Written By: Debjani Arora | Published : July 31, 2018 8:54 PM IST
A new study says that a portfolio diet can help reduce cholesterol and keep your heart healthy. It is a vegetarian based diet where the foods are plant-based which helps to lower the LDL or bad cholesterol and keeping the arteries healthy and the heart kicking.
According to a Harvard Health Study for someone eating 2,000 calories per day, a portfolio diet would aim to provide the following amounts of these cholesterol-lowering foods:
In the Indian scenario, where we eat a lot of vegetarian food sticking to a diet like this might not be too much of a problem. However, before switching to any diet it is better to consult your doctor first. According to the University of Toronto researchers, the portfolio diet can help reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including blood pressure, triglycerides and inflammation. However, the diet isn't designed for weight loss but focuses on lowering cholesterol. But people on a portfolio diet can also lose few kilos by adhering to the same as you would be eliminating all the junk and high-fat foods.
How does it help?
The researchers found that apart from lowering LDL cholesterol, it also helps to improve your blood lipids and blood pressure and lower inflammation. However, adhering to such a diet becomes challenging. But researchers believe that including few plant-based foods in your diet can also help to lower cholesterol and take care of your heart health. Plant sterols and stanols found in plant-based foods work by blocking cholesterol absorption from the gut. If taken in the right amounts they can lower LDL cholesterol by 10 to 15%. In fact, the diet also works as a low dose of statin sans the side-effects.
The full findings have been published in the journal Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases.
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