Should you be looking at the cholesterol content in the foods you eat or would it be best to look at saturated fats? The answer might surprise you.

With all the talk these days about the cholesterol levels of food, and all the horrible effects cholesterol can have on our hearts, it might surprise you to know high cholesterol content, or low cholesterol content for that matter, isn’t necessarily what we should look for in our dietary choices.

Coconut oil is an example of a cholesterol-free food, so you might be fooled into thinking it’s fairly innocent. But coconut oil is high in saturated fats which in turn cause the liver to produce the harmful LDL cholesterol. On the other end of the spectrum is seafood, which contains cholesterol but also contains “polyunsaturated fats” that experts say will stimulate the liver to produce the less-harmful cholesterol called HDL (the “good” variety of cholesterol).

So you don’t necessarily have to panic when you read the label and a food you enjoy contains high levels of cholesterol. Don’t worry so much about some of the foods with high cholesterol levels, but worry instead about the foods containing high-saturated fats. Foods with high levels of saturated fats could be thought of like the little brother or sister who gets their sibling all fired; minutes later they look innocent when mom or dad catches big brother or big sister flipping out.

Dig a little deeper and see if you can find what end result a particular food will have on your body. That food choice might not be as innocent, or as evil as it first appears. Root out the real cause of your high cholesterol levels and you’ll be well on your way to a healthier heart and living a longer life.

Remember that saturated fats are also very high in calories!

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