Foods to Avoid with High Cholesterol
Maintaining healthy blood cholesterol proves important to good health, and high cholesterol puts you at risk of heart disease. The fat in your diet has an effect on your blood cholesterol. Saturated and trans fats increase the levels of LDL "bad cholesterol," and reduce the amount of HDL, or "good cholesterol," which makes them a threat to your health. The cholesterol in your diet can also have a negative effect. Avoid foods rich in these lipids if you suffer from high cholesterol -- avoiding them can help get your cholesterol under control.
Margarine and Butter
Do not cook with or use margarine and butter if you have high cholesterol. Margarine has high levels of partially hydrogenated oil, which are a form of trans fat. Harvard says that margarine is so bad for you that butter is preferable to stick margarine. Stick margarine has 2.8 grams of trans fat and 2.1 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon. Butter has .3 grams of trans fat but 7.2 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon. Neither is desirable. Cooking in healthful oils such as olive oil or grapeseed oil that contain high amounts of unsaturated fats instead of saturated or trans fat will be better for your cholesterol.
- Do not cook with or use margarine and butter if you have high cholesterol.
- Butter has .3 grams of trans fat but 7.2 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon.
Fatty Cuts of Meat
A Low-Salt, Low-Fat & Low-Cholesterol Diet
Learn More
Avoid fatty cuts of meat if you have high cholesterol. Red meat is among of the primary sources of saturated fat in most people's diet. Foods such as lamb, prime rib, T-bone steaks and chicken wings are especially high in saturated fat and should be eaten infrequently. Harvard suggests that you avoid the processed meats, like hot dogs, bacon and deli meats, entirely. Keep saturated fat as no more than 7 percent of your total caloric intake.
- Avoid fatty cuts of meat if you have high cholesterol.
- Harvard suggests that you avoid the processed meats, like hot dogs, bacon and deli meats, entirely.
Foods with Partially Hydrogenated Oil
Avoid any foods cooked in or made with partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. According to Iowa State University, the most common source of trans fatty acids is partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, which is commonly found in shortening, frosting, crackers, candies, baked goods, fast foods, salad dressings and many other commercial desserts. Iowa State says that simply not eating foods that list "partially hydrogenated" vegetable oil will significantly reduce your trans fat intake.
Foods High in Cholesterol
Do Nuts Have Cholesterol?
Learn More
While dietary cholesterol does not pose the same level of threat as unhealthy fats -- in most people, it actually has only a modest amount on blood cholesterol levels -- you should still avoid it if you have high cholesterol. That's because some people are particularly sensitive to dietary cholesterol and eating-cholesterol-rich foods triggers a spike in harmful blood cholesterol levels. Limit your intake of whole eggs and egg yolks and shellfish, as well as fatty red meat. Those with high cholesterol should not consume more than 200 milligrams of cholesterol daily.
- While dietary cholesterol does not pose the same level of threat as unhealthy fats -- in most people, it actually has only a modest amount on blood cholesterol levels -- you should still avoid it if you have high cholesterol.
Related Articles
References
- Harvard School of Public Health: Fats and Cholesterol: Out With the Bad, In With the Good
- Penn State University: Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils and Trans Fatty Acids
- Iowa State University: Soy Food Recipes
- Harvard School of Public Health: Protein -- What Should You Eat?
- Colorado State University Extension: Dietary Fat and Cholesterol
- Control Your Cholesterol. American Heart Association. April 30, 2017
- Goldstein JL, Brown MS. A Century of Cholesterol and Coronaries: From Plaques to Genes to Statins. Cell. 2015;161(1):161-172. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2015.01.036
- Fernandez M. Rethinking dietary cholesterol. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2012;15(2):117-121. doi:10.1097/mco.0b013e32834d2259
- Blesso CN, Andersen CJ, Barona J, Volek JS, Fernandez ML. Whole egg consumption improves lipoprotein profiles and insulin sensitivity to a greater extent than yolk-free egg substitute in individuals with metabolic syndrome. Metab Clin Exp. 2013;62(3):400-10. doi:10.1016/j.metabol.2012.08.014
- Jones PJH. Dietary cholesterol and the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients: a review of the Harvard Egg Study and other data. International journal of clinical practice Supplement. 2009;(163):1-8, 28-36. doi:10.1111/j.1742-1241.2009.02136.x
