How to Manage Your Cholesterol

Excess bad cholesterol can lead to heart disease or stroke. It can lead to a buildup of plaque in the artery walls and narrowing of the arteries, causing a condition called atherosclerosis which can make it more difficult for blood to flow through the heart and body. Take into account a few steps to manage your cholesterol levels. Cholesterol is divided into 'the good' HDL cholesterol, 'the bad' LDL cholesterol and 'the ugly' cholesterol. If the levels of normal fat, triglyceride, in the blood are high, then the levels of ugly cholesterol are also high. This can be determined by a blood sample. Nutritionist Lovisa Nilsson has shared her top tips on how to keep your cholesterol levels in control, reports femalefirst.co.uk. Here is the list of four foods items which you can include in your daily diet and combat with bad cholesterol levels: Superfruits: Following recent nutritional studies, several fruits have been labelled 'superfoods' due to their ability to combat harmful fats and reduce bad cholesterol. For instance, it was recently revealed that strawberries have the ability to reduce LDL, the harmful form of cholesterol, by nearly 14 percent, according to research carried out by Universit Politecnica Delle Marche in Italy. Unsaturated fats: Consuming omega-3 essential fatty acids, found in unsaturated fats, will help to lower the levels of bad cholesterol in the blood. Unsaturated fats include oily fish, nuts and seeds, ground flax seeds, olive oil and certain vegetables and fruits such as avocado. Fibre: Beans, pulses, vegetables, cereal and whole grain breads all have a high fermentable fibre content and are therefore difficult for the gut to digest so they attach to bad cholesterol and then remove it from the body via waste. Red wine: Recent studies suggest drinking red wine can ward off cholesterol as red wines contains a plant compound called saponin which blocks the body's absorption of bad cholesterol, LDL.