Monounsaturated Fats raise good cholesterol.

Translator

A diet high in monounsaturated fats like vegetable oil, olive oil, nuts, avocados and low in meat and dairy will raise your good cholesterol studies show. This is what they call the Mediterranean diet and it’s a very heart healthy diet.

The findings, from a study of 24 adults with moderately high cholesterol, add to evidence that monounsaturated fats may be an important
ingredient in a generally heart-healthy diet.

Clinical trials have also suggested that Mediterranean-style eating can cut the odds of developing diabetes and metabolic syndrome, a collection of heart disease risk factors that includes high blood pressure, abdominal obesity and low levels of “good” HDL cholesterol.

For the new study, reported in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, researchers tested the effects of adding monounsaturated fats to a high-fiber vegetarian diet that had previously been shown to curb LDL cholesterol in adults with elevated levels.

Dr. David Jenkins and colleagues at the University of Toronto and St. Michael’s Hospital in Ontario, Canada, had 24 patients with high cholesterol spend one month on a standard low-saturated-fat diet prescribed for cholesterol-lowering.

Participants then spent another month on the vegetarian diet; but half were randomly assigned to replace 13 percent of their daily carbohydrates with monounsaturated fats — in the form of sunflower oil and, if they wanted, avocados.

At the end of the month, both diet groups showed a similar reduction in LDL cholesterol, of about 20 percent. The total LDL reduction over the two months — the standard cholesterol-cutting diet, plus the vegetarian ones — was 35 percent in both groups, comparable to the benefits that have been seen with cholesterol-lowering statin drugs.

However, the monounsaturated-fat group also showed an average increase in HDL cholesterol of about 12 percent, whereas the comparison group showed no change overall. The former group also had a reduction in levels in C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation in the blood vessels that has been associated with heart disease risk. (asia one health)

As you see just a simple change in your diet can help you to fight off high cholesterol while helping to reduce stress and even weight. I’ve switched to using mostly olive oil, and well away from oils like Crisco.