Weekly menu to lower cholesterol (with tips and recipes)

Well-planned plant diets are, in and of themselves, a good weapon against hypercholesterolemia. Even if we follow a vegan or vegetarian diet, we are not going to have high cholesterol for eating a piece of cake or some French fries one day, but we must be clear that there are plant foods and vegan recipes that are not for everyday lifebut should be consumed occasionally.

In this article I will tell you the keys to keep cholesterol at bay with a vegetable diet and I will offer you a weekly menu to lower cholesterol, with proposals for breakfasts to lower bad cholesterol, lunch and dinner for the whole week. you will also find three especially suitable recipes if you follow a diet to lower cholesterol. By the way, remember that if you want to always have a cookbook with great vegetarian recipe ideas at hand, you can download the ebook “Healthy Lunches and Dinners: 100 Vegetarian Recipes” from Cuerpomente.

Do you know what role cholesterol plays in the body? We tell you in this video:

Diet to lower cholesterol

Although foods of plant origin do not contain cholesterol, our body produces it naturally, so It is perfectly possible to eat a vegan diet and have high cholesterol. If what we want is to prevent this from happening or lower cholesterol, we already know the foods to avoid, because they are the “usual suspects” in nutrition: sugary soft drinks, alcohol and ultra-processed.

Also, we will use cooking techniques that do not break down fatsso in a diet to lower cholesterol we will prioritize steam or stir-fry and avoid fried foods.

To this we can add three great keys that help us maintain cholesterol at normal levels:

1. Choose good fats

The fat quality It is one of the key points to keep cholesterol at bay. For this we are going to choose good quality fats such as:

Food fats like walnuts, almonds, cashews or avocadobut also from seeds, such as flax or hemp seeds.Vegetable oils must be of good quality, such as virgin olive oil. This can be alternated with linseed oil, rapeseed or rapeseed oil and other oils with polyunsaturated fatty acids. We will avoid palm fat and coconut fat.

The nuts They are also our allies when it comes to reducing cholesterol, but we must bear in mind that they are very energetic foods, and that in the cream format we can consume more than we really need. It’s much more convenient add them whole to salads or vegetable yogurtsalthough of course we can use them in cream too.

2. Include a lot of fiber in the diet

A Plant-based diet packed with soluble fiber It is one of the best assets we have, since it helps reduce the absorption of cholesterol. In addition, by adding this type of satiating food to our diet, we naturally and effortlessly displace other less interesting ones. This type of fiber is found in fruits and vegetables, as well as legumes and many nuts.

It is also often suggested reduce starch intakesomething we can get not using refined flour and increasing the portions of vegetables, without giving up cereals or potatoes, sweet potatoes or cassava. The latter, better if we consume them in the form of resistant starch.

3. Reduce sugar

Finally, it is convenient reduce free sugars, and not just added ones. For this we will not only reduce or eliminate white sugar. Also the rest of “sugars” that behave like free sugars at the metabolic level. From panela to syrups, all of them; cane honey, of course honey (although it is not vegan I indicate it in case you still consume it) as well as juices, even if they are natural and homemade.

Of course, it is much better to drink a homemade juice than a sugary soft drink, but if we want to reduce cholesterol we need to eat the whole fruit, with its matrix. We also avoid smoothies with fruit, especially those made with sweeter fruits.

Finally, keep in mind that high cholesterol is not always a matter of diet. In the case of people suffering from familial hypercholesterolemiaIt’s a genetic issue.

weekly menu to lower cholesterol

The Soluble fiber It is one of our best allies for lowering cholesterol, so in our weekly menu for lowering cholesterol you will find a significant amount, something that is usually common in most of the weekly menus that you have available on this blog. .

Download the menu weekly to lower cholesterol here.

A good way to complement this is accompany at least one of the meals of the day with a good salad from the garden that gives you fiber and nutrients.

