Lower Cholesterol without Sacrificing the Foods you Love

High cholesterol is a very common issue today, mostly due to the diet we eat. I can tell you from my experience with cholesterol that there is a way to tackle it without resorting to medication.
Lowering your cholesterol requires lowering saturated fat intake while increasing vegetable, unsaturated fat, and fiber intake.This does not mean you can’t eat the foods you love, it just means you need to prepare them a little differently. Here are some tips to reducing your cholesterol levels.

1. Avoid red meat and eat more fish, turkey, pork, and chicken.  Red meat is higher in saturated fat than white meat, so try a chicken wrap instead of a burger, try tilapia instead of steak.  Always look for lean meat; lean ground turkey and lean ground beef are going to really help reduce your saturated fat intake.  Also, try to reduce your portions of meat and eat more vegetables or other healthy sides.  When preparing meat, try removing the skin and any excess fat from the portion.   The idea is not to cut out meat altogether, but to focus on eating meat that has the lowest saturated fat levels and less of it.

2. Another place to look to cut saturated fat is to avoid eating eggs, or at least use only egg whites when cooking.  A great alternative to eggs is to use an egg substitute such as Egg Beaters® which will still allow you to enjoy your scrambled eggs, but in a healthier way.

3. Use reduced fat dairy products such as milk or cheese.  Try skim milk instead of 1% or 2% and look for reduced fat cheeses.  These choices will cut a good amount of fat from your diet and help reduce your cholesterol.  Try to reduce your portions of cheese as well.

4. Avoid chocolate and sweets as these foods tend to be very high in saturated fat and contribute to high cholesterol.  A great alternative to milk chocolate is dark chocolate, which has less saturated fat and is a little less unhealthy.  Again, even if you don’t cut out the sweets, try to make better choices in choosing them and try to reduce portion sizes.

5. Try vegetables.  It sounds obvious but it is such a simple and delicious alternative to some other high fat side dishes.  Try grilling or steaming veggies, but avoid using too much oil or butter in your preparations which would defeat the purpose.  Crunching on carrots can be a great crunchy alternative to munching on chips to ease those snack cravings.

6. Increase your fiber and grain portions.  Whole grain is much healthier than processed grains and will help reduce your cholesterol.  In “Cooking for Lower Cholesterol”, the American Heart Association recommends using brown rice instead of white rice and use whole grain bread to make your croutons and breadcrumbs.