Cholesterol Diet Lower Plans
The best source for cholesterol diet lowerplans come from the American Heart Association. They include the ‘Step I Diet’, the ‘Step II Diet’, and the beneficial ‘Mediterranean Diet’. All of these are recommended as the best approaches to lowering cholesterol levels.
The ‘Step I Diet’:
People who have been diagnosed with high levels of blood cholesterol can start with the ‘Step I Diet’. The diet is designed to use only a maximum of 30% fat in relation to the number of calories. It is recommended that, when broken down, saturated fat intake should not exceed 10%, polyunsaturated fat intake should not exceed 8% and monounsaturated fat intake should not exceed 13%. Also, lowering the salt intake each day to a maximum of 2,400 mg, and cholesterol consumption to a maximum of 300mg is best. However, shooting for even lower amounts of salt and cholesterol would be even more beneficial.
As with any type of cholesterol diet lower plans, making a habit of reading pre-packaged food labels is essential. Not only do these labels show the varied fat contents per serving, but include the cholesterol, salt, fiber and nutritional content.
The ‘Step II Diet’:
People who are already following for lowering cholesterol levels in their blood, or suffer from heart disease, need a timelier and faster approach. The recommendations in the diet are a repeat of the ‘Step I Diet’. However, both daily cholesterol and saturated fat intakes are much more restrictive.
This is probably the second best form of cholesterol diet lower plans. Saturated fats are limited to only 7% of the overall calorie intake. Cholesterol amounts cannot exceed 200mg, and the calorie count has to be kept at the minimum level for maintaining the best body weight for an individual’s personal frame. Keep in mind that everyone is different and any calorie calculations must be done with the guidance of a doctor.
A Note:
Some people believe that the best form of cholesterol-lowering diet plans is an extremely low-fat diet. Some experts support this. However, the American Heart Association does not recommend this, even if the person is suffering from bad heart disease, needs to lose weight dramatically, and has chosen to avoid any medication to lower their cholesterol.
Such diets may contain less than 26% fat content in relation to the calorie count, which usually is also below the recommended maintenance amount needed for a healthy diet. To achieve this would mean avoiding important foods like meats, good fats and dairy products. This extreme approach can be hard to stick to and could increase triglycerides to dangerous levels because of the carbohydrate levels. However, if there is no choice, but to undertake drastic measures to survive, then the ‘Ornish Program’ has been proven to help reverse any clogging of the arteries caused by high levels of bad cholesterol. This can be beneficial for heart disease sufferers.
The ‘Mediterranean Diet’:
One of the best cholesterol-lowering diet plans in the world is the ‘Mediterranean Diet’, which has been medically shown to reduce the risk of heart disease to extremely low levels. Places like Italy and Greece tend to follow the more traditional version than other Mediterranean countries. Their diet includes an abundance of fruits, whole grains, vegetables and legumes (dried peas, beans and lentils), but they only consume fish, chicken, eggs and other meats once a week. Red meats are a once a month affair, but each serving is small. The fat content of this diet is kept to save levels of a maximum of 35% in relation to the calories, using olive oil, a healthy monounsaturated fat.
This cholesterol-lowering diet plan is very good at lowering overall cholesterol amounts and increasing good cholesterol (HDL). However, though the diet is very easy to stick to, calorie consumption has to be carefully monitored or weight gain will occur.
The best guidelines for food consumption are found through the ‘food pyramids’ recommended by the US government. They can be found online and have an example of the ‘Mediterranean Diet’ pyramid that is much easier to follow.