Foods That Contain Cholesterol
Overview
Cholesterol is most prevalent in animal products such as meat and dairy items and certain processed fats. Eating a diet high in cholesterol can increase your chances of stroke and heart disease. Your daily diet should contain no more than 200mg of cholesterol.
Meat
Cholesterol comes from animal products and you will find the densest amounts of cholesterol in the fattiest cuts of meat, such as organ meats like liver and kidneys. Processed meats like bratwurst and deli lunch meat are also high in cholesterol, as well as sodium and fat. You can still eat meat if you are watching your cholesterol
intake, but choose portions that are lean and remove excess fat. Try to limit the size of your portions and aim for two meat-free meals a week. The FDA recommends eating fewer than 300mg of cholesterol each day. When you consider the fact that most meat contains 70-85mg per 3-ounce serving, you can see why portion size matters
Eggs
One large egg has more than 200mg of cholesterol, most of which is concentrated in the yolk. The problem is that people rarely have one egg. Restaurants offer swelling breakfasts with four-egg omelets. A typical breakfast of eggs at home most often consists of at least two eggs per person. If you are monitoring your cholesterol levels, limit your consumption of eggs to one per day. On the days, where you have more than that, balance your diet with other low-cholesterol foods and high-fiber fruits and vegetables.
Milk
Milk with higher percentages of fat such as whole milk and 2 percent milk have high amounts of cholesterol. One cup of whole milk has nearly 35mg. If you are a milk person, choose skim milk (4 mg/cholesterol per 1 cup) or 1 percent milk. Relegate uses of whole milk to specialty recipes and holiday beverages. Stay away from higher fat milks in every day items like lattes or bowls of breakfast cereal.
Butter
Some butter has as much as 33mg of cholesterol in each tablespoon. Individually, this is not cause for alarm but if you spread butter on your toast in the morning and then drench your rolls and vegetables in butter at dinner, you can see how quickly the numbers add up. The other insidious aspect of butter is that it contains saturated fat, which is a known to raise cholesterol levels. Aim to slowly decrease your use of butter. Switch to margarine, which is plant-based and has minimal traces of cholesterol. If you can't give up your butter habit, looks for brands such as Smart Balance, which have been infused with heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids to counteract the cholesterol.
Trans Fats
Any processed food that contains trans fats is also a food that works against you in two ways: It lowers your good cholesterol levels and raises your bad ones. Foods that typically contain large doses of trans fats include french fries, doughnuts, packaged crackers and cookies, etc. If the list of ingredients contains partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, your food has trans fats. Since trans fats are added to food to prolong their shelf life, the more packaged/processed it is, the more harmful it is for you.
Cholesterol is most prevalent in animal products such as meat and dairy items and certain processed fats. Eating a diet high in cholesterol can increase your chances of stroke and heart disease. Your daily diet should contain no more than 200mg of cholesterol.
Meat
Cholesterol comes from animal products and you will find the densest amounts of cholesterol in the fattiest cuts of meat, such as organ meats like liver and kidneys. Processed meats like bratwurst and deli lunch meat are also high in cholesterol, as well as sodium and fat. You can still eat meat if you are watching your cholesterol
intake, but choose portions that are lean and remove excess fat. Try to limit the size of your portions and aim for two meat-free meals a week. The FDA recommends eating fewer than 300mg of cholesterol each day. When you consider the fact that most meat contains 70-85mg per 3-ounce serving, you can see why portion size matters
Eggs
One large egg has more than 200mg of cholesterol, most of which is concentrated in the yolk. The problem is that people rarely have one egg. Restaurants offer swelling breakfasts with four-egg omelets. A typical breakfast of eggs at home most often consists of at least two eggs per person. If you are monitoring your cholesterol levels, limit your consumption of eggs to one per day. On the days, where you have more than that, balance your diet with other low-cholesterol foods and high-fiber fruits and vegetables.
Milk
Milk with higher percentages of fat such as whole milk and 2 percent milk have high amounts of cholesterol. One cup of whole milk has nearly 35mg. If you are a milk person, choose skim milk (4 mg/cholesterol per 1 cup) or 1 percent milk. Relegate uses of whole milk to specialty recipes and holiday beverages. Stay away from higher fat milks in every day items like lattes or bowls of breakfast cereal.
Butter
Some butter has as much as 33mg of cholesterol in each tablespoon. Individually, this is not cause for alarm but if you spread butter on your toast in the morning and then drench your rolls and vegetables in butter at dinner, you can see how quickly the numbers add up. The other insidious aspect of butter is that it contains saturated fat, which is a known to raise cholesterol levels. Aim to slowly decrease your use of butter. Switch to margarine, which is plant-based and has minimal traces of cholesterol. If you can't give up your butter habit, looks for brands such as Smart Balance, which have been infused with heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids to counteract the cholesterol.
Trans Fats
Any processed food that contains trans fats is also a food that works against you in two ways: It lowers your good cholesterol levels and raises your bad ones. Foods that typically contain large doses of trans fats include french fries, doughnuts, packaged crackers and cookies, etc. If the list of ingredients contains partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, your food has trans fats. Since trans fats are added to food to prolong their shelf life, the more packaged/processed it is, the more harmful it is for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment