Diet guidelines for dealing with high cholesterol at a young age

It's not just the elderly who get high cholesterol. It is also possible for young people at productive age. High cholesterol at a young age can increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. For that, efforts to lower cholesterol start from adjusting your diet. Adjusting the diet is the initial way that I recommend to deal with high cholesterol at a young age.

What should be done when diagnosed with high cholesterol?

Unhealthy lifestyles such as eating high-fat foods, rarely exercising, and having a smoking habit are strong factors in causing high cholesterol at a young age. In fact, if left unchecked this is very dangerous for your overall health.

After being diagnosed with high cholesterol, doctors will usually recommend making changes in lifestyle and diet. Various lifestyle changes that are usually recommended are regular exercise to maintain ideal body weight, eat healthy foods, avoid foods with high sugar and fat levels, and last but not least limit ready-to-eat or instant foods.

Usually, to be able to deal with high cholesterol, doctors recommend that you do a diet low in saturated fat and low in trans fat. In addition, you will be asked to avoid all types of foods with high cholesterol levels. Not only that, you will be advised to avoid using excess oil, sugar and salt.

This is because in addition to cholesterol, high intake of oil, sugar and salt is also harmful to health and can have other health effects. For example obesity, heart disease, diabetes, kidney, high blood pressure, and a series of other dangerous diseases.

Generally, you will be asked to make changes to your lifestyle by doing a variety of healthy habits. Well, if after implementing this healthy lifestyle it turns out that cholesterol levels do not decrease, then the doctor will take further steps, namely by providing medicine. The dosage and duration of drug administration are adjusted to the condition of each patient.

Food abstinence to treat high cholesterol

If you have been diagnosed with high enough cholesterol, then you can no longer eat whatever you want without paying attention to the content. The reason is, some types of food are prohibited from being consumed because of their very high cholesterol levels. The following are food groups that should not be consumed at all and foods that are still allowed in small portions.

1. Foods that should not be consumed

The type of food that is included in the group should not be consumed, which is a sign that the cholesterol level far exceeds the daily intake required by the body. Meanwhile, the recommended daily cholesterol limit is 200 to 300 mg / day. Here are various types of foods that are prohibited and the amount of cholesterol per 100 grams.

Cow brain, 3,100 mg
Offal, 3,100 mg
Goat brain, 2,559 mg
Egg yolk, 2,307 mg
Fatty beef, 1,995 mg
Duck eggs, 884 mg
Quail eggs, 844 mg
Caviar (fish eggs), 588 mg
Chicken essence, 584 mg
Duck meat with skin, 515 mg
Mutton, 462 mg

2. Foods that need to be limited

Apart from foods that are strictly prohibited, there are various foods that can still be consumed but in small portions so as not to exceed the daily cholesterol limit. The following are various foods that need to be limited along with their cholesterol levels per 100 grams.

Squids, 260 mg
Butter, 256 mg
Fast food, 235 mg
Biscuits, 221 mg
Shrimp, 161 mg
Eel, 161 mg
Chocolate, 140 mg
Cheese 123 mg
Milk, 116 mg
Ice cream, 92 mg
Crackers, 89 mg
Clams, 67 mg
Crab, 42 mg

From the list above, seafood such as shellfish and crab do have cholesterol levels that are not too high, but you still need to be careful. The reason is, most people consume more than 100 grams until they finally pass the recommended daily intake limit.

Foods that are recommended for people with high cholesterol

To deal with high cholesterol, you need to eat a variety of foods such as:

Fiber comes from vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.
Free or low fat dairy products.
Nuts.
Fish and chicken or skinless poultry.
Eat fish twice a week, especially those rich in omega-3s such as tuna, salmon, mackerel, anchovies and catfish.
Eat foods that contain unsaturated fats and limit your intake of saturated and trans fats.
Limit foods that are high in salt and sugar.

Apart from maintaining a diet and maintaining an ideal body weight, active exercise can also help you to overcome high cholesterol. Exercise can increase levels of good cholesterol (HDL) in the body. In addition, exercise and other physical activities can also maintain a healthy heart, blood vessels, and prevent you from obesity, which is a risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

It is no less important, you also need to stop smoking and drinking alcohol. Because alcohol can increase cholesterol levels, especially triglycerides in the blood.