How Can You Eat With Your Heart in Mind?
Most cases of high blood cholesterol are caused by eating high-saturated-fat and high-cholesterol foods. It stands to reason, therefore, that most cases can be reversed by eating foods low in saturated fat and cholesterol. Usually, this is true. However, some people can't reduce their cholesterol level to below 200 without medication.
If you've had a heart attack or have other major risk factors, lowering your cholesterol level to below 200 is extremely important. If you have heart disease, it's also important to reduce your low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol to below 100 mg/dL. If you don't have heart disease of risk factors, reduce it to below 130 mg/dL.
If you have no other risk factors and haven't had a heart attack, you should aim - at the very least - to reduce your cholesterol level to below 240 and your LDL cholesterol level to below 160. Again, the closer you can come to a cholesterol level under 200, the better.
You may be wondering how much you'll have to change your diet to achieve these goals. That depends on a number of things. For many people, some relatively minor changes can reduce their cholesterol level significantly. Others need to make more extensive changes. If your cholesterol is less than 200 mg/dL, follow the "Eating Plan for Healthy Americans." If it is 200 mg/dL or higher, adopt the TLC eating plan.
