TOP 9 effective diets for high blood cholesterol

17 March 2022

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

20 basic diet rules for high cholesterol

Elevated cholesterol can be the cause of coronary heart 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.

Nutrition for hypercholesterolemia should be fractional. Aim to eat 5-6 small meals a day. Therefore, there is no increase in appetite and the risk of overeating after a long fast.
Eat fruits and vegetables at any time and in large quantities. Dietary fiber accelerates the excretion of excess cholesterol from the body.
With bad cholesterol, the diet should mainly contain foods with vegetable fats. Try to use olive oil instead of butter when cooking.
Try to eat lean meats no more than a couple of times a week. With high cholesterol, recipes and menus based on poultry, veal, rabbit and lamb are best suited.
Proper nutrition with high cholesterol is supported by sport. For people with high levels of low-density lipoprotein, walks of at least three kilometers per day are recommended.
The diet for hypercholesterolemia should mainly consist of steamed, baked and boiled foods. Frying should be avoided altogether.
If you have high cholesterol, avoid foods high in animal fat. There is no need to eat lard, pork, bacon, smoked meats. Replace these products with boiled poultry, fish, seafood.
An increase in the level of salt in food is contraindicated in hypertension and atherosclerotic disease. Aim to eat no more than 5 grams of salt per day. It is better to completely abandon this product.
It is necessary to drink at least two liters of water per 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 the fixation of blood clots on the lipid deposits in the vessels. It is necessary to eat acidic berries that can thin the blood, such as cherries and gooseberries.
Sweets and high cholesterol are a bad combination. Milk chocolate should also be avoided. As an alternative dessert, unsweetened oatmeal cookies, dried fruits, nuts and honey are suitable. Sometimes you can indulge in oriental Turkish delights.
The daily calorie requirement for women and men varies: an average of 2200 kcal and 2600 kcal respectively. An increased calorie intake is also necessary for people engaged in heavy physical work. These factors are important when formulating a diet.
Make sure you refrain from alcohol abuse. Red wine is allowed, but no more than two glasses per week.
Coffee is a controversial ally in the fight against high cholesterol. 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 strengthen the cardiovascular system. So you can drink coffee, but don't abuse it. An alternative is a chicory or green tea drink.
Cook porridge every day. Try not to boil the cereals, leaving them crumbly. Don't season the finished dish with a lot of butter if you have high cholesterol. For oatmeal, for example, honey and dried fruit are suitable as flavoring.
Hyperlipidemia excludes the use of fatty dairy products. Replace them with fat-free yogurt and kefir. Alternatively, use low-fat yogurt and kefir.
Products containing harmful trans fats, such as fast foods, are strictly contraindicated. Avoid chips and other snacks.
When cooking poultry, remove the skin from the surface. Since it makes the dish fatter and contains harmful components.
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 calories and ballast fat.
Try not to overeat at night. Eat dinner no later than two hours before going to bed. To suppress appetite before going to bed, it is better to drink a glass of kefir or eat a couple of dates, a handful of almonds.
Your doctor will tell you how to best eat. After evaluating all risks and comorbidities, an experienced specialist will help develop the most effective nutrition plan. Self-treatment of high cholesterol is not recommended.

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

Popular diets for lowering cholesterol in women and men

A cholesterol-lowering diet can be based on a combination of different foods. To significantly reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood, 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 will be helpful.

Mediterranean diet

The Mediterranean diet, which lowers cholesterol levels, is recommended for people with atherosclerotic diseases, hypertension and overweight. The basis of such nutrition is the abundance of cheeses, meat, fish and spices. However, these products are perfectly combined and have a positive effect on high cholesterol. List of foods in the diet:

Spices and herbs.
Soft cheeses such as feta.
Olive oil.
Fish, mussels, shrimps.
Bird, lamb.
Red wine in moderation.
Unleavened focaccia made from wheat flour (pitas).
Fruits and vegetables.
Greek yogurt.
Cereals.

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

Day 1

For breakfast: three pieces of yogurt-flavored lentil pancakes.
Refresh yourself at lunch with the creamy Brussels sprout soup with prawns; fruit plate and fruit salad with olives and tofu.
You can have the pita for dinner, stuffed with feta cubes and salad (cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, a couple of olives).

Day 2

A good start to the day is zrazy buckwheat curd.
Lunch snack - light soup with lentils, risotto with vegetables.
A good mood in the evening will be provided by baked salmon, flavored with olive oil, with herbs of Provence.