- Sabaté J, Oda K, Ros E. Nut Consumption and Blood Lipid Levels: A Pooled Analysis of 25 Intervention Trials. Arch Intern Med. 2010;170(9):821–827. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2010.79
- Beynen AC, Katan MB, Van zutphen LF. Hypo- and hyperresponders: individual differences in the response of serum cholesterol concentration to changes in diet. Adv Lipid Res. 1987;22:115-71. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-024922-0.50008-4
- Cholesterol Management Guide for Healthcare Providers. American Heart Association. 2018
- Nathalie Bergeron, Sally Chiu, Paul T Williams, Sarah M King, Ronald M Krauss, Effects of red meat, white meat, and nonmeat protein sources on atherogenic lipoprotein measures in the context of low compared with high saturated fat intake: a randomized controlled trial, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 110, Issue 1, July 2019, Pages 24–33, doi:10.1093/ajcn/nqz035
- Ramsden CE, Zamora D, Majchrzak-Hong S, et al. Re-evaluation of the traditional diet-heart hypothesis: analysis of recovered data from Minnesota Coronary Experiment (1968-73). BMJ. April 2016:i1246. doi:10.1136/bmj.i1246
- Xin-Xin Zheng, Yan-Lu Xu, Shao-Hua Li, Xu-Xia Liu, Rutai Hui, Xiao-Hong Huang, Green tea intake lowers fasting serum total and LDL cholesterol in adults: a meta-analysis of 14 randomized controlled trials, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 94, Issue 2, August 2011, Pages 601–610, doi:10.3945/ajcn.110.010926
- Chen HJ, Chuang SY, Chang HY, Pan WH. Energy intake at different times of the day: Its association with elevated total and LDL cholesterol levels. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2019;29(4):390-397. doi:10.1016/j.numecd.2019.01.003
- Yashin A, Yashin Y, Xia X, Nemzer B. Antioxidant Activity of Spices and Their Impact on Human Health: A Review. Antioxidants (Basel). 2017;6(3):70. Published 2017 Sep 15. doi:10.3390/antiox6030070
- Pedersen TR. The Success Story of LDL Cholesterol Lowering. Circ Res. 2016;118(4):721-31.doi:https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.115.306297
- Di Stasi SL, MacLeod TD, Winters JD, Binder-Macleod SA. Effects of statins on skeletal muscle: a perspective for physical therapists. Phys Ther. 2010;90(10):1530–1542. doi:10.2522/ptj.20090251
- Fernandez M. Rethinking dietary cholesterol. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2012;15(2):117-121. doi:10.1097/mco.0b013e32834d2259
- Goldstein JL, Brown MS. A Century of Cholesterol and Coronaries: From Plaques to Genes to Statins. Cell. 2015;161(1):161-172. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2015.01.036
- Harvard School of Public Health. Cholesterol. The Nutrition Source. Published May 22, 2019.
- Ha V, Sievenpiper JL, de Souza RJ, et al. Effect of dietary pulse intake on established therapeutic lipid targets for cardiovascular risk reduction: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Canadian Medical Association Journal. 2014;186(8):E252-E262. doi:10.1503/cmaj.131727
- Jones P, Pappu A, Hatcher L, Li Z, Illingworth D, Connor W. Dietary Cholesterol Feeding Suppresses Human Cholesterol Synthesis Measured by Deuterium Incorporation and Urinary Mevalonic Acid Levels. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 1996;16(10):1222-1228. doi:10.1161/01.atv.16.10.1222
- Magriplis E, Sialvera TE, Papadopoulou A, et al. Effectiveness and easiness of adherence to behavioural guidelines for diet and lifestyle changes for cholesterol-lowering: the Increasing Adherence of Consumers to Diet & Lifestyle Changes to Lower (LDL) Cholesterol (ACT) randomised controlled trial. J Hum Nutr Diet. 2019;32(5):607-618. doi:10.1111/jhn.12667
- Maugeri A, Kunzova S, Medina-Inojosa JR, et al. Association between eating time interval and frequency with ideal cardiovascular health: Results from a random sample Czech urban population. Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases. 2018;28(8):847-855. doi:10.1016/j.numecd.2018.04.002
- Olsson AG, Angelin B, Assmann G, et al. Can LDL cholesterol be too low? Possible risks of extremely low levels. Journal of Internal Medicine. 2017;281(6):534-553. doi:10.1111/joim.12614
- Rosenthal RL. Effectiveness of altering serum cholesterol levels without drugs. Proc (Bayl Univ Med Cent). 2000;13(4):351–355. doi:10.1080/08998280.2000.11927704
- Swift D, Johannsen N, Lavie C, Earnest C, Church T. The Role of Exercise and Physical Activity in Weight Loss and Maintenance. Prog Cardiovasc Dis. 2014;56(4):441-447. doi:10.1016/j.pcad.2013.09.012
Writer Bio
Jenna Cee has been writing professionally since 2006. Her articles appear on 2Athletes.com and Women's Fitness Online. She is a personal trainer certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine and as a fitness and sports nutritionist through the International Sports Sciences Association. Cee holds a Master of Science in human nutrition from Washington State University.