When Rob Hobson, a registered nutritionist based in the UK, found out his cholesterol levels were “really high” in June, he decided to manage them through diet, focusing particularly on increasing his fiber intake.
Six months later, when he tested again, his cholesterol levels had improved, and he’d discovered four tricks that make eating more fiber easy.
Cholesterol is a fatty substance the body needs for many bodily processes, but if a person has too much LDL or “bad” cholesterol, it can form sticky plaque in their arteries, putting them at greater risk of cardiovascular disease.
To reduce cholesterol levels, the American Heart Association recommends exercising at least 150 minutes a week, quitting smoking and vaping, maintaining a healthy weight, and eating a heart-healthy diet that’s low in saturated fats and high in fiber. If these measures don’t help, then statins, a medication that lowers LDL cholesterol, will likely be prescribed.
Hobson, the author of “Unprocess Your Life” and “The Low Appetite Cookbook,” already worked out for around an hour each morning, and ate minimal ultra-processed foods and saturated fats. So he zeroed in on fiber.
Eating at least 5 to 10 grams of soluble fiber a day can help lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol, according to the National Lipid Association. Quinoa, oats, avocado, sweet potatoes, carrots, and chia or flax seeds are good examples.
Here are Hobson’s tips for seamlessly adding more fiber to your diet.
Eat breakfast
Hobson is a big advocate of breakfast because it lends itself to high-fiber foods such as oats, nuts, and seeds. “It’s really easy to get plenty of fiber in at that time of day,” he told Business Insider.
He has two go-to breakfasts that he eats on repeat. The first is a Greek yogurt bowl with berries, oats, and chia seeds. The second is overnight oats, which he makes with milk, protein powder, berries, honey, nuts, and seeds.
Fiber cupboard
Hobson created a “fiber cupboard” in his kitchen that’s packed with fibrous foods. He challenges himself to include something from the cupboard in every meal. “Then at least you know that you are making the effort to do it,” he said.
He stocks up on lentils, beans, pulses, wholegrain pasta, brown rice, as well as snacks like fruit and nut bars, rye crackers that he likes to pair with some cottage cheese, and seaweed thins.
“I’m always rooting around for stuff, and I just think having it all in one place is so much easier,” he said.
Add pulses and legumes to your meal and put the rest into a Tupperware in the fridge
The easiest way to add fiber to a meal is to pour half a can of beans or pulses into it, Hobson said. Just one cup of black beans, for example, contains 15 grams of fiber. “You can add them to anything,” he said.
Mix some into a soup, sauce, or curry, or simply sprinkle a couple of tablespoons on top of a salad.
If you’re not using the whole can, decant the rest into a Tupperware and place it in the fridge, Hobson said. That way, they’ll stay fresher for longer and be easily accessible. “Then you don’t have to worry about, ‘I’m going to waste the rest of the tin,'” he said.
Keep the food you want to eat visible
Hobson recommends keeping the foods you want to eat in a visible spot. That way, you’re more likely to reach for them. “Nuts and seeds, always keep them on the side so they’re there,” he said.
Research suggests that the foods you keep on your countertop could impact your body weight, a factor that can influence cholesterol levels. In a 2015 study published in Sage Journals, researchers at Cornell University analyzed the visible foods on 210 countertops in New York and measured their owners’ BMIs. They found that those who had just fresh fruit visible weighed an average of 20 pounds less than those who had unhealthier snacks like candy, soda, and cereals on show.
“It’s your basic See-Food Diet — you eat what you see,” Brian Wansink, the study’s lead author, said of the findings.
But if you’re not ready to make changes to your kitchen layout, Hobson said to stick to one basic principle: “Make sure that you’ve got a bit of fiber on your plate every day with every meal,” he said.
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