7 Smoothie Recipes to Help Lowering Your Cholesterol: Heart Healthy Smoothies!

Kale and spinach can both lower cholesterol levels.

They both contain bile acid sequestrants, which have the ability to “bind bile acids and stop them being reabsorbed so they can be excreted from the body. This means that there is less cholesterol in the body.

Studies have found that cholesterol can be lowered by eating strawberries. In particular, it has shown great potential for reducing oxidative damage to LDL cholesterol (the bad kind), which is a big risk factor for developing heart disease. They can also have an effect on HDL cholesterol levels (the good kind!) too.

More specifically, consuming beverages made from freeze-dried strawberries every day for 8 weeks has been shown to reduce LDL cholesterol in people who have metabolic syndrome. How about that for a great reason to use strawberries in your smoothies!

Apple contains pectin, which is a soluble fiber known to lower LDL cholesterol. A study by the University of Florida found that older women who ate apples on a daily basis were able to lower their cholesterol by an impressive 23% over the course of 6 months - along with a small increase in HDL cholesterol.

Studies have shown that the monounsaturated fatty acids in avocado can reduce cholesterol, especially in people who already have excess cholesterol in their blood.

Studies have suggested that if chia seeds are eaten as part of a diet also containing oats, soy protein and nopal, they can help to reduce levels of LDL cholesterol and increase HDL cholesterol.

More research needs to be done to see if chia seeds can have these type of effects by themselves but they do contain lots of fiber - which has been linked to lower cholesterol levels.

Spirulina can lower cholesterol levels and has also been shown to indirectly increase HDL cholesterol.

In a small scale study focusing on type 2 diabetics, consuming 2g of spirulina per day led to a reduction in LDL cholesterol.

Consuming more spirulina than this has been shown to have impressive effects too.

Almonds have been shown in studies to reduce levels of LDL cholesterol, even in people who have high cholesterol and diabetes. This is believed to be due to the amount of nutrients they contain including unsaturated fatty acids, fiber, plant protein, magnesium, copper, manganese, calcium and potassium.

Almonds can increase levels of HDL cholesterol in people with coronary heart disease.

You can the benefits of these nuts by blending almond butter in your smoothies or using nut milk as your base liquid.

Be sure to use 100% natural almond butter, without any added sugar. I especially like this brand.​

Oats contain Oat B-glucan, a type of soluble fiber that has been linked to lower cholesterol. Studies have suggested that eating oats can lead to a reduction of up to 7 per cent in LDL cholesterol.

Some people believe that dairy products aren’t good for cholesterol because of their saturated fat content but studies have suggested that this isn’t actually true.

In fact, they can actually help to reduce your chances of developing cardiovascular disease! This may be because calcium has an ability to impact on the effects of LDL cholesterol.

Probiotics are also a factor, according to research from McGill University. In this study, participants with high cholesterol levels were split into two groups. One group was just a placebo study while the other took probiotics twice a day for 9 weeks. The latter group saw their total cholesterol level drop by 9 per cent, and their LDL cholesterol level by almost 12 per cent after taking the probiotics.