TOP 9 effective diets for hypercholesterolemia

The main link in the treatment of this disease is the therapeutic diet for high cholesterol in the blood. Consider how you can avoid excess fat and cholesterol in your diet. We will find out how to choose the right healthy foods for you every day and an approximate menu for a week if you are faced with hyperlipidemia.

20 basic rules of nutrition for hypercholesterolemia

High cholesterol can be the cause of coronary artery disease, thrombosis of the veins of the lower extremities, stroke, myocardial infarction. You can prevent the serious consequences of chronic hyperlipidemia by following the simple rules listed below.

1. Nutrition for hypercholesterolemia should be split. Aim to eat 5-6 small meals a day. Thus, there is no increase in appetite and the risk of overeating after a long fast.
2. Eat vegetables and fruits at all times and in large quantities. Dietary fiber accelerates the excretion of excess cholesterol from the body.
3. With bad cholesterol, the diet should contain mainly foods containing vegetable fats. Try using olive oil instead of butter when cooking.
4. Try to eat lean meats no more than twice a week. With high cholesterol, recipes and menus based on poultry, veal, rabbit and lamb are best suited.
5. Good nutrition with high cholesterol is supported by sports. Gentle walks of at least two miles a day are recommended for people with high levels of low-density lipoprotein.
6. The high cholesterol diet should consist primarily of steamed, baked, and boiled foods. Frying should be completely avoided.
7. If you have high cholesterol, avoid foods high in animal fats. No need to eat lard, pork, bacon, smoked meats. Replace such products with boiled poultry, fish, seafood.
8. An increased level of salt in food is contraindicated in arterial hypertension and atherosclerotic disease. Try not to eat more than 5 grams of salt per day. It is better to completely abandon this product.
9. It is necessary to drink at least two liters of water a day, especially with thick blood and increased bilirubin. A high level of these indicators usually indicates a violation of the function of the liver and gallbladder, which leads to hyperlipidemia. The increase in blood viscosity causes blood clots to attach to fatty deposits in the vessels. It is necessary to eat sour berries that can thin the blood, such as cherries and currants.
10. Sweet pastries and high cholesterol are a bad combination. Milk chocolate is also to be avoided. As an alternative dessert, oatmeal cookies without sugar, dried fruits, nuts and honey are suitable. Sometimes you can treat yourself to an oriental Turkish delight.
11. The daily calorie needs of women and men vary - an average of 2200 kcal and 2600 kcal, respectively. Increased caloric intake is also necessary for people engaged in heavy physical labor. These factors are important when formulating a diet.
12. Be sure not to abuse alcohol. Red wine is allowed, but no more than two glasses per week.
13. Coffee is a controversial ally in the fight against high cholesterol. It contains cafestol, which increases the production of endogenous cholesterol by the liver. But some experts, on the contrary, recommend drinking 1-2 cups of coffee a day, as this helps to strengthen the cardiovascular system. So you can drink coffee, but don't overdo it. An alternative is a chicory drink or green tea.
14. Cook porridge every day. Try not to boil the cereal, leaving it crumbly. Do not season the finished dish with a lot of butter if you have high cholesterol. For oatmeal, for example, honey and dried fruits are suitable as flavoring.
15. Hyperlipidemia excludes the use of fatty dairy products. Replace them with fat-free yogurts and kefir. As a substitute, use low-fat yogurt and kefir.
16. Products containing harmful trans fats, such as fast food, are strictly contraindicated. Avoid fries and other snacks.
17. When cooking poultry, remove the skin from the surface. Since it makes the dish fattier and contains harmful components.
18. Semi-finished products and hypercholesterolemia are mutually exclusive concepts. In such products there are no useful vitamins and minerals. Such food does not provide enough energy, but only clogs the body with ballast calories and fats.
19. Try not to overeat at night. Eat dinner no later than two hours before going to bed. To suppress your appetite before going to bed, it is better to drink a glass of kefir or eat a few dates, a handful of almonds.
20. Your doctor will tell you how to eat in the best way. After weighing all the risks and comorbidities, an experienced specialist will help develop the most effective nutritional plan. Self-treatment of hypercholesterolemia is not recommended.

High cholesterol is a reversible process if you follow the above recommendations and undergo regular medical examination.