Day 3

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

Day 4

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

Day 5

Breakfast: oatmeal on water, with the addition of honey and raisins.
Gives energy to lunch - soup-puree of spinach leaves and asparagus with liquid cream; lightly boiled salmon with wild rice.
Dinner: bake a cake with cherry tomatoes and feta, on a wholemeal crust, possibly crumble the tofu cubes.

Day 6

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

Day 7

For breakfast: pour the baked pumpkin with yogurt and honey.
Lunch: champignons and chanterelles soup; chicken, grated with garlic, with baked peppers.
Dinner: wild rice stew with mussels and prawns.

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

Dietary table number 10

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

Freshly squeezed vegetable juices, jelly.
Wholemeal flour bread.
Fresh vegetable salads.
Eggs without yolk.
Fish: tuna, salmon, carp.
Fat-free cottage cheese, kefir and yogurt.
Kashi.

It is necessary to refuse the following products: butter, fatty meat and especially delicacies from red, salted and smoked fish, fatty cheeses, pickled vegetables, mustard. A sample menu for a week if you have high cholesterol might look like this:

Early breakfast: buckwheat cooked in 1% milk, soft-boiled egg, weak green tea with milk.
Pre-dinner snack: a piece of boiled chicken or a fresh apple.
Lunch: vegetable broth with barley groats, finely chopped mushrooms and 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 fruit (e. g. prunes and almonds).
Dinner: low-fat cottage cheese, boiled grated beets with an apple, 1 glass of low-fat milk.
At night: 1 glass of fat-free kefir.

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

Dietary table number 10A

This diet has a number of restrictions:

Bread - maximum 145 g per day.
Vegetable broths - up to 180 ml.
The use of cheese, pearl barley and millet is excluded.
Don't eat extremely hot or cold foods.

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

Breakfast: minced oatmeal with 1% milk, green tea, a small apple.
Snack: baked apples with ricotta.
Lunch: Steamed chicken cutlets, oil-free mashed potatoes, half a glass of fresh apple juice.
Afternoon snack: plums or dates.
Dinner: baked carrot and 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, over 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.

Dietary 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 hypertension, which is 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:

Bran.
Sea cabbage.
Fruits and vegetables can be eaten in large portions.
Cook or boil the eggs a little, a maximum of three pieces per week.
Buckwheat, oatmeal, barley porridge.
Honey, a couple of spoons a day.
Hard spaghetti, try not to overcook them.

Forbidden foods include menu 10 similar to that of foods. The approximate daily diet is as follows:

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

A healthy lifestyle is not limited to just diet. As high cholesterol levels require complex treatment. Do not forget about physical exercises and long walks in the fresh air.

low carbohydrate diet

Foods excluded from the low-carb menu include:

Sweets, white bread.
Sugar and fructose, honey.
Alcoholic and sweetened drinks with gas.
Macaroni and potatoes.
Chocolate milk.
Sweet fruits like grapes.

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

Monday

Egg whites omelette with chopped mushrooms and tomato;
Creamy chicken and brussels sprouts soup. Two wholemeal breads;
Pear;
Veal stew with pepper.

Tuesday

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

Wednesday

Cheesecake with low-fat sour cream.
Buckwheat in water and baked chicken cutlet.
Orange.
Cold chicken.

Thursday

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

Friday

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

on Saturday

Ricotta and natural yogurt.
Steamed lamb meatballs and a cucumber.
Mandarin or apple.
Seafood. Rocket salad with olive oil.

Sunday

Steamed omelette with chicken breast.
Baked turkey fillet with broccoli.
A glass of 1% kefir.
Stewed rabbit with vegetables (onions, courgettes, peppers).

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

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 in the diet much less. The main product is meat, which contains animal proteins. It is he who speeds up metabolic processes and helps prevent the accumulation of excess fat.

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

Fat-free meat and poultry.
Seafood, fish.
Oils: olive, linseed, 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 mostly raw foods or after minimal heat treatment. This type of nutrition will help protect blood vessels from cholesterol and plaque buildup. Elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein can be restored to normal if the principles of the paleo diet are followed.

