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Expert Q&A
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| By Karen Ansel Nutritionist | ||
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What foods should I eliminate or cut back on to lower my cholesterol?
What you do and don't eat can have a major impact on your cholesterol profile. While you want to watch your overall fat and cholesterol intake, the real villains are saturated and hydrogenated fats, which cause the body to increase its production of cholesterol. High saturated fat foods include red meat, organ meats, full-fat dairy products and some tropical oils like coconut, palm and cocoa butter. Hydrogenated fats, in turn, are commonly found in many highly processed foods such as baked goods, snack foods and stick margarine. Unlike saturated fats, which are required by law to be listed on a food's nutrition facts label, hydrogenated fats are a little bit harder to identify. To find them you will have to look for the words "hydrogenated," "partially hydrogenated" or "trans" in the ingredient list.
In addition to avoiding certain foods, you can further lower your cholesterol by including lots of plant-based foods in your diet. Foods rich in soluble fiber are a great choice – they bind up the building blocks that the body uses to make cholesterol. You can boost your soluble fiber intake by incorporating foods like beans, peas, apples, oatmeal, oat bran and barley into your daily repertoire. You may also want to try out some of the new cholesterol-lowering spreads that block the absorption of cholesterol such as Benecol or Take Control."
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