Does A High Cholesterol Diet Increase Cholesterol In The Body?

If you have been diagnosed with high cholesterol, you may want to modify your existing diet to lower your cholesterol levels. You may be surprised to find that a high cholesterol diet may not necessarily be the reason behind high levels of serum lipids.

Let's talk about cholesterol first, and then we will have the effect of a high cholesterol diet. What is cholesterol? Cholesterol is a fat that is synthesized by the body. That's right. It's! We made it in our body. Only animal products contain cholesterol. If it doesn't have liver, it doesn't have cholesterol! As a matter of fact, I got a food label called "No Cholesterol" as a marketing tool when food items never had the opportunity to get cholesterol in the first place. I know what you're thinking. Some items have cholesterol and they do not appear to be animal products. This is because they use animal fat to produce the product.

Cholesterol is used in the body as a component of the cell membrane structure and in the synthesis of some hormones and Vitamin D. It doesn't look so bad, does it? Wrong. The problem is that when cholesterol is transported in the bloodstream, it tends to cling to the artery wall which is definitely not a good thing. When there is high cholesterol in the body, it is much bigger. So, does a high cholesterol diet increase the level of cholesterol in the body?

Yes, no. Over there, how to sit on the fence! Seriously, the actual cholesterol component of a high cholesterol diet does not necessarily increase blood cholesterol levels. More important is the fat that is usually found in high cholesterol. Remember how I told you that cholesterol is only in animal products? Well, animal products like steak contain a lot of fat. In addition, foods that are not high in cholesterol and high in fat generally need to be eliminated when trying to lower high cholesterol.

The fat we are talking about here is bad old saturated fat. It has been well documented that high levels of saturated fat in one's diet increase cholesterol levels and, more importantly, LDL (which is bad). Saturated fats are found in fatty meats, oily foods, salads and baked goods as well as other high fat foods. High cholesterol diet may or may not contain high saturated fatty acids.

In addition, high fat diets are often consumed by overweight people. Overweight people tend to lose weight (not all overweight people do not). Exercising extra weight and exercising contributes to increased blood cholesterol. So you can see that there are many contributing factors to high cholesterol rather than a high cholesterol diet.

More important than worrying about a high cholesterol diet, your diet will be lower in cholesterol naturally if you reduce your fat intake. Make sure your fat intake is less than 30% of your daily intake. If you have been diagnosed with high cholesterol, go for less than 25% of total calories. Watch your saturated fat intake carefully. Work towards getting your fat from healthy sources like fish and oil like canola oil.

There are also many people who have high cholesterol who do not follow a high cholesterol diet, do not take high fat and exercise regularly. These people simply have a genetic tendency to have high cholesterol. Although they may achieve a slight decrease in cholesterol through increasing their efforts in exercise and supplementing foods known to lower cholesterol, they may still need medication.

Look at a high cholesterol diet and re-evaluate based on the amount of fat available. Reduce your overall fat intake and you may find that you don't eat high in cholesterol, either. This is the best way to prevent your diet from affecting your blood cholesterol.

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