Low cholesterol
Diet
When you’re
looking for a low cholesterol diet one should always start by reviewing his own
diet habits and lifestyle, a low cholesterol diet starts by changing this diet
and ends with creating a whole new lifestyle that you can maintain without
falling back on bad habits.
The simple fact
is when looking at certain aspects of the diet you end up inevitable at 3
distinct groups of nutrients, carbohydrates, proteins and fats and quite
literally when you look at those science has discovered that the human body
only really requires is the proteins to maintain muscle mass and organs. of
course surviving and thriving are 2 different things and the body will not
exactly appreciate loosing all this fuel but outside some DHE/EPA or
omega3 the human body does not require fat and the human does not require
carbohydrates either.
The problem
with many of the nutrients is not the group carbs/fats/protein in itself but
rather the quality of these individual aspects of a person his soon to be low
cholesterol diet.
Did our
ancestors eat carbs ? sure they did but not in such quantity’s or such a high
level of refinement compared to all the candy bars, breads and so on we often eat
now on a daily basis to our ancestors we can see a remarkable difference in the
diet from the today and from 100 years ago we also had much more fiber in our
carbohydrate sources then we often do today.
Did our
ancestors eat Meat and fat ? of course they did but the animals had a much
better food source back then to and one may wonder what the effect of all that
does to the quality of a steak from now vs. 100years ago.
Unless you are
part of the minority that is slightly more sensitive to this issue dietary
cholesterol should have a very limited effect on blood cholesterol levels and
your liver will produce more or less cholesterol based on your dietary intake.
While many
think that dietary fat and dietary cholesterol are one and the same thing or at
least related this is not exactly true, structurally and chemically the 2 are
very different.
Cholesterol for
example one its main functions is a precursor to several very hormones found in
the body, such as testosterone, cortisol, progesterone, estrogen and so on.
when you’re setting
up a low cholesterol diet, that person should look at the big picture before
making wild changes like you often see on television or other media, there is a
whole list of factors that can contribute.
Some of those factors include:
(in)activity
Diet
Habits such as
smoking/drinking
Medication
A good example
of viewing the entire picture is that a active athlete with normal bodyweight
will generally not be affected by consuming saturated fatty acids while a
inactive obese person tends to have a negative effect of the same fatty acids
on his blood cholesterol levels.
In the later
person his case it may be a wise idea to pick a activity or sport he enjoys practicing
and start doing so,
it will be far
easier for that person if he enjoys that activity then if he has to do
something against his will so encourage activity’s he enjoys will go a long way
to get started.
Since a diet
really is a change of habit looking for healthy foods that the person who is
looking for a low cholesterol diet actually enjoys, if he hates the food it is
only a matter of time before he will fall back to the old habits.
Habits such a
smoking or binge drinking have no place in a low cholesterol diet ever, smoking
is one of the worst things for cholesterol levels and general health to do
while alcohol can actually be a slightly positive issue if one can restrain
himself to 1-2glasses a day.
while it
is fine to consume fatty acids or carbohydrates on a low cholesterol diet.
We should take a closer look in detail on what each kind of fatty acid,carbs and fiber does to you.
A diet
is always reduced fatty acids and/or carbohydrates and NEVER proteins.
For example dietary fats:
The types of triglycerides:
1) Trans-fatty acids
2) Polyunsaturated fatty acids
3) Saturated fatty acids
4) Monounsaturated fatty acids
Trans-fatty acids in a low cholesterol diet
There is little debate over the effect of trans-fat in the health of people in general, so this is a good place to start, trans fat have been shown in several studies that no matter how much your dietary intake is, one should always avoid this as much as possible in a person’s diet.
There are a few trans fats occurring in nature but the majority is vegetable oil made by bubbling hydrogen through it, created to be more shelf stable and this is an important concept for company’s who wish there products to remain able to stay on the shelf of the longer despite the health cost it will take on its customers.
Consuming large amounts of trans fatty acids will create all sorts of problems in the human body such as metabolic dysfunction, adverse effect on blood cholesterol, systemic inflammation, increase of bodyweight and insulin resistance…and probably a whole list of other issues people have not discovered yet.
Saturated fatty acids in a low cholesterol diet
For decades now saturated fatty acids have been considered to be the bad boy of the fats and would probably be blamed for the global warming if they could make a case out of this.
However in recent years some are making a argument that saturated fatty acids are not the cause for health risks and that the real problem is poly-unsaturated fatty acids. This is obviously confusing for most. Especially the group that is looking for a low cholesterol diet such as most reading this.
In the case of saturated fatty acids you have many arguments for and against and in my humble opinion one should look towards the center, our ancestors survived with a substantial part of their diet with animal fat included without ever suffering from the very common cholesterol and other issues associated with it from today. While this may not proof much for present day saturated fatty acids since saturated fat is actually a group of different fatty acids and some may be better or worse than others.
