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How to Lower Cholesterol - A Look at High Cholesterol Food

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Written by Meng

Tuesday, 18 March 2008

by Meng

If you are worried about getting high cholesterol or already have high cholesterol, you will be probably interested in food that is high in cholesterol and how it will affects you. You may want to know as these food will have an impact on your cholesterol level.

Of course, many of the foods that are high in fat are also high in cholesterol. This includes a lot of the greasy and fatty foods that many people are fond of picking up from their favorite fast food joint. Many greasy and heavy foods not only contain high cholesterol levels, but also have a high amount of saturated fat. Saturated fat, the type of fat that is found in many animal products, will raise the level of your LDL (or bad) cholesterol. If you eat too many foods that are high in saturated fat and cholesterol, your own cholesterol levels are also going to go up.

It is important to know that high cholesterol food is not a problem by itself. It is more important to know how much saturated fat that was eaten. It is important because the liver will produce more bad cholesterol and triglycerides in order for the saturated fat to be digested.

For this reason, just because a food is labeled "cholesterol free" does not mean that it is going to make a difference in your own personal cholesterol levels. If the product is still high in saturated fat, your body will continue to make cholesterol.

One example of a food that would fall under this category is coconut oil. Coconut oil is a vegetable oil, so there is no cholesterol in it, and therefore could be labeled in theory as being "low cholesterol" or "cholesterol free." Unfortunately for the uniformed consumer, the amount of saturated fat in coconut oil is so high that it can definitely cause a problem for your cholesterol levels.

So be-careful with the food label, as high cholesterol is not just high in cholesterol contain in the food. It can also mean that it contain high level of saturated fat that will cause you liver to produce the bad cholesterol that you want to avoid.

The following table will give you an idea what's on the label and what does it mean to you. This is to help you with you next shopping trip. - Label with "reduced fat" meant it has 25% lesser fat than "normal label" - Label with "fat free" meant it has less than half of a milligram of fat per serving. - Label with "low fat" meant it has less then 3 grams of fat per serving. - Label with "low cholesterol" has less then 20 milligrams of cholesterol and less then 2 grams of saturated fat. - Label with "cholesterol free" do not contain cholesterol but do watch out the saturated fat level.

In general avoiding foods with animal products, will be a good choice. Processes foods in terms of pastries and cookies also contain high level of saturated fats.

About the Author:

I used to have a cholesterol level of 301, I successfully lower it by 15% in 60 days You can read about how I did it at How to Lower Cholesterol Naturally