Popular diets to lower cholesterol in women and men

A cholesterol-lowering diet can be based on a combination of different foods. To significantly reduce blood cholesterol, it is important to observe the recommended diet for a long time, at least six months.

To understand the different types of diets that regulate high cholesterol, a comparative description of the most popular of them will help.

mediterranean diet

The Mediterranean diet, which lowers cholesterol levels, is recommended for people suffering from atherosclerosis, hypertension and overweight. The basis of such nutrition is an abundance of cheeses, meat, fish and spices. Nevertheless, these products are perfectly combined and have a positive effect on high cholesterol. List of diet foods:

• Spices and herbs.
• Soft cheeses like feta.
• Olive oil.
• Fish, mussels, prawns.
• Bird, lamb.
• Red wine in moderation.
• Unleavened flatbread made from wheat flour (pitas).
• Vegetables and fruits.
• Greek yogurt.
• Cereals.

Fatty meats, lard, sausages, sweet drinks with gas are categorically excluded from the diet. Since these products can cause high blood cholesterol. As an example, the following menu for high cholesterol, calculated for a week, is shown:

Day 1

• For breakfast: three yoghurt-flavoured lentil fritters.
• For lunch, refresh yourself with a creamy Brussels sprout soup with shrimp; fruit platter and salad with olives and tofu.
• You can have pitas for dinner, stuffed with cubes of feta and salad (cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, some olives).

Day 2

• A great start to the day is the curd and buckwheat zrazy.
• Midday snack - light lentil soup, vegetable risotto.
• The good mood of the evening will be ensured by the salmon cooked in the oven, flavored with olive oil, with Provencal herbs.

Day 3

• Morning meal - buckwheat cooked in vegetable broth.
• At lunch, baked tuna with vegetables will restore strength; tomato puree soup.
• For dinner: salad with chicken breast and avocado, flavored with olive oil, pita.

Day 4

• Breakfast: yogurt with hazelnuts and chopped almonds, you can add a little honey.
• Light midday meal: fish ball soup, baked potatoes with tomatoes.
• Dinner: vegetable salad with an egg, lemon juice and olive oil.

Day 5

• Breakfast: oatmeal on the water, with the addition of honey and raisins.
• Gives energy for lunch - soup-mashed spinach leaves and asparagus with liquid cream; lightly boiled salmon with wild rice.
• Dinner: bake a pie with small cherry tomatoes and feta, on a whole wheat crust, crumble cubes of tofu if necessary.

Day 6

• Breakfast: soufflé with dried fruits, green tea.
• For lunch - cabbage soup, chicken stew with vegetables, a pita.
• For dinner - baked feta zucchini, pita with avocado and olive oil.

Day 7

• For breakfast: pour baked pumpkin with yogurt and honey.
• Lunch: velouté of mushrooms and chanterelles; chicken, grated with garlic, with baked pepper.
• Dinner: wild rice stew with mussels and prawns.

For snacks between the main meals, you can use dates, prunes, raisins, almonds. Such a diet will help not only to bring high cholesterol in order, but also to reduce body weight.

Diet chart number 10

The cooking method is mainly boiling and baking. Since high cholesterol excludes the use of fried foods. It is recommended to eat at least five meals a day in small portions. Evening snack no later than two hours before bedtime. Products that can be consumed:

• Freshly squeezed vegetable juice, jelly.
• Whole wheat bread.
• Fresh vegetable salads.
• Eggs without yolk.
• Fish: tuna, salmon, carp.
• Fat-free cottage cheese, kefir and yogurt.
• Kashi.

The following products should be refused: butter, fatty meats, and especially red, salted and smoked fish delicacies, fatty cheeses, pickled vegetables, mustard. A sample menu for a week if you have high cholesterol might look like this:

• Morning breakfast: buckwheat cooked in 1% milk, soft-boiled egg, light green tea with milk.
• Snack before dinner: a piece of boiled chicken meat or a fresh apple.
• Lunch: vegetable broth with barley groats, mushrooms and finely chopped zucchini, baked salmon or carp with stewed vegetables (for example, peppers, onions, zucchini), 1 glass of fresh apple juice.
• Snack: rosehip tea, nuts and dried fruits (eg prunes and almonds).
• Dinner: low-fat cottage cheese, boiled grated beets with an apple, 1 glass of low-fat milk.
• In the evening: 1 glass of fat-free kefir.

