If your cholesterol is high, changing your diet may help get your numbers under control without medication—or may help cholesterol-lowering medication work better. One dietary change you may be considering to lower cholesterol is a plant-based (vegetarian) diet. Plant-based diets are typically lower in saturated fat and higher in fiber than diets that include a lot of animal products, both of which can help improve cholesterol levels.
But before you jump headfirst into a vegetarian diet, remember that just because a food comes from a plant instead of an animal doesn’t make it healthy. Soda, chips and many snack foods may be plant-based, but they aren’t good for you and likely won’t improve your cholesterol.
What vegetarian foods should I watch out for?
Here are some plant-based foods that seem healthy, but may not be that good for you:
What vegetarian foods are part of a healthy diet?
The benefits of a whole-food based vegetarian diet are that it typically contains little saturated fat and dietary cholesterol, which helps keep blood cholesterol levels down. It also contains a lot of fiber, which also helps regulate cholesterol levels. It’s important, however, to make sure you still get important nutrients you would typically get from meat, such as protein, iron and vitamin B12. Here are some key foods to make part of your daily meal plan:
You don’t need to take an all-or-nothing approach when it comes to deciding whether to follow a vegetarian diet. Even if you eat meat sometimes, or only eat some types of animal foods, such as fish or eggs, you’ll reap benefits from adding more plant-based foods to your diet. That is, as long as you’re choosing whole plant-based foods and not overly processed foods that may not be healthy at all.
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