This weekly menu proposal contains a large number of legume dishes, avoiding saturated fats such as palm and purchased preparations. With good shopping and planning, you’ll have an easier time avoiding unhealthy foods. Vary the vegetables according to the season and their availability.

In the menu you will find breakfast, lunch and dinner proposals for a whole week, from Mondays to Sundays. They include these three recipes that you will find below, especially suitable if you want to follow a diet to lower cholesterol.

3 suitable recipes to reduce cholesterol

In these three recipes we use ingredients with a lot of fiber, healthy fats and antioxidants, as well as gentle cooking techniques that do not break down fats.

1. Tabbouleh-Style Cauliflower and Chickpea Salad

We base ourselves on the Lebanese tabbouleh to create a super nutritious salad. This recipe will provide you with extra fiber, many vitamins, especially vitamin C, iron and protein. Although I am going to leave the cauliflower raw, once it has been shredded you can steam it for a few minutes, so that it is firm, but more digestible when cooked.

For 4 servings:

500 g of cauliflower 400 g of cooked chickpeas 1/2 bunch of fresh parsley 1 tomato 1 red pepper 2 spring onions 2 garlic cloves 1 lemon in juice 1 handful of mint or spearmint leaves 50 ml of extra virgin olive oil salt and ground black pepper to taste pepper of other colors (optional)

Preparation:

We keep the cauliflower saplings and save the stem for a cream or soup. Crumble the little trees and chop the small stems with a knife. Wash and clean all the vegetables well, removing stems and seeds. Cut it all into small cubes. Chop the mint and parsley leaves. In a bowl, mix the vegetables, mint, parsley and shredded cauliflower. Add the well-drained chickpeas. Mix the olive oil with the lemon juice and the two minced garlic cloves. Add the dressing and season with salt and pepper.

2. Vegan oatmeal and lentil meatballs

This recipe is very simple and it is very possible that you have all the ingredients at home. One of the virtues of lentils is that they cook very quickly and that we have varieties that do not need to be soaked. You can also opt for canned ones, if they are of quality.

Oatmeal can be easily made by crushing rolled oats.

For about 12 units:

200 g cooked lentils 150 g oatmeal 1 tablespoon chickpea or rice flour 100 g onion 1 medium carrot 1 minced garlic clove 1 teaspoon oregano 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds 1 tablespoon olive oil salt and ground black pepper to taste water or broth if oil is necessary for frying or baking

Preparation:

Drain the lentils well and keep some of the liquid if they are organic. Peel the onion, carrot and garlic and chop them as small as possible. In a bowl, mix the lentils with the tablespoon of oil and add the flour. Add the rest of the ingredients and knead. We have to have a compact mass, but not dry; Add one or two tablespoons of water and let the dough rest for about 4 hours in the fridge. Shape the meatballs, which will then be ready to cook or freeze. We can flour them if we want in a flour that we like, for example oatmeal or chickpea flour. We can bake them at 180 ºC painting them with oil.

3. Quinoa and carrot cream

A very versatile and comforting cream that provides you with proteins, vitamins and healthy fats. You can replace the quinoa with oat flakes, and the carrot with pumpkin, adjusting the amount of water.

Ingredients for 2-3 servings:

500 g carrots 200 g quinoa½ liter of water or mild vegetable broth1 glass of water2 tablespoons linseed oil1 teaspoon fennel powder dessert½ teaspoon turmeric powder½ teaspoon black pepper powdersalt to tastealfalfa sprouts, 1 tablespoon almond seeds hemp or 1 serving of crumbled tofu per diner (to complete)

Preparation:

We wash the quinoa well to remove the saponin, which would give us a bitter taste. In some cases, it comes washed, check the label. We heat all the liquid and begin to cook the quinoa. We wash and peel the carrots. Chop them so they cook sooner and add them to the cooker, along with the spices. Cook over low heat until the quinoa and carrot are well done, with the lid on. Turn off the heat and blend, adding the oil. You can lighten by adding water or broth. We serve with the seeds, sprouts or crumbled tofu.