Health and Fitness Information Center

Understanding Your Cholesterol Level, Part 2

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Most people don't like sudden, radical changes in diet, and do better if they develop good dietary habits over a time span. You can simplify this whole complicated business by cutting down on the largest sources of the saturated fats in your diet.

Fortunately, there are easy approaches to changing intake of these major foods:

With eggs, you just have to cut down the number per week; two eggs a week is a good ration.

For butter, use soft or liquid margarine instead. Some evidence suggests that solid margarine's are not much different from butter.

For milk, just use low-fat or nonfat milk. The calcium and other nutrients in milk are very good for you.

For animal fats, don't eat these foods often. A good rule for many people is to avoid having red meat two days in a row. This is easy, and it gets variety into your diet. Remember, it is really the white fat in the red meat that is the problem. Pork, bacon, hot dogs, and sausage are not "red" but usually have a great deal of animal fat. When you do have meat, choose a less tender cut, trim the fat extensively before cooking, broil so that the fat burns or runs off during cooking, and cook the meat a little more well done.

If at all possible, don't fry food; this usually adds saturated fat. If you do fry, avoid saturated fats, palm oil, and coconut oil. Monounsaturated fats such as olive oil, peanut oil, and canola oil may actually be good for you.