The lipid-lowering diet is based on the use of foods with a low cholesterol content. The latter include products containing monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, as well as soluble and insoluble vegetable fibers.
Standard lipid-lowering diet is recommended for people already suffering from cardiovascular diseases, or for those who have a predisposition to them. In addition, lowering cholesterol is usually necessary when a person has obesity, diabetes, hypertension. Thus, lipid-lowering diet is not primarily aimed at losing weight, but improving the body.
A diet low in cholesterol
Here are the basic rules for those who decided to follow a hypolipidemic diet:
- give up cooking recipes using fats and oils of animal origin;
- Do not toast and do not fry your food - you can only boil it, cook it in a steam or bake;
- Eat often and in small portions.
The following products will most effectively reduce cholesterol:
- Vegetables and fruits - because of the vegetable fibers that they contain.
- Oatmeal (oatmeal porridge or cereal for breakfast, oat cakes) - thanks to the soluble fiber contained in it.
- Peas, bran, soy, sesame, peanuts, sunflower seeds, as well as their corresponding oils - because of the phytosterols contained in them.
- Oily fish - due to the presence in it of omega-3 fatty acids, which, as it turned out, cause a decrease in cholesterol.
- Olive oil is a source of monounsaturated fatty acids, in particular oleic acid. As was found, in comparison with saturated fatty acids, olive oil provokes a decrease in the level of total and bad cholesterol, while at the same time it does not significantly affect the indices of good cholesterol. Use no more than 4 tablespoons of olive oil per day.
- Quality dry wine - moderate consumption of wine (especially red, which contains antioxidants) increases the level of good cholesterol.
Here is a more detailed list of products with a low cholesterol content, which can be used for a hypolipidemic diet:
- whole grain bread and biscuits;
- brown rice, beans;
- brown pasta;
- skimmed milk, low-fat yogurt, low-fat cheeses;
- Meat of rabbit, chicken and turkey without skin;
- low-fat pieces of red meat (eat red meat 1 time in 10 days);
- oily fish (mackerel, sardines, salmon, bream, anchovy, sea bream);
- fruits with peel and fresh fruit juices;
- vegetables - as fresh, so boiled or baked;
- vegetable oils;
- tahini, sesame, walnuts, almonds.
The hypolipidemic diet completely excludes the following products:
- bakery products (biscuits, croissants, buns);
- fried potatoes, chips, popcorn;
- sweet (cakes, cakes, ice cream, sweet pastries);
- easily assimilated carbohydrates (sugar, jams, jams, large amounts of honey);
- Milk creams, whole and condensed milk, yoghurts and cheeses with a high fat content;
- Poultry meat with a skin, goat with a skin, lamb;
- sausages (bacon, salami, mortadella, etc.);
- ready meals (pizzas, cheeseburgers, carbonara, etc.);
- egg yolks (replace 20 grams of meat with the proteins of two boiled eggs);
- fish caviar;
- molluscs (shrimps, lobsters, mussels, oysters, sea urchins, lobsters, cuttlefish, squid);
- Inside (liver, brain, kidneys, spleen, heart);
- canned, salted and smoked meat or fish;
- Butter, animal fats for cooking, fatty sauces - prepare your sauces based on olive oil, lemons and grape vinegar;
- alcohol and carbonated drinks.
The most obvious example of fast and easy-to-prepare dishes with a low cholesterol content is borsch and porridges boiled on the water.