Make sure to buy ground flaxseed. Whole flaxseeds are almost impossible for your body to break down. This means they pass through your body largely intact and never leave behind any of their nutrients.
Ground flaxseed can be sprinkled onto your morning cereal, oatmeal, salads, dips, or yogurt, or added to baked goods. Flaxseed oil is a welcome addition to salad dressings or smoothies. Nuts, including Brazil nuts, almonds, pistachios, peanuts, and others, are filled with heart-healthy fats. Plant sterols block the absorption of cholesterol in your body. Chia seeds are a good source of plant-based omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, and other healthy nutrients. Adding chia seeds to your diet may help lower LDL levels and decrease blood pressure.
Like flaxseeds, chia seeds are great when added to cereal, oatmeal, dips, salads, yogurt, or smoothies. Avocados contain folate and monounsaturated fat. This healthy type of fat helps maintain HDL levels and reduces your risk of stroke, heart attack, and heart disease. Add slices of avocado to salads, soups, chilis, or sandwiches.
Guacamole is a great option, too. Just be sure to reach for low calorie dippers, like carrots, radishes, and tomatoes, instead of high calorie, high salt tortilla chips. Incorporating this food into your diet is a great way to reduce your meat consumption and cholesterol levels. When people eat less meat, their LDL levels will most likely decrease, and their HDL levels will most likely increase.
Steamed, unsalted edamame makes a great appetizer. This edamame spread is a healthier dip option for a party or gathering. Extra-firm tofu grills beautifully, and this tofu vegetable kebab recipe will please even your meat-loving friends. Here are some other steps you can take:. Daily exercise is important for your overall health and can even increase your HDL. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC recommend that adults get at least minutes of moderately intense physical activity per week.
Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. Minus Related Pages. Get Email Updates. In one study, researchers split people with type 2 diabetes into two groups.
One group followed a diet containing fewer than 50 grams g of carbs per day. The other group followed a high carb diet. On the other hand, in the same study, the participants who ate a low fat, high carb diet showed a decrease in HDL cholesterol This response may partially be because people with low carb diets typically eat higher levels of fat. It is important to note that the Danish Dairy Research Foundation funded this study, which could have influenced study results.
Bottom line: Low carb and ketogenic diets typically increase HDL cholesterol levels in people with diabetes and obesity. Studies have shown that many types of exercise — including strength training, high intensity exercise, and aerobic exercise — are effective at raising HDL cholesterol 15 , 16 , Review studies also say that exercise can boost the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of HDL cholesterol One small study followed females with polycystic ovary syndrome , which can raise the risk of insulin resistance.
The study required them to perform high intensity exercise three times per week. The exercise led to an increase in HDL cholesterol after 10 weeks. The participants also showed improvements in other health markers, including decreased insulin resistance and improved arterial function Overall, high intensity exercise such as high intensity interval training and high intensity circuit training may boost HDL cholesterol levels the most.
Bottom line: Exercising several times per week can help raise HDL cholesterol and enhance its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. High intensity forms of exercise may be especially effective. Studies have shown that coconut oil may reduce appetite, increase metabolic rate, and help protect brain health, among other benefits. However, it appears that coconut oil is actually quite heart-healthy.
Some studies have shown that coconut oil tends to raise HDL cholesterol more than many other types of fat. Improving this ratio reduces heart disease risk 20 , 21 , One study examined the health effects of coconut oil consumption in 40 females with excess abdominal fat.
However, more recent reviews suggest that the research into coconut oil and cholesterol is of poor quality, is not conclusive, and often reports that coconut oil can raise the levels of LDL cholesterol. Therefore, more research is needed 23 , Most studies have found that these health benefits occur at a dosage of about 2 tbsp 30 ml of coconut oil per day.
It is best to incorporate this into cooking rather than eating spoonfuls of coconut oil on their own. Bottom line: Consuming 2 tbsp 30 ml of coconut oil per day may help increase HDL cholesterol levels. Coconut oil is available to purchase online. That said, the current research is inconclusive. Smoking increases the risk of many health problems, including heart disease and lung cancer.
By now, you probably realize that not all cholesterol in your body is "bad" cholesterol. The type known as high-density lipoprotein, or HDL, actually serves a valuable role, gathering up harmful LDL cholesterol particles and carrying them back to the liver, where they get broken down and removed. This is why, according to the Mayo Clinic , a good cholesterol management plan should involve not only lowering bad LDL cholesterol levels, but also ideally raising HDL levels to a desired range.
For both men and women, having 60 milligrams of per deciliter or above of HDL cholesterol is desirable. For men, less than 40 milligrams per deciliter is considered at risk, while women are at risk with less than Cholesterol statistics show several lifestyle factors can have a big effect on your body's levels of HDL cholesterol, according to the Cleveland Clinic , including the following:.
The Mayo Clinic also notes that certain medications, such as those containing testosterone or anabolic steroids, can lower HDL levels.
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