Health

How to Follow a Diet for Lowering Cholesterol

Your success in exchanging fatty foods in your daily life makes it the right choice to maintain normal cholesterol levels.

Americans are among the highest rates of cholesterol, said 1 in 3 Americans suffer from excess LDL cholesterol and this is very bad for health because it can cause hardening of the arteries, strokes and heart attacks.

One simple and smart way to eliminate excess cholesterol is by following a cholesterol-lowering diet, this can cut up to 10 or even 15%. That was said by Joseph S. Alpert, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson.

Not All Fat Are The Same

So, to run this diet program, the first step is to find out the source of the fat itself.

The type of fat that causes cholesterol increase is fat from processed baked goods and animal products. So, you must limit these foods if you want bad cholesterol levels to decrease. In addition, avoiding dairy products and red meat needs to be prioritized.

Second, knowing good fats and bad fats is important in running a diet. The recommended amount of fat is 25-35% of the daily number of calories, the American Heart Association said. However, the effects of fat on the body can differ from one another.

It should be known that saturated fat is a type of fat that can harden at room temperature, this condition will also occur in the body, causing hardening of the arteries. Sources of saturated fats like this are from red meat, cheese, coconut oil, palm oil and in butter. So, limit consuming this fat.

To get optimal results from your diet, limit 7% of this fat to total daily calories. For 15 grams of saturated fat, women need 2000 calories daily.

Trans fats are unsaturated fats that have gone through a chemical process so they can harden at room temperature. Trans oil is commonly found in long-lasting foods and is also found in baked goods that are commercialized and in some types of margarine. Sheth, said that trans fats can be more dangerous than saturated fats. Consuming trans fat can reduce good cholesterol (HDL) and increase bad cholesterol (LDL).

So, it only consumes unsaturated fats, including monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. This fat remains liquid at room temperature so it does not cause health problems related to blood flow. This healthy fat is found in olive oil, fish oil, walnuts, canola oil, and others.Beside that, you recommended to consume foods for lowering bad cholesterol, it’s can help your diet at all.

Other suggestions:

  • Reduce bad fat when cooking by steaming, boiling and avoid frying. If you have to fry, use double or single unsaturated oil.
  • When baking, replace the fat and oil with fruit products such as applesauce and you can replace regular milk with fat-free whole milk.
  • Replace the use of butter with low cholesterol vegetable oil.