During the week, you can combine different variations of dishes based on vegetables, white meat poultry and fish. For snacks, use nuts, fruits, such as a banana or an apple. Dietary table No. 10 is recommended not only for the prevention of the appearance of atherosclerosis of the vessels, but also for hypothyroidism. With a regular diet for at least four months, high cholesterol levels can be significantly reduced.

Diet chart number 10A

This plan has a number of restrictions:

• Bread - maximum 145 g per day.
• Vegetable broths - up to 180 ml.
• The use of cheeses, pearl barley and millet is excluded.
• Do not eat extremely hot or cold foods.

Diet chart number 10, which has a positive effect on high cholesterol, looks like this for every day:

• Breakfast: Chopped oats with 1% milk, green tea, a small apple.
• Snack: baked apples with cottage cheese.
• Lunch: steamed chicken cutlets, mashed potatoes without oil, half a glass of fresh apple juice.
• Afternoon snack: prunes or dates.
• Dinner: baked carrot-apple cutlets, half a glass of fat-free kefir.
• Before going to bed: half a glass of rosehip tincture or chicory drink.

After the age of 50, more than 35% of people have high cholesterol. As a result, the risk of progression of atherosclerotic disease and the occurrence of myocardial infarction, stroke, increases. Therefore, at this age it is especially important to adhere to proper nutrition in combination with light physical activity.

Diet table №10C

Table No. 10C is a therapeutic diet for lowering cholesterol. This way of eating is recommended for people with diagnosed coronary heart disease and high blood pressure, caused by atherosclerosis. This menu is dominated by vegetable fats, dietary fiber, foods with a high content of vitamins B, PP, C. The daily calorie content of the menu is about 2570 kcal. It is necessary to eat divided portions in six doses per day.

Recommended foods that have a beneficial effect on high cholesterol include:

• Fiber.
• Sea cabbage.
• Vegetables and fruits can be eaten in large quantities.
• Cook or boil the eggs a little, a maximum of three pieces per week.
• Buckwheat, oatmeal, barley porridge.
• Honey, a few spoons a day.
• Spaghetti durum, try not to overcook.

Prohibited foods include food-like menu number 10. The approximate daily diet is as follows:

• Breakfast: boiled buckwheat without oil, light curd mass with seasonal fruits, tea.
• Snack: baked apple or dried apricots.
• Lunch: carrot compote, steamed beetroot cutlets, rice soup with lightly sautéed vegetables in olive oil, seasonal fruit compote.
• Afternoon snack: unsweetened berry or honey smoothie with a handful of hazelnuts.
• Dinner: Seasonal vegetable salad with olive oil and seaweed, salmon (another oily fish) baked with slice of lemon and thyme, boiled potatoes, weak green tea.
• Before going to bed: a glass of 1% kefir.

A healthy lifestyle isn't just about food alone. Since high cholesterol levels require complex treatment. Do not forget about physical exercises, as well as long walks in the fresh air.

low carb diet

Foods excluded from the low carb menu include:

• Viennese pastries, white bread.
• Sugar and fructose, honey.
• Alcohols and sugary drinks with gas.
• Macaroni and potatoes.
• Milk chocolate.
• Sweet fruits like grapes.

In large quantities, animal proteins must be present in the daily diet, for example, fish, dairy products, lean meats. Here's what a low carb menu might look like for a week:

Monday

• Egg white omelette with chopped mushrooms and tomatoes;
• Creamy chicken and Brussels sprout soup. Two whole grain breads;
• Pear;
• Stewed veal with peppers.

Tuesday

• Thin pancakes on kefir with cottage cheese, raisins.
• Salmon ear. Two slices of cereal bread.
• Green apple.
• Braised chicken fillet with spinach.

Wednesday

• Cheesecakes with low-fat sour cream.
• Buckwheat on water and chicken cutlet in the oven.
• Orange.
• Cold chicken.

Thursday

• Whipped curd.
• Cheese soup with chicken breast. Two whole grain toasts.
• Half grapefruit.
• Unpolished rice. Steamed zucchini and carrot cutlets, fresh cucumber.

