Expert Shares Superfood Breakfast to Reduce Risk of Heart Attacks and Cut Cholesterol
This tasty breakfast is not only cheap and filling but it could help to significantly lower cholesterol levels and minimise your risk of dangerous health complications.
If you have high cholesterol, it means you have too much of a fatty substance known as cholesterol in your blood. While this is not initially dangerous, over time it can build up in the blood vessels, causing blockages and preventing blood from flowing properly through the arteries. Having high cholesterol is a major risk factor for medical emergencies such as strokes and heart attacks. Like many medical conditions, there are several factors that can contribute to high cholesterol, with diet being one of them.
Specifically, eating too much saturated fat can raise your cholesterol levels. However, making certain changes to your diet can also lower your cholesterol levels. With this in mind, one expert shared a tasty superfood breakfast that could do just this. Writing for the charity Heart Care Healthy Living, based in Walsall, exercise physiologist Ryan Hodgkinson recommended anyone with high cholesterol try eating overnight oats for breakfast.
Overnight oats are a breakfast or snack made by soaking oats in liquid overnight — such as water, milk, or yoghurt, instead of cooking them in the morning. Especially tasty when loaded with fruit and flavourings such as honey, they have become a go-to breakfast for many people in recent years. Ryan recommended combining the oats with yoghurt and milk for the best cholesterol-lowering results. He explained: “Overnight oats are a great way to start the day, oats help to lower blood cholesterol and are naturally low in saturated fat. They are very satiating, so they fill you up and help to stop you needing a snack.”
The reason why oats are so good for you is because they are rich in a type of fibre called beta-glucan, which has proven cholesterol-lowering benefits. Eating three grams of beta-glucan each day, as part of a healthy diet and lifestyle, can lower blood cholesterol. When you eat beta-glucan, it forms a gel in the gut which traps cholesterol-rich bile acids, leading to less cholesterol passing from the gut into the bloodstream.
When it comes to picking the yoghurt to use in your overnight oats, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) recommends choosing a low-fat option for the healthiest results. Ryan’s overnight oats recipe includes rolled oats, fat-free natural yoghurt, skimmed or semi-skimmed milk, flaxseed mix, and toppings of your choice such as blueberries, raspberries, and cinnamon.
If you are concerned about your cholesterol levels, it is advisable to consult your doctor for personalised advice.