The TLC diet
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) developed the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) diet to lower the risk of heart disease and stroke. It contains food and lifestyle suggestions to support healthy cholesterol levels and a suitable weight, including:
- Trying to receive 25–35% of your daily calories from fat
- Keeping saturated fat to no more than 7% of your daily calories
- Keeping dietary cholesterol to no more than 200 mg per day
- Consuming 10 to 25 grams of soluble fiber daily
- At least 2 grams of plant sterols or stanols
- ...
According to numerous studies, eating a healthy diet lowers LDL (bad) cholesterol levels. In fact, the TLC diet decreased this marker by 11% in older, 32-day research involving 36 adults. Increasing your intake of soluble fiber, which is present in foods like oat bran, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, and a number of fruits and vegetables, is thought to be how the diet works. A low risk of heart disease is related to high consumption of fiber overall, and soluble fiber in particular has been demonstrated to lower levels of total and LDL (bad) cholesterol.
