Dairy Foods – Fats and Oils and Fruits

If you are on a low-fat diet and you do not know what to eat in order to keep your cholesterol levels down, you can try following the guidelines listed in this article. Remember that in order to keep down your cholesterol levels, you have to eat as less saturated foods as possible. Limiting the dietary cholesterol is also a very good idea.

Dairy foods

Remember to always buy non fat or at least low fat yogurt. Just like many other dairy foods, yogurt is an excellent source of protein and calcium, but it is very important to keep an eye on the saturated fat intake. Also, as a topping or in recipes always use low fat or non fat yogurt alone. Try topping with fruit.

Instead of using full sour cream, go for the low fat or nonfat versions. The same idea goes for cheese blends as well. And most of the times you do not even lose the taste since many taste as rich as the real thing but they simply are healthier since they contain less fat and calories.

Fats and oils

Replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats can help you keep your blood cholesterol low, and this way live a healthier life. Just make sure that you limit the total amount of fats or oils to keep calories in check. When buying any kind of fats and oils, just remember to follow the guidelines above:

Instead of using oils that are high in saturated fats, choose liquid vegetable oils since these are high in unsaturated fats. Oils that are high in unsaturated fats include soybean, sesame, safflower, peanut, corn, canola and sunflower oil.

Always buy margarine that has unsaturated liquid vegetable oil listed as the first ingredient. Choose liquid or soft tub margarine, or even better – vegetable oil spreads.

Limit any solid shortening such as butter, fatback and lard since these products are very high in cholesterol and saturated fats

Instead of buying the regular kind of mayonnaise and salad dressing, always go for the light or nonfat version since these have a smaller amount of saturated fat and cholesterol. Remember that two tablespoons of regular Italian dressing can add as many as 14 grams of fat.

Fruits

Each day you should be eating at least 3 to 5 servings of fruits. Fruits present a very low amount of saturated fat and total fat, and they do not have any cholesterol at all. Also, it is easier to keep a low cholesterol diet if you eat lots of fruits and vegetables since these help quite a lot with those nasty levels. So, fruits and vegetables are great substitutes for foods high in saturated fat and cholesterol.