Foods High In Cholesterol and Diet

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Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed

Foods, high in cholesterol, are often the more popular foods but what may be pleasing to the palate may be harmful to the body. So, before you eat your favorites without thinking, consider - are they really as good as they seem?

The body’s liver normally produces the right amount of cholesterol necessary to carry out its essential functions. There is usually no need for extra external sources. Indescriminately eating foods high in cholesterol is the main reason the levels rise. The worst culprits are saturated fat and trans fast which are found in animal products.

High cholesterol foods with a high saturated fat content can increase the levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol level in your bloodstream. Decreasing your consumption of them is a big step towards reducing your overall levels.

An interesting fact about foods high in cholesterol can be illustrated using seafood as an example. Seafoods are known to contain cholesterol. However, they also have polyunsaturated fat content which makes the liver produce less bad cholesterol and more HDL (good) cholesterol.

Pay attention to what food labels say about the products.

For example:

~ “Cholesterol free” doesn’t exactly mean the absence of cholesterol but rather that the food contains 2 milligram cholesterol and 2 grams or less fat content.

~ “Low cholesterol” contains 20 mgs or less and 2 grams or less of saturated fat.

~ “Fat free” is not the absence of fat either. It means about ½ gram fat content.

~ “Low fat” would mean fat content of 3 grams or less.

~ “Reduced fat” means 25% lesser fat content than the same foods of other brands.

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