If you are concerned with your health, knowing what foods can raise your cholesterol is vital for eating a healthy diet.
While butter and fatty meat are familiar cholesterol-raisers, there are also some surprising and less well-known ones.
Curries, pâté, chocolate, popcorn, milk shakes, macaroni cheese and even
piña coladas are all potential cholesterol raising foods, while eggs
and prawns are fine to eat as part of a balanced diet.
Understanding how minor changes to your diet can affect your cholesterol
could have a dramatic effect on your well-being. Keeping your
cholesterol levels in check reduces your risk of heart disease and
stroke.
While cholesterol is almost always thought of as bad, there is in fact
both good and bad cholesterol. Our bodies need good HDL-cholesterol,
while the bad LDL-cholesterol has to be kept in check.
Make sure you understand the different types of fat, and cut down on the right type of fat.
Foods made with coconut oil, cocoa butter or palm oil will raise your LDL-cholesterol while rapeseed oil and olive oil won’t.
Saturated and trans fats found in foods such as butter, hard cheese, red
meat and cream can raise the levels of LDL-cholesterol in the blood.
This is also true of products made from saturated and trans fats
including cakes, biscuits, pastries and processed meats.
Although our diets have changed and no longer include suet and lard, if
you’re partial to an old fashioned pudding, do keep in mind these are
bad for your cholesterol. Overall, worldwide diets still tend to be too
high in saturated fat.
There are some foods which are high in dietary cholesterol such as eggs,
prawns and kidneys. But this cholesterol affects your levels far less
than saturated fats, and doesn't need to be avoided unless you've been
advised by your doctor.
Unsaturated fats can actually help to reduce LDL-cholesterol levels and
increase HDL-cholesterol. So include lots of oily fish such as salmon,
mackerel and sardines, fruit, vegetables and soluble fibre (think
lentils and beans) in your diet and turn to seeds and nuts as a
healthier snack.
It’s not just the food but also the way that it is cooked that affects
fat content. Switching to steaming, micro-waving, poaching, grilling and
boiling rather than roasting and frying can have a big impact on the
levels of oil consumed.
Finally it’s not just about what you eat. Embracing daily exercise helps lower cholesterol levels.
Experts suggest that adding 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic
activity such as swimming, cycling, running, walking and dancing every
week can also improve cholesterol levels.
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