Low Fat Low Cholesterol Diet

You can follow a low fat low cholesterol diet quite easily by trying to eliminate the main sources of LDL cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein) from your diet. The main sources of LDL cholesterol are red meat, full-fat dairy products and trans-fats (hydrogenated vegetable fats). Therefore you should try to replace these saturated fats and trans fats with more useful mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fats which can be found in oils like olive oil. Going on a low fat low cholesterol diet is a good way of reducing your LDL cholesterol levels and reducing your risk of heart disease.

Low Fat Low Cholesterol Diet

A low fat low cholesterol diet is a very useful diet to follow because it kills two birds with one stone. A low cholesterol diet will not necessarily help you lose weight, but a low fat diet should help you reduce your level of LDL cholesterol.

Basically, someone following a low fat low cholesterol diet should first try to reduce the amount of saturated fats and trans fats that they eat. Saturated fats are present mostly in animal fats and especially in red meat and dairy products like full-fat milk, cheese and cream. Trans fats are hydrogenated vegetable oils as found in some margarines, pastry and crisps.

So, the most important part of any low fat low cholesterol diet is to eliminate the 'bad fats' and replace them with 'good fats'. Good fats are mono-unsaturated fats and poly-unsaturated fats. However, you have to be careful on a low fat low cholesterol diet because some fat is necessary, but all fat is, well, fattening. All fats are high in calories, but some are high in cholesterol too.

Other fats that are good for you are olive oil and fish oil. One myth that has grown up is that prawns are bad for a low fat low cholesterol diet (the same is said about liver and eggs). It is not true according to the British Heart Foundation, which says that although these substances contain cholesterol, our bodies cannot extract it from them in same way as it does from other foods.

So prawns, eggs and liver can go back on the low fat low cholesterol diet. Other substances that should form the basis of any low fat low cholesterol diet are salad, pulses, grains, nuts and lentils of any description. Rolled oats, in the form of, say, porridge, is very useful for lowering cholesterol.

Soya protein is another good food and just eating one ounce a day (26 grammes) can reduce cholesterol by 15%-25%. If you are going to cut out or severely restrict your red meat intake, then eating soya in the form of tofu is a very good way of replacing the protein that you will be missing from fatty meat as well.

Every low fat low cholesterol diet should also contain plenty of roughage and fibre which is easily obtainable from the grains et cetera mentioned above, but you should also obtain it from salads, vegetables and fruit. Citrus fruits are particularly good at reducing levels of bad LDL cholesterol as are green leafy vegetables.

A healthy low fat low cholesterol diet is not hard to follow and makes a lot of sense.