Do Foods That are High in Fat Influence Cholesterol Levels?

Eating a diet that is high in saturated fat can inflate the normal cholesterol levels in the blood, so when you are following a low-cholesterol diet you ought to try to keep your consumption of saturated fat to a bare minimum. Too much saturated fat not only causes weight gain but in addition raises the LDL choleterol in the blood meaning you are more likely to confront heart problems in the future. This means that if you can you ought to aim to cut down on greasy food, and choose foods that contain unsaturated instead of saturated fat.

Unsaturated fats are beneficial and can help to reduce cholesterol in the body. There are two main types of unsaturated fat -- monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats (a lot of people will recognize the terms from television adverts for margarine). It is probably worth monitoring the amount of sugar and salt in your diet if you want to stay healthy.

How can I tell how much fat a product contains?
The easiest way to tell how much fat food contains is to read the product label. By law, the label must indicate how many grams (g) of fat there are in 100g of the food. Some food labels also include the amount of saturated fat, or just "saturates" contained in the product These figures can help you make an informed choice when shopping for food. Be warned, though - as soon as you get used to checking food labels you will know how much saturated fat is contained in everyday foods and how easy it is to exceed your daily amount.

How can I calculate how much fat I should eat?
Having some fat in our diet helps the body absorb some vitamins, is a good source of energy and it provides essential fatty acids that the body can't make itself. Of the total amount of calories you consume each day the FDA estimates that between 25-35% should come from fat.

Here is an easy way to calculate it:
Take your total daily calorie amount and multiply it by 25% and then 35%·
For example, if your daily calorie intake is 2,000, multiply 2,000 by 0.25, which is 500, and then multiply 2,000 by 0.35, which is 700.

Although this information can be useful a lot of us prefer to know how much fat we can eat each day in weight. We already know that if we eat 1 g of fat it will equate to 9 calories, so to get the amount in weight just divide the calories by 9. In this example, you should consume 56 to 78 grams of fat each day.

Are any particular foods high in saturated fat?
Generally, foods that come from animal sources and processed foods are highest in saturated fat content. A lot of prepared foods like TV dinners contain coconut, palm or palm kernel oils which can be very high in saturates.

Any food that contains vegetable oil has to declare the exact type of oils that have been used to prepare it on the label. Apart from the oils mentioned all other vegetable oils are low in saturates, and in fact many manufacturers are now turning to alternatives such as cottonseed, corn or soyabean oils because of this.

To read more information on how normal cholesterol levels can be affected by high quantities of saturated fat visit Low Cholesterol Foods