Lower Your Cholesterol

Cooking and Eating In Low Cholesterol Diets

March 20th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed

Finding out that you have high cholesterol numbers can be very worrying. Elevated levels can lead to serious health problems although bringing them back to within a healthy range is probably not as hard as you think. It may require nothing more than simple changes to what you eat and how you cook your food.

Such advice is likely to be the first thing that your doctor will tell you, and though, in the beginning, following low cholesterol diets can be a little difficult, there are numerous “tricks” that you can use that will make it easier to achieve.

Reduce the Amount of Cholesterol You Eat

A low cholesterol diet is mainly aimed at reducing the amount of cholesterol you consume as well as reducing your intake of saturated and trans fats. According to studies conducted on how cholesterol works in the body, it has been found that these particular types of fats, result in high cholesterol levels when regularly eaten. Therefore, you need to examine your daily diet and make changes such as reducing the amount of red meat you eat in order to keep these dangerous fats at a minimum. Choosing lean cuts such as chicken, or fish rather than red meats will also help.

Cooking can also have an affect on cholesterol levels and an improved diet should also include foods that have been baked, broiled or grilled. These methods of cooking result in fats being drained away from the meat which mean less are absorbed into the blood stream.

Low cholesterol diets should not contain fried foods since most oils have more fat content than is good for you. In addition, you will also need to reduce your intake of dairy products that usually contain high saturated fats. You will need to switch over to diet and low fat products choosing skimmed or soy milk over full fat milk, for example.

Eggs also contain a high level of cholesterol, particularly in the yolk so low cholesterol diets may require that you separate the yolk from the white and eat the latter while discarding the former. Eating the yellow yolk is usually ok though, provided it is done in moderation. More concerning is when you combine eggs with bacon and fried sausages!

The best person to go to for advice on low cholesterol diets is, of course, your physician who will, most likely, give you a diet sheet to follow. In extreme cases you may be referred to a nutritionist.