The Mayo Clinic recommends that people control their blood cholesterol by limiting their dietary cholesterol to between 200 mg and 300 mg of cholesterol a day and by controlling the amount of saturated and trans fat in their diets. If you follow a diet that includes 50 mg of cholesterol each day, you will need to eliminate nearly all animal products from your meals.
Foods to Avoid
You do not need cholesterol in your diet. A diet restricted to 50 mg of cholesterol will not include any eggs, organ meat or shrimp. You should also avoid whole milk, cheese and most meat. You could eat 3 oz. of ham if you consumed no other animal products during the day. You could eat 2-oz. portions of beef sirloin, skinless chicken or pork loin if you filled the rest of your menu with fruits, vegetables, legumes and grains. You could follow a vegan diet, reducing your daily cholesterol to zero mg or carefully plan your choices of protein and calcium to keep within the 50-mg limit.
Breakfast
For breakfast, consider oatmeal or other high-fiber breakfast cereal made with 1 cup nonfat milk. You could add a banana and almonds for a breakfast that contains 4 mg of cholesterol. You could make a bowl of mixed fruit topped with 1 cup of nonfat yogurt for a breakfast that included 10 mg of cholesterol. You could create a no-cholesterol breakfast by making an egg white omelet with vegetables. Use olive oil instead of butter to coat the pan, and don't add cheese --1 oz. of cheddar cheese contains 30 mg of cholesterol. Other no-cholesterol choices include multigrain toast with avocado or an English muffin with peanut butter.
Lunch
For lunch, you could make a sandwich with 1 oz. of skinless chicken topped with lettuce, spinach, sprouts, shredded carrots, tomatoes and mustard. You could add an apple for dessert, and your cholesterol total for lunch would remain under 25 mg. You could avoid cholesterol entirely if you made a lunch of beans and rice, a vegetable and tofu stir fry, or a salad with mixed greens, fruits and seeds tossed in an olive oil and vinegar dressing. Don't use mayonnaise, and avoid baked goods that include eggs, cream or butter.
Dinner
Low-cholesterol dinner choices include halibut with mixed grilled vegetables and brown rice -- 41 mg of cholesterol if you keep the portion of halibut to 3.5 oz. A 3.5-oz. serving of water-packed tuna makes a lower-cholesterol choice -- just 30 mg. You could enjoy a cholesterol-free dinner of whole-wheat pasta in marinara sauce served with a spinach and berries salad tossed with balsamic vinegar or vegetarian bean soup served with multigrain rolls. For dessert, you could make a zero-cholesterol smoothie with soy milk, strawberries, bananas and ice.
