For centuries, legumes or dry beans, have played an important part in the fight against heart disease in the Mediterranean countries.

Here’s why…

Legumes contain essential minerals and vitamins such as iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, zinc, potassium, folic acid, and some of the B-complex vitamins

They are low in fat and sodium, which make them an ideal food to keep high cholesterol and high blood pressure at bay.

Legumes are also high in soluble fiber, the kind that lowers cholesterol.

They can help balance your budget because they are very inexpensive

Studies show that people who eat dry beans regularly have a lower risk of suffering from heart attacks than the ones who barely eat them. In fact, one study showed that consuming legumes four times or more per week, compared with less than once a week, lowered the risk of heart disease by 22 percent.

As you can see dry bean are an almost perfect food.

How Eating Legumes Will Help You Lower Your Risk of Heart Disease

1. Dry beans contain high amounts of soluble and insoluble fiber

Soluble fiber means that the fiber dissolves in water and forms a jelly-like paste with other foods in the intestine. This feature is very important because it reduces the amount of cholesterol circulating in your blood. Soluble fiber not only lowers LDL cholesterol, the “bad” guy, but it also raises HDL cholesterol, the “good” guy.

Insoluble fiber does not have any effect on cholesterol but it is very beneficial for our whole body because it acts as a natural laxative

2. Dry beans help remove toxic waste and cholesterol in you system.

Bile, produced by the liver, is a substance necessary to break down the fat we ingest in food. To produce bile, the liver grabs the cholesterol from the blood, converts it into bile, and sends it to the gallbladder where it’s stored until needed. Then, when we eat, the gallbladder sends the bile to the intestines to help break down the fat portion of the food. Once the bile has done its job in the intestines, one of two things can happen:

If our meal has enough soluble fiber, the fiber grabs the bile and takes it out of our body through the feces. Once the bile is eliminated, the liver responds by drawing more cholesterol from the blood to make new bile. The result is less cholesterol circulating in our system.

If our meal does not have enough soluble fiber, the bile is not taken out of the body. In this case, the liver doesn’t need to draw more cholesterol from the blood to produce more bile because there is plenty available in the system. The result is more cholesterol navigating in our blood vessels.

3. Dry beans stops cholesterol from even forming

When our meal includes soluble fiber, bacteria in the colon ferment it. This fermentation produces certain compounds that prevent the formation of cholesterol in the first place. This results in lower levels of cholesterol circulating in your blood vessels.



4. Dry beans stop homocysteines from causing heart attacks

Homocysteine is a substance our body needs to produce certain compounds vital for our organs to function properly. To produce homocysteine, our bodies need adequate amounts of vitamin B6, B12, and folic acid. However, when any of these vitamins is lacking, homocysteine is not converted into the necessary compounds. It then spills into circulation.

Many studies have shown that when homocysteine accumulates in our system, it becomes toxic. Even in small amounts, it will dramatically increase your risk of heart disease. High levels of homocysteine concentrations in our blood may cause a heart attack or a stroke, even among people who have normal cholesterol levels. Here’s how…

How can homocysteine cause heart attacks?

Abnormal levels of homocysteine appear can:

Damage the inner lining of your arteries

Promote blood clots

Oxidize LDL cholesterol

How to Lower Cholesterol, Prevent Homocysteine from Accumulating in Your Blood & Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease

Eat foods that contain folate as well as vitamins B6 and B12. Legumes are an excellent source of folate and contain moderate amounts of B6. Recent data show that the practice of fortifying foods with folate has reduced the average level of homocysteine in the U.S. population.

Based on studies conducted during more than 25 years, nutrition experts at the Michigan State University concluded that eating 2 to 4 cups of cooked dry beans every week can protect us against heart disease. So start eating dry beans, garbanzo beans and lentils today.



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We know how importance lower cholesterol levels are. It can decrease our risk for heart disease, stroke and heart attack. But can our cholesterol levels be too low? Since our bodies make cholesterol it makes sense our body needs this chemical, but what happens if the body doesn’t have the cholesterol it needs?

