Our heart is the most important parts of our body. But it is also one of the organs which get the most affected by life-threatening diseases such as clogged arteries, high cholesterol, arrhythmia as well as other cardiovascular diseases. Out of all these diseases, one disease which has become rather common these days is the increased level of bad cholesterol which includes the accumulation of grease or fat on the inner wall of the arteries thus blocking the blood supply to the heart. This also makes the person with high cholesterol more susceptible to heart attacks.
Recently we have celebrated the World Heart Day and we would like to enlighten you about some of the food items which can actually help you to lower your cholesterol level and lead a healthy life. Here are the five food items that you must include in your diet in order to fight cholesterol.
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1. Oats- If you are trying to lower your cholesterol level then all you have to do is change your breakfast. Switching your daily breakfast to oats can help lower the level of LDL (bad) cholesterol up to 5.3% in just 6 weeks. The thing that leads to this decrease in cholesterol level is the presence of beta- glucan, a substance which absorbs the LDL from the body and flushes it out. So make sure to swap your breakfast with a big bowl of health (oats).
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2. Fatty fishes- Omega 3 fatty acid has the most amazing health benefits which include dementia, heart diseases and several others. But apart from these there is one more health benefit which makes it a must include in your regular diet and that is, it lowers bad cholesterol level. If a research from the Loma Linda University is to be believed, then swapping saturated fats with omega 3 fatty acid found n fishes like salmon, herring, mackerel and sardines can improve the level of good cholesterol by up to 4%.
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3. Tea- Though tea is already very well known for its cancer-fighting antioxidants, it also acts as an amazing defence mechanism for the high level of LDL cholesterol. Based on a research performed by the USDA, black tea has been found to lower the blood lipids by up to 10% in just 3 weeks. Now you have a reason to ditch that cup of coffee and sip more of black tea.
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4. Beans- Beans are great for your heart. The researchers at the Arizona State University Polytechnic found that adding even just a cup of beans to your daily diet can lower the overall cholesterol level by up to 8%. The reason behind this fact is that beans are rich in fibre which has proven to reduce the rate at which the cholesterol gets absorbed by certain food items. Try to include kidney, black or pinto beans in your diet to fulfil your daily fibre requirement.
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5. Chocolate- Keep in mind that we are not talking about milk chocolates and the chocolate candies. We are talking about dark chocolates which have 55-60% or above cocoa content. Dark chocolates contain antioxidants in abundance which helps in increasing the level of good cholesterol or HDL. When compared to milk chocolates bittersweet or dark chocolates has up to 3 times more antioxidants in it, which in turn helps in preventing blood platelets from sticking together and prevent the arteries from getting clogged.
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