LDL Diet

There are three main ways to lower LDL: cholesterol lowering medications, exercise, and diet.

An LDL diet is the most obvious place to start, and for many people, it's the hardest of the three.  

LDL, of course, stands for low density lipoproteins. These are the fatty substances that tend to stick to the walls of our blood vessels, causing high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attacks and strokes. LDL cholesterol has become known as "bad cholesterol."

So an LDL diet that keeps your bad cholesterol as low as possible is a good thing.

In theory, it's simple. You include fewer LDL foods in your diet.

But in this day and age of high activity and high stress, eating only what's good for you can be a serious challenge.

Oh, there are plenty of cholesterol-free and low cholesterol foods. You probably already know what they are: fruits, vegetables, grains and certain kinds of beans and nuts. 

The problem is...the opportunity to eat high LDL food is all around us. Fast food restaurants that feature super-sized, high fat and high calorie meals are everywhere. The grocery shelves are stacked with pre-packaged, ready-to-eat processed foods that are loaded with the type of fats that wind up sticking to the walls of our arteries.

We're also bombarded with commercial messages - hundreds of them a day - tempting us to eat things that give us high blood cholesterol - and put us at greater risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attacks and strokes.

Even when we're not driving to McDonald's or KFC, there's the tradition of the 5 or 6 course, sit-down-at-the-table, pass-the-meat-and-potatoes family evening meal. Sociologists tell us the sit-down-as-a-family part is probably a good thing. It's the pass-the-meat-and-potatoes part that definitely does not lower our LDL.

So, does it take an exceptionally dedicated human being to resist the "urge to splurge" on unhealthy LDL foods?

Actually, it doesn't. Giving up everything all the foods we've grown to love is unrealistic. But rebalancing the ratio of good cholesterol to bad cholesterol is possible for anyone. And it's probably the key to maintaining normal cholesterol levels.

Good cholesterol, mentioned above, is HDL cholesterol. HDL stands for high density lipoproteins. This type of cholesterol floats around in your bloodstream along with LDL.

But HDL provides your body with an extremely valuable service. It attracts the fats in LDL and flushes them out of your system before they can start attaching themselves to the walls of your blood vessels in the form of something doctors call "plaque."

The less plaque you have, the lower your risk of high blood pressure and heart disease.

LDL foods to avoid in your diet

As mentioned above, you probably already know about many of the foods that are high in LDL. But if you're in the grocery store, and you're not sure about some of the items on your shopping list, you can get some help by reading the labels.

Foods that make up a bad LDL diet include these words: trans fat and saturated fat.

Trans fat is found in food that's artificially manufactured. It increases LDL cholesterol while decreasing HDL.

Examples of foods with a lot of trans fats are: most fast food, frozen foods, spreads (like margarine), packaged foods like cake mixes, Ramen noodles and soup cups, baked goods like donuts, cookies and cake.

Saturated fat is the type that's found in food that comes from animals and certain oils, nuts, seeds, and avocados (this is why reading labels is important: not all nuts and vegetables are low in LDL).

Most whole dairy products have saturated fats.

HDL foods to add to your diet

Educate yourself about foods that contain beneficial fats. Look for the words monounsaturated and polyunsaturated.

Monounsaturated fat lowers LDL cholesterol and increases HDL. Monounsaturated fats include vegetable oils such as olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, sunflower oil and sesame oil.

Polyunsaturated fat contains omega 3 and linoleic fatty acid, which you body uses to control blood pressure, blood clotting, and your immune system response. Many kinds of fish contain omega-3.

An LDL diet, obviously, favors monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats over trans fats and saturated fats. Keep this fact in mind at the grocery store, and also fill your shopping cart with lots of fruits, vegetables, grains and HDL-friendly nuts.

Next time you have your cholesterol levels checked, you'll be happy you did.
 

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