What is cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a fatty material in the body’s cells. The body needs some cholesterol because it helps to make cell membranes, some hormones, and other body tissues. Too much cholesterol, however, is bad for your health.
Cholesterol is found in fat, particularly the fat in processed foods and animal products.
If your blood cholesterol is high, you can help reduce it by changing your eating habits and lifestyle. It is important to reduce your levels because high cholesterol can affect your heart health as an adult.
To keep your cholesterol levels low, choose:
- foods that are low in saturated fats and trans or hydrogenated fats
- whole grain products
- high-fibre foods
- lots of fruits and vegetables.
Reading and understanding the nutrition label will help you figure out how much cholesterol is in a serving size of food.
Reducing your cholesterol
Here are some other great tips on how to reduce your cholesterol.
- Eat regular meals and snacks.
- Never skip breakfast!
- Eat lots of fruits and vegetables - keep it colourful!
- Choose homemade foods over convenient and fast foods.
- Choose wholegrain breads and high-fibre cereals with more than 4 g of fibre per serving.
- Limit juice to 1 cup a day.
- Avoid soft drinks and pop.
- Keep sweets as an occasional treat.
- Choose lean meats.
- Limit processed meats such as cold cuts, burgers and sausages.
- Eat at least two servings of fish a week.
- Choose low-fat snacks with less than 3 g of fat per serving.
- Choose low-fat milk products (skim milk and fat-free yogurt).
- Choose low-sugar snacks with less than 10 g of sugar per serving.
- Increase your physical activity (ask your physiotherapist for advice).
- Ask your dietitian if you can take a fish oil supplement.
Low-cholesterol food choices
Fats
| Best choices | Foods to have less often or avoid |
|---|---|
| Non-hydrogenated margarine | Butter, lard, ghee |
| Sunflower, corn, olive, canola or safflower oil | Palm, coconut or peanut oil; bacon fat |
| Light mayonnaise; low-fat dressings | Regular mayonnaise; creamy dressings (such as Caesar or ranch dressing); gravy; cream or cheese sauces |
| Low-fat sour cream or light cream cheese (5% fat or less) | Full-fat cream cheese |
| Nuts or seeds | Cakes, cookies, muffins, potato chips, doughnuts, croissants |
Vegetables and fruit
| Best choices | Foods to have less often or avoid |
|---|---|
| Fresh or frozen vegetables, steamed, boiled or baked | Fried vegetables |
| Fresh or frozen fruit | Canned fruit in syrup |
| Fruit juice* with no added sugar (limit to 250 mL or 1 cup a day) | Fruit drinks; fruit cocktails; fruit pop |
| Dried fruit | Grapefruit, if you are taking medications; coconut |
*Avoid grapefruit juice.
Breads and cereals
| Best choices | Foods to have less often or avoid |
|---|---|
| Wholegrain bread, English muffins or pita | White bread; bread with shortening, lard or hydrogenated oil |
| Brown rice | Packaged seasoned rice |
| Whole wheat pasta | Canned or boxed pasta |
| Cereals with fibre (more than 2% DV) | Packaged cereal sweetened with sugar or honey; granola |
Milk and milk alternatives
| Best choices | Foods to have less often or avoid |
|---|---|
| 1% or skim milk | 2% or homogenized (whole) milk; evaporated or condensed milk |
| Low-fat cheese (less than 20% m.f.); 1% cottage cheese | Regular cheese; processed cheese such as cheese strings |
| Low-fat sour cream (less than 5% m.f.) | Cream, sour cream, whipping cream |
| 1% or fat-free yogurt or pudding; low-fat frozen yogurt; low-fat ice cream (less than 8% m.f.) | Regular yogurt or pudding; ice cream |
| Sherbet or water ices | Specialty coffee (such as cappuccino with cream) |
Meat and meat alternatives
| Best choices | Foods to have less often or avoid |
|---|---|
| Extra lean ground beef or other meat cuts with little fat | Fatty meats with lots of white areas (called marbling) |
| Lean goat or pork meat | Bacon; ham; mutton; organ meats such as kidney, liver, heart |
| Chicken or turkey breast, skin removed | Fried chicken; chicken fingers or nuggets; duck or goose |
| Low-fat cold cuts such as black forest ham, roast beef, turkey or chicken breast | Sausages, hot dogs, salami, pepperoni |
| Fish, steamed, poached or baked | Fried fish, fish canned in oil |
| Egg whites | Whole egg (can have up to 2 eggs a week) |
| Tofu; beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas (canned or dry) | Canned pork and beans; refried beans |
| Nuts or seeds (up to 2 tablespoons a day) | Nut butter (such as peanut or almond) or seed butter (such as tahini (sesame seed paste) or sunflowe seed) |
Snacks
| Best choices | Foods to have less often or avoid |
|---|---|
| Plain, unsalted popcorn | Popcorn with butter or other toppings |
| Low-fat crackers and cookies (such as animal crackers, social tee, digestive, arrowroot, oatmeal, graham crackers or Saltines) | Cheese crackers; butter or chocolate cookies; store-bought pastries |
| Homemade muffins and cookies (from scratch); angel food cake | Muffins, cookies or cakes made from a mix |
