High Cholesterol Diet

What you eat directly affects your cholesterol levels. An unhealthy diet contributes to high LDL cholesterol ("bad" cholesterol) and low HDL cholesterol ("good" cholesterol). To improve your cholesterol levels, you will need to adopt a heart healthy diet.

A heart healthy diet includes a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grain foods, lean meats, and low-fat dairy products. Heart healthy foods are those low in saturated fat, low in cholesterol, and high in fiber. Foods that should be limited in the diet are those high in saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol.

With a heart healthy diet:

total fat intake should not be higher than 30% of the total daily calories
total intake of saturated fat should be limited to less than 7% of total daily calories
total daily intake of cholesterol should be less than 200mg

Cholesterol Lowering Foods

For some people with high cholesterol, changing to a diet rich in fiber and other cholesterol lowering foods may improve cholesterol levels as much as medications.

A diet to lower cholesterol may include:

fruits and vegetables (at least five servings every day)
whole grains (whole-grain cereals, whole-grain breads, and whole-wheat pasta, brown rice, oatmeal, oat bran)
lean cuts of meat (eye of round beef, top round, sirloin, pork, tenderloin, poultry without skin, lean or extra lean ground beef, chicken, or turkey)
fish (tuna canned in water, cod, halibut, salmon, mackerel, herring)
shellfish, steamed not fried (crab, oysters, mussels, scallops, and clams)
fat-free or 1% milk and dairy products
high fiber foods (oats, oranges, pears, brussels sprouts, carrots, dried peas, and beans)
healthy fats (mono-unsaturated fat found in olive, peanut, and canola oils; almonds, walnuts)

High Cholesterol Foods to Avoid

Foods that are high in saturated fats can increase the amount of bad cholesterol in the blood and should be eliminated from the diet. Some of the foods that are high in saturated fats include fatty cuts of meat, whole-milk and whole-milk products (butter, cream), some oils (coconut, palm, and palm kernel oils), granola and muesli cereals, and many desserts.

Foods made with trans fats (partially hydrogenated oils) are especially bad for your cholesterol levels and should be eliminated from the diet. Not only do trans fats raise your levels of total LDL ("bad") cholesterol, but they also lower your levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol. Trans fats are often found in margarine; commercially baked cakes, cookies, pastries, and crackers; and fast food.

Foods that contain cholesterol should be limited in the diet. Dietary cholesterol is found only in foods from animal sources, not in foods from plant sources. Foods high in cholesterol include organ meats (such as liver), shrimp, egg yolks, and whole-milk products. While egg yolks should eaten in moderation (all the fat and cholesterol is in the yolk), there is no limit on egg whites.