Which Foods Should You Avoid to Lower Your Cholesterol?
You need cholesterol to produce hormones, and for your cell membranes to function, but not all cholesterol are created equal. With the right diet, you can get all the “good” HDL cholesterol you need, but certain foods contain “bad” LDL cholesterol, which increases your risk of heart disease and stroke. So which foods should you avoid?
While butter is a staple part of the British diet, it’s doing nothing for your weight or your wellbeing. We use butter for everything from cooking to making cakes, but just one teaspoon of the stuff will give you 10% of your recommended daily intake of cholesterol. According to American Heart Association, a healthy adult should consume no more than 300mg of cholesterol a day, but there is 215mg of cholesterol in your average 100g pack of butter.
In recent years, wellness experts seem to have been harking on about seafood, but that is not to say that all seafood is good for you. Some of your fishy friends are actually loaded with cholesterol, especially when the fish has been fried rather than boiled or grilled. Shrimp, in particular, is a high cholesterol food to avoid, as 100g of shrimp contains 195mg of cholesterol, or 65% daily value. If that’s a hard figure to get your head around, there’s roughly 4% of your daily allowed cholesterol intake in just one large shrimp.
Like seafood, chicken has been hailed by experts as a healthy alternative (and more environmentally friendly option) to red meat. However, while chicken is low in fat, the way you cook it makes a huge difference to how good it is for you. The secret to the cholesterol content of chicken lies in the skin, as this is what adds on the cholesterol points. In fact, just a single leg of chicken with the skin on contains more fat and cholesterol than a burger or a cup of ice cream.
But how much cholesterol is in burgers and ice cream? A big cheese burger, for example, has approximately has 175 mg of cholesterol, although this level is lower if you go for a plain burger instead. However, ice cream is packed with cholesterol. Everydayhealth.com notes, ‘Did you know that a single cup of ice cream has more fat than a hamburger and more cholesterol than 10 glazed doughnuts? Skip the scoop and try a cup of fresh fruit for dessert instead. Fruit is low in calories and high in the fibre, vitamins, and nutrients you really need; making it one of the best things you can eat for lower cholesterol.’
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