Foods to Avoid for High Cholesterol

If your cholesterol levels are already high, you may have some questions about avoiding certain foods for high cholesterol. In these cases, it's best to avoid foods such as egg yolks, liver, and whole-milk dairy products. Other foods to avoid include those containing saturated fat or trans fat. Foods that are high in these types of fat can also raise your level of LDL (bad) cholesterol.

Cholesterol Diet-Overview

Foods to Avoid for High Cholesterol: An Introduction

People with high cholesterol should avoid or limit their consumption of certain foods. Knowing which foods to avoid for high cholesterol is an important step, but it doesn't end there. There are a number of other foods that may not be considered high cholesterol foods but that still raise your LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) more than high cholesterol foods do.

Examples of High Cholesterol Foods to Avoid

Cholesterol comes from animals. If a food does not come from an animal (such as fruits or vegetables), then it does not have cholesterol. Foods with the highest amounts of cholesterol are eggs and liver. For example, an egg yolk has 213 mg of cholesterol.

Other high cholesterol foods to avoid include:

Whole-milk dairy products
Butter
Cream
Ice cream
Cream cheese
Certain shellfish (such as shrimp)
Organ meats (such as kidney and brain)
Duck and goose (which have more cholesterol than chicken or turkey; the skin on these animals is high in cholesterol).

Foods High in Fat

Eating high cholesterol foods is just part of the problem for people with elevated cholesterol.

In most cases, the main cause of high blood cholesterol is eating too much of certain types of fat. Saturated fat and trans fatty acid (also known as trans fat) are types of fat that raise your cholesterol levels.

(Foods to Avoid for High Cholesterol Continued: Page 2)