When it comes to choosing the food we eat, many of us have a limited knowledge about the good and bad of certain foods. For instance we know saturated fat is bad for us, and eating too much of it can be bad when we want to stay fit and healthy. On the other hand, we are not aware that there are plenty of foods that have natural cholesterol lowering properties. But it’s not particularly the foods themselves that are good for this – it’s what they have inside them. And nearly most of the time you cannot see the good part of these foods.

Food with Niacin

Good examples of good food for high cholesterol are those with Niacin. Niacin has been shown to lower the levels of the dangerous kind of cholesterol in your blood also known as LDL Cholesterol or low density lipoprotein (LDL).

Besides reducing LDL, niacin also does our body another favor – it also supports the good cholesterol HDL, or high density lipoprotein. This benefit is why it is significant to build foods into your diet that contain niacin. Foods that contain niacin include fish, pork, lean red meat, kidney and liver, dairy products, prawns, almonds, and especially green leafy vegetables are good examples.

Plant Sterols and Stanols from Fruits and Vegetable

Besides niacin rich foods, we all know that getting our regular dose of fruit and vegetables each day is good for us. But part of the reason for this is that they have plant sterols and stanols. These have also been indicated to play a strong role in reducing bad cholesterol and helping to raise good cholesterol.

Go for five portions a day as a minimum. Don’t worry if that sounds like a lot – if you look up portion sizes online you’ll find they are quite small. Pretty much any fruits and vegetables you eat will be good for you in creating a healthier diet. You can also introduce more bran and cereals; in fact many manufacturers actually add more stanols and sterols to foods like this too. You’ll see them as fortified cereals so check out the packaging more closely to see which ones to buy.

Although these foods are good sources of niacin and plant sterols, you you may not get the highest dosage of these ingredients through these food sources. In many cases you can get even better results by taking a supplement as well. Supplements are an excellent way to enhance your natural cholesterol lowering efforts.

For instance a supplement may contain niacin in a higher concentration than you would get if you were to simply eat foods containing niacin. While it is still preferable to eat those foods you can get a much needed boost from taking a supplement on a daily basis as well. And since these supplements generally contain a number of other cholesterol fighting ingredients too, such as coenzyme Q10 and policosanol, you can enjoy multiple benefits from taking care of your heart and circulatory system in this way.

So you can see that natural cholesterol lowering efforts can give you excellent results and are preferable in many cases to taking medication.