What fats should you avoid with high cholesterol

Liver, eggs, and muffins can be part of a heart healthy diet if you know what to watch out for.

You don't have to be a nutritionist to know that you shouldn't eat fries and fried chicken on a regular basis. They're loaded with sodium and saturated fat — and a diet high in saturated fat and trans fat can raise blood cholesterol levels, putting you at risk for heart disease, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).

Many foods that come from animals — like meat and fat-containing dairy products — contain saturated fat, while baked goods and fast food pack in trans fat, too. Because LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels in particular can be too high on a high-saturated-fat diet, the AHA recommends that saturated fat make up no more than 5 to 6 percent of your total calories. On a diet of 2,000 calories a day, no more than 120 should come from saturated fat. That’s 11 to 13 grams (g) of saturated fat per day at most.

It’s worth noting that the thinking has changed about what increases cholesterol in the body. For example, previous dietary guidelines recommended consuming no more than 300 milligrams of dietary cholesterol per day. But in 2015, those guidelines changed, and there is now no specific recommendation limiting the amount of cholesterol that should be consumed through food. That’s because research has shown dietary cholesterol itself isn’t harmful and actually doesn’t contribute to increased levels of cholesterol in the body. Rather, the real culprits are saturated fat, trans fat, and added sugars.

But it’s still important to pay attention to the amount of cholesterol you get from foods, as foods high in cholesterol also tend to be high in saturated and other unhealthy fats.

Here are nine tips to help you limit how much cholesterol you’re consuming so you can maintain a healthy diet.

RELATED: 6 Ways to Manage High Cholesterol

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Aim for Cholesterol Balance When Eating Eggs for Breakfast

Once banned from the breakfast table, eggs are now generally considered a relatively healthy choice — within limits.

A study published in May 2018 in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that eating up to 12 eggs per week did not increase the risk of heart disease for people with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. However, the whole diet must be considered.

You can make eggs part of a heart-healthy diet, according to the AHA, as long as you don't load up on cholesterol from other sources, like meat with visible fat or skin and full-fat dairy.

So if you have an egg for breakfast, don't have a cheeseburger for lunch.

“Aim for balance,” says Kristi King, RDN, a clinical instructor at the Baylor College of Medicine and the senior dietitian at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. “If you are going to consume fried chicken, add a salad instead of fries. If you want fries, get the grilled chicken to go with it.”

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Reconsider That Cheeseburger With High Saturated Fat

Speaking of cheeseburgers, if you're like many Americans, you occasionally eat lunch from a fast food restaurant. But before you order that double cheeseburger, consider this: A McDonald’s Big Mac has 10 g of saturated fat and a Wendy's Classic Double With Everything has a whopping 20 g of saturated fat (that’s more than the max amount suggested per day). You might want to hold the fries and the shake, or better yet, order a plain burger instead.

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Make Your Own Macaroni and Cheese With a Healthy Twist

The typical mac-and-cheese ingredients — whole milk, butter, and cheese — are loaded with saturated fat. But this all-American comfort recipe does not have to be a cholesterol-inducing food. By substituting 1 percent milk and evaporated milk for butter and whole milk, and using reduced-fat cheese, you can decrease the calories and have macaroni and cheese with about a third less fat and saturated fat compared with the traditional recipe.

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Swap Out Ice Cream For Fresh Fruit

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (pdf), the United States produced 49.9 million gallons of full-fat ice cream in 2019, up nearly 14 percent from the year before. The cold, sweet stuff is a staple in many American households. But did you know that a single cup of ice cream has more fat than a hamburger and almost double the saturated fat of a glazed doughnut? Skip the scoop and try a cup of fresh fruit for dessert instead. Fruit is low in calories and high in the fiber, vitamins, and nutrients you really need — making it one of the best things you can eat to reduce the amount of cholesterol you’re consuming.

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Chuck the Rib-Eye For a Leaner Cut of Beef

Even under the best of circumstances (cooked in olive oil after the fat is well-trimmed), a 4-ounce rib-eye (that’s only slightly larger than a deck of cards) takes up a big chunk of your recommended daily allowance for saturated fat. With nothing else on your plate, you will be eating more than 50 percent of your allowable saturated fat, which doesn't leave much room for the rest of the day. If you’re not ready to say good-bye to beef, consider leaner cuts of meat — such as tenderloin or flank, round, rump, or tip steak — for less saturated fat and lower cholesterol levels.

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Make Sure Your Muffins Are Low Fat

Sure, you can get an English muffin with no saturated fat and no cholesterol, but many other muffins — especially those tempting treats loaded with extra ingredients that you can buy or bake at home — could have up to 8 g of fat in a single serving and may even have more than one serving in a single muffin. A low-fat bran muffin made with whole-wheat flour that gives you some fiber and a lot less fat is a much better choice. Look for one that is made with plant oils for the healthiest fat profile.

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Opt For Skinless Chicken

Although chicken is usually considered to be a good low-fat meat choice, how you cook it and serve it makes all the difference. For example, one chicken leg with the skin still on has more fat and saturated fat than a hamburger. “Remember that removing the skin will help reduce the overall fat content,” King says. “Indulge in a fried chicken leg once in a while and stick to the grilled or baked chicken.”

If you leave the skin on poultry or bread and deep-fry it, you turn it into an unhealthy, cholesterol-spiking food. Also, remember that dark poultry meat has more fat than white meat. When making chicken choices, opt for skinless and skip the dark meat.

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Eat Liver in Moderation

Liver is loaded with iron, which can be good for you, but it’s a food to watch out for if cholesterol is a concern. “Personally, I’m not a fan of the taste,” King says. “But it does provide good nutrition. However, too much liver can be harmful." It can contribute to causing kidney stones in some people, and it can elevate your cholesterol.

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Snacks Can Also Contribute to High Cholesterol

Trans fat can turn healthy food into cholesterol-raising food. These fats result from adding hydrogen to vegetable oils, which are then used in many commercial baked goods or fried foods such as cookies, cakes, french fries, onion rings, and crackers. Whether they are fried, au gratin, crispy, or stuffed, many of the things we love to eat are bad for our cholesterol levels.

Know the allowable numbers for fat, saturated fat, and trans fat. Read the labels, cook smart, order wisely, and remember that smaller portions are another way to cut back on foods that can raise your bad cholesterol levels.

Additional reporting by Ashley Welch