Cholesterol-Fighting Foods

SOY : Reducing saturated fat is the single most important dietary change you can make to cut blood cholesterol. Used as a replacement for meat and cheese, soy foods help your heart by slashing the amount of saturated fat that you eat. Crumbled soy--an alternative to ground meat--works well in chili, burritos, lasagna, soups, and casseroles. Add tofu to chili, eggs, or casseroles. It absorbs the flavor of whatever you're cooking.

BEANS : Beans are especially high in cholesterol-lowering soluble fiber. Eating a cup of any type of beans a day---particularly kidney, navy, pinto, black, chickpea, or butter beans--can lower cholesterol by as much as 10 percent in 6 weeks. Soluble fiber forms a gel in water that helps bind acids and cholesterol in the intestinal tract, preventing their re-absorption into the body. Soluble fiber is also found in oats and oat bran, barley, brown rice, beans, apples, carrots, and most other fruits and vegetables.

SALMON : My favorite fish in the world. Soluble fiber forms a gel in water that helps bind acids and cholesterol in the intestinal tract, preventing their re-absorption into the body.

AVOCADO : Avocados are a great source of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat?a type of fat that may actually help to raise levels of HDL ("good"cholesterol) while lowering levels of LDL ("bad" cholesterol).

GARLIC : t helps stop artery-clogging plaque at its earliest stage. How? Garlic keeps individual cholesterol particles from sticking to artery walls.

SPINACH : 1/2 cup of a lutein-rich food daily also guards against heart attacks by helping artery walls "shrug off" cholesterol invaders that cause clogging.

WALNUTS, CASHEWS AND ALMONDS : A moderate-fat diet that's rich in the healthy monounsaturated fats found in nuts may actually be twice as good for your heart as a low-fat diet.

CHOCOLATE : Choose the dark or bittersweet kind. The flavonoid antioxidants work to keep blood platelets from sticking together and may even help keep your arteries unclogged.

TEA : Tea helps to keep blood vessels relaxed and prevent blood clots. Flavonoids, the major antioxidants in tea, have been shown to prevent the oxidation of LDL cholesterol that leads to plaque formation on artery walls. These powerful antioxidants may even reduce cholesterol and even lower blood pressure.