Some studies show that as long as you are a lean and active person, then saturated fatty acids have little to no impact on your blood cholesterol as long as you are in balanced in terms of calories (not gaining weight or losing weight) this shows that saturated fatty acids should be looked at in context and it may be wise to turn your low cholesterol diet into a simple diet improving your body composition first.(losing weight to improve your triglycerides and cholesterol levels while maintaining muscle mass.
As should be noted that blood cholesterol levels often improve in general when a person loses weight and becomes more active (take up a sport or go the gym and so on)
It should also be noted that for optimal hormone levels some research show that you require at least some saturated fatty acids. Therefor saying saturated fatty acids are bad or good is probably not a good idea and one should always look at the context.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids in a low cholesterol diet
The key fatty acids here should be noted are omega 3 and 6, named simply because of the chemical structure.
The two main poly unsaturated fatty acids are ALA(alpha-linolenic acid) and LA(linoleic acid). Those two fatty acids are the only essential fatty acids required. It is essential to acquire from the diet to maintain optimal health.
Technical you could live forever never consuming a single gram of fatty acids of the other groups (mono unsaturated/saturated/trans fats) but without the essential two fatty acids you would cause a host of different health problems over time.
It is important to consider that many have a serious imbalance when it comes to omega 3 and 6 and while they are essential, it is important to try and maintain a 1:1 balance in terms of a number of potential health issues including cholesterol so one may argue that for most people omega 6 should be either supplemented or a lot of fish should be eaten when you are on a low cholesterol diet. Especially considering the modern diet often has a very bad ratio in terms of both fatty acids(too few omega 3 vs. omega6 ).
Note : high intake of omega 6 is very common in the western diet while omega 3 is often way to low causing a serious unbalance between the omega 3-6 which in itself is a cause of concern for health issues and cholesterol levels both.
Monounsaturated fatty acids in a low cholesterol diet
This is another fatty acids with very little debate or argument, at worst this fatty acids are neutral from a health perspective, and can be a very good addition to a low cholesterol diet due to its effect on blood cholesterol levels) there is also some evidence for monounsaturated effects to give some health benefits when consumed.
Monounsaturated fatty acids is one of the potential reasons why a Mediterranean diet is considered to be so healthy for the heart and cardiovascular system of the human body, the high intake of olive oil or mono-unsaturated fats are thought to be a major cause alongside the high amounts of vegetables its consumed with. Outside the high calorie content such as any fat there is really no indication for bad health effects from the intake of monounsaturated fatty acids.
These are the 4 different kinds of fatty acids and some more information to give you a clear view on what to look for in a low cholesterol diet.
But here is some more information about Carbohydrates the next big group that has an impact on cholesterol levels.
Where modern diets often have an excessive amount of saturated fatty acids and trans fats and too few omega 3 and mono-unsaturated fatty acids there is also an issue with carbohydrates intake in recent years. Modern diets tend to be especially high in carbohydrates in general and especially the high GI kind, often highly refined carbohydrates with very few fiber content.
Low in fruit, lacking in vegetables and high refined carbohydrate is a not a good way to continue especially when it is combined with inactivity, but it is hard to state all the variables without looking at the content.
Obviously a piece of chocolate (on average loaded with sugar) is not going to kill you if you eat it once a week, the issue becomes when you eat it daily or multiple times a day or more and even worse when you think it’s healthy because after all chocolate is good for you isn’t it.
It should be noted that pure chocolate does have health benefits including a good thing to add to low cholesterol diet or to the diet in general occasionally, however it does say PURE chocolate not the average bars which are in fact more sugar bars with some chocolate then the opposite. This is a clear example of context and how you should recognize the healthy things from what the commercials want you to believe. Read the labels and see that I’m right!
In general its advisable to expand your diet with Low GI foods, vegetables and less refined products.
But this last part of information worth adding to this piece.
What is fiber and what does fiber do in a low cholesterol diet
Fiber is technical speaking a part of the category dietary carbohydrates, while distinct enough to be considered separately from other carbohydrates, it may actually be surprising but saying what is or what is not fiber may be more difficult than most people realize. But this is not on the issue today, it should be suffice
to say there are two primary definitions used for fiber and those are
Insoluble - Soluble and Fermentable - In fermentable
Fiber has a number of positive health benefits to the human body and are relevant for body composition and health, technical not an essential nutrient and you won’t die if you don’t eat enough, it will cause a number of issues if you don’t eat fiber regularly.
While there are a number of reasons to add fiber to the diet (especially from fruit and vegetables) it should be noted that fiber has a major effect on blood cholesterol and therefore cannot be missed in a low cholesterol diet.
Other useful effects from gaining enough dietary fiber trough the diet is for example a better GI control and delay gastric emptying, and it will promote feeling full and satiated for longer.
source: Lyle McDonald
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