A high-cholesterol diet alone, as a rule, does not bring the desired effect, it only helps in combination with taking medication. However, without them, the treatment will not work.
When compiling a menu, it is necessary to take into account not only the level of cholesterol in a person's blood, but also gender and age. You do not need to leave such a diet, because in this case you will have to follow a therapeutic diet for the rest of your life.
What does high cholesterol mean?
Cholesterol (cholesterol) is a steroid that is essential for the human body. It plays an important role in fat metabolism, is involved in the production of hormones. This substance is present in all cells of the body, even in the brain. However, it becomes dangerous when the cholesterol level rises.
The transport of cholesterol molecules to tissues occurs with the help of proteins. They are of several types:
- High Density Lipoproteins (HDL). This is the so-called "good" cholesterol. You absorb excess fat, transport it to the liver, where it is processed into bile acids, which are then excreted through the intestines.
- Low-density lipoproteins (LDL). This is "bad" cholesterol. They deliver its molecules to tissues. When LDL levels are elevated, this substance builds up in excess and forms plaques that lead to cardiovascular disease.
- Very low density lipoproteins (VLDL). They are considered the most dangerous type because they transport fats such as triglycerides from the liver to the tissues.
If you need a low-cholesterol diet, that means a person has high levels of LDL and it's "bad" cholesterol they need to lower.
Diet Basics
A hypocholesterol diet with high cholesterol is observed throughout life. This is not a completely cholesterol free diet as it is impossible to eliminate all cholesterol containing foods from the diet. Recent studies have shown that if you exclude it completely, the situation leads to neurological and endocrine disorders.
Basic principles of dietary nutrition:
- Eat at least 400g of fruit and vegetables daily. Their share can even be increased. Starchy vegetables such as potatoes and squash may be consumed, but in limited amounts, no more than the physiologically acceptable norm. They have low cholesterol levels, but they contain carbohydrates.
- The use of vegetable protein at the expense of legumes in the absence of kidney disease.
- Fractional nutrition, in which the total amount of food is divided into 5-6 meals. This will help ensure drainage of the gallbladder.
- Limit salt intake to 5g per day.
- Exclusion of pickled, salty and smoked foods, sweet soda.
- Sugar consumption equal to 5 tsp. during the day. The amount is taken into account in total with all drinks and food.
- Body weight control.
If necessary, you can spend vegetable, apple or kefir fasting days. If you are overweight, start with a low-cholesterol diet of cottage cheese or fruits and vegetables, and then move on to a cholesterol-lowering eating plan.
Prohibited Products
The standard LDL-lowering diet limits or completely eliminates high-fat foods. Prohibited include:
- fatty meat and fish;
- Offal;
- cream and fat milk;
- margarines.
This is the only way you can reduce cholesterol levels by 10-15%. Sometimes it is not even necessary to follow a diet. It is enough to refuse the listed products, add more vegetables and fruits, fish and seafood, vegetable fats to the menu for each day.
When compiling a diet, it should be remembered that in order to lower cholesterol, it is not necessary to completely exclude fats. Their proportion is determined individually, depending on the severity of the disease. Sometimes it needs to be reduced by 20%, but usually the limitations are not that significant. Vegetable oils should also be used with caution and not more than normal, as they contribute to the accumulation of harmful substances in the body.
If the sugar content is high, reduce the amount of carbohydrates. But if you have a normal body weight and blood sugar level, you can easily increase the proportion of complex carbohydrates to provide the body with energy.
To reduce the content of fats and cholesterol in the daily menu, you must follow the following rules:
- fat is trimmed from meat, skin is necessarily removed from poultry;
- Vegetables are never cooked with meat as they absorb fats;
- each recipe is adapted to this diet and reduces the fat content (for example, they take sour cream with a lower fat content);
- Rice dishes, mashed potatoes, pasta are cooked without butter.
You should also use non-stick cookware to avoid frying.
Approved Products
The hypocholesterolemic diet allows the following listed products:
- Lean meat and fish. The most useful is the fish of the cold seas, which contain omega-3 acids that affect fat metabolism.
- Vegetable oils that bind and remove cholesterol (this is not only olive, but also soybean or rapeseed oil).
- Dairy products, including cottage cheese, sour cream, low-fat cheese.
