Reduce your cholesterol
The worrying truth is that so many of our favourite foods simply ooze with the worst type of fats, that's saturated fats which come from mainly animal sources and which the body converts into the cholesterol which blocks the arteries and causes heart disease.
Eat less saturated fat
Saturated fats increase the amount of cholesterol in your blood, and most of them are found in the fat around your lamb chop, beef-steak, crackling on your pork and in the skin of poultry. Even lean meat contains substantial amounts, especially if the animals have been intensively reared. You can remove all the visible fat, but for overall lower fat content, choose organic meat and poultry. Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it isn't there and nearly all meat products have a very high saturated meat content. These include sausages, pate, Scotch eggs, meat pies and pasties, commercial burgers etc. And lard, dripping, butter and cheese also contain high levels. But don't forget that dairy products are a major source of calcium. Watch out for coconut and palm oils, widely used in food processing and high in saturated fats. Don't forget that Danish pastries, croissants and many other bakery products are also rich in saturated fats.
Eat more mono-unsaturated fats
They're found in olive, walnut and rapeseed oils and in the flesh of avocados. These fats reduce the LDL cholesterol level without affecting the amount of HDL.
By Michael van Straten, complementary health expert, www.michaelvanstraten.com
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