Healthy Grains are key to helping lower cholesterol. A great way to eat your grains all at once is either in the form of toast (look for breads that contain wheat berries, oats, quinoa, nuts, barley, etc.) or make your own large batch of porridge. I like soaking millet with barley, oats and quinoa in water for an hour before I place it into a rice cooker and cook on the porridge mode. The end result is a lovely plain porridge packed with super healthy grains, much like oatmeal. I then scoop out one serving size and heat it up with ingredients I want to eat for that meal. It can be savory or sweet.
Savory Porridge Dishes
- Chicken Porridge with Kale and Spinach – Heat up the stored plain porridge in a pot with chicken stock, diced up chicken breast and veggies. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle olive oil to finish.
- Salmon Ochazuke Porridge with Nori and Sesame Seeds – Heat up stored plain porridge in a pot and brewed barley or green tea. Top it off with a seared piece of salmon and sprinkle a heavy serving of wasabi furikake on top and slivers of nori.
- Westlake Corn Porridge – Heat up stored plain porridge with vegetable stock, corn, egg whites, and finish off with freshly chopped cilantro.
Sweet Porridge Dishes
- Sweet Potato, Apple Cinnamon Porridge -Simmer your porridge with finely diced sweet potato and apple. Spice up with cinnamon, nut meg and add vanilla , add crushed walnuts for crunch
- Coconut Goji Blueberry Porridge – Simmer porridge with coconut milk, goji berries and top with fresh blueberries, chia seeds and slivered almonds
- Strawberry Rhubarb Porridge with mint and Coconut Chips – Simmer strawberries with Rhubarb with almond milk and then top with freshly minced mint and coconut chips
Aside from eating healthy grains for lowering cholesterol, you need to also consume more fruit and nuts. Incorporate these things into your daily snack time. Sliced fruits and a handful of nuts is always nice. Or even bake a power muffin using plant based protein powders, almond milk, egg whites, fruit and nuts. Now this is the kind of muffin you can have for a snack that you can feel good about.
Salads are a great way to eat the essential ingredients you need for cholesterol. Tofu Caprese Salad (skip the mozzarella and use tofu instead), or try my Bikini Bod Salad with Smoked Salmon, tomato, cucumber, mixed green with lemon juice, olive oil and herbs.
Smoothies with fruits, nuts, and veggies is another great way to ramp up the nutrients and help maintain and lower cholesterol for breakfast. Or make soups a hefty meal by adding legumes. Beans are another way to lower cholesterol and adding them to soup with a bunch of veggies help you consume more vegetables than you may normally consume.