- Nuts, especially walnuts and almonds, as they are rich in vitamins, folic acid, magnesium and arginine. However, they contain a lot of calories, so you need to eat them in small amounts.
- Cereals - buckwheat, rice, oatmeal.
- Eggs - no more than 2-4 per week, depending on the state of health.
- soy products. They are very useful, but we are only talking about high-quality goods, for example, you can eat tofu.
- Foods containing fiber are wheat and oat bran.
- Fruits, especially apples and citrus fruits, as they help lower blood pressure and prevent blood clots.
Bread can be eaten, but only from yesterday's baking or in the form of toast. Tea is also included in the daily diet. But to reduce potential harm, it should be weak and contain a minimal amount of sugar.
dishes recipes
The need to follow an anti-cholesterol diet does not mean that a person is forced to always eat the same dishes.
Foods that lower cholesterol allow you to create a healthy and tasty menu of proper nutrition.
citrus jam
Citrus fruits contain a lot of pectin, which is involved in the digestive processes. It forms a highly viscous mass that helps remove cholesterol from the body before it enters the bloodstream. Citrus fruits are good in any form. They can be eaten raw as part of a fruit salad, and jam is also made from them.
For the preparation take:
- orange - 1 pc. ;
- Grapefruit - 1 pc. ;
- lemon - 1 pc. ;
- sugar - 0. 5 kg;
- water - 500 ml.
Cook:
- Citrus fruits are washed, squeezed from the fruit juice with pulp.
- Coarse white fibers are cut from the shell and cut into thin strips.
- Raw materials are placed in a pot.
- Add juice and water.
- Cook for 12-20 minutes.
- Add sugar and keep it on low heat until the mixture reaches a viscous state. As it cools, it turns into jam.
White bean soup with herbs
Legumes - lentils, beans, peas - contain fiber, which is useful for the cardiovascular system. They are high in protein and can replace fatty meats in the diet. They are prepared in different ways. The Mediterranean cuisine includes many variants of dishes with legumes. For example, you can cook a white bean soup with herbs.
For this you need:
- dry white beans - 1 tbsp;
- Pear - 1 pc. ;
- carrots - 1 pc . ;
- chopped celery stick - 1 pc. ;
- weak chicken broth - 0. 5 l;
- water - 0. 5 l;
- Salt and spices - to taste.
Cook:
- The beans are soaked overnight and then boiled for 2 hours. It turns out about 500-600 g of the finished product.
- Onions, carrots and celery are stewed for 8-10 minutes.
- Pour the beans into the pan and add the vegetables.
- Pour in broth and water.
- Add salt and spices.
- Bring to a boil.
- Leave on low heat for another 15 minutes.
- Half of the bean-vegetable mass is removed from the soup, whipped up in a blender and returned to the rest of the ingredients.
It turns out a very thick soup, in which different types of fresh herbs are added before serving.
carrot shreds
Carrots are another product that can lower cholesterol, also due to the pectin they contain. From it you can cook meatballs.
Necessary:
- medium carrots - 3 pcs. ;
- Eggs - 3 pcs. ;
- Flour - about 5-6 tbsp. l. with slide;
- Salt - to taste.
Cook:
- Carrots are crushed on a coarse grater.
- Add eggs, flour and salt.
- Everything is mixed.
- Chops are formed and cooked in a nonstick skillet without oil or in the oven, turning frequently.
pepper salad
Paprika helps strengthen blood vessels and remove cholesterol. You can make a healthy salad out of it.
For this you need:
- pepper - 2 pcs. ;
- red onion - 2 pcs. ;
- greens - to taste;
- Vegetable oil - for dressing.
Cook:
- Cut vegetables.
- Sprinkle with herbs.
- Filled with vegetable oil.
Baked eggplant with ham
This vegetable contains a lot of potassium and normalizes metabolism. You can cook eggplant baked with low-fat ham.
This requires:
- Eggplant - 2 pcs. ;
- ham - 100 g;
- Low-fat sour cream - 3 tbsp. l. ;
- grated cheese - 70-80 g;
- greens - to taste.
Cook:
- Eggplants are washed, cut in half and spread on a baking sheet.
- The ham is crushed, mixed with chopped herbs.
- Add sour cream.
- Spread the mixture over the aubergines and bake for 15 minutes.
