How to Lower Cholesterol - Food with High Cholesterol
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If you have high cholesterol, or are concerned about getting it, then you may be wondering what foods you should be avoiding. Here is a look at high cholesterol foods and what they mean to you.
Usually, the food that are high in fat are probably high in cholesterol as well. The favorite food from the fast food joint are usually one of those culprit, usually greasy, fatty or deep fried. The heavy and greasy foods are not only high in cholesterol, they are also high in saturated fat. Saturated fat which is the type of fat that come from animal product, will increase the level of LDL or bad cholesterol. If you consume too many of these food, your cholesterol is bound to rise in proportion to these food you eat.
It is important to know that high cholesterol food is not a problem by itself. It is more important to know how much saturated fat that was eaten. It is important because the liver will produce more bad cholesterol and triglycerides in order for the saturated fat to be digested.
Know that the liver will produce bad cholesterol to digest the saturated fat, eating food that are label “cholesterol free” will not help in cholesterol problem if the food also contain high level of saturated fat.
One good example in this category is coconut oil. Coconut oil is a form of vegetable oil and is completely free of cholesterol. Thereby in theory it is labeled as “cholesterol free” or “low cholesterol”. However, for those who don;t know, coconut oil is high in saturated fat, if fact the saturated fat in coconut is so high that it will definitely cause a problem to the cholesterol level.
So be-careful with the food label, as high cholesterol is not just high in cholesterol contain in the food. It can also mean that it contain high level of saturated fat that will cause you liver to produce the bad cholesterol that you want to avoid.
To help with you next shopping trip, I have compiled the following list of labels and what it meant to the food it contain within. A label that is “cholesterol free” do not contain cholesterol but you have to look out for its saturated fat content, usually food with this label meant it has less then 2 milligrams of cholesterol and less then 2 milligrams of fat. A “low cholesterol” label has less then 20 milligrams of cholesterol and less then 2 grams of saturated fat. A ” low fat” label contain less then 3 grams of fat per serving. “Reduced fat” has less then 25% fat compare to similar food with “normal” label. “Fat free” label may still contain fat but should be less then 1/2 a milligram of fat per serving.
If you are looking for particular foods to avoid, watch out for any animal products. Many processed foods, like cookies and pastries, will also have high levels of saturated fats.
