Ldl Cholestrol

If you have high levels of cholesterol in your blood, then it is likely that your specialist will be recommending a low cholesterol diet. At first this can take a while to sink in and even be a bit confusing. It is a very similar situation and reaction that diabetics go through after being diagnosed. But once you have realized that there is nothing to stop you living a normal life, controlling your cholesterol levels can become almost second nature. But to start with you will need information and help to put together an effective cholesterol diet menu. A good start to that is identifying sources of cholesterol in different foods.

In reality, not a lot of food out there contains cholesterol, certainly not in its natural unprocessed state. On their own these high cholesterol foods are not a threat to the cholesterol levels in your blood. They are a natural requirement in any diet. They include eggs, prawns and liver. But the real danger lies with the other fats that can raise your levels dramatically. You have to be aware of these fats as part of any low cholesterol diet.

The real bad boys are the saturated fats. They can have a massive effect on your own levels of blood cholesterol, raising LDL cholesterol over HDL cholesterol. LDL is the low-density lipoprotein that is also commonly referred to as 'bad' cholesterol. This is what blocks your blood vessels and arteries. As part of any cholesterol diet saturated fats should be severely limited. So avoiding fatty meat, cream, butter and cheese is essential.

Trans fats are the second type to reduce in any low cholesterol diet. Again these artificial vegetable fats have a similar effect to saturated fats. Processed foods are once again the real problem foods to avoid. So those cookies, cakes and other similar foods are going to have to be severely limited.

Of course like any eating plan a cholesterol diet needs balance. In this case balancing up your diet with low cholesterol foods or cholesterol lowering foods. These foods mainly contain unsaturated fats which have been shown to actually help lower levels of LDL cholesterol. Vegetable oils along with nuts, avocados and special spreads all contain this beneficial fat that can help you.

Armed with this information, it is easy as part of any low cholesterol diet to find or even create your own low cholesterol recipes within the limits of your diet plan. So that missing out on the foods that are more dangerous needn't be a real chore. In many cases it is easy to replace them with healthy alternatives. So buying really lean cuts of meat and making sure you cook them on a rack that drains away even more fat is one example.

Having high cholesterol is not as complicated as it once was. With the increase in dietary information and medical know how a low cholesterol diet is perfectly manageable in your day to day life and activities. It is just a matter of knowing your LDL's from your HDL's.