Dietitian tips on how to reduce high cholesterol levels

Maintaining healthy cholesterol levels is one of the most important steps you can take to support your heart health and reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease. While many people wonder what foods to avoid or whether they need to follow a strict “cholesterol diet,” the good news is that lasting improvements often come from small, sustainable nutrition and lifestyle habits rather than restrictive rules.

From choosing more heart-healthy fats and increasing soluble fibre to building balanced meals and understanding food labels, there are many evidence-based ways to support healthy cholesterol levels. In this article, you’ll learn five practical nutrition strategies recommended by Registered Dietitians to help improve your overall heart health through a realistic, non-diet approach.

Key Takeaways

• Focus on sustainable habits such as balanced eating, regular movement, adequate sleep, and stress management to support heart health.
• Build meals with a mix of fibre-rich carbohydrates, protein, and healthy fats.
• Choose more unsaturated fats from foods like olive oil, nuts, seeds, avocado, and fish.
• Increase soluble fibre intake through foods such as oats, beans, lentils, fruits, and vegetables to help support healthy cholesterol levels.
• Limit trans fats and be mindful of saturated fats; focus on overall eating patterns rather than avoiding foods high in dietary cholesterol

1. Support your heart health with sustainable nourishment habits

Many lifestyle and nutrition factors can support healthy cholesterol levels and overall heart health. Rather than focusing on weight or strict targets, it can be more helpful to look at your overall patterns: how you’re eating, moving, sleeping, and managing stress.

Nutrition-wise, building balanced and satisfying meals is key. Including a mix of fibre-rich carbohydrates, protein, and healthy fats can help support energy levels, fullness, and cardiovascular health.

Instead of making drastic changes, start with small, sustainable shifts that feel realistic for your day-to-day life, like adding more fibre-rich foods, incorporating heart-healthy fats, or creating more consistent meal patterns. Over time, these gentle, consistent habits can have a meaningful impact on your health.

Work with an experienced Registered Dietitian to help you develop a customized and sustainable nutrition plan that can help you with a personal plan to maximize your efforts through a non-dieting approach.

2. The type of fat you include can support your heart health

Including a variety of fats in your meals, especially monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, can support heart health and healthy cholesterol levels.

Foods like nuts, seeds, avocado, olive oil, and other plant-based oils are great options to incorporate in ways that feel enjoyable and satisfying.

Fatty fish such as salmon are a source of omega-3 fats, which can support cardiovascular health. If fish isn’t something you enjoy or eat regularly, you can also include options like hemp seeds, ground flax seeds, walnuts, canola oil, or omega-3-enriched foods.

3. Boost your soluble fibre intake

You might have heard that foods like oatmeal and bran support digestion—and they can also play a role in supporting healthy cholesterol levels. Foods rich in soluble fibre, such as oats, beans, lentils, fruits, vegetables, and psyllium, can be helpful to include regularly.

Rather than aiming for strict targets, look for simple ways to incorporate fibre-rich foods throughout your day in ways that feel enjoyable and realistic. This might look like adding oats to your breakfast, including beans or lentils in meals, or enjoying fruits and vegetables as part of snacks and meals.

If needed, a psyllium fibre supplement can be one option to help support your intake.

4. Reduce trans-fat and be mindful of saturated fat

Trans fats can raise LDL cholesterol and lower HDL cholesterol. They are most commonly found in foods made with partially hydrogenated oils, such as some fried foods and commercially baked products.

Saturated fats are found in foods like marbled meats, poultry skin, butter, cheese, and certain tropical oils. Research in this area continues to evolve, and the impact of saturated fat on heart health can depend on overall dietary patterns and what foods they are replacing.

Including more unsaturated fats such as those found in olive oil, nuts, seeds, avocado, and fish—can support heart health when part of a balanced way of eating.

Rather than focusing on individual nutrients or strict limits, it can be more helpful to look at your overall pattern of eating and include a variety of foods that feel nourishing, satisfying, and sustainable.

Learn all about fat facts and myths. 

5. When looking at a food label, investigate trans-fat and saturated fat rather than dietary cholesterol

There is a common myth that people with high blood cholesterol need to avoid foods like eggs or shrimp. Current evidence does not support the need to strictly limit dietary cholesterol for most people.

In fact, many people can enjoy foods like eggs as part of a balanced pattern of eating without negatively impacting their blood cholesterol levels. Individual needs can vary, so working with a Registered Dietitian can help you find an approach that feels right for you.

When it comes to heart health, it can be more helpful to look at overall eating patterns—such as the types of fats included and the variety of foods you’re eating—rather than focusing on a single nutrient.

Need more support navigating a diet for high cholesterol?

If you are looking for heart health advice and high cholesterol diet support, our Registered Dietitian team can help support you with more education on what to eat for high cholesterol, high triglycerides, high blood pressure, weight concerns, meal planning and building a sustainable plan you can live with for life.

Find out more about our Heart Health Dietitian Nutrition Counseling Programs here.

As university-trained Registered Dietitians in Calgary and virtually online across Canada, you can count on us for credible advice and practical meal planning so you don’t have to stress about food anymore. You can achieve a healthy and joyous relationship with food and your body. Let’s talk about what this can look like for you.

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