High Protein, Low cholesterol is it possible?
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msurkus
Posts: 23 Member
Over the past few weeks I started lifting again and went back to my old school diet high protein, low carbs because well, It works and always has for me. However now that I am getting older I need to watch my cholesterol much more than I did when I was younger. I’m finding it difficult to take in enough protein while keeping my cholesterol low. My daily protein intake is about 212 grams a day. My recommend cholesterol intake is about 300 mg.
For the first 2 weeks I would eat 4oz of cooked chicken 4 times a day and usually a can of tuna. The problem is my cholesterol intake was almost double. My temp solution is to supplement a protein powder a for a few meals but I’m still a little high on cholesterol intake. I’d prefer to stick to real food. Anyone have or know any more solutions for high protein, low cholesterol?
For the first 2 weeks I would eat 4oz of cooked chicken 4 times a day and usually a can of tuna. The problem is my cholesterol intake was almost double. My temp solution is to supplement a protein powder a for a few meals but I’m still a little high on cholesterol intake. I’d prefer to stick to real food. Anyone have or know any more solutions for high protein, low cholesterol?
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Replies
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Beans and nuts are great. Nuts are an excellent snack and drizzling chopped nuts on salads, etc. is really good for you.
For beans, lots of burritos. Add white beans to a pasta or quinoa dish. You can marinate beans.
Tostada night is always fun--pile on refried beans to a corn tortilla and add a ton of veggies.
Vegetarian chili is also an excellent choice. You can blend rice or add rice whole for extra oomph, or use ground tofu meat to bulk it up. Tastes great. Or if you need a high protein, low-cholesterol snack. Amy's vegetarian chilis are actually pretty good.
https://www.amys.com/our-foods/organic-medium-chili
In sum: More mexican foods with spicy beans; more chili and bean soups; more nuts for snacks; more nuts sprinkled on things like salads0 -
Cholesterol in foods has very little impact on serum cholesterol levels. The more important thing is maintaining a good body weight, exercising and focusing on whole foods.
But lean meats and plant based foods will have the least amount of cholesterol.9 -
watching with interest as I have high cholesterol of 7.5 im only 36.0
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As @psuLemon points out, if you're avoiding eating foods high in cholesterol in order to control the amount of cholesterol in your blood don't bother. The amount of cholesterol you consume has very little effect on that.
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/why-you-should-no-longer-worry-about-cholesterol-in-food/3 -
@MmeZeeZee beans do have some protein but at a cost they’re very high in fat and as I can tell by looking at too many of my Mexican friends my age and up they are not the smartest choice in the long run.
On the lighter side as my part of my agreement with the US Government in order to stop 90% of C02 emissions I put off beans for the good of the planet.
@GaryRuns I have a very hard time believing that study 100% true for everyone. It even conflicts itself in some ways.
“About 85 percent of the cholesterol in the circulation is manufactured by the body in the liver,” he says. “It isn’t coming directly from the cholesterol that you eat.”
85% is manufactured. Does 15% comes from food?
“The way people process cholesterol differs. Some people appear to be more vulnerable to cholesterol-rich diets.”
“So avoiding foods that are high in cholesterol won’t affect your blood cholesterol levels very much.”
Very much. Meaning it does?
Sounds like wishful thinking. However I hope it’s correct because I love food and I have excellent genetics. However in conclusion to be able to control up to 15% of your cholesterol is still a lot to control.2 -
I personally do not like it, but i've read tofu is a good option for this.0
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@MmeZeeZee beans do have some protein but at a cost they’re very high in fat and as I can tell by looking at too many of my Mexican friends my age and up they are not the smartest choice in the long run.
On the lighter side as my part of my agreement with the US Government in order to stop 90% of C02 emissions I put off beans for the good of the planet.
@GaryRuns I have a very hard time believing that study 100% true for everyone. It even conflicts itself in some ways.
“About 85 percent of the cholesterol in the circulation is manufactured by the body in the liver,” he says. “It isn’t coming directly from the cholesterol that you eat.”
85% is manufactured. Does 15% comes from food?
“The way people process cholesterol differs. Some people appear to be more vulnerable to cholesterol-rich diets.”
“So avoiding foods that are high in cholesterol won’t affect your blood cholesterol levels very much.”
Very much. Meaning it does?
Sounds like wishful thinking. However I hope it’s correct because I love food and I have excellent genetics. However in conclusion to be able to control up to 15% of your cholesterol is still a lot to control.
What beans are high in fat? I always find beans and lentils an excellent way to increase my protein and fiber and I have yet to find one that's high in fat.
When I need lean protein I turn to low fat greek yogurt, lentils, tofu, white fish, shrimp, cottage cheese, and protein powder. I have no idea if those foods come with cholesterol or not.
