A low cholesterol diet plan can help to reduce bad cholesterol levels (LDL cholesterol) and increase HDL cholesterol, the good cholesterol. A low cholesterol diet plan can easily be implemented by the addition of foods to your diet that reduce LDL cholesterol as well as eliminating foods that increase LDL cholesterol.[1]
1. Cholesterol can be found only in foods from animals, and not in plant foods.
2. The fats underneath chicken skins, lard, bacon fat or the fat from a piece of prime rib of beef are saturated fats, and they are considered “bad” fats because they increase LDL cholesterol.
What to do:
- Choose lean cuts of meat. Beef cuts which are lean are the sirloin, round and chuck. Pork cuts which are lean are the loin chop. Lamb cuts which are lean are from the loin, arm and leg. Select USD A graded cuts of beef and lamb marked Choice and Select. These cuts are leaner than Prime.
- Bake or broil rather than frying meat.
- Bake or broil meat over a rack, so that the fat can drain off into a pan.
- Before cooking, trim all visible fat from the meat.
- Place homemade stews and soups in the refrigerator after cooking, and then the solidified fat can be skimmed off the top. The same can be done for canned soups that contain fat.
- Choose chicken or turkey instead of duck and goose.
- Take the skin off chicken and turkey before cooking.
- Avoid processed meats, which are usually high in saturated fat.
- If you are on a cholesterol lowering diet plan, eat organ meats such as liver, kidney and brain very seldom, as they are very high in cholesterol.
3. The fats in butter, milk and cream are saturated fats.
4. Increasing consumption of soluble fiber found in whole grains helps to lower cholesterol.
5. Trans fat acts like saturated fat which raise the level of LDL cholesterol.
6. Although the amount of cholesterol in an egg is 14% lower than previously recorded, a large egg has an average of 185 mg cholesterol.[2]
7. Monounsaturated fats are fats which help reduce cholesterol levels.

Image Source: Super Herbal Foods
References:
- PMID: 12485966 ⇧
- DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2011.04.058 ⇧