Avoid saturated fat (animal fat and hardened fat)
Saturated fat is the worst culprit in the battle against cholesterol. Saturated fat occurs chiefly in animal fat (e.g. spare ribs, bacon, butter, lard, fatty cheeses, hotdogs, ...) but also in some vegetable fat (e.g. coconut fat and palm fat).
A rule of thumb is that fat that remains solid at room temperature is best avoided.
According to a second rule of thumb hydrogenated fat points to a higher content of saturated fat. Moreover, hardened fat also contains trans fat. Just like saturated fat this is very bad. Hardened fat is found chiefly in biscuits, deep-fried products, .... The list of ingredients says whether hardened fat has been used or not.
Specialists recommend that the amount of saturated fat should not exceed 6% of the total calorie intake.
According to the American government this results in a drop of the LDL cholesterol
from 8 to 10%.
Click here to find out what this means for you.
