Short Answer: Turkey is good for high cholesterol. Because it has protein, niacin, B6, B12, selenium, and choline, and they can lower your blood cholesterol, blood pressure, homocysteine, and oxidative stress.
High cholesterol is a condition that affects your blood vessels and heart.
In high cholesterol, your body has too much of a waxy substance called cholesterol in your blood.
This can lead to various health problems, such as atherosclerosis, heart attack, stroke, and angina.
One of the key factors in managing high cholesterol is diet.
What you consume can affect your blood cholesterol levels, which can impact your high cholesterol symptoms and overall health.
To effectively manage high cholesterol, you should consume fiber-rich foods like oats, beans, and fruits, and avoid saturated fat-rich foods like butter, cheese, and fatty meats.
Now, turkey is a type of poultry meat that comes from domesticated birds.
People usually roast, bake, or fry turkey and eat it with various sauces and side dishes.
Turkey is good for high cholesterol because it contains protein, niacin, B6, B12, selenium, and choline.
Protein helps build and repair your body tissues, niacin helps lower LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglycerides, B6 and B12 help lower homocysteine (a risk factor for heart disease), selenium helps protect your cells from oxidative damage, and choline helps regulate your lipid metabolism.
3 ounces of roasted turkey breast without skin can give you 27 grams of protein (54% of your daily needs), 0.6 grams of saturated fat (3% of your daily needs), 16 milligrams of niacin (80% of your daily needs), 0.4 milligrams of B6 (20% of your daily needs), 0.3 micrograms of B12 (5% of your daily needs), 24.5 micrograms of selenium (35% of your daily needs), and 72 milligrams of choline (13% of your daily needs).
Protein can positively affect high cholesterol by lowering your blood pressure and improving your insulin sensitivity.
Niacin can positively affect high cholesterol by increasing HDL (good) cholesterol and reducing LDL and triglycerides.
B6 and B12 can positively affect high cholesterol by lowering homocysteine, which can damage your blood vessels and increase your risk of heart disease.
Selenium can positively affect high cholesterol by preventing oxidative stress, which can cause inflammation and plaque formation in your arteries.
Choline can positively affect high cholesterol by regulating your liver function and bile production, which can help eliminate excess cholesterol from your body.
Furthermore, turkey is a lean meat and lean meat is good for high cholesterol.
Because, lean meat has less fat and calories than fatty meat, which can raise your blood cholesterol and weight.
You can eat up to 6 ounces of turkey per day safely.
More than that can cause excess protein intake, which can strain your kidneys and liver, and increase your uric acid levels, which can cause gout.
Also, you shouldn’t eat turkey if you have a poultry allergy to prevent an allergic reaction.
Because, an allergic reaction can cause symptoms such as hives, swelling, itching, wheezing, and anaphylaxis, which can be life-threatening.
You can buy fresh turkey in your local market or can order it from online.
Always choose organic, free-range, and hormone-free turkey.
Because, organic turkey has less antibiotics and pesticides, free-range turkey has more omega-3 fatty acids and less stress hormones, and hormone-free turkey has less artificial growth stimulants.
You can store fresh turkey in your refrigerator for up to 2 days or in your freezer for up to 6 months.
Finally, remember, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, including a balanced diet, regular exercise, stress management and essential medical care is key to managing high cholesterol effectively.
I always recommend my high cholesterol patients to follow a high cholesterol-friendly diet to improve their overall well-being, and enjoy a longer and healthier life.