First, abnormally low cholesterol levels have been linked with anxiety, depression, suicide, and violent behavior. An article published in the periodical Psychosomatic Medicine in May of 1999 makes a startling revelation.

Total Cholesterol Levels

It refers to a study of healthy young women with total cholesterol levels below 160 mg/dl. It reports these women were more likely to make high scores on tests used to measure levels of depression and anxiety than those with normal cholesterol levels.

Medical data has also shown men with low cholesterol levels are 50-80 percent more likely to be the victim of a homicide, suicide or fatal accident than those with normal cholesterol levels.

Link

Researchers suspect there may be a link between low cholesterol levels and low serotonin level. Serotonin is a “feel good” chemical found in the brain. People with low levels of serotonin are those who have problems with depression and anxiety. So, these lower cholesterol levels can cause depression.

Other studies into the effects of abnormally low cholesterol also show there may be some link between low blood cholesterol and cancer. Researchers are finding the lower the blood cholesterol level the higher the risk for cancer. Seemingly, the lower cholesterol levels may also increase your risk for cancer.

Increase Risk

Perhaps the most surprising result of all is that having abnormally low cholesterol can increase your risk for a stroke. While it is generally reported to be the other way around, there are studies that show abnormally low levels of cholesterol can cause more strokes than high cholesterol.

According to information in an article entitled The Cholesterol Myth posted on the website Second Opinions states studies of the Japanese people have backed up the fact lower cholesterol

than normal may cause more strokes.

The Japanese were an ideal people for the stroke study because they have had a rapid change over the past couple of decades in their eating habits. They have evolved from eating a low cholesterol diet high in rice and vegetables to eating more high fat foods. While it seems the Japanese who ate a higher fat diet would be more likely to have strokes, the number of strokes has decreased among the Japanese as their dietary fat increased.

Further Research

Further studies have shown there are two different types of strokes, those caused from clots and those caused from hemorrhaging. While high cholesterol does increase your risk of clot type strokes, research shows chances for a hemorrhagic stroke is increased by an abnormally low cholesterol level.

As you can see, while it is dangerous for your cholesterol to be too high, it is also dangerous for your levels to be too low. Research has shown that abnormally low cholesterol may be linked to depression and anxiety as well as an increase in strokes. Lower cholesterol may not necessarily be better.



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The need to lower cholesterol arises because the presence of excess cholesterol in blood serum can lead to a whole range of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. These diseases include high blood pressure, narrowing and hardening of arteries, heart disease, stroke, and paralysis.

These diseases spring up because the liver dumps excess cholesterol on the inner arterial walls. Later, these fatty deposits harden up to form a plaque, thus narrowing the arteries and obstructing blood flow to the heart and other organs. Other diseases can also result if the affected arteries normally supply blood to organs other than the heart and brain.

The good news, however, is that it is possible to lower cholesterol simply by making some therapeutic lifestyle changes (TLC) and following a healthy TLC diet. In fact, these measures are the first line of defense against hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol). If the TLC measures don’t reduce your cholesterol level enough, then your doctor could prescribe cholesterol-lowering drugs like statins.

The most important lifestyle changes you must make to lower your cholesterol are:

Reduce excess body weight

Exercise regularly

Follow the TLC diet

Quit smoking

Excess body weight because of obesity not only increases the overall cholesterol level but also reduces the protective HDL (high-density lipoproteins) cholesterol, making the problem of high cholesterol worse. HDL is responsible for the transport of excess cholesterol from the tissues and arteries back to the liver for breakdown and disposal and therefore some people call it the good cholesterol.

Regular physical activity, especially aerobics, plays a twofold role in lowering cholesterol. First, it reduces obesity; second, it increases the HDL level. In other words, fat loss causes a drop in the total cholesterol, and your body does a better job of lowering your cholesterol because of the higher HDL level. A moderate-intensity aerobic activity like walking, cycling, dancing or swimming for 30-40 minutes, 5 days a week is an effective way to lower cholesterol.

Your diet plays a direct role in keeping your cholesterol levels. The richer the diet is in cholesterol, saturated fats and trans fats, the higher will be the cholesterol levels. While the liver makes most of the cholesterol in your body, cholesterol that comes from the foods you eat does play an important role.

