Cholesterol and Your Diet
by Shereen Jegtvig
Cholesterol is a waxy type of fat found in your body, and although many people think of cholesterol as a bad thing, it isn’t. In fact, your body needs cholesterol to produce hormones, vitamin D and bile, plus cholesterol protects your nerves and is a major component in the structure of cells. The problem occurs when your body has too much bad cholesterol (called low density lipoproteins) in your bloodstream and not enough good cholesterol (high density lipoproteins) (http://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/tc/high-cholesterol-overview). The cholesterol can stick to blood vessel walls, so having increased levels of cholesterol (especially LDL) can directly increase your risk of cardiovascular disease, increasing the liklihood of heart attacks and/or stroke.
Most of the cholesterol your body needs is made by your liver, but some of the cholesterol comes from the animal based foods you eat (foods from plants don’t have cholesterol – they have sterols that can actually lower your cholesterol – more on that later). It would be nice if lowering the cholesterol levels in your body was as easy as just cutting out cholesterol, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. Two other types of fats have a bigger impact on your cholesterol levels than the cholesterol you eat – saturated fats and trans fats. Read more
Possibly Related Posts:
- Lower Cholesterol Through Diet
- Mexican Foods – Ready To Go
- Research: Orange Juice – What people are looking for
- Choosing Canned Meat
- The Goodness of Grapes
What to Eat Instead of Greasy French Fries
by Shereen Jegtvig
French fried potatoes are popular because so many of us love the combination of starch, fat and salt. Unfortunately the fat adds extra calories you don’t need (and worse if they’re fried in oil high in trans-fats). But if you love French fries, there are a couple of ways to get that flavor without the fat.
You can make your own healthier version of baked fries by slicing a couple of potatoes into long thin strips, sprinkle with some olive oil or canola oil and top with a bit of seasonings, herbs or salt and bake in a 375 degree oven for about an hour. They taste great, but they’re a bit time consuming, so if you’re looking for French fry flavor with a bit more convenience, choose frozen potatoes that you can bake in the oven. Be sure to read the label to find potatoes that aren’t fried – look for zero or low-fat fries, wedges, or shreds. Read more
Possibly Related Posts:
- Lower Cholesterol Through Diet
- Mexican Foods – Ready To Go
- Research: Orange Juice – What people are looking for
- Choosing Canned Meat
- The Goodness of Grapes
The Elusive Good-For-You Pizza
by Shereen Jegtvig
There’s no denying the popularity of frozen pizzas. Look in any grocery store and you’ll find dozens of varieties, with different types of crusts, cheeses and any number of toppings. But they pretty much all have one thing in common – they’re just not good for you. Just none serving of a typical frozen pizza is high in saturated fat and sodium, and how many times have you wolfed down a whole frozen pizza as a meal? That’s three, four or more servings.
So is it possible to find a frozen pizza that’s good for you? Or at least one that can be served as part of a healthy meal? I decided to use the FoodEssentials tool to search for one. I started by searching for ‘frozen pizza’ and the tool returned seven different categories of frozen pizzas. That’s great! This tool gives you plenty of foods to chose from. Read more
Possibly Related Posts:
- Claims Halo effect
- Lower Cholesterol Through Diet
- Added Sugar increases risk of Heart Disease
- 29 Iphone apps for foodies
- FoodEssentials Data Overview
Too Much Saturated Fat Is Bad for You
by Shereen Jegtvig
Saturated fat is found mostly in animal products (beef, lamb, pork, lard, butter, cream, whole milk and high fat cheese) and some plant sources like coconut oil, cocoa butter, palm oil and palm kernel oil. Saturated fat is fairly solid at room temperature (think of butter or the fat you see in a raw marbled steak. Eating too much saturated fat increases the amount of cholesterol in your blood (much more so than consuming high cholesterol foods) and research shows diets in saturated fat increase inflammatory conditions in the arteries.
Many years of research has resulted in the American Heart Association and other expert groups, including the School of Public Health at Harvard to recommend limiting the amount of saturated fats in your diet. This doesn’t mean you can never eat red meat or cheese again, just watch your portion sizes and add variety to your diet with poultry, fish and seafood, and vegetarian dishes. Replace butter with heart-healthy oils like olive and canola oil, and buy non- or low-fat dairy products. Limit your daily saturated fat intake to less than 10% of your daily calorie intake (less than 20 grams for most of us). Read more
Possibly Related Posts:
- Lower Cholesterol Through Diet
- Mexican Foods – Ready To Go
- Research: Orange Juice – What people are looking for
- Choosing Canned Meat
- The Goodness of Grapes
