No Cholesterol Food Diet
One of the most important factors in the prevention of heart disease and heart attacks is maintaining a healthy level of cholesterol in our blood. Total cholesterol levels should not exceed 200 mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter of blood). While much of the good (HDL) cholesterol is manufactured by our liver, diet also plays an extremely important role in healthy cholesterol maintenance.
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Cholesterol Is Not All Bad
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Our bodies need some cholesterol. It is used by the body in the production of vitamin D, as well as bile and some hormones. In fact, up to 80% of the HDL cholesterol in the body is produced by the liver, according to a 2005 study reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. While the level of "bad" (LDL) cholesterol in the body is affected by factors such as age, weight and sex, as well as heredity, a primary cause of an increase in LDL cholesterol is diet.
Dietary Causes of Increased LDL Cholesterol
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Eating foods that are high in cholesterol, trans fats and saturated fats will cause an increase in the levels of bad cholesterol in the body. Of these three, the consumption of saturated fats has the most effect on LDL cholesterol levels. Saturated fats and cholesterol are found primarily in foods from animals, including meats, eggs and dairy products. Egg yolks are high in cholesterol, while egg whites contain no cholesterol.
Trans fats are found primarily in processed or refined foods--baked products such as pastries and doughnuts, breads made with processed flours, or foods fried in hydrogenated oils (such as french fries). Margarine may also be a source of trans fats, although many brands are trans-fat free. Check the nutrition label to determine the amount of trans fats.
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No-Cholesterol Foods
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A no-cholesterol diet is essentially a vegetarian diet. Plant-based foods contain no cholesterol. These include fruit, vegetables, legumes (such as soybeans, peas, beans and peanuts) and whole grains. While these foods should make up the majority of your daily caloric intake, it may not be reasonable or, in some cases, even healthy to eat only no-cholesterol foods.
A Cholesterol-Lowering Diet
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The Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (or TLC) diet, developed by the National Cholesterol Education Program in 2001 and promoted by the National Institute of Health and the American Heart Association, also recommends substituting unsaturated fats (which lower LDL cholesterol) whenever possible. Foods containing unsaturated fats include olive oil, canola oil, nuts, avocados and fish. Another important nutrient in a cholesterol-lowering diet is increasing the amount of soluble fiber to at least 10 mg to 25 mg per day. The amount of fiber in a diet should be increased slowly to prevent digestive problems. Good sources of soluble fiber include fruit, vegetables, whole grains and legumes.
Recommended Daily Intake of Cholesterol
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No more than 200 mg of cholesterol should be eaten per day. While this sounds like a large number, it can be easily exceeded. One egg yolk, for example, contains 213 mg of cholesterol. Reducing intake of saturated fats is the best way to reduce high-cholesterol levels. The National Institute of Health recommends that not more than 30% of daily calories should be from fat, with not more than 7% of that being from saturated fats. It is essential that diets be made up primarily of low-cholesterol foods, such as fruit, vegetables, whole grains and legumes, and that nutritional labeling on all packaged foods is monitored for levels of saturated fats, trans fats and cholesterol.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Ravindra Ghandii: Flickr.com; Rootology: Wikimedia Commons; Wendell Oskay: Flickr.com; Pokkie: Wikimedia Commons
