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Foods that cause cholesterol plaque build-up in the arteries

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Your diet will decide the health of your cardiovascular health. For that, you need to know what you should eat and what you should avoid so that there is no cholesterol plaque build-up in the arteries.

Saturated fat

Saturated fat is the main culprit in the build-up of cholesterol plaque in your arteries. It will be beneficial for you if you can keep saturated fat to less than 7% of total daily calories that you consume. It mainly comes from animal products. Some of the foods that contain high levels of saturated fat are-whole milk and cream, butter, high-fat cheese, processed meats including hot dogs, sausage, salami and bologna etc., high-fat cuts of meat, ice cream, coconut oil, palm oil, doughnuts, cookies and other products.

You can reduce saturated fat by simply following a few regular habits. You should choose leaner cuts of meat over high-fat meat. Lean beef cuts, lean pork cuts are available and you need to choose them. You should also remove skin from chicken or turkey before cooking. Drinking fat free milk over fat milk is always better for you. You should also include lots of fruits and vegetables in your diet because they are low in saturated fat.

Trans fat

Trans fat is one type of man-made fat. It is available in a partially hydrogenated oil. It is formed by adding hydrogen to liquid oil and on formation it becomes solid fat. It is a common ingredient of different processed and restaurant foods. Trans food is used because it can improve taste and texture of the food besides increasing the self-life of them.

If it is possible, try to consume as less trans-fat as possible. You should reduce the amount of processed food that you consume. Even though not all processed foods contain trans-fat but most of them do. It is mostly found in fried foods, fast foods microwave popcorn, frozen pizza, margarine, cake, cookies and similar products.

You need to avoid trans fat. To do that, first of all you will have to read the nutrition label of the packaged and processed foods before you buy them. If they contain high amounts of trans fat, you should completely avoid those products. It is always better to buy products that have 0 g of trans fat. If you find the awards partially hydrogenated in the ingredient list, you should avoid that product. If you go out and eat out often, you should choose those restaurants that do not use partially hydrogenated oils in cooking. If you are ordering foods from outside, it is always better to go for steamed, boiled, baked or grilled food fried foods. It will also be very good for you if you try to reduce the amount of processed food that you consume.

Dietary cholesterol

Generally, fats present in your diet can increase the bad cholesterol in your body. However, dietary cholesterol is can also play a negative role. Cholesterol is generally found in animal products like meat, eggs and cheese. It is important to consume less than 200 mg of cholesterol through your food every day.

To reduce dietary cholesterol, you can read the food labels and eliminate products that contain dietary cholesterol. Avoid liver meat because that is very high in cholesterol. Instead of whole eggs, you can consume egg whites.

References

1. The Oxidized Cholesterol Strategy
2. Cholesterol
3. LDL and HDL Cholesterol: “Bad” and “Good” Cholesterol