Dealing with high cholesterol can be very worrying, given its strong link with heart disease, cardiovascular disease and a number of other very serious illnesses. Learning to manage your cholesterol levels is the best possible protection you could give yourself and your heart. And the more you know about cholesterol, the more you will be able to achieve that goal.
Cholesterol is very much required by your body, as it performs a host of necessary functions, from building cell membranes to balancing your hormones. Your body cannot survive without cholesterol. Eighty percent of the cholesterol your body uses comes from the liver, with the rest coming from the foods you eat.
The two main cholesterol levels your should be managing are LDL and HDL. LDL is the bad cholesterol and if your levels of this type of cholesterol are too high, then you are at risk of suffering from a stroke or heart attack.
Conversely, if your HDL levels are too low, your vital cell and hormone function could become seriously compromised. Therefore, it is crucial that you maintain the perfect balance between LDL and HDL, to preserve your general well-being and heart health.
Food is the single biggest cause of high LDL cholesterol levels and that is why we are going to take a look at a low cholesterol diet example, so that you can see the foods that benefit you and the ones that simply don't.
Because everyone has different food preferences, this low cholesterol diet example is going to provide a menu type approach, to appeal to as many people as possible. Let's take a look:
Cereals
Choose oat cereals if possible as they are extremely heart healthy. But make sure you check the labels on all cereals for calories, sodium and sugar.
Cereals To Avoid
Avoid instant hot cereals, granola and coconut containing cereals.
Soups
Choose fat-free, low-salt broth, bouillon and consomme, homemade soup skimmed of fat and cream soup made with non-fat milk.
Soups To Avoid
Avoid soups made with whole milk or cream, canned soups, and broth containing fat.
Lean Meats
Select meats that have minimum marbling. Trim the excess fat. Grill or broil to allow any excess fat to drip off. A portion size would generally be around the size of a deck of cards.
Meats To Avoid
Avoid fatty meats like mutton, ham, bacon, corned beef, luncheon meat, hot dogs, sausages, spare ribs and sandwich spreads.
Poultry
Remove the skin from chicken and turkey.
Poultry To Avoid
Avoid self basted poultry, chicken frankfurters and processed poultry products.
Seafood
As fish oils are excellent for the heart, choose fish that are highest in fish oil, such as mackerel, tuna, salmon, pollack, blue fish, swordfish and walleye. Given the huge benefits to be gained, fish should be eaten a minimum of three times a week. If you are averse to fish, then please seriously consider adding a fish oil supplement to your diet.
Seafood To Avoid
Avoid any seafood that is deep fried or sauteed.
Vegetables
Choose from fresh, frozen or low sodium canned vegetables.
Vegetables To Avoid
Avoid creamed, breaded or deep-fat fried vegetables as well as vegetables in sauces.
Desserts
Choose from homemade baked goods, made with unsaturated oils or spreads, angel food cakes, fruit whips, ginger snaps, low-fat frozen desserts, custards and fruit ice.
Desserts To Avoid
Avoid desserts made with whole milk, cream, chocolate, egg yolk and butter. Plus commercially prepared cakes, pastries, ice-cream, cookies and chocolate desserts.
Cheese
Choose from low-fat cheeses like mozzarella, ricotta, Swiss and cottage cheese.
Cheeses To Avoid
The majority of cheeses are high in saturated fat, so avoid processed cheese, cream cheese and cheese spreads.
Crackers & Snacks
Choose unsalted crackers and pretzels.
Crackers And Snacks To Avoid
Avoid taking salted crackers or snacks, any snack and crackers containing saturated fats, fried snack food, cheese crackers, corn chips, tortilla chips, and potato chips.
Beverages
Choose mineral or sparkling water, club soda, tea or coffee.
Beverages to Avoid
Avoid taking tonic, instant cocoa mixes and commercially or home softened water.
The above low cholesterol diet example is by no means extensive. It is a small selection designed to guide you towards achieving your goal of having great cholesterol levels and super heart health.
With natural treatments showing tremendous success, it would be advisable to consider adding a natural cholesterol supplement to your efforts. Choose a supplement with ingredients like lecithin, D-limonene, phytosterols and policosanol, as these have an amazing success rate at lowering LDL cholesterol and triglycerides and raising HDL. Individually, they do not perform as well, but combined in a single supplement, they achieve outstanding results.
Hopefully you can find foods you like and can work with on the above low cholesterol diet example.
If you would like to learn more, about what I added to my low cholesterol diet, to achieve perfect cholesterol levels and fantastic heart health, then visit my website today.
| Price : $79.95 | Post Date : Apr 30, 2012 13:48:14
