Foods With Good Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a lipid made by your body and found in animal food. High density lipoproteins (HDL), known as good cholesterol, carries unhealthy fats from the bloodstream to the liver to be removed from the body. Low density lipoproteins (LDL), known as bad cholesterol, carries fat to cells and helps form hormones, but if there's too much of it, LDL can build up in arteries causing blockage that leads to heart disease and stroke. Eliminating trans fat and saturated fat from your diet can lower bad cholesterol, but you also need to eat more foods with good cholesterol.

Soluble Fiber

Foods high in soluble fiber such as whole grains, oats, dried beans, kidney beans, barley, lentils, apples, Asian pears, grapes, citrus fruit and prunes raise HDL levels. Eating 10 g or more a day reduces your total cholesterol while raising your good cholesterol.

Broccoli Sprouts

High-fiber, dark green vegetables such as spinach, brussel sprouts and broccoli are good for lowering your cholesterol level, but young broccoli sprouts are even better. Eating 1/2 cup of broccoli sprouts a day can lower total cholesterol 15 points and raise HDL cholesterol by eight points.

Fish

Foods with omega-3 fatty acids, such as fish, raise good cholesterol while lowering total cholesterol levels. Eat baked or grilled fish such as salmon, tuna, lake trout, mackerel or herring at least twice a week for the best benefits. Other foods with omega-3 fatty acids are ground flaxseed, sunflower seeds and nuts. To keep from gaining weight, limit nuts to no more than 1.5 oz. a day since they are high in calories.

Fats

Cooking in oils high in monounsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids such as olive, peanut and canola oil raises good cholesterol. There also are supplements available containing fish oil and flaxseed oil.

Niacin

Food that contains niacin can raise good cholesterol. Fish, poultry, rice, sunflower seeds and low-fat dairy products contain cholesterol-lowering niacin. When eaten with foods containing vitamin B-5, vitamin C and garlic, levels improved considerably.