It's easy to find yourself confused about cholesterol. Good and bad cholesterol. HDL and LDL. Saturated fat. Trans-fat. Monounsaturated fats. Polyunsaturated fats. Oh yeah, and triglycerides. Fortunately, following a low-fat, healthy-fat diet is not as difficult as sorting out cholesterol terminology.
Cholesterol
The numbers on a cholesterol test tell you several things about the fat in your bloodstream. Your numbers will describe your LDL -- low-density lipoprotein -- cholesterol. This type of cholesterol, the bad cholesterol, can get trapped and form plaque on the walls of your arteries. LDL levels of 130/mg/dl or higher put you at risk for heart disease. Your HDL -- high-density lipoprotein -- the good cholesterol, helps your body excrete fat. Ideally, your HDL levels should stay above 60 mg/dl. Your level of triglycerides, another fat that can clog your arteries, should stay below 150 mg/dl. Your total cholesterol, a reflection of the balance between unhealthy and healthy fats, should stay below 200 mg/dl.
Reducing Saturated Fat
Changing the types and amounts of fat you consume daily can help you bring your cholesterol levels into a healthy balance. Saturated fat should make up 7 to 10 percent of your calories for the day. If you follow a 2,000-calorie diet, this means consuming between 140 and 200 calories from saturated fat, or between 16 g and 22 g. You can reduce your saturated fats by choosing lean poultry and fish over red meat. You can also obtain protein from vegetable protein such as soy, legumes and beans. Eat foods that contain vegetable oil -- or better yet, olive or canola oil -- instead of tropical oils such as palm and coconut. If you eat red meat, choose extra-lean choices such as top sirloin steak, top round roast and steak, and bottom round roast and steak.
Lowering Trans-Fat
You want to severely limit your intake of trans-fat, found mostly in shortening, margarine and commercial baked goods such as cookies and cakes. Aim to keep your trans-fat consumption to no more than 1 percent of your daily calories or 2 g a day, based on a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet. You can accomplish this by cooking with vegetable or olive oil. If you order fried food at a restaurant, check first to see if trans-fat is used for cooking. If you bake at home, look for recipes that call for vegetable oil instead of shortening or margarine.
Total Fat
You want to keep your total daily fat to 20 to 35 percent of your daily calories. This includes saturated fat, trans-fat and healthy oils found in olive oil and canola oil. Some fatty fish such as salmon and mackerel contain healthy oil and make good substitutions for red meat. But you must consider the fats in these when calculating your total fat for the day. Nuts and seeds also contain healthy oil and can improve your cholesterol. But you should also calculate these in your daily total of between 44 and 78 g of total fat.
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