A study has revealed that a diet rich in monounsaturated fats lowers cholesterol levels. Adding monounsaturated fats to your diet for low cholesterol is an effective way of controlling cardiovascular diseases, as it lowers bad quality fat that is LDL and increases HDL that is good for health. LDL or low density lipoprotein increases the risk of heart attack by creating blockages in arteries while high density lipoprotein or HDL protects our heart by preventing blockages in arteries of heart. People having mild to moderately high cholesterol are at risk of developing heart problems. By consuming food that are rich in monounsaturated fats they can lower their cholesterol levels. 

Monounsaturated fat is also known as Omega-9 fatty acid can be obtained from lot of foods that are available from nature. Altering the diet by adding monounsaturated fats in daily foods is the best way of lowering cholesterol in body. Monounsaturated fats contain Vitamin E which is fat soluble and a great antioxidant that protects our heart from the free radicals that cause damage.  They also help to prevent cancer.

Few easy ways of monounsaturated fats to diet for lowering cholesterol are given below, choose the one that suits you best to protect your heart and make it healthy.

Switch to Monounsaturated fat rich oils
Oils that are rich in monounsaturated fats are olive oil, canola oil and peanut oil. Sesame oil also contains monounsaturated fats to some extent. Use any of the above oils in cooking daily food. If you cannot avoid stir fried foods that are rich in saturated oil, use peanut oil or canola oil for stir frying and use olive oil for sautéing and salad dressing.

Switch to Nuts and Seeds for snacks

Eat a variety of nuts and seeds as snacks or use in foods but include them in your diet. Oily deep fried snacks contain saturated fats, so replace them with a handful of roasted nuts. Macadamia nuts contain the highest amount of monounsaturated fat than any other nuts followed by walnut, hazelnut, almonds, pistachio, pecans and cashew nuts. Eat them raw or roasted or salted or use them in recipes, they will help reduce cholesterol by all means.

Seeds rich in monounsaturated fats are of sunflower, sesame and pumpkin. Add these seeds to green vegetable salads or cook them in recipes.

Switch to Mediterranean Diet
In Mediterranean diet, olive oil, nuts and seeds are main ingredients. These are the major food sources of monounsaturated fats. Thus Mediterranean dishes are full of monounsaturated fats and indulging Mediterranean diet will supply the much needed monounsaturated fat while you enjoy a different cuisine for a change.

It is always better to arrest diseases when their effect is mild, so treat yourself with food that contain monounsaturated fats to lower cholesterol when cholesterol level is moderate or mild. When the cholesterol level shoots up, it has to be controlled with medication or surgery. 

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