Diet & Cholesterol

What about cholesterol and diet?

There are two ways that someone can get their cholesterol: The first way is to have their body produce it internally, mainly by the liver. The liver produces varying amounts and can vary from person to person as well as from day to day with the same person. Typically though, in one day the liver will produce approximately 1,000 milligrams per day.

The other way that we can get cholesterol into our system is from the food that we eat. This is considered an external source of cholesterol and is the one that we have the most control over. Some of the foods that have the highest levels of cholesterol come from animals. From this group of foods the highest yielding products are:

Egg Yolks
Meat
Poultry
Fish
Seafood
Whole Milk Dairy Products

Foods that fall into the "Plants" category do not contain any cholesterol in them. These would be items such as:

Fruits
Vegetables
Grains
Nuts
Seeds

Typically speaking our bodies create all the cholesterol that it needs automatically. We really don't need to consume any external food items for the purpose of extracting cholesterol for internal use. The biggest culprit to increased levels of cholesterol in the blood are external foods full of saturated fats. This directly relates to an increased risk for heart disease. Trans fats are also something to be concerned about. They also raise the levels of cholesterol in the blood supply.

This will totally shock you…

The average American male consumes a total of 337 milligrams of cholesterol every single day. For women it is a tad bit less at 217 milligrams each and every day. (These are figures for the average American man and woman… People just like you!)

The liver is capable of removing some of this excess cholesterol however it cannot remove all of it. This is where the problems begin… All of the excess cholesterol in your system starts to build up and can then cause significant health problems. Heart Disease is the end result of this cholesterol imbalance.

What the American Heart Association recommends is that you limit your daily average cholesterol intake to less than 300 milligrams. What they recommend is that if you already have heard disease that you limit your daily intake of cholesterol to less than 200 milligrams per day. The biggest takeaway from this is that as responsible individuals, that are genuinely concerned with their health, should limit their daily intake of external cholesterol to the minimum amount possible. Stay away from the foods that are high in saturated fats, they typically contain the highest amounts of cholesterol.

For the people that are already in a situation where severely high blood cholesterol levels are present in their system, they should limit their intake as much as possible.

There are some general guidelines to follow when making food choices. Items such as lean meat, fish, and poultry should only be consumed with a six ounce daily limit. For dairy products use fat free and low fat products. Some beans (soy beans are a good source) can provide a good source of cholesterol that are much better than cholesterol from animal sources.

Making healthy food choices is vital to ensuring healthy levels of cholesterol in the body.