1. Learn to Cook
Prepackaged meals, as well as frozen foods, contain a number of ingredients that can affect your cholesterol levels. The same is true of restaurant meals, which you will have a hard time dissecting for high fat content. Fast foods in particular tend to be high in cholesterol, so it is best to avoid these completely. When you cook from scratch, however, you are in charge of what you put onto your plate and can learn to make substitutions in order to reduce your intake of saturated fats. For example, you can use olive oil instead of butter, switch to skim milk and use only egg whites in recipes and scrambled eggs.
2. Stay Away From Animal Products
You don't have to become a vegetarian (although it helps), but reducing your intake of animal products will go a long way when trying to reduce your cholesterol. High-cholesterol foods include egg yolks, beef, shrimp, bacon, ice cream, chicken with the skin, eggnog, condensed milk and full-fat dairy products. Substituting products for low-fat or fat-free alternatives is an option, or you can try using soy alternatives if you enjoy the taste.
3. Read Nutrition Labels Before Buying
Start on the front. Foods that are labeled "Cholesterol Free" contain under 2 mg of cholesterol, while "low cholesterol" means anything up to 20 mgs, which is relatively high if you already have a problem or a family history of cholesterol and heart problems. The term "reduced fat" means little to nothing, since it only indicates that the product contains less fat than its original version, but there are no indications as to the actual number of fat grams in the product. When reading the back of the label, pay attention to the saturated fat, not the total fat, content. Anything with more than 6 g of saturated fat should be avoided.
