High cholesterol is a common problem which can be a leading risk factor in the development of heart disease.

Like most other medical conditions of this kind, early prevention is usually better than damage control when it comes to high cholesterol, meaning that it’s better to take steps in your lifestyle to prevent high cholesterol before it happens.

The good news is that even for people with genetic or family histories with high cholesterol, promoting healthy cholesterol levels may, in fact, be easier than you think.

According to registered dietician McKel Hill, fostering healthy cholesterol levels in your body can potentially be as easy as simply making some much-needed adjustments to your everyday diet.

Here are just a handful of foods that you can turn to in order to keep your cholesterol in check. 7 Foods that lower your Cholesterol

Olive Oil

This first item on our list might seem a little strange at first.

After all, olive oil is high in fat, so one could easily be led to believe that foods with a high fat content would only negatively impact a person’s cholesterol.

The truth of the matter, however, is that not all fats are created equal; while some types of fat are indeed detrimental to your cholesterol-related health, others, such as the ones found in olive oil, can actually be healthy for your cholesterol levels instead.

This is because olive oil contains a high concentration of unsaturated fats; unlike saturated and trans-fats, unsaturated fat is actually not only an acceptable addition to a cholesterol-lowering diet, it’s also directly beneficial to lowering cholesterol levels and promoting a healthy heart.

According to Hill, the fat content found in olive oil actually lowers the LDL cholesterol in your body, otherwise known as the “bad” cholesterol, while also raising your body’s levels of HDL, or “good” cholesterol in its place.

Olive oil also contains compounds known as polyphenols, which are also highly effective when it comes to reducing inflammation within the body.

Beans and Other Legumes

When people say “beans, beans, they’re good for your heart”, you may be conditioned into believing this to be the lead-in to a juvenile rhyming joke about flatulence.

Beans of all kinds are an excellent source of fibre, which can help keep the bad cholesterol down while also leaving you feeling full and sated after a meal.

In addition to helping lower unhealthy amounts of cholesterol within your body, many different types of beans and other legumes come packed with other nutritional benefits as well: for example, the garbanzo bean, otherwise known as the chickpea, is a high source of protein, manganese, iron and copper in addition to fibre, and may also help reduce blood sugar and increase your body’s sensitivity to the hormone known as insulin.

Salmon

Salmon and other types of fatty fish are beneficial to your cholesterol levels due to their rich abundance in omega-3 fatty acids.

According to Hill, omega-3 has been shown to improve cholesterol health in a number of ways, such as lowering levels of LDL cholesterol, decreasing inflammation within the body, and decreasing the risk of both heart disease and stroke.

In addition to its high omega-3 content, salmon is also a great source of other important nutrients, such as protein, B vitamins, potassium and selenium.

Avocado

Call us basic all you want, but you know the writers at Bestie would never be able to get away with a video on healthy foods without mentioning our friend the avocado.

Don’t be mistaken, though; avocado’s inclusion on this list is more than just a lip service; like olive oil, avocados are dense with monosaturated fats, and just like legumes, they are also a high source of fibre.

In fact, the Journal of the American Heart Association published a study in 2015 which indicated that overweight or obese adults who ate an avocado every day could expect to see drastically lower levels of bad cholesterol in their systems.

ALSO SEE: “Eating Avocado Every Day For A Week Will Do This To Your Body”.

Nuts

Many types of nuts, particularly almonds and walnuts, are especially potent when it comes to keeping your cholesterol under control.

In addition to being high in unsaturated fats, walnuts are also a rich source of omega-3, and we already know how important that can be when it comes to cholesterol and heart health.

As for almonds, these nuts are an especially rich source of an amino acid known as L-arginine, which helps your body produce nitric oxide and regulate blood pressure.

In addition to these nutrients, nuts of all varieties are also a source of cholesterol-lowering phytosterols as well as calcium, magnesium, and potassium, all of which promote positive heart health and reduced blood pressure.

Whole Grains

Whole grains, especially oats and barley, have also been shown to be effective when it comes to reducing bad cholesterol and keeping your heart healthy.

Whole grain oats contain a special type of soluble fibre known as beta-glucan, which can potentially help lower LDL cholesterol levels by up to 7% in people who eat oats on the regular.

Similarly, barley is also a rich source of beta-glucan as well.

Now who says grains are unhealthy?

Tea

While green tea is usually the frontrunner when it comes to singing the praises of tea and it’s health benefits, black and white tea are no slouches either when it comes to improving your health, especially when it comes to cholesterol.

Two of the primary compounds found in tea are Catechins and quercetin, both of which play an important role in keeping your heart and cholesterol levels healthy.

Catechins help your cardiovascular system to activate nitric oxide, which as we’ve said before, helps reduce blood pressure within your body.

As for quercetin, this hard to pronounce compound is believed to help improve the overall function of your blood vessels as well as reduce inflammation within them.

So, was this blog helpful for you?

For all you, health food junkies out there, what are some other cholesterol-lowering foods that we may have carelessly omitted from this article?

We don’t want to leave any stones unturned and always want to hear what our audience have to say, so be sure to make like bad cholesterol and lower yourself down to the comments section below to help us keep the conversation going.