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Now they're saying that we need to eat less than 300 mg of cholesterol daily. Does that mean I should cut out red meat? I've read that eating too much fish isn't healthy either.
For some time now, the American Heart Association (AHA) has recommended limiting cholesterol intake. The guideline for most people is to consume no more than 300 milligrams (mg) of cholesterol per day. The AHA recommends a target of no more than 200 mg per day if you have heart disease or other risk factors, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, smoking or lack of physical activity.
Lean, red meat actually has about the same amount of cholesterol as chicken and fish, yet it usually contains more saturated fat. For this reason, be sure to limit your intake of saturated fat -- found in animal products and tropical oils (like palm and coconut oil), and trans fat -- found in processed foods and many store-bought baked goods. They raise low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad" cholesterol more so than eating foods high in dietary cholesterol, such as egg yolks. Rest assured that you don't need to totally eliminate red meat from your diet, but you should try to limit intake to 6 ounces per week.
You can also take these simple steps: