Avoiding Cholesterol in Foods Won't Lower Your Cholesterol

If you avoid all foods that contain cholesterol, will your high cholesterol return to normal?

It's not that simple. Your blood cholesterol level is influenced far more by how many calories and how much saturated and partially hydrogenated fat you eat, than by how much cholesterol is in your food. Cholesterol is found only in foods from animals, such as meat, fish, chicken, dairy products and eggs. It is not found in plants. More than 80 percent of the cholesterol in your body is made by your liver. Less than 20 percent comes from the food that you eat. When you eat more cholesterol, your liver makes less.

Your liver makes cholesterol from saturated fats, which are found in most foods but are concentrated in meat, poultry and whole-milk dairy products. The saturated fat is broken down by your liver into acetone units. If you are not taking in too many calories, your liver uses the acetone units for energy, but if you are taking in more calories than your body needs, your liver uses these same acetone units to manufacture cholesterol. That explains why eating two eggs a day does not raise blood cholesterol levels in the average American. They are already taking in so much cholesterol from meat, fish and chicken and diary products, that when they take in more, they absorb less.

The average North American takes in 350 mg per day of cholesterol. If he takes in 26 mg per day, he absorbs 41 percent. When he takes in 188 mg cholesterol per day, he absorbs only 36 percent, and when he takes in 421 mg per day (the equivalent of two eggs), he absorbs only 25 percent. Some people absorb more than five times as much as other people at the same intake. So you lower blood cholesterol levels far more effectively by eating less food, less saturated fat and less partially hydrogenated fats than by avoiding foods that contain cholesterol.

Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four specialties, including sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his fitness and health reports at http://www.DrMirkin.com

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Lower Cholesterol with Diet, Not Drugs

Low Cholesterol Foods and Lowering Your Cholesterol

Low Cholesterol foods - diet necessity or diet nonsense?

Low cholesterol foods are all the rage. Virtually every newspaper, magazine, even TV ads trumpet the latest "low-fat", "low-cholesterol" or "cholesterol lowering" yoghurt , spread or even chocolate! These low cholesterol foods must be good news, mustn't it? Well yes, of course.....if you buy the "cholesterol kills you" propaganda from the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Cholesterol is an essential component of thousands of body processes, not least the majority of hormones, especially the sex hormones. Without cholesterol, these body processes would not be able to take place properly and the body would fall into disprepair (otherwise known as disease). Consequently, low cholesterol foods and foods that lower cholesterol may actually have a detrimental effect on many body processes. Blindly using chemicals (because that is what is in these "foods") to lower cholesterol disregards the actual CAUSE of the problem (for an in-depth report, see cholesterol) which will almost invariably correct itself if the cause of high cholesterol is removed.

What are low cholesterol foods?

Some low cholesterol foods are simply foods that have had their cholesterol removed. Whilst totally unnatural, these are probably the least unhealthy low cholesterol foods. Other low cholesterol foods have had their healthy, natural fats replaced with unhealthy, unnatural and downright dangerous plastics known as hydrogenated vegetable oils, which are high in trans-fats. These are highly dangerous chemicals that are implicated in many fat-related diseases.

A third group of "low cholesterol foods" (or claimed "cholesterol lowering foods") have apeared in recent years which give similar cause for concern. Many manufacturers have recently released products that are not only low in cholesterol (which is, of course utterly irrelevant) but which act chemically in the body to reduce cholesterol levels still further.

This is not good news for a body that has raised its cholesterol levels - a perfectly natural and healthy thing for it to do - the body does not increase cholesterol levels for the fun of it - the cholesterol levels are tightly controlled by the liver and the amount of cholesterol in the blood is totally unrelated to the amount of cholesterol in the diet (see cholesterol). As a consequence low cholesterol foods are a complete nonsense and may do more harm than good.

Do yourself a favour, inf out more about cholesterol, what it is, what it does and avoid low cholesterol foods completely!

B Adamson
Natural Health Information Centre
Cholesterol
Natural Health

This article may reprinted in full with proper attributes to the author

Diet Lower Cholesterol Search - Our Diet Lower Cholesterol Search Guide

To begin your diet lower cholesterol search, you must find all the foods low in cholesterol and the foods that help lower cholesterol. As a part of this diet, herbal supplements should be taken as well. Not just any herbal supplements, but those which only contain natural ingredients. Among all the available herbal supplements, finding supplements from such pristine places as New Zealand where they use only the finest natural ingredients would perhaps be the best choice.

Butter vs. Margarine

It is also important to remember when conducting you diet lower cholesterol search to not substitute margarine for butter. Any diet that recommends this should not be considered. Margarine contains higher concentrations of trans fats which have been determined to be detrimental to good cardiovascular health. So much so in fact that they are now being banned in restaurants in major cities. Either one of these foods should be used as sparingly as possible.

Diet with Variety.

A good diet should also not be mainly comprised of any one type of food. A diet should be well rounded and contain many different foods so as to remain interesting. A diet that calls for eating only rice cakes would get extremely boring and would be doomed to fail. The more variety that can be included in the diet the better. Your body will thank you and your taste buds will thank you as well.

Diet + Exercise = Lower Cholesterol and Better Health.

A diet lower cholesterol search should also be conducted with some type of aerobic exercise in mind. Aerobic exercise combined with a sensible diet will not only help to shed extra pounds, but it will also further help the body metabolize the over-abundance of cholesterol. Herbal supplements will help in this realm as well. Herbal supplements will help the body to metabolize substances more efficiently and will give the body the ability to release greater amounts of energy.

Herbal Supplements vs. Prescription Meds.

Prescription medications are notorious for their side effects. Among personal favorites are migraine medication that may cause headaches or heartburn pills that may cause intestinal bleeding. Even with side effects like these, medications are virtually pushed on people at an alarming rate. Herbal supplements containing only natural ingredients can help you extend your life without counterproductive side effects. It is important to research possible herbals to make sure that they contain only natural ingredients. A good place to start the search would be with products from New Zealand.

Len Gibb is a webmaster who focuses on a wide array of niche health topics. His latest website - Natural Cholesterol Supplement focuses on cholesterol as a whole, and in partcular, a natural product we personally use with excellent health results known as - Cholest-Natural