CHOLESTEROL + THE GOOD, THE BAD, and THE UGLY

Almost all of us have heard of cholesterol and usually it is surrounded by negativity. Which is correct on the one hand but incorrect on the other. Here’s why: cholesterol is actually a naturally occurring substance in your body. It is made by your liver and essential for the proper function of your nerves, your cells, and your hormones. It attaches to your little fat particles in your bloodstream in order to travel around your body. So we need cholesterol. That’s the GOOD part.

The BAD part is that our lifestyles have caused an imbalance in the amount of different types of cholesterol in some of our bodies, which is bad for our health. Consuming too much cholesterol from your food causes a build up in your blood vessels and gives you all kinds of problems that you really don’t want. Amongst those are strokes, heart attacks, and heart disease. That’s the

part. The way we are eating is bad for our health. But don’t worry – it’s something that we can change!

Luckily there is one easy thing you can do to help you lower your cholesterol and it’s something that we at Capedry can help you with: eat more fibre! More specifically – soluble fibre. This type of fibre is found in raw nuts and seeds as well as dried fruit. So we’ve got your covered! Raw nuts (in other words not roasted and not salted – watch your salt intake if you want to lower your cholesterol) are nature’s most fabulous food! They are delicious (always a plus when trying to eat more healthy), they are filled with good fats (to keep you fuller for longer), and the soluble fibre they contain actually stops your body from absorbing cholesterol. So it’s a no brainer: eat about a handful of raw nuts a day as a snack or sprinkled over your salad and you’ll get many more benefits than you thought!

A few other things you can do to lower your cholesterol: eat less fatty red meats, eat more plant based protein sources (like chickpeas, kidney beans, butter beans, lentils), drink lots of water, and exercise. Changing some of your bad habits (like that chocolate bar you eat every afternoon at 4pm, or lying on the couch instead of taking your dog for a walk) into good ones (like eating a handful of nuts a day) can really help your body become its best version and make you feel fantastic. And who doesn’t want to feel fantastic?