Friday

• A boiled egg sprinkled with grated cheese.
• Fish simmered in a light creamy sauce.
• Kiwi or an orange.
• Boiled beans, mashed. Chicken rolls. A tomato.
• Before going to bed - a glass of kefir.

Saturday

• Fromage blanc and natural yoghurt.
• Steamed lamb meatballs and a cucumber.
• Tangerine or apple.
• Seafood. Arugula salad with olive oil.

Sunday

• Steamed omelet with chicken breast.
• Baked turkey fillet with broccoli.
• A glass of 1% kefir.
• Rabbit stewed with vegetables (onion, zucchini, pepper).

While following this diet, it is recommended to take up to two liters of fluid per day. In women, a contraindication to a low carbohydrate diet may be the period of breastfeeding and pregnancy. High cholesterol with early detection can be successfully treated with nutritional correction. What kind of diet you should follow, only the attending physician can finally decide after a detailed analysis of your background.

paleo diet

The Paleo diet includes foods that our Stone Age ancestors ate before the development of agriculture. A large amount of animal protein is the basis of prehistoric nutrition. At the same time, carbohydrates and fats are used much less in the diet. The main product is meat, which contains animal protein. It is he who accelerates metabolic processes and helps prevent the accumulation of excess fat.

The paleo diet is suitable for lowering cholesterol in the blood, since the consumption of animal fats is reduced. It is recommended to eat every five hours, about three meals a day. The main authorized products are:

• Fat-free meat and poultry.
• Seafood, fish.
• Oils: olive, flax, sesame.
• Mushrooms, nuts and seeds without heat treatment.
• Fresh berries, vegetables and fruits.

Sugar and salt, legumes and cereals, dairy products, starchy vegetables (potatoes, sweet potatoes) are excluded from the diet with such a diet. It is recommended to consume food mainly raw or after minimal heat treatment. This type of nutrition will help protect blood vessels from cholesterol and plaque formation. High levels of low-density lipoprotein can be brought back to normal if the principles of the paleo diet are observed.

keto diet

The keto diet is based on the minimum consumption of carbohydrates. In this regard, the body trains to produce more energy from fats and proteins. This high-cholesterol diet helps reduce low-density lipoproteins. At the same time, there is an increase in the level of "good" cholesterol.

While on a ketogenic diet, avoid bread, sugar, pasta, fruit, and sweets. With a lack of carbohydrates, the body begins to intensively break down fat stores.

This diet is similar to a low carbohydrate diet. When choosing the optimal menu, you should use the following rules:

• Breakfast: In the morning, try to consume up to 15 g of carbohydrates. The source can be cheese or vegetables. It is recommended to eat an omelet in olive oil with tomatoes, adding toast with bran. Calorie content - 500-600 kcal.
• At lunch, carbohydrates should be limited. Nutritionists recommend eating soup with chicken meatballs (without potatoes or noodles). Note that high cholesterol suggests eating vegetable broth. For the second, you can eat brown rice with brisket and a piece of cheese.
• Dinner should contain an increased percentage of protein and fiber. Poultry or lamb meat, veal and green vegetables will do. It is best to stew meat and make a vegetable salad with a spoonful of olive oil.

When you follow a ketogenic diet, the body works in "emergency" mode, being in a state of ketosis due to the production of ketone bodies (derived from fatty acids). Therefore, medical supervision during such nutrition is necessary. Despite the associated risk, high cholesterol normalizes during the keto diet.

Some argue that the diet won't do much to lower cholesterol and recommend taking statins. A very controversial statement. Many doctors and experts fundamentally disagree on this point.

The Ornish Vegetarian Diet

The diet was first created by Dean Ornish, Bill Clinton's personal physician. And it is based on strict control of the fats consumed. No more than 20 grams of fat is allowed per day. This diet is indicated if a person is diagnosed with hyperlipidemia, atherosclerosis and obesity. Basically, the menu is vegetarian. This food characterizes an increased percentage of carbohydrates in the food consumed.

It is necessary to combine Ornish nutrition with physical exercises, physical activity. The daily balance of fats, proteins and carbohydrates, respectively, is 10, 25, 75%. Recommended products for use:

• Vegetables, mainly green.
• Lentils, beans, peas.
• Apples and pears.
• Buckwheat porridge, made from corn, wheat and rice.

