Diabetes and Low Cholesterol Diet
A low cholesterol diet is tremendously vital for diabetics. There are two types of cholesterol; there is HDL (good) cholesterol and the LDL (bad) cholesterol.
When you consume foods that are high in saturated fats you will increase the amount of LDL cholesterol in your system, which will put you at risk of developing coronary heart disease.
Following is a brief description of the two different types of cholesterol that are carried around in your blood:
High-density cholesterol (HDL) cholesterol
This is the good cholesterol and the reason is that it actually helps to remove the excess cholesterol in your cells, which also include the cells in your arteries
Low-density cholesterol (LDL) cholesterol
This is the bad cholesterol because when the levels of cholesterol in your bloodstream are high it can clog up your arteries. This cholesterol is the one that carries most of the cholesterol into your cells
Cholesterol Role in The Human Body
Your body produces it’s own cholesterol so you need to keep this in mind when choosing which foods to eat.
Cholesterol is produced by your liver as well as by most of the cells in your body. It is then carried around in your blood by what is called lipoproteins.
The following list shows you why the body needs blood cholesterol:
- It allows the building structure of the cell membranes.
- Allows your metabolism to work effectively and efficiently by producing vitamin D
- It will makes the hormones called oestrogen, testosterone and the adrenal hormones
- It allows production of the bile acids that help your body digest fat as well as the absorption of essential nutrients
It is vital for diabetics to be on a low cholesterol diet because one of the many complications of this disease is heart disease and stroke.
By eating foods that are high in saturated fats can be very harmful and cause you these complications.
The types of foods that contain cholesterol are eggs, and food that come from animal products that are rich in fat like meats and dairy products. It is important to remember that foods that come from animals all contain some cholesterol where foods that come from plants are very good for you as they do not contain any cholesterol.
Following are some guidelines for your low cholesterol diet:
- Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables each day
- Always choose lean meats
- Always choose the low variety of dairy products
- Avoid foods that are high in saturated fats
- Avoid all processed foods
- Avoid snack foods like cakes, biscuits, chips and pastries
- Eat foods that are high in soluble fibre and the healthy fats like legumes, seeds and nuts
- Try to eat fish twice a week Drink plenty of water each day, and Limit your alcohol and salt intake
By implementing these guidelines to your low cholesterol diet you can see how it is vital for diabetics so that you can avoid the complications of this terrible disease.
