TOP 9 effective diets for high blood cholesterol

17 March 2022

Therapeutic diet for high blood cholesterol is the main link in the treatment of this disease. Think about how you can avoid excess fat and cholesterol in your diet. We will understand how to choose the right healthy food for yourself for each day and a rough menu for a week if you are facing hyperlipidemia.

20 Basic Nutrition Rules for High Cholesterol

Elevated cholesterol can be the cause of coronary heart disease, thrombosis of the veins of the lower extremities, stroke, myocardial infarction. You can prevent the severe consequences of chronic hyperlipidemia by following the simple rules listed below.

Diet for hypercholesterolemia should be partial. Try to eat 5-6 small meals a day. Thus, there is no increase in appetite and risk of overeating after a long fast.
Eat vegetables and fruits at any time and in large quantities. Dietary fiber accelerates the removal of excess cholesterol from the body.
With bad cholesterol, the diet should contain mostly plant-based fatty foods. Try to use olive oil instead of butter when cooking.
Try to eat lean meat no more than twice a week. With high cholesterol, recipes and menus that use poultry, beef, rabbit and lamb are most appropriate.
Proper nutrition with high cholesterol is supported by sports. Gentle walks of at least three miles a day are recommended for people with high levels of low-density lipoprotein.
The diet for hypercholesterolemia should consist mainly of steamed, baked, boiled foods. Redness should be avoided at all.
If you have high cholesterol, avoid foods rich in animal fats. No need to eat lard, pork, bacon, smoked meats. Replace these products with boiled poultry, fish, seafood.
An increased level of salt in food is contraindicated in high blood pressure and atherosclerotic diseases. Try to eat no more than 5 grams of salt a day. It is better to abandon this product completely.
It is necessary to drink at least two liters of water a day, especially with thick blood and increased bilirubin. An elevated level of these indicators usually indicates a violation of liver and gallbladder function, leading to hyperlipidemia. Increased blood viscosity provokes the fixation of blood clots in lipid deposits in blood vessels. It is necessary to eat dried grains that can dilute the blood, such as cherries and eggplants.
Sweet desserts and high cholesterol are a bad combination. Even milk chocolate should be avoided. As an alternative dessert, sugar-free oatmeal cookies, dried fruits, nuts and honey are suitable. Sometimes you can treat yourself to oriental Turkish delight.
The daily caloric requirement for women and men varies - an average of 2200 kcal and 2600 kcal, respectively. Increasing calorie intake is also necessary for people engaged in heavy physical work. These factors are important when formulating a diet.
Make sure you refrain from alcohol abuse. Red wine is allowed, but not more than two glasses a week.
Coffee is a controversial ally in the fight against high cholesterol. It contains cafestol, which increases the production of endogenous cholesterol by the liver. But some experts, on the contrary, recommend drinking 1-2 cups of coffee a day, as it helps strengthen the cardiovascular system. So you can drink coffee, but do not abuse it. An alternative is a chicory drink or green tea.
Cook porridge every day. Try not to boil the cereal, leaving it crumbled. Do not arrange the finished dish with too much butter if you have high cholesterol. For oats, for example, honey and dried fruits are suitable as flavorings.
Hyperlipidemia precludes the use of fatty dairy products. Replace with nonfat yogurt and kefir. As a substitute, use low-fat yogurt and kefir.
Products that contain harmful trans fats, such as fast food, are strictly contraindicated. Avoid chips and other foods.
When cooking poultry, remove the skin from the surface. Since it makes the dish more greasy and contains harmful ingredients.
Semi-finished products and hypercholesterolemia are mutually exclusive concepts. There are no useful vitamins and minerals in such products. Such food does not bring enough energy, but only blocks the body with calories and ballast fats.
Try not to overdo it at night. Eat dinner no later than two hours before going to bed. To suppress appetite before going to bed, it is better to drink a glass of kefir or eat some dates, a handful of almonds.
Your doctor will tell you how to eat the best way. After weighing all the risks and associated diseases, an experienced specialist will help develop the most effective nutrition plan. Self-treatment of high cholesterol is not recommended.