Eat eggs, dairy products, cheeses, cookies in moderation. It is categorically necessary to exclude red meat, puff and pastry products, butter, mayonnaise, olives, nuts, seeds.

A sample menu for the week can be organized as follows.

First day

• Breakfast: chicory drink, a tablespoon of wheat bran added to low fat yogurt.
• Lunch: a few large baked potatoes with tomatoes, a salad of cucumbers, greens and Iceberg lettuce, a green apple.
• Snack: apricots or plums (3 pieces), other seasonal fruits, light cottage cheese.
• Dinner: two wholemeal toasts, an apple or a pear, durum wheat spaghetti sprinkled with light cheese, berry compote.

Second day

• Breakfast: freshly squeezed orange juice, rice porridge with skimmed milk, a glass of kefir.
• Lunch: beans with mushrooms and onions, salad of tomatoes, carrots and cucumbers, seasoned with olive oil.
• Afternoon snack: strawberries, wheat bread.
• Dinner: two slices of bran bread, half an avocado, buckwheat porridge simmered with mushrooms and carrots, green tea.

day three

• Breakfast: decaffeinated coffee, a cup of muesli with berries and skimmed milk.
• Lunch: soup with sliced pumpkin and spinach, vegetable couscous, vinaigrette without pickles.
• Afternoon snack: a glass of kefir, low-fat biscuits.
• Dinner: baked eggplant halves with onions and carrots, a bowl of seasonal berries, mint tea.

day four

• Breakfast: pomegranate juice, pumpkin-zucchini pancakes.
• Lunch: broccoli and cauliflower soup, simmered asparagus with rice and chicken breast.
• Snack: low-fat cottage cheese with the addition of yogurt, oatmeal cookies.
• Dinner: stewed white cabbage with carrots and onions, fruit of your choice, currant compote.

Fifth day

• Breakfast: apple juice, porridge from a mixture of cereals.
• Lunch: two fish cutlets, mashed potatoes without added milk and with a small piece of butter.
• Afternoon snack: a cup of low-fat kefir, a green apple.
• Dinner: asparagus and pea soup, light tea.

Sixth day

• Breakfast: chicory drink, fat-free cottage cheese with honey.
• Lunch: boiled turkey breast with zucchini and pumpkin puree, orange juice.
• Afternoon snack: oatmeal pudding, multigrain bread.
• Dinner: two cabbage rolls stuffed with rice and vegetables, mineral water.

seventh day

• Breakfast: a piece of cottage cheese casserole with raisins, endives.
• Lunch: 2 cutlets of lentils and carrots, rice.
• Snack: 3 baked cheesecakes, orange juice.
• Dinner: apples stuffed with cottage cheese and dried apricots, chamomile tea.

High cholesterol with strict adherence to the canons of this diet can return to normal. Regularity and self-control are very important to achieve results.

Intermittent fasting

Fasting is used to lower blood cholesterol. It is possible to treat high cholesterol with a diet with elements of complete starvation in the following way: with a shortage of food, the body begins to use the reserves of low density lipoproteins in order to obtainenergy for life. Already after 12 hours of fasting, cholesterol, as an alternative source of energy, begins to be released into the blood and broken down to form energy.

Approximate cholesterol starvation scheme for a week:

On the first day - only freshly squeezed apple-carrot juice, diluted with water 1: 2. On the second day, you can drink the juice without diluting it with water. For lunch, you can eat 50 g of grated carrots. In the third - drink grape apple and carrot juices. Dine with one hundred grams of vegetable puree, and before bedtime - kefir.

On the fourth and fifth days, add grated vegetables and fruits, and in the evening - light cottage cheese. On the sixth and seventh day, breakfast should consist of grated vegetables and fruits, and for dinner and lunch, eat overcooked buckwheat or millet cereal. Such a strict diet can be carried out only after consulting a doctor and under medical supervision. To regulate hypercholesterolemia, it is necessary to periodically repeat the course of therapeutic fasting.

It is not easy to choose the optimal diet for high cholesterol - it is necessary to study in detail all the characteristics of the body of a particular person. It is very important to take into account concomitant diseases, gender, age. Only a well-designed menu is an effective prevention of the serious consequences of high cholesterol.