Smoothie Diet to Manage Cholesterol

Can you Manage Your Cholesterol Levels with a Smoothie Diet?

High levels of cholesterol in blood is a serious health issue. Fifty million Americans suffer from high cholesterol. Cholesterol is a major risk factor for heart disease- cardiovascular disease (CVD)
To learn how to manage cholesterol and keep it at healthy level we need start by learning everything about it and how a smoothie diet can help control it.

What Is Cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a waxy substance called lipid. It is also a sterol. Steroid hormones are made out of sterol. Your body packages cholesterol and other fats into lipoproteins (lipid + protein) to make it mix with blood easily.
There are two important types of lipoprotein; low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and high-density lipoproteins (HDL). They are different because of the ratio of protein to lipid; particles with more fat and less protein have a lower density than the ones with high-protein to low-fat ratio.

Low-Density Lipoproteins (LDL)

LDL particles carry the cholesterol to the different parts of the body. Unfortunately, if you have high level of LDL in the bloodstream, it deposits the extra cholesterol into the arteries. This causes blockages in the arteries and causes heart attacks. That’s why people call it “bad” cholesterol. LDL can be decreased if you follow a low-fat diet.

High-Density Lipoproteins (HDL)
Because of the high protein ratio in HDL, it sucks up excess cholesterol from the tissues and cells and takes it back to the liver, which uses the cholesterol to make bile or recycles it. HDL levels could be elevated by exercise. On the other hand, obesity and smoking lower HDL levels. Smoothie Diet to lower Cholesterol

Do You Mean My Body Makes Cholesterol?

Cholesterol is important for body functions. The human body makes cholesterol on its own. So even with a cholesterol-free diet, your body would make approximately 1,000 mg to function properly. Your body can regulate the amount of cholesterol in the blood. If your diet doesn’t provide enough amounts of cholesterol, your body will produce more cholesterol.
The liver makes cholesterol and supplies the body. Cholesterol is especially important to the areas of the body that utilize a lot of cholesterol—like the testes in men and the ovaries in women, where the sex hormones are created.
Hence, your blood cholesterol level is the sum of cholesterol you get from your diet and how much cholesterol your body makes, minus how much your body uses up or excretes.
High cholesterol can result from the fact that your body may produce more cholesterol than it needs because of your genetic factors, you may be eating unhealthy food and getting too much cholesterol from your diet, or you may not use up efficiently the cholesterol in your bile.
Your body can produce cholesterol from any kind of food. Saturated fats, however, raise blood cholesterol levels more than other types of food.
Whether your high cholesterol is caused by your genetic predisposition or not, treatment would be the same. Medication and lifestyle changes are prescribed according to your HDL and LDL levels.

What Are the Different Types of Fats in Food?

• Saturated fat: Saturated fats are unhealthy. Example of foods rich in saturated fat include animal products such as lard, butter, cream cheese, ghee, and fatty meats; and certain vegetable products such as , palm kernel oil, coconut oil, cottonseed oil, and many prepared foods
• Unsaturated fat: They are healthy for you .Example of foods with high proportion of unsaturated fat include nuts, seeds, legumes, fruit and fruit juices, fish and vegetable oils

Smoothie Diet Recipes

You Can Control your Diet

Eating food that is low in saturated fat helps in lowering your cholesterol level. . By carefully choosing the right foods, you can eat a diet that lowers LDL and increase HDL.
Your liver’s clears the excess LDL particles from the blood stream and uses them to make new lipoproteins or more bile acids. If the liver can’t keep up with the supply of LDL, low density lipoprotien particles can deposit in the lining of blood vessels.
HDL is made by the liver and intestines. It sucks up excess cholesterol from the linings of blood vessels and carry it off to the liver for disposal.
Adopting healthy diet that contains whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables and their juices, fish, nuts and seeds, and olive oil; can lower your intake of foods that could turn into LDL.

Orange Juice and Pomegranate Juice

Although it has not been proven scientifically that there is a certain juice that can lower Cholesterol levels in blood, Mayo Clinic Cardiologist, Dr. Behrenbeck, suggests that drinking pomegranate juice could slow the process of cholesterol build-up in your arteries when you have elevated levels of fats in your blood and other heart disease risk factors..
The high concentration of antioxidants in fruit juices, especially pomegranate juice, provides several benefits and helps protect the heart. That includes lowering LDL or bad cholesterol.
To ensure taking complete benefits of the pomegranate juice, make sure that you are drinking pure pomegranate juice with no added sugar or other harmful chemicals. Added calories from the sugar reduce the heart health benefits. A Smoothie Diet without added sugar is recommended.
Preparing pomegranate juice at home is a good option as you can ensure all natural ingredients and no additives added to your juice. All you need to do is scoop the flesh of the pomegranate and put it in the blender or juicer. This way you will be keeping the fiber and you will get full benefit of the juice. A smoothie diet of any type of fruit and veggies is rich with fiber that is essential in lowering cholesterol.

More Smoothie Diet Recipes

This is a review of Smoothie Diet and its benefits in lowering Cholesterol