Elevated cholesterol is a reversible process if you follow the above recommendations and undergo a regular medical examination.

Popular diets for lowering cholesterol in women and men

A cholesterol-lowering diet can be based on a combination of different foods. To significantly lower blood cholesterol levels, it is important to follow the recommended diet for a long time, at least six months.

To understand the different types of diets that regulate high cholesterol, a comparative description of the most familiar of them will help.

Mediterranean diet

The Mediterranean diet, which lowers cholesterol, is recommended for people with atherosclerotic disease, hypertension and overweight. The basis of such food is an abundance of cheeses, meats, fish and spices. However, these products are perfectly combined and have a positive effect on high cholesterol. List of foods in the diet:

Spices and herbs.
Sliced soft cheeses.
Olive oil.
Fish, mussels, shrimp.
Bird, lamb.
Red wine in moderation.
Unleavened bread made from wheat flour (pitas).
Vegetables and fruits.
kos grek.
Cereals.

Fatty meats, salads, sausages, fizzy sweet drinks are categorically excluded from the diet. Since these products can cause high blood cholesterol. As an example, the following menu for high cholesterol, calculated for a week, is presented:

Day 1

For breakfast: three fried pieces of lentils flavored with yogurt.
For lunch, refresh yourself with creamy brussels sprout cream soup; fruit plate and salad with olives and tofu.
For dinner you can eat pita, stuffed with sliced cubes and salad (cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, some olives).

Day 2

A good start to the day is zrazy with buckwheat-buckwheat.
Lunch snack - light lentil soup, risotto with vegetables.
A good mood in the evening will provide roasted salmon, flavored with olive oil, with Provence herb.

Day 3

Breakfast - buckwheat cooked in vegetable broth.
At lunch, roasted tuna with vegetables will restore strength; soup with tomato puree.
For dinner: salad with chicken breast and avocado, flavored with olive oil, pie.

Day 4

Breakfast: yogurt with hazelnuts and grated almonds, you can add a little honey.
Light lunch: fish meat soup, baked potatoes with tomatoes.
Dinner: vegetable salad with an egg, lemon juice and olive oil.

Day 5

Breakfast: oatmeal in water, with the addition of honey and raisins.
Energizes for lunch - soup-puree from spinach and asparagus leaves with liquid cream; lightly boiled salmon with wild rice.
Dinner: bake a pie with small cherry tomatoes and slices, in an integral crust, if desired crush tofu cubes.

Day 6

Breakfast: dried fruit souffle, green tea.
For lunch - cabbage soup, chicken stew with vegetables, a pie.
For dinner - sliced zucchini in the oven, avocado pie and olive oil.

Day 7

For breakfast: pour roasted pumpkin with yogurt and honey.
Lunch: cream soup with champignons and cantera; chicken, minced with garlic, with sweet pepper in the oven.
Dinner: stew with wild rice with mussels and shrimp.

For snacks between meals, you can use dates, prunes, raisins, almonds. Such a diet will not only help regulate high cholesterol, but also reduce body weight.

Diet table number 10

The way of cooking is mainly boiling and baking. Since high cholesterol precludes the use of fried foods. It is recommended to eat at least five meals a day in small portions. Snack in the evening no later than two hours before going to bed. Products that can be consumed:

Freshly squeezed vegetable juices, jelly.
Black bread.
Salad with fresh vegetables.
Eggs without yolk.
Fish: tuna, salmon, carp.
Fat-free cottage cheese, kefir and yogurt.
Kashi.

It is necessary to refuse the following products: butter, fatty meats, and especially delicious red, salted and smoked fish, fatty cheeses, pickled vegetables, mustard. A sample menu for a week if you have high cholesterol might look like this:

Early breakfast: buckwheat cooked in 1% milk, soft-boiled eggs, weak green tea with milk.
Snack before dinner: a piece of boiled chicken or a fresh apple.
Lunch: vegetable juice with barley grains, finely chopped mushrooms and zucchini, roasted salmon or carp with boiled vegetables (for example, bell peppers, onions, zucchini), 1 glass of fresh apple juice.
Snack: rose tea, nuts and dried fruits (for example, prunes and almonds).
Dinner: low-fat cottage cheese, minced beets boiled with an apple, 1 glass of low-fat milk.
At night: 1 glass of nonfat kefir.

