Cholesterol Diet

Having a high cholesterol can eventually lead to a lot of serious condtions, and greatly increases your chances of having heart disease, a heart attack, or a stroke. High cholesterol is therefore a serious problem for a lot of people. If you are suffering from high cholesterol you should consider a low cholesterol diet.

Of course, the first thing you should do is talk to your doctor. Depending on your age, family history, and how high your cholesterol really is, you may need to be on medication and take more serious steps toward reducing your cholesterol. Even if your doctor determines that you should be on medication, he or she will probably also recommend both frequent exercise and a low cholesterol diet.

For a long time it was thought that high cholesterol was caused primarily by eating too many fatty and high cholesterol foods. We now know that this is not really true. Cholesterol has more to do with genetics and your level of activity (or inactivity) that your diet. However, diet still is an important aspect of your cholesterol, and a low cholesterol diet is an effective compliment to exercise and today’s medications.

A cholesterol diet should be focused on a few things. The most obvious being avoiding too much cholesterol in what you eat. This is a bit more complicated than it sounds, however, because you want to avoid ‘bad’ cholesterol or LDLs (which stands for low density lipoproteins). HDLs (high density lipoproteins) are a ‘good’ form of cholesterol that you actually want to eat plenty of. It’s not as complicated as it sounds, however. Most foods that are high in saturated fat are also high in LDLs. Fatty meats, butter, lard, heavy pastries, greasy sauces, these kinds of things all are high in LDLs and should be avoided or eaten in small quantities if you are on a cholesterol diet.

Ask your doctor or a nutritionist about foods high in HDLs, as there are lots of them. Some nuts, avocado, and dark chocolate are some examples. Even more important than eating lots of HDLs is getting plenty of fiber in your food if you are on a cholesterol diet. Fiber is a proven way to lower cholesterol, so you should round out any cholesterol diet you try with plenty of roughage (ie; salads and stringy green stuff minus the ranch dressing). Also, oatmeal or anything with oats or whole wheat is great for fiber. If all else fails, there’s always fiber supplements, but its better to get it from food.