The Cholesterol Threat – Why Your Cholesterol Level Is High And How You Can Effectively Fight It

In this article:

1. How do you get high cholesterol levels?
2. Limiting our cholesterol intake
3. Foods that lower cholesterol

Many people worry nowadays about high cholesterol levels in their blood, and they got all the reason to, as high cholesterol gradually closes the arteries and thus hinders the free blood flow in our body which contributes to developing high blood pressure and increases your risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke. The tricky thing with cholesterol is that you can’t just eat low cholesterol or cholesterol-free foods and be sure you are fine. It’s not that simple.

How do you get high cholesterol levels?
Let me first explain how you end up with a high cholesterol level. There are two ways on which cholesterol comes into our body:

1. We eat it with foods that contain cholesterol.
2. Our body produces cholesterol out of saturated fats in the foods we eat.
   

Cholesterol is a nutrient found in animal products, which are also the main source of saturated fat. The main high cholesterol foods are:

• eggs
• meat (especially beef)
• poultry
• fish
• higher fat dairy products (e.g. milk, cheese, cream)
• nuts

Prepared foods are often high in cholesterol and saturated fat, for example:

• processed foods
• pastry
• cookies and muffins

It’s not actually necessary to consume additional cholesterol as your body produces enough on its own. And what many don’t know is that foods low in cholesterol can still raise your blood cholesterol level if they are high in saturated fat. The cholesterol that we produce from these fats is a harmful one.

On the other hand, food that contains cholesterol but also polyunsaturated or unsaturated fats won’t do so much harm to you, as these fats decrease the production of harmful cholesterol and enhance the production of protective cholesterol which cleans the arteries from plaque. Unfortunately, our modern diet contains way too much saturated fat.

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Limiting our cholesterol intake
Experts recommend that you don’t consume more than 300 mg cholesterol per day. But besides cutting down on high cholesterol foods, you should also reduce the amount of saturated fat you eat, as we produce four times more cholesterol from saturated fats than the amount of dietary cholesterol we consume. Considering this, you see that your real and most powerful enemy is saturated fat, not so much the cholesterol in your foods itself. You don’t need these fats and they are not healthy, so you won’t miss anything by banning them from your diet as much as possible.

Another great option to reduce your cholesterol level is to increase your fiber intake by eating more foods which are high in fiber. Fiber does a great job in drawing cholesterol out of your body, like a sponge.

Regular exercising can also help to lower cholesterol, and there are proven supplements available for this purpose too.

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Foods that lower cholesterol
As mentioned before, any food high in fiber should help to lower your cholesterol. Fruits and vegetables do the best job when you eat them raw, for example as a salad. The following food groups are low in cholesterol or even cholesterol free:

• fruit
• vegetables (especially the green leafy ones)
• legumes
• whole grain products

Some specific foods that help to lower cholesterol are:

• green salad
• avocado
• quaker oats
• barley
• extra virgin olive oil

Be cautious with foods that are labeled fat or cholesterol “reduced” or “free”. “Fat reduced” products can still contain up to three quarter the amount of fat of the normal version. “Low fat” and “low cholesterol” foods contain these nutrients in smaller amounts, but they still contain them. Even fat or cholesterol “free” products are not really free of them, although they contain very small amounts only.

The bottom line
Don’t worry too much about high or low cholesterol foods, rather focus on limiting your intake of foods high in saturated fat. If additionally you increase your fiber consumption by eating more fruit, vegetables, legumes and whole grains, your cholesterol level should drop. If it doesn’t, you definitely should consult your GP and try to find another solution, maybe a cholesterol lowering supplement.

Useful links

• high cholesterol foods
• foods that lower cholesterol, plus meal ideas

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