Foods that Lower Cholesterol, Snacks that are Low in Cholesterol
75When you are first diagnosed with high cholesterol, your first thought is that you will never be able to eat anything that tastes good ever again. You also assume that snacks are totally out of the question. Fortunately, that is not true. There are many healthy snacks that don't raise your LDH cholesterol (bad) and some that actually raise your HDL cholesterol (good). Dieticians recommend that you have at least two snacks a day.
These are some of the snack foods that can lower cholesterol.
Nuts
Nuts, while high in fat, have been proven to lower LDH cholesterol and to raise HDL cholesterol. A recent study showed that having two servings of pecans a day did just that for the majority of participants. The nuts with the lowest saturated fat contents are almonds and hazelnuts; walnuts are also low in fat. Two ounces of nuts is about a handful and makes for a satisfying snack. You can also grind up the nuts and add them to smoothies or sprinkle them on top of your cereal. You can also mix the nuts with dried fruits. Roasting nuts enhances the flavour also. All you need to do is spread some nuts out on a cookie sheet and bake them in the oven for ten to fifteen minutes at 350°F.
Recipes
This recipe offers an alternative to just plain nuts:
Pretzels
Low-sodium pretzels are also a good low cholesterol snack to have when you want the satisfying crunch you get from potato chips. You can get many flavours of pretzels to satisfy any craving. They are good for those people who cannot eat nuts due to allergies. Pretzels contain little or no cholesterol; the basic ingredients of the pretzel are wheat flour, water, brown sugar and yeast. They are also baked, not fried.
Recipe
A tasty looking recipe:
Popcorn
Popcorn is another good snack for those who want to lower their bad cholesterol. It is a good daily source of fibre (which some say can lower your bad cholesterol) and is low in calories and fat. Three cups makes a satisfying and healthy snack. Of course, you want to avoid smothering it in butter and adding salt. You can add your own flavours to the popcorn if you wish; there are many low-fat shakers available in flavours such as green onion or cheese.
Recipe
This is an easy-to-follow recipe for making the perfect popcorn, you can leave out the butter and the salt:
Other Low-Cholesterol Snacks
Other low cholesterol snacks include cut vegetable strips with a low-fat dip such as salsa, all fruits, fat-free gelatin, low-fat yogurt and vanilla wafers.
Disclaimer: Please be aware that the advice in this article should in no way replace that of a licensed physician's and that nothing is necessarily guaranteed to lower cholesterol. Consult your doctor if you think you might have high cholesterol
Foods That Lower Cholesterol: Snacks by Susan Keeping is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
CommentsLoading...
Corn Flakes come with lot of fat and salt on it? The walnuts and Garlic, both in raw form help.
Thanks
You published a Hub about my top three snacks! I can't eat chips any longer because of diabetes and slightly elevated cholesterol. Pretzels, nuts and popcorn are my absolute favorites. Especially almonds. delicious!
Thanks for the comments :)
I love almonds too, I have a bag in my desk at work.
Hi. It's hard to believe that these foods lower cholesterol. I know I've seen and read them a few times. But while they lower cholesterol, will they increase blood pressure or blood sugar? It could be just another stupid question from me but...
To tell you the truth I don't know for sure. I think like everything, moderation is the key. Eat a handful of nuts, not half a pound. Eat only a few pretzels, not the entire bag. Eat plain popcorn, but don't smother it in butter.
Thats what we need low cholestoral. I love almonds and cashews too. I see you write for Helium too. I Also love crosswords. Congrats selling that article
Thanks for sharing
Thanks for the comment Eileen. I love cashews, but try to limit it to having them at Christmas. Otherwise, I'd be eating them all the time.
I've avoided nuts because of the high fat content, but now that I know they're good for you, I think I'm going to go devour a large tin of cashews. <grin>
Thanks for posting this article!
Thanks for you comment jim :)
Good tips. I've been working on my cholesterol for years. Never heard of green onion shakers for popcorn, I'll have to look for that!
Thanks for your comment, rmr
I went to a dietician and had a cholesterol test and i was told that i had the lowest cholesterol level she had seen..!!
I should have asked how long she had been doing the job for!!
My cardiologist told me that changes in diet are only likely to effect cholesterol levels by 10-15%. Many people change their diet and have no change what so ever. If your high risk, statin tablets should not be avoided or replaced by misplaced belief that a change in diet is sufficient.
Having just been told I have high cholesterol, I am delighted to see that hazlenuts (in moderation) are acceptable, since we were given a bucket loads of fresh ones in early September! Likewise I'm a big fan of almonds, so your hub brought a cheer and smile to my face! Annoyingly, my cholesterol is heridetary since I do keep myself in reasonable shape.
Unfortunately, some of my cholesterol (maybe most of it) is heredity but I am keeping it in check.
And yes, if your cholestorol is very high you probably do need a drug. That's why I suggest you see a doctor first before you do anything.
Thanks for the comments. It is really helpful and relieving. I'm only 37 and having been diagnoised with H-cholestrol is a real eye opener for me. I shall stick to these advices.!
Thanks for the great snack ideas. I love pretzels without salt on them. I also like to snack on almonds as well.
I just found out this morning that I have a high number for my cholesterol and this is the second best website for finding snack food low in ccholesterol. My all-time favorite still remains my all-time favorite...POPCORN!!! Thank you!! Leslie Brooks, Ft. Worth, Tx
I am actually nuts for nuts.
However, I am not too sure about the popcorn because it really calls for butter and salt to whet the appetite, and especially when watching movies, one box almost always isn't enough.
We like nuts and pretzels.
Popcorn, however, may be risky since it does taste better with butter and salt, and one serving is not always enough.
Thanks for the ideas. We were shocked to find out that our 10 yr old has high cholesterol! He is not even remotely overweight and we feed him healthy food. Turns out that one of his medications might be to blame. Anyway, I'm looking for good snacks for him and this was helpful!
At 76 I was diagnosed with high cholesterol. I chose to
eat better and exercise with my doctor's approval. I return in 3 months and I had loss 11 lbs and the cholesterol went down l0 points. It works.
Good to see that nuts are OK when dealing with cholesterol problems. Then again why wouldn't they be - they are entirely natural and must have formed a major part of our dietary evolution as hunter gathers.
Thanks for the reply to my Hub Hangout question first of all. The only item I use for cholesterol is Porage or as most spell it Porridge. It removes cholesterol. You may notice a difference in your feet ( not so cold ) after one week.
Trsmd 4 years ago
Nice page for providing low cholestrol snacks...