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Cholesterol |
To prevent cardiovascular disease and some types of cancer, you should eat fewer calories and less cholesterol. The most important factor is the type of fat you eat. Eating a proper mixture of EFs with few total calories lowers the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol in your body. Vegetables contain no cholesterol, and also furnish you with EFs which lower your cholesterol. Eating more vegetables, vegetable oils and fish oils, while simultaneously cutting down on hard fat and total calories, is your best nutritional strategy.
In medicine, the word "normal" means average. When your physician says that you have a cholesterol level below normal, he means that it’s below average. Because most "normal" or average values are around 240 (in mg/dL, the way concentrations are measured), many people have been told that if they have a cholesterol level below 240, they are "normal."
Unfortunately, being "average" in this country means that you are likely to die of cardiovascular disease. For this reason, a government panel has recommended that people aim for a cholesterol level below 200. You can live longer and prevent cardiovascular disease by reducing your cholesterol to a healthy rather than an average level. At the very least, you should try to bring it below 200. The ideal value is closer to 150 than 200.
To prevent cardiovascular disease and some types of cancer, you should eat fewer calories and less cholesterol. The most important factor is the type of fat you eat. Eating a proper mixture of essential fats with few total calories lowers the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol in your body. Vegetables contain no cholesterol, and also furnish you with EFs which lower your cholesterol. Eating more vegetables, vegetable oils and fish oils, while simultaneously cutting down on hard fat and total calories, is your best nutritional strategy.
Cholesterol levels
rarely decline by eating less cholesterol
The human body makes cholesterol. The amount of cholesterol made depends on your overall body chemistry, your genes, and the balance of EFs in your body. Eating cholesterol within the ranges found in most natural foods is not an important factor in increasing or decreasing your cholesterol (unless you have some unusual genetic disease).
Many physicians and publications speak about "bad" cholesterol (LDL) and "good" cholesterol (HDL). Siguel prefers not to use these terms, because they confuse people and have meaning only as indicators of disease. We do not eat "good" or "bad" cholesterol. We eat cholesterol and fat (SFAs, MUFAs and PUFAs). Depending on how much cholesterol and the types of fat we eat, our bodies either increase or decrease both HDL and LDL. Eating the proper types of fats helps your body regulate your cholesterol.
Low cholesterol foods
may be high in fat or calories
Many foods low in cholesterol (such as cheese and cream) are high in SFA. Eating large amounts of SFA stimulates your body to make more cholesterol, as a mechanism to counter the effects of excessive SFA. Eating large amounts of carbohydrates and sugars has the same effect.
Portions of this section have been excerpted from the book "EFAs in Health and Disease" (how to order, table of contents, references, notes, excerpts).
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© 1998 Edward Siguel. All rights reserved |
modified 1/15/00 |