Cholesterol is a necessary element of our diet. We have been conditioned to think that all fat is bad, but that isn't the whole truth. We need fat in order for our bodies to function, our hair and nails to grow, our brain to operate properly, our joints to move, and more. The problem is that there are good fats and bad fats, and you need to learn to differentiate between those two. Bad cholesterol is LDL or low density lipoprotein, and good cholesterol is HDL or high density lipoprotein. What you need to do is refer to lists of foods with bad cholesterol, in order to know what to take out of your diet. Let's take a look at what would be on those lists.
What You Would Find On Lists Of Foods With Bad Cholesterol:
There are plenty of things that contain high levels of LDL. Liver is found somewhere on the top of that list. Liver is where cholesterol is made and stored in the body. At the same time, liver is very high in iron, so it can be a necessary food for people who are anemic. If, however, you have problems with high cholesterol, this is the number one food that you have to cut out from your diet.
Muffins:
Next, there are muffins. Again, this is a confusing one, because muffins are supposed to be a good choice for breakfast, particularly if they are home made and contain fruits like blueberries. However, muffins are included in most lists of foods with bad cholesterol. This is because we usually make muffins with full fat milk and eggs. If you must have a breakfast muffin, therefore, make it yourself with low fat milk and remove the yolk from your eggs.
Margarine:
Another food to avoid is margarine. This is, again, something that surprises people. After all, margarine is supposed to be the healthy alternative to butter because it is lower in calories. In reality, however, hard stick margarine in particular contains very high levels of trans fats, which come from partially hydrogenated oils. This is filled with bad cholesterol and you will be better off eating butter. Fortunately, there are low cholesterol margarine products out there, which are the best choice.
Microwave Popcorn:
You should also stop eating microwave popcorn. Regular popcorn that you make yourself is fine. The microwave version, however, is full of oil and salt. It is quite a lot of fun to make your own popcorn (although you will probably end up with popcorn all over your kitchen the first few times), and you can make it tasty and healthy by adding things like honey instead.
Shellfish:
Last but not least, there is shellfish. Again, this surprises a lot of people. We have a tendency to think that things that come out of the sea are good for us. While this is true of fatty fish (although you can eat too much of those as well, mainly due to pollution levels in the sea), shellfish is not necessarily good for you. Just three ounces of lobster, without any butter, contains 61mg cholesterol.