Heart Healthy eating recommendations

The NCEP recommends a diet low in saturated fats, trans fats and cholesterol. Complex carbohydrates are suggested in place of simple carbs.


Meat should become a very minor part of your diet. Replace fatty beef, pork and lamb with lean cuts or skinless white meat chicken or fish. Fat should be trimmed from all meats.


Always choose low fat or non-fat dairy products over whole milk or cream. Pretzels, carrots, popcorn, dried fruits and fresh fruits are a much better option than candy and potato chips. Store purchased bakery goods should be excluded from your diet.


Avoid butter or margarine when cooking and choose baking, broiling, steaming, roasting or stewing in lieu of frying. Stay away from coconut and palm oils since they are mostly saturated fat based.
Steer clear of all trans fats, they raise LDL and lower HDL.

Cholesterol level examples in food

Source: USDA National Nutrient Database for standard reference

The diet cholesterol connection

The first step in lowering your cholesterol should always be adopting a diet tailored for lowering cholesterol. Healthy eating habits should include the avoidance of saturated and trans fats. Those who have been regularly eating high fat foods and fried foods can lower their cholesterol levels as much as 25% by switching to a diet of lean meats, fruits and vegetables and whole grains. Always consider replacing a bad diet choice with a substitute. Instead of choosing a bacon cheeseburger and fried potatoes, select a lean grilled chicken breast or lean piece of meat 4 ounces or less and a baked potato, corn or salad.


Try to restrict your diet to include no more than 25% of your calories from fat. The NCEP guidelines also suggest consuming less than 200mg of cholesterol from food. Saturated fats are particularly dangerous because they stimulate the production of LDL cholesterol. Saturated fats can be identified by their appearance. They are solid or semi solid at room temperature. These include the fats found in eggs, some vegetable oils, meat, dairy products, coconut oil, cocoa butter, palm and palm kernel oils.


The opposite consistency is true for unsaturated, they are liquid at room temperature and are polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. Some examples of polyunsaturated fats are fish oils, olive oil, cottonseed, safflower, peanut, canola and sesame. Where possible replace saturated fats with monounsaturated fats since this can help lower LDL cholesterol.


There are a number of people who do not respond enough from dietary changes. For these people it is recommended to increase intake of dietary fiber and increase intake of plant sterols and stanols.


There is a wide fluctuation in how different people respond to cholesterol in their diets. For some, high cholesterol diets have a direct causal effect on the amount of cholesterol in their blood stream. Others who consume high fat, high cholesterol diets have low levels of cholesterol in their blood streams. Since there are no reliable tests to know your individual profile, it is recommended that you adopt healthy eating habits and a low cholesterol and low saturated fat diet. If this helps, you know what you need to do. If not, seek alternatives to help.