Top Cholesterol-Lowering Foods and Diet Tips for Heart Health

diet

eieu5683 - 2025년 02월 01일

Discover the best cholesterol-lowering foods and diet strategies to improve heart health. Learn how to reduce cholesterol naturally with easy-to-follow nutrition tips and healthy cholesterol-lowering recipes.

Turns out, the way to a healthy heart might just be through your stomach! Every choice you make, from your morning coffee to your evening snacks, can have a big impact on your heart health. Research points out that the foods you eat play a key role in managing important factors like weight, inflammation, blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels. When you fill your plate with heart-healthy options, you’re supporting your body’s ability to keep these numbers in check. On the flip side, opting for less nutritious foods can lead to rising risk factors, putting your heart health at greater risk.

Eating more whole grains and pulses, as in this recipe for Burrito Millet Grain Bowl, can help reduce LDL cholesterol levels.

All About Keeping Cholesterol in Check

What you eat can have a big impact on one of the key heart health risk factors: your blood cholesterol. Cholesterol is a fatty substance that, when it builds up, can cling to the walls of your arteries, causing them to narrow or even block completely. Your liver produces cholesterol, which then travels through your bloodstream attached to proteins called lipoproteins. There are two main types: LDL, or “bad” cholesterol, which can lead to buildup in your arteries, and HDL, or “good” cholesterol, which helps remove excess cholesterol by carrying it back to the liver. To keep your heart in the best shape, aim for low LDL levels (below 100) and high HDL levels (60 or higher).

Include more whole plant foods in your heart-healthy diet, starting with this recipe for Barley Vegetable Stone Soup.

Cholesterol by the Numbers

Source: Cleveland Clinic

Top 6 Cholesterol-Lowering Eating Tips

So, how can you lower your LDL cholesterol and raise your HDL cholesterol? It all starts with what’s on your plate. One of the most effective ways is by adopting a more plant-focused diet—packed with nutrient-dense, minimally processed plant foods and lower in animal products. This approach is linked to improved cholesterol levels and better heart health overall, according to multiple studies. Try these simple cholesterol-lowering food and diet tips to get started and see the benefits for your heart.

Include more nuts and seeds in your diet. Try this recipe for Homemade Pistachio Butter.

1. Focus on Healthy Fats
One of the most important things you can do for your heart is cut back on saturated fats. These fats, found in things like processed meats, red meat, full-fat dairy (think cream, butter, and cheese), and tropical oils (like coconut and palm oil), can raise your LDL cholesterol levels. Ideally, try to get no more than 7% of your daily calories from saturated fat, which comes out to about 16 grams for most people. Instead, swap out those saturated fats for healthier unsaturated fats found in plant-based foods like avocados, olives, nuts, and seeds. One particularly great heart-healthy fat to include more of in your diet is omega-3 fatty acids. These healthy fats, found in foods like walnuts, soy products, chia seeds, and hemp seeds, can help improve your blood lipid levels and support overall heart health.

Include more fiber-rich foods in your diet, such as whole grains. Start with this recipe for Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal with Pistachios.

2. Push the Fiber
Boosting the fiber in your diet, especially soluble fiber, is a great way to help lower your LDL cholesterol. Soluble fiber helps prevent your body from absorbing cholesterol, giving your heart a helping hand. To get more fiber, try adding whole grains like oats and whole wheat, plus beans, lentils, peas, fruits, veggies, nuts, and seeds to your meals. These foods are fiber powerhouses that can really make a difference for your heart health.

Pile on the fruits and veggies at each meal. Get inspiration from this recipe for Italian Chopped Salad.

3. Load Up on Produce
Make fruits and veggies a bigger part of your plate! They’re packed with fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidant nutrients, and plant compounds called stanols and sterols, which can help block cholesterol absorption in your body. Aim to eat at least five ½-cup servings of vegetables and two ½-cup servings of fruit each day to reap all the heart-healthy benefits.

Include more whole minimally processed foods on your plate. This recipe for Crunchy Mandarin Tofu Salad can get you inspired.

4. Choose More Whole Foods
Fill your meals with more whole, minimally processed foods, like tofu, pulses (beans, lentils, peas), whole grains, sautéed veggies, and fresh seasonal fruit for dessert. These nutrient-rich foods provide more fiber, vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, and other beneficial compounds that support better heart health—including healthier cholesterol levels.

Try this zero cholesterol egg-free scramble recipe: Vegan Tofu Scrambled Eggs with Caviar and Toast

5. Beware of Cholesterol-Containing Foods
Some foods, like organ meats, egg yolks, and shrimp, can pack more than 200 milligrams of cholesterol per serving. While dietary cholesterol doesn’t have as big an impact on blood cholesterol as once thought, it’s still smart to keep an eye on how much you’re eating. A good goal is to stay under 300 milligrams of cholesterol per day—especially if you’re dealing with heart disease. Many of these cholesterol-rich foods are also high in saturated fat, so cutting back on saturated fat is a great first step for improving heart health.

6. Aim for a Healthy Body Composition.
Just the act of losing body fat can significantly lower bad cholesterol levels. So, find your way to a healthy body weight with mindful eating, nutrient-rich food choices, and physical activity. The beauty is that these five strategies above are all part of a healthy weight eating plan!

Add more apples to your day to help reduce LDL cholesterol. This recipe for Apple Raisin Red Cabbage Slaw is a good entry point.

Cholesterol-Busting Foods to Add to Your Diet

There’s no shortage of heart-healthy foods that can help you lower cholesterol, but here are a few easy options to start incorporating into your day:

Oats: Begin with fiber-packed whole grains like oatmeal. Studies show that it can help lower LDL (“bad”) cholesterol by up to 8%.
Beans: These little fiber powerhouses—along with lentils and peas—are a great plant-based protein that not only boosts fiber but can also replace meat in your meals.
Apples: While all fruits are good for you, apples stand out for their fiber content, which can help reduce LDL cholesterol by up to 10%.
Walnuts: Snack on a handful of walnuts, rich in heart-healthy fats, and packed with omega-3s. They’re a tasty way to support your heart health.
Olive Oil: Swap out your regular cooking oils for extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). It’s loaded with healthy fats and bioactive compounds that can support heart health.
Leafy Greens: Aim to eat more veggies in general, but make sure leafy greens like kale, spinach, and arugula are on your plate. They’re packed with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that protect your arteries.

Instead of low-nutrient, refined foods, make your own heart-healthy baked goods, such as this recipe for Dark Chocolate Rose Brownies with Pomegranates.

Watch Out for These Heart Health Pitfalls

As you’re shopping and prepping meals, keep an eye out for these particular foods that can sabotage your heart health:

High-fat meats: Think marbled red meats, poultry with skin, and processed options like bacon, pepperoni, sausages, and salami.
Butter overload: Using large amounts of butter in cooking or baked goods like cookies, cakes, and muffins.
Tropical oils: Coconut, palm, and palm kernel oils often show up in processed snacks like crackers, cookies, and packaged foods.
Full-fat dairy: Frequent use of cream, whole milk, and cheese can add up quickly when it comes to unhealthy fats.
Low-nutrient, high-calorie foods: Foods like refined grains (breads, bagels, sweets), chips, fried foods, and sugary drinks offer plenty of calories but not much in the way of nutrition.