Cholesterol is essential for a number of bodily functions including hormonal balance and digestion. However, there are plenty of warning s on the television and in magazines that advise us to reduce our cholesterol. Basically too much cholesterol (which is a type of fatty deposit) can clog up arteries and lead to heart problems. Eating healthily is one of the main ways to lower cholesterol and we all know healthy eating is good for our waistline too. Healthy eating = lose weight lower cholesterol. Here are some tips to help you achieve this.

A healthy diet should be low in fat. There are two main types of fat: unsaturated and saturated. The worse culprit for increasing the level of cholesterol in your blood is the saturated fat. Saturated fat is also linked to weight gain. Those with an ‘apple’ body shape could be most at risk.

The key is to reduce the amount of saturated fat you put into your body. Foods that contain a high amount of saturated fat include:

Cheese
Cream
Butter
Pastry
Sausages, burgers and other fatty meat products
These foods can be eaten as part of a healthy diet, but having double cream on a slab of apple pie every night (or even every other night) is going to affect the amount of cholesterol in your blood.

Amazingly other types of fat can help reduce saturated fat and therefore cholesterol. If you substitute unsaturated fat for saturated fat, you will notice a difference. Examples of foods high in unsaturated fats include:

Oily fish
Avocado
Nuts and seeds
Sunflower, rapeseed and olive oils and spreads
Vegetable oil
So trade your lunch time pastry for some fish and avocado instead and you’ll not only be lowering your cholesterol but eating one of your ‘five a day’ too.

Remember: lose weight lower cholesterol by substituting unsaturated for saturated!