A dietitian shares two breakfast superfoods that can lower cholesterol

Having high cholesterol means that you have too much of a fat known as cholesterol in your blood. Although initially harmless, over time this may accumulate in the blood vessels causing blockages.

This can prevent blood from flowing properly through the arteries. For this reason, having high cholesterol is a major risk factor for medical emergencies such as stroke and heart disease.

There are several factors that can contribute to high cholesterol, and diet is one of them. In particular, eating too much saturated fat can raise your cholesterol levels.

Fortunately, making certain changes to your diet can also have the opposite effect. Therefore, if you are at high risk of high cholesterol or want to reduce your levels, you should look at what you eat.

According to one nutritionist, changing your breakfast is a good place to start. Speaking in an article published by the Cleveland Clinic, registered dietitian Kate Patton shared the best breakfast foods you can eat to lower cholesterol levels.

Yogurt with fruit and oatmeal

Depending on the type of yogurt, this can be one of the best foods to lower cholesterol, Kate said. He explained: “Yoghurt is a common breakfast food, but some may not take it. “Depending on the fat content, there may be some cholesterol in it but not too much.”

For a healthier option, she recommends choosing sugar-free. Combining this with fruit for sweetness and oats for something else can help keep your cholesterol levels in check.

Oats are rich in a type of fiber called beta-glucan, which has shown cholesterol-lowering benefits. Heart UK says: “Eating three grams of beta-glucan each day, as part of a healthy diet and lifestyle, lowers blood cholesterol which is a risk factor for heart disease.

“When you eat beta-glucan, it forms a gel in the gut that traps cholesterol-rich bile acids. This means that less cholesterol passes from the gut into the blood. Then your liver it should remove more cholesterol from your blood to make more bile, which lowers cholesterol in your blood.”

Avocado toast

Kate listed avocados and whole grain bread as good cholesterol-busting foods. Another scientific study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, found that participants who ate avocados every day had bad cholesterol and improved the quality of their food.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) has also recommended eating avocados as a “heart healthy” choice. It said: “The type of fat in avocados is mainly saturated (mainly monounsaturated), which, when eaten in place of high-fat foods, can help maintain healthy cholesterol. ”

Kate also recommends the following breakfast foods for their cholesterol-lowering properties:

• Natural flavors of nuts (almond, cashew, peanut)
• Nuts and seeds
• Shredded wheat.

If you already have high cholesterol or are at risk of developing high cholesterol, he recommends avoiding the following foods:

• Beef fat
• Cheese
• Chicken fat
• Egg yolks
• Meat and poultry
• Milk
• Lard/lard
• Cooked meat and poultry products (bacon, hot dogs, jerky, lunch meat and sausage)
• Shellfish (lobster and shrimp)
• Spread (butter, cream cheese and sour cream).

Kate added: “A diet high in animal fat, saturated fat and cholesterol is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, some cancers, diabetes and thickness. It’s important to check how much animal fat you eat and try to replace it with plant-based foods.”

If you are concerned about your cholesterol level, you should talk to your doctor.