Eat Your Way to Naturally Lower High Cholesterol

"You just have to eat right from now on!"Anyone who has been diagnosed with high cholesterol has probably heard this phrase a million times in a million different variations:

Mom: "Eat better and you'll get rid of your high cholesterol symptoms."
Co-worker: "Change your eating habits; that'll lower cholesterol right away."
Friend: "Try eating new things. That'll make your high cholesterol go way down."

These are all nice sentiments with your heart health in mind, but they aren't specific enough to actually do much to assist you if you're battling high cholesterol symptoms and are looking for a treatment to lower cholesterol through diet and nutrition. After all, what does "eat right" really mean?

For your benefit, we've compiled some excellent and detailed ways for you to reduce your high cholesterol symptoms via foods and vitamins:

1. Up Your Daily Fiber Intake

Chances are, you probably don't get enough fiber, which is a common problem faced by many patients with high cholesterol. Fiber is an essential element that, in essence, "scrubs" your insides and keeps you feeling full longer than other foods. Thus, when you eat something chock full of fiber, you're not only giving your interior a "spring cleaning" to help lower cholesterol; you're also less likely to give in to cravings for sweet, high fat snacks.

Good choices for fibrous foods that have been known to help lower cholesterol are apples, oatmeal, whole wheat breads and cereals (in moderation), and vegetables. You can also purchase vitamins which include fiber or fiber tablets.

2. Say "Soy" and "Omega-3" for Lower Cholesterol

Persons living in Asian countries tend to have lower cholesterol levels that than individuals from other parts of the world, and many scientists believe this is because they have a diet rich in soy and omega-3 fatty acid laden fish.

If you want to naturally lower high cholesterol, learn to love soy in its many forms. For instance, you can try soy milk, tofu, soy-based ice cream, and soy-infused cereals (both hot and cold). Stay away from "soy sauce", though; it tends to be too high in sodium.

When choosing seafood, pick oily fish such as sardines, salmon, and tuna to help reduce high cholesterol symptoms holistically.

3. Increase Your Vitamin C

Recent studies have shown vitamin C to have significant powers when it comes to helping the body reduce high cholesterol symptoms and overall levels. Therefore, including this vitamin into your diet is a practical solution.

Obviously, vitamin C can be taken in pill form, but there's no reason to avoid foods such as oranges (skip the orange juice--the whole orange is healthier for you) and vitamin-C fortified low fat milk.

By "tweaking" your diet, you may be able to turn your high cholesterol into an acceptable number without the use (or cost) of prescription drugs.