You can experiment with any well-known recipes, replacing the ingredients in them with more useful ones.
Diet for high cholesterol in women
With a normal blood cholesterol level, a cholesterol-lowering diet is not necessary, it can even be harmful. Therefore, it is necessary to know the indicators by which such a diet is indicated. For women, the norm is reflected in the table below:
| Age | Total cholesterol, mmol/L | "Bad" cholesterol, mmol/L | "Useful" cholesterol, mmol/L |
| 35-40 years old | Until June 27th | No higher than 4. 45 | No higher than 2. 12 |
| 40-45 years old | Until 6. 53 | No higher than 4. 51 | No higher than 2. 28 |
| 45-50 years old | Until 6. 66 | No higher than 4. 82 | No higher than 2. 25 |
| 50-55 years old | Until 7. 15 | No higher than 5. 21 | No higher than 2. 38 |
| 55-60 years old | Until 7, 77 | No higher than 5. 44 | No higher than 2. 35 |
| 60-65 years old | Until 7, 69 | No higher than 5. 80 | No higher than 2. 38 |
It is necessary to pass the appropriate blood tests and act according to the results. When "bad" cholesterol is higher than normal, an anti-cholesterol diet is necessary. It has been pursued for a long time. Depending on one's health condition, it may be necessary for life.
A sample menu for 7 days for women looks like this:
| weekday | diet |
| Monday |
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| Tuesday |
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| Wednesday |
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| Thursday |
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| Friday |
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| Saturday |
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| Sunday |
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This menu is adapted to age and other chronic diseases. For example, women over 60 should cut down on meat in favor of fish and dairy products. This is especially true for people suffering from arthritis and arthrosis, as the meat contains substances that promote inflammation of the joints. With high sugar levels, you need to limit carbohydrates.
Features of the anticholesterol diet in men
The table of cholesterol levels for men is as follows:
| Age | Total cholesterol, mmol/L | "Bad" cholesterol, mmol/L | "Useful" cholesterol, mmol/L |
| 35-40 years old | Up to 6. 99 | No higher than 4. 90 | No higher than 1. 60 |
| 40-45 years old | Until 6, 94 | No higher than 4. 82 | No higher than 1. 73 |
| 45-50 years old | Until 7. 15 | No higher than 5. 23 | No higher than 1. 66 |
| 50-55 years old | Until July 17th | No higher than 5. 10 | No higher than 1. 63 |
| 55-60 years old | Until 7. 15 | No higher than 5. 26 | No higher than 1. 84 |
| 60-65 years old | Until 7. 15 | No higher than 5. 44 | No higher than 1. 91 |
A sample menu for a week for a man might look like this:
| weekday | diet |
| Monday |
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| Tuesday |
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| Wednesday |
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| Thursday |
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| Friday |
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| Saturday |
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| Sunday |
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Men also have age-related nutritional characteristics related to a gradual decline in physical activity, requiring less protein than intense exercise.
Age characteristics of the diet
With increased bad cholesterol, you need to monitor your diet, but it is important to do this taking into account age-related characteristics.
Up to 40 years old
The metabolic rate is still high, but gradually begins to decrease. The main task of nutrition is to speed up the metabolic process.
At this time, animal protein is still important, so you need to maintain the consumption of lean meat at least 3-4 times a week.
With 40-50 years
At this time, hormonal changes begin in the body, the need for animal protein decreases.
It is recommended to reduce meat consumption to 2 times a week and include more fish dishes in the diet. Instead of coffee, it is better to drink herbal tea or ginger tea.
With 50-60 years
The speed of metabolic processes continues to slow down, which also reduces the role of cholesterol, which is no longer needed in such quantities.
By this time, whole milk should be completely abandoned and replaced with sour-milk products.
After 60 years
Meat is allowed to be eaten no more than once a week, eggs - a maximum of 3 per week. The body may lack iron and iodine, so it is recommended to eat more buckwheat, sea fish and other foods containing these substances.
Diet for overweight
Dietary nutrition is necessary for everyone after a certain age, regardless of weight. But when a person has severe obesity, a low-carb program is required.
Therefore, sweets, pastries, and some fruits (grapes and dates) are eliminated from the diet, leaving only healthy carbohydrates in grains, vegetables, etc.