Why can’t you enjoy a nice fatty meal with lots of juicy meat and lower the bad LDL cholesterol at the same time? Well, lo and behold, as it happens you actually can!
We have already established the link between ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol and ‘good’ HDL cholesterol in our article here (The most effective way to get rid of that nasty cholesterol is to consume MORE cholesterol!?!), and then we discussed how this (Which vegetable Harvard researchers recommend against cholesterol?) vegetable will help you lower your cholesterol and keep you healthy. While LDL cholesterol is bad for your health because it chokes and narrows your blood vessels causing coronary artery disease, HDL cholesterol acts as cholesterol scavenger, picking up excess cholesterol from your blood and taking it back to the liver where it is broken down – thus we consider HDL a ‘good’ cholesterol. It all boils down to – the higher HDL cholesterol in your blood, the lower cholesterol overall for you.
So how do you enjoy a tasty succulent meaty meal and lower your cholesterol? Well, it has all to do with SALMON and other fatty fish… To increase the level of HDL cholesterol in your blood you should eat fatty fishes like salmon and mackerel, which are rich in fatty acids from the Omega-3 group. They can increase your levels of HDL cholesterol even when these levels are already normal or high. A research in which man with normal HDL cholesterol levels ate salmon for lunch and dinner every day for 40 days shows significant growth of HDL cholesterol. What is even more important, according to Dr. Gary J. Nelson from the Human Nutrition Research Centre in San Francisco, US Department of Agriculture, one extremely useful component of HDL cholesterol showed average growth of 10% after just 20 days. Dr. Nelson states that this component is closely related with the prevention of coronary heart disease. He further notices that the results were surprisingly quick and that the positive effect of consuming fat rich fish for your heart and cholesterol will appear almost instantly.
How much salmon? During the research, man ate the maximum recommended amount of 1.1 lbs (0.5 kg) fresh salmon per day, but smaller amounts will also increase your HDL cholesterol. If your HDL cholesterol levels are below normal, you can expect even greater increase after you start your salmon diet. Because the main suspected ‘culprit’ of these benefits are the Omega-3 fatty acids, other fish rich in fats, like mackerel, herring, sardines and tuna, would also likely produce a similar effect. Salmon also lowered the levels of triglycerides during the research, which is common for fats rich fish.
Make sure to combine your salmon meal with extra virgin olive oil, as it also contributes to HDL cholesterol growth. Enjoy your tasty salmon today and watch as that nasty cholesterol goes away.