During the week, you can combine different variations of dishes from vegetables, white poultry and fish. For snack, use nuts, fruits, such as a banana or an apple. Dietary table no. 10 is recommended not only for the prevention of the occurrence of vascular atherosclerosis, but also for hypothyroidism. With a regular diet for at least four months, high cholesterol can be significantly reduced.

Diet chart number 10A

This diet has a number of limitations:

Bread - maximum 145 g per day.
Vegetable soup - up to 180 ml.
The use of cheeses, pearl barley and millet is excluded.
Do not eat extremely hot or cold foods.

The diet chart number 10, which has a positive effect on high cholesterol, looks like this every day:

Breakfast: chopped oatmeal with 1% milk, green tea, a small apple.
Snack: baked apples with cottage cheese.
Lunch: steamed chicken cutlets, oil-free mashed potatoes, half a glass of fresh apple juice.
Afternoon snack: prunes or dates.
Dinner: oven-baked carrot-apple cutlets, half a glass of nonfat kefir.
Before going to bed: half a glass of rose solution or chicory drink.

After the age of 50, more than 35% of people have high cholesterol. As a result, the risk of developing atherosclerotic disease and the occurrence of myocardial infarction, stroke, increases. Therefore, at this age it is especially important to adhere to proper nutrition in combination with light physical activity.

Dietary table №10C

Table no. 10C is a therapeutic diet for lowering cholesterol. This diet is recommended for people diagnosed with coronary heart disease and high blood pressure, provoked by atherosclerosis. This menu is dominated by vegetable fats, dietary fiber, foods high in vitamins B, PP, C. The daily caloric content of the menu is about 2570 kcal. It is necessary to eat partial portions in six doses per day.

Recommended foods that have a beneficial effect on high cholesterol include:

bran.
Sea kale.
Vegetables and fruits can be eaten in large portions.
Roast or boil the eggs a little, maximum three pieces per week.
Buckwheat, oats, barley porridge.
Darling, a few tablespoons a day.
Durum spaghetti, try not to overcook.

Prohibited foods include menu number 10 similar to food. The approximate daily diet is as follows:

Breakfast: boiled buckwheat without oil, light cottage cheese with seasonal fruits, tea.
Snack: ripe apples or dried apricots.
Lunch: boiled carrots, steamed beet kittens, rice soup with vegetables lightly fried in olive oil, compote with seasonal fruits.
Afternoon snack: sugar-free berry smoothie or honey with a handful of hazelnuts.
Dinner: Seasonal vegetable salad with olive oil and seaweed, salmon (another oily fish) roasted with lemon and thyme slices, boiled potatoes, weak green tea.
Before going to bed: a glass of 1% kefir.

A healthy lifestyle is not limited to diet. Since high cholesterol levels require complex treatment. Do not forget about exercise, as well as long walks in the fresh air.

low carb diet

Foods excluded from the low-carb menu include:

Sweet pastries, white bread.
Sugar and fructose, honey.
Alcohol and fizzy drinks.
Pasta and potatoes.
Milk chocolate.
Fruits as sweet as grapes.

In large quantities, animal proteins should be present in the daily diet, for example, fish, dairy products, lean meat. This is what a low carb menu for a week might look like:

Monday

Egg white omelet with minced champignons and tomatoes;
Creamy soup with chicken and brussels sprouts. Two whole-grain breads;
Pear;
Boiled beef with bell pepper.

Tuesday

Thin pancakes in kefir with cottage cheese, raisins.
Salmon ear. Two slices of bread with cereal.
Green apples.
Roasted chicken fillet with spinach.

Wednesday

Cheesecakes with low-fat sour cream.
Buckwheat in water and roasted chicken kitten.
orange.
Cold chicken.

Thursday

Beaten cottage cheese.
Cheese soup with chicken breast. Two toasts with whole grains.
Half a grapefruit.
Unrefined rice. Zucchini and carrots, fresh cucumber.

