The basic diet for lowering your cholesterol is called the TLC diet (Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes). This diet emphasizes eating lots of fruits, vegetables, low fat dairy, legumes, whole grains, lean meats, poultry and fish. However, I find a lot of people have a miss conception on what is the most important aspect of the diet. It is not watching your total cholesterol intake! While keeping your cholesterol under 300 mg per day is important, your biggest obstacle is to limit your saturated fat intake. Saturated fats are the “bad fats” that increase your total cholesterol and LDL (bad cholesterol) levels. Animal fats provide 2/3 of the saturated fats in the American diet! Hence you will need to limit your protein intake everyday! Your goal is to eat no more than 5 oz of protein per day. To put this in a visual perspective, the size of your palm is 2-3 oz. So you only need 2 servings the size of your palm in one day!!! Most of us eat the size of our hand three times a day! Also, limit your egg yolk consumption to no more than 2 per week. Follow these 2 easy tips and you will be on your way to reaching your cholesterol goals!
Here is an easy chart to help you understand your cholesterol lipid levels:
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Cholesterol Lipid Desirable Levels: |
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LDL: Less than 100 = desirable 100-129 = near desirable 130-159 = borderline high 160-189 = high 190 and greater = very high |
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Total Cholesterol: Less than 200 = desirable 200-239 = borderline high 240 and greater = high |
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HDL: Less than 40 = low 60 and greater = high |
Estelle L. Benoit, RD, LDN