Despite the barrage of information from the media, it's not always easy to correctly manage your health. Losing weight, lowering sodium intake and reducing your intake of fat and cholesterol can be pretty confusing. According to the American Heart Association, there are over 98 million Americans struggling with the same challenge: how to lower their cholesterol, while still enjoying the foods they love. The secret lies in knowing which foods are the biggest offenders, and then eliminating and replacing them with healthier alternatives.
Cholesterol Can Be Good
Contrary to popular belief, not all cholesterol is bad. In fact, we need it to create cells, regulate body fluids and create hormones. Problems occur, however, when cholesterol levels get too high. As a general rule, the body makes all of the cholesterol it needs. The cholesterol you don't need comes from your diet--foods that are rich in cholesterol and saturated and trans fats. If you take in more cholesterol than your body needs, it circulates in the blood and can adhere to the insides of the arteries, eventually obstructing blood flow in the heart and brain, which can lead to heart attacks and strokes.
Total Cholesterol
When you have your blood drawn by your doctor and he discusses your cholesterol with you, he's actually speaking about three types of cholesterol--your total cholesterol (the good and the bad types together), low density lipoproteins (LDL) and high density lipoproteins (HDL). The American Heart Association recommends that everyone over the age of 20 maintain a total cholesterol level below 200 mg/dl. LDL, or the bad type of cholesterol, should be less than 140 mg/d. HDL, or the good type of cholesterol, should be over 45 mg/dl for men and over 55 mg/dl for women.
You can avoid increasing your LDL cholesterol by eliminating the cholesterol in eggs and many other types of processed foods. One egg contains over 200 mg of cholesterol, so if you eat a three-egg omelet, you've more than exceeded your entire daily intake of cholesterol.
Foods with Saturated Fat
Foods with saturated fat can also raise blood cholesterol. Common sources of saturated fat are all types of animal products like marbled beef, lamb, veal, pork, lard, butter and other high-fat dairy products. You can also find it hidden in plant sources like coconut oil, palm oil cocoa butter and palm kernel oil. According to the American Heart Association, adults should keep their saturated fat intake to less than 7 percent of their total fat intake, per day.
Hydrogenated Fat
Hydrogenation is a chemical process used by food manufacturers to extend the shelf life of many popular foods likes snacks, cakes and other nonessential foods. Hydrogenation is also solidifies foods such as tub and stick margarine to make it easier to use when cooking. While you can accommodate small amounts of hydrogenated fat in your diet, limit the amount of hydrogenated fat in your diet to less than 2 percent of your total daily calories. For instance, a typical adult male who eats 2000 calories should eat less than 2 grams a day of hydrogenated oil.
Trans Fats
Trans fats are the sneaky fats that get slipped into what would otherwise appear to be healthy foods. Trans fats are available in many types of animal products during hydrogenation and used extensively in cooking oils, margarines and fats to help make them taste better. Many experts feel that trans fats have doubly dangerous side effects--they increase LDL cholesterol while lowering HDL cholesterol. The American Heart Association's Nutrition Committee recommends that you keep your total daily intake of trans fats to less than 1 percent of your total daily calories.
