We find more evidence that good cholesterol staves off memory loss and dementia in the British Whitehall II study segment in which 3,673 British civil servants were analyzed regarding the effect of HDL on memory function as they got older. A key finding: At 55 years of age, participants with low levels of HDL were at 53% higher risk of impaired memory than those with high levels of HDL.
What Foods Are Rich in Good Cholesterol?
"Bad" cholesterol hangs out in popular foods like fatty meat and cheese. Good cholesterol is plentiful in olive and other vegetable oils, avocados, and nuts. (And, yes, the healthful qualities of the newly popular Mediterranean Diet have quite a bit to do with the good cholesterol in it.)
WEIGHT WATCHERS advocated a low-fat diet for years – until this information about good cholesterol came out. Now they advocate small amounts of olive oil, avocado, or nuts as part of a reducing diet. And, you know, when my husband and I tried that, we found that the little bit of oil left us feeling much more satisfied for much longer and kept us on our diet.
This excellent article by the MAYO CLINIC expands the good-cholesterol list with oatmeal and fish.
Healthy Recipes With Good Cholesterol
When I tried to find some healthy recipes for the kind of fish that is rich in omega-3s, even Google failed me. I kept hitting one earnest explanation of omega-3s after another, but no recipes . . . until I found MARTHA STEWART. She has some delicious ones.
I had no such problem with avocados. Avocado recipes abound, and here is the largest selection of good avocado recipes I found, at AVOCADO.ORG, of course.