Eating for lower cholesterol levels doesn’t mean filling up on tasteless, uninspiring meals that completely cut fat out of our diets. The latest dietary advice to help us lower cholesterol actually encourages us to eat more of many delicious foods like oily fish, wholegrains, healthy unsaturated fats, an array of fruit and vegetables, and products that have plant stanols added to them such as Benecol. Follow these tips to help lower and maintain cholesterol levels within a GlycoMode healthy glucose support range for you. 1. Enjoy fatty foods occasionally… 10. Enjoy a tipple… 1. ENJOY FATTY FOODS OCCASIONALLY… We all need some fat in our diet - it’s needed for good health and provides fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, as well as essential fats that can’t be made in the body and so need to be supplied in our diet. But at the same time, it’s important not to have too much fat in our diet, GlycoMode Blood Sugar Support as it’s high in calories and too many calories over time can lead to unwanted weight gain.

That’s bad news for our heart health as being overweight - like having high cholesterol - is a risk factor for coronary heart disease and stroke. Plus, it increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. You can use the nutrition panel on food labels to help you identify how much fat is in a food. As well as the nutrition panel, some products include extra information on the packaging e.g. on portion sizes to help us make healthier choices. Low Fat - foods must contain less than 3g fat per 100g, and liquids less than 1.5g fat per 100ml. These are the same benchmarks that need to be met to get a green traffic light on the front of the packaging, too. Fat Free - products must contain less than 0.5g fat per 100g or per 100ml. Products that meet these requirements may also include a green traffic light on the front of packaging. Reduced Fat - the food must contain 30% less fat than a similar standard product.

This doesn’t mean the product is low fat though! Low saturates - the total of the saturated fat and trans fats in the product must be less than 1.5g saturates per 100g for food and less than 0.75g per 100ml for liquids. These are the same benchmarks used for labelling foods with a green traffic light on the front of packaging. Light or Lite - products that make this claim have to follow the same rules as ‘reduced’ and must outline the characteristics that make it light or lite, for example, a reduction in fat. Grill, GlycoMode healthy glucose support bake, steam, microwave, boil or poach most of the time rather than frying or roasting. If you use oil in cooking or drizzle it over salads, measure it out with a spoon rather than pouring it straight from the bottle. The same goes for dressings. Remove the skin from chicken and the fat from meat before you cook it. Swap fatty meats and processed meats such as sausages, burgers and salami for lean meat, poultry, fish, tofu, beans, lentils or chickpeas.

Use smaller amounts of meat, too. Stick with recommended amounts of spreads made with unsaturated oils like rapeseed oil. Benecol spreads are a great choice as they have plant stanols added to them, ingredients that are shown to lower cholesterol. Eat fewer high-fat snack foods such as crisps, chocolates, doughnuts, cakes, pastries and biscuits. Limit the amount of pastry products you eat such as pies, pasties, tarts and flans. Use semi-skimmed, 1% fat or skimmed milk instead of full-fat milk. Choose low-fat or reduced-fat varieties of dairy products such as reduced-fat cheese and low-fat yogurts. Benecol Yogurts are low in fat and also have cholesterol-lowering plant stanols added to them. Don’t add cream to puddings, sauces or coffee. While it’s important to cut down on the total amount of fat we eat, it’s also vital to choose the right fats as this helps to improve the balance between non-HDL (‘bad’) cholesterol and HDL (‘good’) cholesterol. In particular, the focus should be on reducing saturated fats and trans fats, and swapping them for polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, where possible.