Low cholesterol diets
There are a few general rules to follow if you’ve been to the doctor and they’ve told you that you need to lower your cholesterol. Doctors on the whole will attempt to get you to try the following first before putting you on any of the statin drugs (cholesterol lowering pills) :
- they will tell you to try to lose some weight if you are overweight. People who are overweight tend to have higher cholesterol levels than those who are in the ‘ideal weight range’. This is sometimes NOT the case though so don’t be fooled into thinking that just because you are thin, that you don’t have an underlying choleterol problem. Weight loss would probably involve going on a diet (see other points) and starting yourself on some form of exercise program. Don’t give yourself a hard time by starting straight into it. Give yourself time to build up slowly. Best to start by going to a qualified fitness instructor who will assess your fitness level and start you on a program that suits you and then build from that
- Eat less high fat and high cholesterol foods. This is easier said than done. Start by learning to read labels on foods. ‘Reduced Fat’ does not necessarily mean it’s low in fat. It just means it’s lower compared to the original – so if the original had 50g of fat to start off with, then 30g would qualify as a ‘reduced fat’ type of that particular food – that’s still a HUGE amount of fat to consume so read carefully. To complicate matters even more, there are also saturated fats (which are bad for you) and unsaturated fats (which are generally good for you). So all fats are NOT created equal. Saturated fat foods include most of your animal fats – eg all your dairy products, red meats and to a certain extent white meats (eg poultry) although less so, some vegetable fats eg like palm oil and coconut oil. High cholesterol foods can be low in saturated fats but you should try to limit these as well eg liver is low in saturated fats but really high in cholesterol. In general, organ meats, full fat dairy products, egg yolks are high in cholesterol.
- So if you are to eat less high cholesterol saturated fats, you are to substitute them with low cholesterol unsaturated fats. These are commonly termed polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats and they include your fish oils (Omega3 fatty acids), olive, canola, sunflower, corn, cottonseed oils. Be careful to read labels – if the polyunsaturated oil has been ‘hydrogenated’ then it means it’s been converted to saturated fats so don’t be fooled into thinking that just because it’s polyunsaturated it’s fine to consume.
- Increase your fibre intake and the amount of complex carbohydrates in your diet – all your cereals (avoid refined versions and go for the ‘original’ eg brown rice instead of white, wholewheat bread instead of white bread), fruit and vegetables are low in cholesterol and hight in fibre
See other diets
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