In fact, for many people, a diet rich in soluble fiber and omega-3 fatty acids, when combined with regular exercise, can just as effectively lower cholesterol as do statin drugs. You would normally get these healthy nutrients from like oats, walnuts, almonds, fresh fruits and vegetables, beans, whole grains, cold-water fish, olive oil, peanut oil, and canola oil. On the other hand, this diet would exclude red meats, alcohol, fried foods, whole-cream dairy products, refined foods, and commercial bakery items.

Today, everyone knows smoking causes a whole range of deadly diseases affecting almost every organ of the body. Smoking is a major cause of cardiovascular diseases because of its role in hardening of the arteries and reducing HDL levels. So, quitting smoking will not only lower your cholesterol levels and raise the HDL level, it will also reduce the risk of getting other deadly diseases.

It is perhaps better to have several different avenues to lower cholesterol because high cholesterol could show up for different reasons in different people. So, you could, in addition, also resort to natural remedies like Guggul, Pantethine, Beta-Sitosterol, Policosanol, Curcumin, red yeast rice, and so on. You can get these supplements at health food stores at a lower price compared to prescription drugs.



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Almost everybody knows the effects of bad cholesterol in the body. By bad cholesterol, it literally has to do with low-density lipoprotein’s molecular transport deposits that thicken in the walls of the arteries hindering the flawless passage of blood affecting the atherogenic status of the arterial walls. While few people do not fully appreciate the importance of cholesterol in the body, this non-soluble waxy substance is essential to aid in building membranes, manufacture of bile, cell walls, nerve sheaths, and produce hormones.

However, exposing the body to high cholesterol supply result to hypertensions and other cardiovascular disorders or lead to atherosclerosis, a disposition of fatty substances, and fibrosis of the inner arteries.

Certain ways to check and reduce high levels of cholesterol are *practicing good eating habits accompanied by regular exercise. *Indulging in a wrong kind of lifestyle or over indulgence enhances the rise in cholesterol levels. 

Good Eating Habits include:

1. Pre-arranging a total cholesterol-free daily diet by creating a whole week menu with vegetable-packed recipes, accompanied by good supply of fiber-filled fruits. If you could possibly buy or produce organically produced food types from such sources as organic gardens, so much the better. Chemicals enhance the increase in cholesterol level. Carbohydrates should be of high complex standards. 

Some supermarkets abound in the availability of fresh organic vegetables like lettuce. The high fiber-content of vegetables that you eat will reduce the LDL cholesterol, because these foods are very low-cholesterol-content, or non-containing at all. There are of course foods that enhance low-density lipoprotein to develop to be a total risk, and settle in the arteries during the process of the lipoprotein molecules travel to the blood stream.

2. If egg is included in your meals, eat more egg white, never the egg yolk if you’re already an LDC possibility-individual. Concentrate on baked foods that are made from whole wheat, and noodles made from cereals.  Use unrefined sugar in your light beverages. Fully refined food preparations are processed thru certain chemicals for fine or whitening effects for marketing ends, but are in fact health hazards.

3. Water is the universal solvent. There is no harm in drinking more water, following the daily water requirements standard to aid in the total digestion process to balance body equilibrium in cleaning the body to improve blood circulation.

4. Eat more root crops than artificially made or baked foods that are prepared with certain additives, coloring, and extenders for commercial purposes. 

5. Drink fresh fruit juices, instead of manufactured soft drinks with high sugar content and artificial colorings and additives. Practically, anyone who drinks chocolate beverage, or any chemical drinks and caffeine-filled, like strong coffee risks himself or herself to certain cholesterol levels.

Always remember that trans fats and hydrogenated fats or oils used in the baking or in food processing are even more destructive the saturated fats of some oil origin. Use in preparing your food selected palm oils, especially “olive oil.” It may be costly, but it is the safest oil to use in the kitchen for overall safety of all family members against the ill effect of too much cholesterol.

The best habit to consider is a regular check up of your cholesterol count, so as to safeguard against instant increase that might lead to unaware possible consequence of a fatal hypertension, or stroke due to unprecedented cholesterol rise.



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