Cholesterol is a fatty, wax-like component, which is generally found inside your body. It helps your body in creating hormones and digestive substances. So, from a general viewpoint, it seems to be quite healthy and important for your health.

However, like everything, if the amount increases in your body, problems start to arise. They start making the internals of your heart vessels narrow and damage them severely, which can lead to a heart attack.

Due to this reason, most doctors usually ask their patients to lower their cholesterol levels by eating some of the top foods to prevent heart disease. Here’s what you need to know about them.

Nuts
Most types of nuts, especially walnuts and almonds, provide a high amount of monounsaturated fats. Apart from that, they are also enriched with omega-3 fatty acids as well as polyunsaturated fats, which are excellent for the health of your heart. Nuts are also known to be an exceptional source of L-arginine, a type of amino acid, which prompts your body to create nitric oxide. The nitric oxide helps your body to regulate your blood pressure, which, in turn, reduces the risks of various heart diseases.

Avocados
Most doctors consider avocados to be a highly nutritious fruit and one of the top foods to prevent heart disease. They are an excellent source of fiber and unsaturated fats, both of which are best for lowering your cholesterol level. Apart from that, they help in increasing the amount of good cholesterol in your body.

As avocados generally contain a lot of fiber, they can also decrease the amount of fats in your body. However, to achieve this feat, you will have to indulge in daily exercising aside from eating avocados.

Leafy vegetables
Even though all types of vegetables can help in reducing cholesterol levels, leafy vegetables are most beneficial. Vegetables like spinach and kale contain a lot of protein and carotenoids, which can lower the risk of various heart diseases. These vegetables also assist with lowering the level of cholesterol by binding bile acids, which helps in excreting more cholesterol from your body.

Soybeans
Almost all types of legumes, especially soybeans, are known to be quite beneficial for your heart. According to a recent study, soybeans help in reducing bad cholesterol by more than 20 percent. The effect of this factor seems to be a lot stronger in the cases of people who are living with high cholesterol. Due to this reason, many people consider soybeans to be one of the top foods to prevent heart disease.

Fatty fish
Fish, such as mackerels and salmons, are known to be rich in monounsaturated fats. Therefore, they can also help you in reducing the amount of bad cholesterol from your body. Apart from that, they can reduce the risk of strokes and internal inflammations.

So, these are some of the food items that you can eat if you are determined to lower the cholesterol level in your blood.