Ketogenic diet

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

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 carb diet. When choosing the optimal menu, the following rules should be used:

Breakfast: In the morning, aim to consume up to 15g of carbohydrates. The source can be cheese or vegetables. It is recommended to eat an omelette in olive oil with tomatoes, adding toast with bran. Calorie content - 500-600 kcal.
For lunch, you need to limit carbohydrates. Nutritionists advise to eat soup with chicken meatballs (without potatoes, 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 a higher percentage of protein and fiber. Poultry or lamb, veal and vegetables will do. It is best to cook meat and make a vegetable salad with a spoonful of olive oil.

When following a ketogenic diet, the body works in "emergency" mode, finding itself in a state of ketosis for the production of ketone bodies (derivatives of fatty acids). Therefore, medical supervision is necessary during such nutrition. Despite the associated risk, elevated cholesterol normalizes during the course of the keto diet.

Some argue that the diet will do little to lower cholesterol and recommend taking statins. A very controversial statement. Many doctors and experts fundamentally disagree on this.

Ornish's vegetarian diet

The diet was first created by Dean Ornish, Bill Clinton's personal physician. And it is based on a strict control of the fats consumed. No more than 20 grams of fat per day are allowed. This diet is indicated if a person is diagnosed with hyperlipidemia, atherosclerosis, and obesity. Basically the menu is vegetarian. This food features a higher percentage of carbohydrates in the foods 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, mostly green.
Lentils, beans, peas.
Apples and pears.
Buckwheat porridge, made from corn, wheat and rice.

Moderately eat eggs, dairy products, cheeses, biscuits. Categorically it is necessary to exclude red meats, puff and pastry products, butter, mayonnaise, olives, nuts, seeds.

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

The first day

Breakfast: chicory drink, a spoonful of wheat bran added to low-fat yogurt.
Lunch: a few large baked potatoes with tomatoes, a salad of cucumbers, vegetables and iceberg lettuce, a green apple.
Snack: apricots or plums (3 pieces), other seasonal fruit, low-fat cottage cheese.
Dinner: two wholemeal toasts, an apple or a pear, durum wheat spaghetti sprinkled with low-fat cheese, composed of berries.

Second day

Breakfast: freshly squeezed orange juice, rice porridge with low-fat milk, a glass of kefir.
Lunch: Beans with mushrooms and onions, salad with tomatoes, carrots and cucumbers, dressed with olive oil.
Afternoon snack: strawberries, wheat bread.
Dinner: two slices of bran bread, half an avocado, buckwheat porridge stewed with mushrooms and carrots, green tea.

Day three

Breakfast: decaffeinated coffee, a cup of berry muesli and low-fat milk.
Lunch: soup with pumpkin and spinach slices, couscous with vegetables, vinaigrette without pickles.
Afternoon snack: a glass of kefir, low-fat cookies.
Dinner: Baked eggplant with onions and carrots, a bowl of seasonal berries, peppermint tea.

Day four

Breakfast: pomegranate juice, pumpkin and zucchini fritters.
Lunch: Broccoli and cauliflower soup, stewed asparagus with rice and chicken fillet.
Snack: low-fat cottage cheese with added yogurt, oatmeal cookies.
Dinner: Stewed white cabbage with carrots and onions, any fruit of your choice, currants compote.

Day five

Breakfast: apple juice, porridge from a mixture of cereals.
Lunch: two fish cutlets, mashed potatoes without adding milk and with a small piece of butter.
Afternoon snack: a cup of low-fat kefir, a green apple.
Dinner: asparagus and pea soup, weak 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: oat 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, chicory.
Lunch: 2 lentil and carrot cutlets, rice.
Snack: 3 baked cheesecakes, orange juice.
Dinner: apples stuffed with ricotta and dried apricots, chamomile.

High cholesterol with strict compliance with 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 levels with a diet with elements of complete hunger in the following way: with a shortage of food, the body begins to use the reserves of low-density lipoproteins to obtain energy for life. Already after 12 hours of fasting, cholesterol, as an alternative energy source, begins to be released into the blood and broken down to form energy.

Approximate pattern of cholesterol starvation for a week:

The first day - only freshly squeezed apple and 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 on one hundred grams of vegetable puree, and before going to bed - kefir.

On the fourth and fifth day, add grated fruits and vegetables, and at night - light cottage cheese. On the sixth and seventh days, breakfast should consist of grated fruits and vegetables and, for dinner and lunch, eat overcooked buckwheat or millet cereals. Such a strict diet can be carried out only after consulting a doctor and under medical supervision. To regulate high cholesterol, 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, sex, age. Only a well-designed menu is an effective prevention of the serious consequences of hypercholesterolemia.