LOW CHOLESTEROL DIET

Excess cholesterol in the blood is a major risk factors for cardiovascular disease. When cholesterol regulating system fails, it is customary to adopt, before any medication, a diet low in cholesterol.

Endogenous and exogenous

Most of the cholesterol is produced by the liver: it is what is called the endogenous cholesterol. The exogenous cholesterol is that provided by the diet. Quantities are variable from 300 to 700 mg. The objective is to minimize this food supply.

Easy diet to follow

A low cholesterol diet does not consist solely of prohibitions. Doctors often tend to play the ayatollahs and provide a list of prohibitions regardless comfort of life. A difference of 30 or 50 mg of dietary cholesterol can not be dramatic because the compensation can be from one day to another. This cholesterol diet should definitely be compatible with everyday life, dining out with friends or else it will be quickly abandoned. It must also ensure adequate intake for vitamins and minerals, if the diet is unbalanced and mini deficiencies can settle that tire and are harmful to health.

The main principles

Obviously, we need to avoid all foods rich in cholesterol that is to say those who bring more than 120 to 130 mg per 100 g. That is to say:

Offal (400-1800 mg for the brain) and sausages

Butter and egg yolk (260/270 mg)

Cream (125 mg) and fermented cheese (100 to 150 mg)

We adopt the olive oil as the primary fat since its main fatty acid, oleic acid is beneficial against cholesterol. And can be used for its sandwiches, one of the many cholesterol-lowering margarines marketed. In meat, we choose the leanest cuts, so low in cholesterol (about 65 mg) and poultry (including fat contains oleic acid), and gives pride to the fish. We eat lots of vegetables, and grains that do not contain it all. In other words, it puts into practice the protective Mediterranean diet.

in practice

In a low cholesterol diet, the only foods really are fleeing the brain and kidneys. It also provides raclette (Swiss cheese), cheese fondues: one can live in this abstinence without life is turned upside down. As for shellfish, they are usually banned from a low cholesterol diet because they are very rich. However, it is mainly found in the head, that is rarely consumed and not in the flesh. Needless to forego shrimp! and even less at the time of lobster or lobster Holidays. To carry out a diet without cholesterol, we must simply learn to compensate and manage differences and do not live in the forbidden. It indulges in gluttony of meat or fish accompanied by a Béarnaise sauce or cream? We love an  eggs dish? We eat fish at every meal the next day and the following days and completely forget the cheese to eat only yogurt or cottage cheese.