too,” Schmidt says.

What you want to aim for is a balance of the two types of unsaturated fats, which you can do by making sure your diet has a variety of heart-healthy fats in it.

To add in more avocado, you can use avocado oil in cooking, or you can add the fruit to your salads, sandwiches, or burritos.

Adding in fatty fish, such as anchovies, black cod, mackerel, or salmon can lower your cholesterol in several ways. First of all, fatty fish can be used as a substitute for other protein sources that have a lot of saturated fats. Second, fatty fish have a good blend of unsaturated fats, including omega-3 fatty acids, which have been shown to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, according to the American Heart Association.

If you are a regular coffee drinker who needs to watch your cholesterol, it’s a good idea to be mindful of the types of coffee you are drinking.

“Unfiltered coffee, such as espresso and French press coffee, contains fatty compounds called terpenes that can raise our cholesterol levels,” Dr. Klatt says. If you regularly drink espresso or French press coffee, it’s a good idea to replace it with filtered coffee, such as drip coffee.