If your weekly menu includes double cheeseburgers, pepperoni pizza, ribs and mozzarella cheese sticks, you may need to make some radical adjustments to your diet if you want to lower your cholesterol. But even vegans, who consume no animal products, may need to make some of their favorite foods occasional treats rather than daily fare.
Cholesterol Tests
A cholesterol test measures three types of fat in your bloodstream: low-density lipoprotein, also called LDL and "bad" cholesterol; high-density lipoprotein, HDL or "good" cholesterol; and triglycerides, another unhealthy fat that can put you at risk for heart disease. Reducing the amount and type of fat you consume can bring your LDL cholesterol and triglycerides to healthy levels without harming your HDL. Cutting back on sugar can reduce triglycerides, and exercising more and losing weight can boost your healthy HDL cholesterol.
Tracking Cholesterol and Saturated Fats
All animal products contain cholesterol and most contain saturated fat. Two slices of a chain restaurant's 14-inch pepperoni pizza, for example, contains 40 mg of cholesterol and 8 g of saturated fat. This amounts to up to 20 percent of your cholesterol and up to 50 percent of your recommended quota for saturated fat. If you ate pizza for lunch, you would need to avoid other fatty foods for the rest of the day. You should consume no more than 200 to 300 mg of cholesterol daily and no more than 16 to 22 g of saturated fat daily.
High-Fat, High-Cholesterol Foods to Avoid
Some foods that include high amounts of cholesterol, saturated fat or both include these: egg, 212 mg of cholesterol and 2 g of saturated fat; squid, 231 mg of cholesterol and 0 g of saturated fat; shrimp 194 mg of cholesterol and 0 g of saturated fat; and chicken liver, 631 mg of cholesterol and 2 g of saturated fat. Amounts are based on a serving size of one egg or 3.5 oz. of meat. Popular cuts of meat -- pork, beef and chicken -- may contain similar amounts of cholesterol but very different amounts of saturated fat. Skinless chicken, for example, contains nearly as much cholesterol as beef short ribs, but beef ribs have 18 g of saturated fat and skinless chicken just 1 g in a 3.5 oz. serving.
Trans Fat
You should avoid deep-fried foods and commercial baked goods. Fried foods may contain too much fat overall and, depending on the cooking oil used, may also include trans fat. You should consume no more than 1 percent of your daily calories -- about 2 g -- of trans fat in your daily diet. A single doughnut may contain 5 g of trans fat. Some restaurants no longer use trans fat, but any food cooked in a vat of hot oil will soak up more fat than you need. Other foods that may include too much trans fat include sandwich cookies, pound cake and chocolate bars.
References
- MayoClinic.com; High Cholesterol; June 2010
- Papa John's: Nutritional Information Pepperoni Pizza
- MayoClinic.com; Healthy Diet: End the Guesswork With These Nutrition Guidelines; February 2011
- American Heart Association; Saturated Fats; October 2010
- University of California San Francisco; Cholesterol Content of Foods; February 2011
- "Business Week"; The Top 10 Trans-Fat Foods; June 2006