Friday

A soft-boiled egg sprinkled with grated cheese.
Boiled fish in a light creamy sauce.
Kiwi or an orange.
Boiled, grated beans. Roleta pule. A tomato.
Before going to bed - a glass of kefir.

Saturday

Cottage cheese and natural yogurt.
Be it steamed lamb and a cucumber.
Mandarin or apple.
Seafood. Arugula salad with olive oil.

Sunday

Steamed omelette with chicken breast.
Roasted turkey fillet with broccoli.
A glass of 1% kefir.
Boiled rabbit with vegetables (onion, zucchini, sweet pepper).

While following this diet, it is recommended to take up to two liters of fluids per day. In women, a contraindication to a low carb diet may be the period of breastfeeding and pregnancy. Elevated cholesterol with timely detection can be successfully treated with nutritional correction. What kind of diet to follow, only the attending physician can finally decide after a detailed analysis of your history.

paleo diet

The Paleo diet includes foods that our Stone Age ancestors ate before the development of agriculture. A large amount of animal protein is the basis of prehistoric nutrition. At the same time, carbohydrates and fats are used in the diet much less. The main product is meat, which contains animal protein. It is the one that speeds up metabolic processes and helps prevent the accumulation of excess fat.

The paleo diet is suitable for lowering blood cholesterol, as the consumption of animal fat is reduced. It is recommended to eat every five hours, approximately three meals a day. The main products allowed are:

Lean meat and poultry.
Seafood, fish.
Oils: olive, flax, sesame.
Mushrooms, nuts and seeds without heat treatment.
Fresh berries, vegetables and fruits.

Sugar and salt, legumes and cereals, dairy products, starchy vegetables (potatoes, sweet potatoes) are excluded from the diet with such a diet. It is recommended to consume mainly raw foods or after minimal thermal treatment. This type of food will help protect blood vessels from cholesterol and plaque formation. Elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein can return to normal if the principles of the paleo diet are followed.

These diets

These diets are based on the minimum consumption of carbohydrates. In this regard, the body trains to produce more energy from fats and proteins. This high cholesterol diet helps reduce low density lipoproteins. At the same time, there is an increase in the level of "good" cholesterol.

While on a ketogenic diet, avoid bread, sugar, pasta, fruits and sweets. With a lack of carbohydrates, the body begins to intensively deplete fat reserves.

This diet is similar to a low carb diet. When choosing the optimal menu, you should use the following rules:

Breakfast: In the morning try to consume up to 15 g of carbohydrates. The source can be cheese or vegetables. It is recommended to eat an omelette in olive oil with tomatoes, adding wholemeal toast. Caloric content - 500-600 kcal.
At lunch, you should limit carbohydrates. Nutritionists recommend eating soup with chicken meatballs (without potatoes, noodles). Note that high cholesterol suggests eating vegetable juice. For the second, you can eat brown rice with breast and a piece of cheese.
Dinner should contain an added percentage of protein and fiber. Poultry or lamb, beef and green vegetables will do. It is better to roast the meat and make a vegetable salad with a tablespoon of olive oil.

When following a ketogenic diet, the body works in an "emergency" state, being in a ketotic state due to the production of ketonic bodies (derivatives of fatty acids). Therefore, medical supervision during such feeding is necessary. Despite the associated risk, elevated cholesterol normalizes during the course of the keto diet.

Some argue that diet will do little to lower cholesterol and recommend taking statins. A very controversial statement. Many doctors and experts disagree fundamentally about this.

Ornish Vegetarian Diet

The diet was originally created by Dean Ornish, Bill Clinton's personal physician. And it is based on strict control of consumed fats. No more than 20 grams of fat per day is allowed. This diet is indicated if a person is diagnosed with hyperlipidemia, atherosclerosis and obesity. Basically, the menu is vegetarian. This food characterizes an increased percentage of carbohydrates in the foods consumed.

It is necessary to combine Ornish food with physical exercise, physical activity. The daily balance of fats, proteins and carbohydrates, respectively, is 10, 25, 75%. Recommended products for use:

Vegetables, mostly green.
Lentils, beans, peas.
Apples and pears.
Buckwheat porridge, made from corn, wheat and rice.

