Dr. Oz: Reduce Cholesterol
February is Heart Healthy Month, so Dr. Oz spending the month talking about ways to prevent heart disease. Today, he talked about how to cut down our cholesterol by up to 20 percent.
He talked to Lynelle and Heather, two friends who work as teacher’s aides at the same school. They both also have high cholesterol. Their numbers were 182 and 159, respectively. Ideally, cholesterol should be under 100. Lynelle has tried to lower hers in the past, but it never seems to work.
Dr. Oz talked about ways to cut down your cholesterol by as much as 20 percent, including eating nuts like pistachios and almonds for the plant sterols. (Sea Wave / Shutterstock.com)
Dr. Oz explained that LDL is the bad cholesterol and HDL is the good cholesterol. You want as much HDL as you can and as little LDL as you can.
Dr. Oz said he had some dietary suggestions for them that would cut down their LDL by as much as 20 percent.
Dr. Oz: Have 2 Servings of Plant Sterols to Lower Cholesterol
Dr. Oz suggested they have 2 servings a day of plant sterols. Plant sterols are the plant equivalent of cholesterol. Plant sterols confuse the body and block the bad cholesterol. The easiest way to get them is to eat almonds and pistachios. If you don’t like nuts or are allergic, you can also choose a buttery spread, which should say whether it has a plant sterols, or look for orange juice fortified with plant sterols.
Dr. Oz: 2 Meatless Meals Per Week to Lower LDL Levels
Dr. Oz also recommended they have two meatless meals per week. Heather’s family are big meat eaters. Animal fats add to the cholesterol in the diet. So eliminate the animal fats in two meals per week and replace them with pinto beans, black beans, and kidney beans. Dr. Oz said if you wash the beans, you can cut down on the gas they’ll create.
Dr. Oz: Eat Salmon to Increase HDL Levels
Dr. Oz asked the Cooking Network’s Kelsey Nixon to deliver the next tip. She suggested adding fish to your weeknight meals twice a week. She loves salmon in particular because it’s full of Omega-3 fatty acids.
Dr. Oz said Kelsey was onto something here. Omega-3s help increase the HDL cholesterol, the good form of cholesterol.
Leave a Reply