Eating Heart Healthy

Eating oatmeal for breakfast seemed like cruel and unusual punishment for a donut lover like me. But I had no choice. I was forced to make drastic changes to my diet because of my high cholesterol level. I hated oatmeal. In my humble opinion, it only tasted palatable in oatmeal cookie form.

The cholesterol reducing benefits of both oatmeal and soy are well known within the medical community. According to the Food and Drug Administration, consuming 25 grams of soy protein a day, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.

In addition, years of research has proven that consuming 3 grams of soluble fiber daily from oatmeal, in a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease. In other words, it may help unclog the "bad" cholesterol forming in your arteries.

When I made the decision to change my eating habits, I started a morning ritual of eating oatmeal. In order to stay on the healthy eating wagon, I had to find easy and simple ways to make my oatmeal tasty. If I didn't, I wouldn't be able to stay on the right track.

Because I ate a combination of soymilk and oatmeal for breakfast, my "bad" LDL cholesterol lowered significantly.

Here are some of the tasty solutions which transformed my oatmeal to a super, heart healthy and delicious breakfast food.

Muesli Syle oatmeal
Use uncooked Quaker Quick Oats or Quaker Old Fashioned Oats (or any other brand you prefer), add almonds (or any nut of your choice), raisins, dried cranberries and soymilk, for a hearty, muesli style oatmeal

Fruit & Cream oatmeal
Add fresh fruit to your oats (blueberries, chopped mangos, strawberries, bananas) then pour on your soymilk.

Soy Power Oatmeal
Add a touch of brown sugar, a scoop of vanilla soy powder and soymilk to your oatmeal.

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
Sprinkle some cinnamon and brown sugar into your oatmeal, then substitute apple juice for soy milk. You can also experiment with cranberry juice or any other fruit juice you may like (cranberry apple, pomegranate, etc.)

To get your daily soy intake have a glass of warm vanilla or chocolate soy milk instead of coffee or tea. You can also have a glass in the evening as well. Some of my favorite soymilk brands are VitaSoy, 8th Continent, and Silk Soy Milk.

Check out www.quakeroatmeal.com for more ways to jazz up your oatmeal and other oatmeal inspired recipes.

Taking these small steps will help you reduce your LDL or "bad" cholesterol level and bring you to exactly where you need to be.