Do you know which foods contain good cholesterol, and which contain bad cholesterol?
If you think you do, ha!
Thats a trick question!
What Is Cholesterol, Really?
We make cholesterol in our bodies.
But its not a jot down of fat!
Plants dont make cholesterol, so anything vegan (like vegetable oil) is automatically cholesterol-free.
More importantly, since we make our own cholesterol, the amount we eat isnt very important.
Cholesterol, while important in our bodies, is not essential in our diet.
If you never eat another cholesterol again in your life (hi, vegans!)
your body will still make plenty and do just fine.
In fact, we make far more cholesterol than we eat (even if youre a devoted carnivore).
Food Cholesterol Is Different From Blood Cholesterol
Some folks confuse fat with cholesterol.
There aregood and bad fats, but the cholesterol you eat has no such distinction.
When its sitting on your plate, its just plain cholesterol.
It only becomes good or bad when its packaged into particles in your bloodstream.
high-density lipoproteins, orHDLs, help remove the LDL particles to avoid forming plaques.
What Those Blood Tests Mean
Heres where the blood tests come in.
Decades ago, all we could measure was total cholesterol in a blood sample.
That number turned out to be pretty useless.
From those numbers, the lab can calculate how much cholesterol was probably in your LDL particles.
Cholesterol-altering medications are controversial.
(Some experts are recommending that people with diabetes stillgo easy on the eggs.)
Get exercise and eat plenty of omega-3 fatty acids (found in fish and nuts) to raise HDL.
TheMediterranean dietis another good option.
Illustration by Sam Woolley.
