Food and Nutrition
Eating Less Cholesterol
By
Sep 14, 2008 - 4:30:46 PM

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - If you are like most people, you didn’t give a lot of thought about what you ate until your doctor told you to “watch your cholesterol.” But what does this really mean?

If your numbers are good -- total cholesterol is close to 200, LDL cholesterol is close to 100, and your HDL cholesterol is between 40 and 60 -- you can eat a moderate cholesterol diet, which contains 300 milligrams or less cholesterol a day. If any of your numbers are less than desirable, or if your doctor has prescribed a cholesterol-lowering medication, you should eat a low-cholesterol diet, with less than 200 milligrams a day.

That doesn’t mean turning your life upside-down, but it does mean making smarter choices. You get some cholesterol every time you eat animal foods -- meat, poultry, fish, eggs, milk, yogurt, cheese and butter. Egg yolks are a major source of cholesterol, with 211 milligrams. Egg whites don’t have any. Your liver also makes cholesterol. In fact, most people make three times more cholesterol in their body than they eat in food.

There is no cholesterol in plant foods – vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, cereals, grains and oils. Keep it simple -- if a food grows in the ground, it has no cholesterol; if a food has a face, it has cholesterol. Using the “Keep It Simple” rule, which of the following foods have cholesterol – hamburger, lobster, chicken cutlets, cheddar cheese, milk, apple, bran flakes, olive oil, peanut butter, or watermelon?

The first 5 foods all contain cholesterol. Hamburger comes from cattle. Lobster is seafood. Chicken cutlets come from chickens. Cheddar cheese and milk come from cows. All of them have faces!

The rest are from plants that grow in the ground. They have no cholesterol. Apples grow on trees. Bran flakes are made from grain. Olive oil and peanut butter have fat, but it is vegetable fat from olives and peanuts that grow in the ground and they do not contain cholesterol. Watermelon grows on a vine.

If you are ever in doubt if a food you are eating contains cholesterol, simply ask yourself, does the source of this food have a face?

Even when you choose to eat a food that contains cholesterol there are many ways to keep the amount of cholesterol down. Here are some easy swaps you can try.

Instead of an egg salad sandwich have a tuna salad sandwich and save 320 milligrams of cholesterol.

Instead of shrimp chow mien order vegetable chow mien and save 92 milligrams.

Instead of coconut crème pie have pumpkin pie and save 55 milligrams.

Instead of toast with butter, make whole wheat toast with margarine and save 30 milligrams.

Instead of ordering a regular latte, ask for skim milk and save 16 milligrams of cholesterol

Over time these simple swaps will add up.

© NRH Nutrition Consultants, Inc.
Jo-Ann Heslin, MA, RD, CDN is a registered dietitian and the author of the nutrition counter series for Pocket Books with 12 current titles and sales in excess of 7 million books. The books are widely available at your local or on-line bookseller.
Current titles include:
The Healthy Wholefoods Counter, 2008
The Cholesterol Counter, 7th Ed., 2008
The Diabetes Carbohydrate and Calorie Counter, 3rd Ed., 2007
The Calorie Counter, 4th Ed., 2007
The Compete Food Counter, 2nd Ed., 2006
For more information on Jo-Ann and her books, go to www.TheNutritionExperts.com.

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