The Low Cholesterol Diet: There Are More Tasty Alternatives Than Ever

Many people, when they think of healthy eating, immediately think of bland, boring diets that may be low in cholesterol, but are not particularly appetizing.

However, not all cholesterol lowering foods fit that description. A low cholesterol diet doesn't mean you'll never again enjoy interesting, tasty meals. Meals that are low in cholesterol can include delicious foods, made in ways that may be new to you. There is plenty of room for creativity while learning to love tastes you’ve never experienced.

It will be hard to cut back on food that comes from animals if you typically eat a lot of them. But remember, cholesterol comes mainly from animal-based foods, so your first step will be to look for alternatives in this nutrition category.

As you're undoubtedly aware, red meat from beef contains plenty of cholesterol. Poultry contains less, but still a lot more than fish. Certain kinds of fish, especially salmon, contain nutrients that actually reduce the amount of cholesterol in your blood. If you can replace red meat in your diet with fish several times a week, you'll be well on your way to keeping your cholesterol under control.

How you prepare meat and fish also makes a difference. Frying - especially deep-frying - is far less desirable than grilling, broiling, boiling, baking, or sautéing. It's also a good idea to cut off visible fat from red meat, and remove as much skin as possible from poultry.

The alternate choices, of course, are vegetables and fruits. Some of these are probably already part of your diet: lettuce, tomatoes, corn, bananas, apples, and so on. But you'll find others you may have ignored before by exploring the produce aisle of your grocery store more thoroughly. Your local farmer’s market will probably also have many appealing choices that are new to you. Grocery stores now stock dozens of different kinds of fruits and vegetables they probably didn't have when you were growing up and developing your eating habits.

You may be afraid to try unfamiliar vegetables because you don't know how to prepare them, and what other foods they complement. This is where the Internet and cable TV can give you plenty of ideas and new recipes. The "food gurus" on all the cooking shows are always coming up with new and interesting concepts. And you can always type the names of ingredients into a search engine which will return links to dozens if not hundreds of recipes containing those ingredients.

Ditto for foods in the grain and nut categories. Most of these contain little or no cholesterol (there are a few exceptions among the nuts). So whole grain breads and cereals are good choices for anyone trying to lower their cholesterol.

For years, a lot of people avoided egg yolks because they supposedly had high concentrations of cholesterol. But recent research has found that yolks are generally okay. Of course, you can certainly stick with egg whites or cholesterol-free egg substitutes if you wish.

In summary, your choices are nearly unlimited when it comes to finding low cholesterol foods that are tasty as well as being healthy. For more information, click on cholesterol free foods and cholesterol health.

By: GPMCK

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George McKenzie is a former TV news anchor, medical reporter and radio talk show host.