Eat eggs, dairy products, cheeses, biscuits in moderation. It is categorically necessary to exclude red meat, powder and pastry products, butter, mayonnaise, olives, nuts, seeds.

A sample menu for the week can be arranged as follows.

First day

Breakfast: chicory drink, a tablespoon of wheat bran added to low-fat yogurt.
Lunch: some large baked potatoes with tomatoes, a salad with cucumbers, greens and lettuce Iceberg, a green apple.
Snack: apricots or plums (3 pieces), other seasonal fruits, low-fat cottage cheese.
Dinner: two wholemeal toast, an apple or pear, hard wheat spaghetti sprinkled with low-fat cheese, berry compote.

The second day

Breakfast: freshly squeezed orange juice, low-fat milk rice porridge, a glass of kefir.
Lunch: beans with mushrooms and onions, salad with tomatoes, carrots and cucumbers, topped with olive oil.
Afternoon snack: strawberries, wheat bread.
Dinner: two slices of whole wheat bread, half an avocado, boiled buckwheat porridge with mushrooms and carrots, green tea.

Third day

Breakfast: decaffeinated coffee, a cup of berry muesli and low-fat milk.
Lunch: soup with pumpkin and spinach slices, couscous with vegetables, vinegrette without pickles.
Afternoon snack: a glass of kefir, low-fat biscuits.
Dinner: half-roasted eggplants with onions and carrots, a bowl of seasonal berries, mint tea.

The fourth day

Breakfast: pomegranate juice, zucchini-zucchini pancakes.
Lunch: soup with broccoli and cauliflower, boiled asparagus with rice and chicken fillets.
Snack: low-fat cottage cheese with the addition of yogurt, oatmeal cookies.
Dinner: boiled white cabbage with carrots and onions, any fruit you want, currant compote.

Day five

Breakfast: apple juice, porridge from a cereal mix.
Lunch: two fish cutlets, mashed potatoes without added milk and a small piece of butter.
Afternoon snack: a cup of low-fat kefir, a green apple.
Dinner: soup with asparagus and green peas, weak tea.

Sixth day

Breakfast: chicory drink, nonfat cottage cheese with honey.
Lunch: boiled turkey breast with zucchini and pumpkin puree, orange juice.
Afternoon snack: oatmeal pudding, multi-grain bread.
Dinner: two cabbage rolls stuffed with rice and vegetables, mineral water.

Seventh day

Breakfast: a slice of cottage cheese with raisins, chicory.
Lunch: 2 kittens with lentils and carrots, rice.
Snack: 3 baked cheesecakes, orange juice.
Dinner: apples stuffed with cottage cheese and dried apricots, chamomile tea.

High cholesterol with strict adherence to the canons of this diet can return to normal. Regularity and self-control are very important to achieve results.

Intermittent fasting

Fasting is used to lower blood cholesterol. It is possible to treat elevated cholesterol levels with a diet with complete hunger elements in the following way: with malnutrition, the body begins to use low-density lipoprotein reserves to get energy for life. Already after 12 hours of fasting, cholesterol, as an alternative source of energy, begins to be released into the bloodstream and broken down to form energy.

Approximate cholesterol starvation scheme for a week:

The first day - only freshly squeezed apple-carrot juice, diluted with water 1: 2. On the second day you can drink the juice without diluting it with water. For lunch you can eat 50 g of grated carrots. In the third - drink grape-apple and carrot juices. Eat with a hundred grams of vegetable puree, and before going to bed - kefir.

On the fourth and fifth day, add minced vegetables and fruits, and at night - light cottage cheese. On the sixth and seventh day, breakfast should consist of minced vegetables and fruits, and for dinner and lunch, eat buckwheat or overcooked millet cereals. Such a strict diet can be carried out only after consultation with a physician and under medical supervision. To regulate high cholesterol, it is necessary to periodically repeat the course of therapeutic fasting.

It is not easy to choose the optimal diet for high cholesterol - it is necessary to study in detail all the features of a certain person's body. It is very important to consider concomitant diseases, gender, age. Only a properly designed menu is an effective prevention of the severe consequences of hypercholesterolemia.