Eat to Control Your Blood Cholesterol Level

Whether you're among the thousands with a high blood cholesterol level or you just want to make sure your cholesterol level stays low, reducing saturated fat in your diet should be your top priority.

A few facts about cholesterol:

• Cholesterol is essential to your body's chemistry. But you don't have to consume any: The body is able to manufacture all the cholesterol it needs.

• All animals produce cholesterol. So foods from animal sources, such as egg yolks, meat, poultry, fish, and milk products, contain cholesterol. Plants do not produce cholesterol, so grains, fruits, vegetables, and nuts do not contain cholesterol.

• Heredity determines how much cholesterol the body makes. In other words, some people manufacture more cholesterol than other people do, depending on their genes. The upshot is that your neighbor might eat bacon burgers until they come out of his ears and have a low blood cholesterol level, while you eat nothing but sprouts and nonfat cream cheese and your cholesterol level is dangerously high.

• Your body can adjust somewhat. If you regularly consume foods from animal sources, your body slows down its production of cholesterol. If you eat mostly foods from plant sources, your body manufactures more cholesterol to get the amount it needs. However, saturated fat can disrupt the body's cholesterol balancing mechanism.

• The amount of cholesterol in the foods you eat is not the most important "no-no". The amount of saturated fat consumed has the greatest dietary effect on blood cholesterol levels. Total fat intake and total calorie intake are important as well. In fact, if you cut the total amount of fat in your diet, you'll probably also cut your cholesterol intake, since most high-cholesterol foods contain a lot of fat.

• Cholesterol is distributed throughout the body by lipoproteins. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL), often referred to as "bad" cholesterol, carries cholesterol to the cells. The cholesterol that is not used by the cells can build up on artery walls. This build up, known as atherosclerosis, may decrease blood flow through the arteries and lead to heart attacks and strokes. High-density lipoprotein (HDL or "good" cholesterol) helps rid the body of cholesterol by carrying it to the liver where it is excreted.

• The ratio of LDL to HDL is what counts. In other words, a high total cholesterol level (LDL plus HDL) may not be so bad if you have a high level of HDL. Likewise, a low total cholesterol may not be as good as it seems, if the HDL is very low. Here's the straight scoop: A desirable level of LDL is below 130, and a desirable level of HDL is 35 and above.

Now that you know the technical details, here are the five commandments for a cholesterol lowering diet:

• Reduce the amount of fat in your diet. No more than 30 percent of your overall calories should come from fat. You can reduce the percentage of fat you consume to ten percent of calories without any adverse health effects. (The exception to this rule is for babies and children, who need a higher amount of fat in their diets to grow properly) Don't give skim or low-fat milk to a child younger than aged two years.)

• Sharply reduce your use of saturated and hydrogenated fats. Also, avoid palm oil and coconut oil, which are solid at room temperature and have the same effect on your health as saturated fats do. The total amount of these fats you eat should compose no more than 10 percent of your daily caloric intake.

• Substitute monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat for saturated fat. But remember to keep your total fat intake to no more than 3o percent of your total daily calories.

• Limit foods high in cholesterol. These include egg yolks, baked goods made with eggs and saturated fats, liver, dark meat poultry, and whole-milk dairy products.

• Keep your total number of calories to a reasonable number. Base your calorie intake on your age, your weight, and your activity level. If necessary, ask your physician for help with this. Never go below 1,200 calories per day.

Here are some specific tips to help you comply with the guidelines:

• Figure the maximum number of fat grams you can eat per day. Multiply the number of calories you consume in a day by 0.30, then divide the total by 9. Then budget your fat intake over the course of a day. Alternatively, figure out the percentage of fat calories in a given food: Multiply the number of fat grams by 9, divide by the total number of calories, then multiply by 100.
  

• Use saturated-fat-laden meats mostly as condiments or for special occasions. These include beef, lamb, salami, sausage, and bacon. Replace them with skinless , white-meat chicken and turkey; lean cuts of meat; fish; or vegetable sources of protein in your daily diet.

• Replace high-fat dairy products with nonfat or low-fat versions. These days, a wide variety of tasty low-fat and fat-free yogurt, sour cream, whipped topping, cheese, and cream cheese is available.

• Limit your use of margarine and butter. Remember, although margarine is not as high in saturated fat as butter, it is hydrogenated. Hydrogenated fat contains trans fatty acids, which may be as bad or worse for you than saturated fats.

• When sauteing foods, use only a small amount of olive or canola oil. Make friends with a can of nonstick spray, and use nonstick cookware, if possible.

• Lower your consumption of all meats, and increase your consumptions of high-fiber foods. Good high-fiber choices include whole-grains, fruits, and vegetables. These foods fill your stomach without filling you up with fat and cholesterol. Also, high-fiber foods have a cholesterol-lowering effect.

• Learn the art of making an egg-white omelet. Accustom yourself to nonfat liquid egg substitutes. In recipes, use two egg whites for every whole egg called for.