Foods To Avoid High Cholesterol

for those of you who may have seen a doctor recently, been told to lower your cholesterol, or may have been prescribed a statin like Lipitor, here are the foods to avoid high cholesterol, as well as other tips:

• Most fast foods are out. These include the burgers, fries, chicken and tacos served anywhere. It’s not the food itself (a turkey burger can be healthy for you), it is the way it is prepared that destroys the medicinal properties of these foods.
• When seeking out foods to avoid high cholesterol, the preparation of the food is as important as the food itself. Avoid the saturated fats and oils, such as butter, bacon and coconut oil. Instead, when you are baking, use olive oil instead, which is a heart-healthy fat, loaded with Omega 3 Essential Fatty Acids. Using olive oil instead of the other oils on the market can make a wealth of difference.
• Avoid the fried foods. Anything that is fried will contribute to your raising your cholesterol. At home, instead of using a frier, try baking. French fries come out great this way.
• Eliminate all trans fats, which are created by adding hydrogen to vegetable oil. And while this is a preservative, it attacks your cholesterol levels both ways, by lowering your HDL levels (this is the ‘good’ cholesterol) and raising your LDL levels (your ‘bad’ cholesterol). In addition, anything with the ingredient ‘partially hydrogenated vegetable oil’ should be eliminated from your diet.
• Consume egg whites (loaded with protein without the fat and cholesterol) and eliminate your egg yolks.
• When it comes to meat, eat fish (tilapia and salmon, but NOT lobster) and consume healthy amounts of lean turkey and chicken (just make sure to remove the skin!).

Avoid red meat as much as possible, especially organ meats like liver. These include ham, pork, salami and most cuts of beef (eat buffalo meat or filet mignon) and opt for white meat substitutes to my favorites (turkey hot dogs and turkey burgers).

Be careful when you eat out though. As we mentioned above, the turkey burgers can still get loaded with fat based upon how the restaurant prepares them. 

• Eliminate any milk or cheese product with more than 1% fat. This can be difficult at first. When you make this change, the skim milk will taste watery at first. But after a week or so, your pallet changes and you come to enjoy it.
• Cakes, muffins, cookies, donuts, pastries, macaroni and cheese, ice cream, artificial sweeteners and sugar certainly make the list of the foods to avoid high cholesterol.
• Finally, some supermarket survival tips:

1) Whenever you are in the supermarket, look at the ingredients in the item. The fewer the ingredients in the item, the healthier it is for you.

2) Stick to the perimeter of the supermarket. The processed foods that are loaded with sugar are in the aisles. The perimeter normally has the fresh vegetables and the healthy meats and seafood.

Now that you know which foods help you avoid high cholesterol, let’s go into some of the foods that you can eat to lower your cholesterol:

• Oatmeal-Maybe you hate oatmeal, but as we said before, your palette changes, and just like it did with whole milk to skim milk.

Some brands still taste bland, But we recommend (especially if you like the sweet-tasting variety) Quaker Oats Weight Control Maple and Brown Sugar. Make sure it is the weight control variety, because the normal variety has too much sugar. But with only 1g of sugar and 6g of fiber per serving, this will keep your cholesterol down by reducing your LDL, or ‘bad’ cholesterol.

• Fish-a main source of Omega-3 essential fatty acids, fish will lower your cholesterol and help to control your blood pressure. Salmon, mackerel, tuna and halibut are your best bets, but beware how the fish is cooked. Baking or grilling is ok, but frying will destroy the medicinal properties of this food.
• Nuts-Walnuts, almonds and pistachio nuts are loaded with the heart-healthy fats that will keep your arteries healthy and your cholesterol in check. But make sure they are not covered in salt or sugar, and beware the calories. Nuts are high in calories and as a result 1-2 handfuls a day, as a snack or meal replacement, is more than enough. This is why pistachio nuts may be a better option because you have to take the shells off. You can’t eat them as quickly as you can almonds.
• Olive oil-really the only oil you should cook with.
• Blueberries-perfect for adding to your oatmeal, blueberries are very low in calories and loaded with antioxidants to fight free radicals in your system and lower your cholesterol.
• Eggplant-contains large amounts of soluble fiber. Become a fan of eggplant parmigiana, but make it the right way (ie: fat-free mozzarella and low-sugar Barilla tomato sauce).