If you love red meat but have elevated cholesterol levels, you'll need to make some changes to your everyday eating habits. You don't need to cut out red meat completely, but you'll need to limit your intake and choose leaner cuts of meat. Eating more vegetable proteins, such as beans, and fish may also help to control your cholesterol.
Red meat, which includes beef, pork and lamb, provides more saturated fat and cholesterol per serving than poultry, fish or vegetable proteins. Eating too much red meat may increase your cholesterol levels, putting you at risk for heart disease, heart attack and stroke. A total cholesterol level of less than 200 milligrams per deciliter and a low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, level of less than 130 milligrams per deciliter puts you at the lowest risk, according to MayoClinic.com.
Cholesterol from Red Meat
You absorb cholesterol from the animal products that you eat. and consuming excess dietary cholesterol may contribute to elevated cholesterol levels in your body. The Cleveland Clinic recommends that you keep your intake of cholesterol under 200 milligrams a day. A 3-ounce portion of T-bone steak has about 51 milligrams of cholesterol, while a 3-ounce pork chop has 60 milligrams of cholesterol. But you'll get no cholesterol from vegetable proteins, such as beans.
In addition to absorbing cholesterol from food, your body is able to synthesize cholesterol from saturated fat, which is found mostly in animal products such as red meat, dairy and butter. The more saturated fat you eat, the more your body can produce cholesterol. According to the American Heart Association, saturated fat should account for no more than 7 percent of your total daily calorie intake. That means no more than 15 grams of saturated fat if your diet consists of 2,000 calories a day. Three ounces of steak has about 5 grams of saturated fat; the same portion of lean pork has about 3 grams. However, eating white fish, such as cod, gives you less than 1 gram, and there is no saturated fat in beans.
According to the American Heart Association, limiting yourself to 6 ounces of meat, chicken or fish per day may reduce your risk of heart disease. As a reference, a 3-ounce portion of meat is roughly the size of a deck of playing cards. Also, choose lean cuts of meat when possible, trim off any visible fat or skin before cooking, and drain off fat during cooking to reduce the saturated fat and cholesterol content of your meat.
Articles For Your Diet
- American Heart Association: Eat More Chicken, Fish and Beans Than Red Meat
- USDA National Nutrient Database: Nutrient Data for Beef, Short Loin, T-Bone Steak, Separable Lean and Fat, Trimmed to 0" Fat, All Grades, Cooked, Broiled
- Cleveland Clinic: Heart and Vascular Health & Prevention
- USDA National Nutrient Database: Nutrient Data for Pork, Fresh, Loin, Top Loin (Chops), Boneless, Separable Lean and Fat, Cooked, Pan-Fried
- American Heart Association: Know Your Fats
- USDA National Nutrient Database: Nutrient Data for Fish, Cod, Atlantic, Cooked, Dry Heat
- MayoClinic.com: High Cholesterol
- Brand X Pictures/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images