As our body makes about 80% of its cholesterol, the other 20% comes from the foods you eat. Dietary cholesterol is only found in foods of animal origin, such as meat, fish, eggs, and dairy
products. All individuals (and especially people with high cholesterol levels) should limit their intake of dietary cholesterol to less than 300 milligrams daily. But as you'll soon learn, limiting your dietary cholesterol intake is only a small part of a cholesterol-lowering diet. The types of fat you eat can have a much larger affect on your cholesterol levels.
When you’re making food choices, the types of fats you choose are just as important as the amount of cholesterol the food contains. Here are examples of healthy fats are part of a cholesterol-lowering diet:
A. Healthy Fat Lowering High Cholestrol Level
1. Monounsaturated Fats are the Best.
They decrease your total blood cholesterol but maintain your HDL (good) cholesterol. Ideally, most of the fat in your diet should come from this group, which includes:
almonds
avocadoes
cashews
canola oil
hazelnuts
macadamia nuts
natural peanut butter
olive oil
olives
pecans
peanuts
peanut oil
pistachios
sesame oil
sesame seeds
tahini paste.
Although some fats (monounsaturated, Omega-3's) are healthier than others (saturated and Trans fats), it's important to remember that fats are bad and they are still high in calories. Consuming too many—even the healthy ones—can result in weight gain
2. Some margarine
They also fall into this healthy category of fats. But exercise caution when choosing one. Avoid those that list any form of "partially hydrogenated" oil in the list, which is a red flag for unhealthy Trans-fats.
3. Polyunsaturated Fats
They are somewhat healthy fats that decrease your total blood cholesterol by lowering both the LDL (bad) cholesterol and the HDL (good) cholesterol. Lowering your total cholesterol is great, but because these fats also lower your HDL (good) cholesterol, you should only enjoy them in moderation. You'll find polyunsaturated fats in
Corn oil
Mayonnaise
Pumpkin seeds
Sunflower seeds.
4. Omega-3 fatty acids
A special group of polyunsaturated fats is called Omega-3 fatty acids. These are heart-healthy and can be found in
High-fat fish (albacore tuna, mackerel and salmon),
Seafood (herring, lake trout, oysters, sardines, shellfish and shrimp)
Plant sources (butternuts (white walnuts), flaxseed, flaxseed oil, hempseed, hempseed oil, soybean oil, and walnuts).
5. Salad dressings
Salad dressings (those made primarily of polyunsaturated or omega-3 fats) also fall into this somewhat healthy category.
