4. Eat Fewer Refined Grains
Many Americans live on a staple diet of ‘white’ food options, such as white bread, white rice, white pasta, and white-flour foods, like muffins. These contain refined flour and few nutrients. Add to this an accompaniment of croissants, pretzels, bagels, dried cereals, crackers, chips, and tortillas. These hyper-processed foods are filled with sugar, salt and fat, and can be detrimental to your health especially in excessive quantities. Studies confirm the benefits of eating whole-grain foods, as opposed to their ‘white’ and processed variants.
For example, a Harvard University study showed that women who ate two to three servings of whole-grain varieties each week were 30 percent less likely to die from a heart attack or develop heart disease compared with those who ate whole-grain foods once a week. Couscous, polenta, quinoa and wild rice are interesting variants to introduce into one’s diet to create healthy variety and to lower LDL Cholesterol.