cholesterol free foods and

What Is A Cholesterol Free Diet And Is It Good For Me?

Author: Gloria Gangi

Cholesterol has been a hot topic in the past ten years. People draw conclusions that if you have cholesterol you have a poor diet and have poor health, people also want to get rid of cholesterol without understanding what it is or how it affects your body.

People need to learn that there are in fact two types of cholesterol bad cholesterol (known as low density or LDL) and good cholesterol (known as high density or HDL). People do not realize that cholesterol is an essential substance in the human body but it depends on the levels that you have. If you were to choose a cholesterol free diet it could be very harmful to your wellbeing, HDL cholesterol are really extremely vital to certain bodily functions such as constructing and repairing cell walls. New research shows and even suggests that HDL cholesterol acts as a crude antioxidant.

You do not need to have a cholesterol free diet if there have been signs you or your family have had a history of heart problems or cardiovascular disease. Instead, understand what bad cholesterol you need to avoid and maintain the beneficial cholesterol in your diet. LDL cholesterol can certainly be challenging, as it has been associated with heart attacks as well as strokes, but it doesn't require a lot of effort to methodically eliminate it from your diet. Instead of trying to keeping away from cholesterol overall, steer clear of a cholesterol free diet and as a substitute look for foods that are low in LDL cholesterol and high in HDL cholesterol.

Is A Cholesterol Free Diet The Best Choice?


To find foods which are good for your health is not as hard a task as you may think as long as you know what you are looking for. Foods such as lean meat and fish are both good meat choices, and are also high in protein. Also choose low-fat dairy products and be sure to keep up with your grains, vegetable and fruit intake. A good diet to control or reduce your cholesterol would be around six servings of grains each day, three to five servings of vegetables and two to four servings of fruits.

This diet is not a hard one to follow and if your keep this strategy in place when shopping then you will be avoiding the products which contain the harmful LDL cholesterol. Remember to reduce your fat in take especially fats that have saturated fat as they tend to raise blood cholesterol levels. Avoid eating fried foods as well, choosing grilled, broiled and baked foods as a healthy alternative.

So the question of what is a cholesterol free diet and is it good for me is answered. A cholesterol free diet may not be the right decision if you want to keep your heart and body strong. By simply choosing a balanced diet will help you to weed out the bad cholesterol and keep the good cholesterol.

About the Author:

for more articles on cholesterol and how to reduce and control it please visit: http://www.yourcholesteroldiet.com/

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LDL Cholesterol Foods

High Cholesterol Foods To Avoid

Author: Andrew Bicknell

For those who suffer from high cholesterol the best and first way to control and lower their cholesterol levels is through their diet. But many people are confused as to what constitutes a high cholesterol food they need to avoid and a low cholesterol food. This is because there is a difference between dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol.

Generally most health guidelines recommend that dietary cholesterol not exceed 300 mg per day for most healthy people, but if one suffers from high LDL blood cholesterol levels then this intake should be not more than 200 mg per day.

Cholesterol, a waxy like substance, is only found in animal meat and tissues and its sources include red meat, eggs, fish, poultry, and dairy products. On the flip side any food derived from plant sources is cholesterol free, including high fat plants food sources such as avocado\'s and peanut butter. This is where the confusion usually happens because eating large amounts of vegetable oil, which is virtually 100% food fat, can significantly raise blood cholesterol levels, particularly when eaten with high cholesterol foods.

The fact is that blood LDL cholesterol levels are highly influenced by the amount of saturated fat that one eats. There is a relationship between the amounts of saturated fat one eats the LDL cholesterol levels in the blood. For every one percent increase in calories obtained by eating saturated fat, blood cholesterol levels go up around two percent. Conversely for every one percent decrease in saturated fat intake cholesterol levels will reduce about two percent.

The thing to remember when it comes avoiding high cholesterol foods is that while doing so will decrease LDL cholesterol levels, reducing saturated fat intake has a bigger impact on these levels then many people are aware of. This does not mean that those who suffer from high cholesterol can eat high cholesterol foods, but they should be aware that there is more to reducing cholesterol then just this one thing.

The reason for this confusion with the way cholesterol can increase in the blood stream is the way many foods are cooked and/or served. Let\'s look at one of everyone\'s favorite breakfasts; bacon/sausage and eggs. We all know that eggs are high in cholesterol, but what we don\'t know is that the cholesterol in eggs has a small impact on blood cholesterol levels. It\'s the high amount of saturated fat in the bacon or sausage that has a far larger impact on LDL cholesterol levels.

Another culprit is deep fat fried foods. Many foods are for the most part harmless until they are breaded and fried in hot oil. In fact, many fish and seafood choices are considered to be good for us because of the omega-3 fatty acids that they contain, but as soon as they are deep fried and eaten any benefits are cancelled by the saturated fat that raises bad LDL cholesterol.

When it comes to high cholesterol foods to avoid it is important to remember that these types of food aren\'t necessarily bad in and of themselves if eaten in moderation. The real problem occurs when they are combined with high levels of saturated fat, which has a more profound effect on blood cholesterol levels.

About the Author:

To learn more about Low Cholesterol Food please visit the website Lowering Cholesterol by clicking here.

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