What to Eat While Taking Statins to Help Lower Cholesterol

If you take a statin to lower your cholesterol, you might wonder whether your food choices still make much of a difference. Many people assume the medication does most of the work, and statins can be very effective at lowering LDL, or "bad," cholesterol, but what you eat also helps protect your heart.

Eating a heart-healthy diet may improve your cholesterol levels, which is a benefit on top of what your statin is already doing. It can also help lower your risk of heart disease and stroke. The key is knowing which foods deserve more room in your diet and which ones are better to eat less often.

Oatmeal, barley, beans, lentils, apples, and pears contain soluble fiber, a type of fiber that helps reduce the amount of cholesterol that gets into your bloodstream. Starting your morning with oatmeal and adding beans to soups and salads are two easy ways to get more of it.

Our Apple Cinnamon Overnight Oats combine oats with a diced apple and have 10 grams of fiber per serving. For an easy way to add beans to dinner, try our White Bean and Kale Soup, which has no saturated fat.

Salmon, tuna, mackerel, and herring provide omega-3 fatty acids. While omega-3 fats don't directly lower LDL cholesterol, they may help lower triglycerides and support overall heart health. A couple of times a week, try eating fish in place of red or processed meat.

Our Garlic Lime Tuna Steaks are served over a colorful cabbage and carrot slaw and have just 1 gram of saturated fat per serving. If you prefer salmon, Mediterranean Salmon comes with white beans and spinach and has 8 grams of fiber per serving.

Walnuts, almonds, flaxseeds, and other nuts and seeds provide fiber and unsaturated fats. These nutrients can help support healthier cholesterol levels. Since nuts are high in calories, stick with a small handful.

Our Almond Cranberry Muesli with Apples mixes chopped almonds into oats and grated apple for a breakfast with 6 grams of fiber and 0 grams of saturated fat.

Fill your plate with colorful produce. Fruits and vegetables provide fiber, vitamins, minerals, and plant compounds that support heart health. Berries, leafy greens, broccoli, apples, and oranges are all good choices.

A bowl of our Mixed Berry Fruit Salad has 5 grams of fiber, and you'll find more ideas in our list of the 11 best heart healthy foods.

When possible, use olive oil instead of butter. Avocados, nuts, and seeds are other sources of unsaturated fats. Replacing foods that are high in saturated fat with these healthier fats helps lower LDL cholesterol.

Our Garlic Roasted Broccoli is a simple way to put this into practice. It's roasted in olive oil and topped with toasted pine nuts.