Do you have a health condition that requires you to be concerned about cholesterol? Did you get blood work done and know you have to worry about it?
Everyone I know who has had high or borderline cholesterol levels were told to get down to a healthy weight, become more active, and increase fiber. And once they did that, their levels normalized. I would add that while there's nothing wrong with eating higher protein, you also don't need to be as high as you are. So maybe a compromise would be to set your protein goal a little lower.1 -
@MmeZeeZee beans do have some protein but at a cost they’re very high in fat and as I can tell by looking at too many of my Mexican friends my age and up they are not the smartest choice in the long run.
On the lighter side as my part of my agreement with the US Government in order to stop 90% of C02 emissions I put off beans for the good of the planet.
@GaryRuns I have a very hard time believing that study 100% true for everyone. It even conflicts itself in some ways.
“About 85 percent of the cholesterol in the circulation is manufactured by the body in the liver,” he says. “It isn’t coming directly from the cholesterol that you eat.”
85% is manufactured. Does 15% comes from food?
“The way people process cholesterol differs. Some people appear to be more vulnerable to cholesterol-rich diets.”
“So avoiding foods that are high in cholesterol won’t affect your blood cholesterol levels very much.”
Very much. Meaning it does?
Sounds like wishful thinking. However I hope it’s correct because I love food and I have excellent genetics. However in conclusion to be able to control up to 15% of your cholesterol is still a lot to control.
There is a small minority that are effected by cholesterol from food. Even diets high in fats, like ketogenic, provide favorable metabolic improvements when associated with weight loss.
Overall, weight loss, genetics and exercise impact metabolic health the most. Anecdotally, i have a diet pretty high in dietary cholesterol and my markers are all good. Lost 50 lbs almost a decade ago, doubled my HDL, lower LDL, took triglycerides from 220 to 40, and A1C at 4.3 (IIRC).1 -
@msurkus I'm not sure if you're joking or not when you comment on beans and your Mexican friends.
Most beans have .1g of fat per serving.
If your friends are fat it's almost certainly not due to beans, which are hard to consume in huge quantities. Most likely it's sugars and carbs, and lard used for cooking.
Beans are a great dietary choice. The fart joke is funny, again, I get that you're trying to lighten the mood but if you want high protein, low fat, low cholesterol, low calorie, beans are the best bet. Nuts are high in protein and fat, but low in cholesterol.
Also--the gas subsides after your body gets used to digesting them.
If you don't like beans, you don't like them so don't eat them--but I wanted to put the myths to rest.
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@MmeZeeZee I love beans but like you said every recipe I know of calls for adding bad ingredients. I definitely believe you beans are healthy alone, but I no idea how anyone could eat that. And yes my friends live off retried beans. Not a joke, actually kind of disgusting. I’ll look for recipes and thanks.0
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Most fish are high in protein, low in calories, and low in cholesterol. Most shellfish not so much.
Most of my 0% fat yogurts are pretty OK to most excellent when it comes to protein and don't seen to add too much cholesterol.
Regardless of whether the yolk contains many great nutrients, egg whites, by themselves, are pretty high in protein, low in calories, and low in cholesterol.
I don't find most nuts to be a great source of protein FOR THE CALORIES. They are very yummy though!
I also don't find beans, independent of their after effects, to be a GREAT source of protein for the calories for me; but, they're not terrible either! And they have lots of fiber. And they are "healthy". Except for their after-effects. Or maybe because of them!
Peas are also worth considering as a fairly good source of protein...
In terms of grams of protein... I have the feeling that very few people gain a major benefit from eating more than 150g of protein a day... which still provides almost double the RDA to a 250lb individual by giving them 0.6g of protein per lb of bodyweight.2 -
@MmeZeeZee I love beans but like you said every recipe I know of calls for adding bad ingredients. I definitely believe you beans are healthy alone, but I no idea how anyone could eat that. And yes my friends live off retried beans. Not a joke, actually kind of disgusting. I’ll look for recipes and thanks.
Most of my chilis contain maximum 2 tbsp of olive oil. Many take one. I make cholent (a bean and barley slow-cooker stew, can contain meat but I'm vegetarian so mine doesn't) every week. It's onions, beans, barley, potatoes, onion soup mix—you can probably sub some other flavor base if the sodium concerns you—and I use salsa instead of the more conventional tomato sauce. Plus any leftover veg from my other cooking that can stand up to 12+ hours in the crockpot. This week, that'll be mushrooms. No added oil.)
I'm really not sure what constitutes a "bad" ingredient. High-calorie, sure. But no ingredient is healthy or unhealthy in isolation. It's about context and dosage.1 -
@MmeZeeZee I love beans but like you said every recipe I know of calls for adding bad ingredients. I definitely believe you beans are healthy alone, but I no idea how anyone could eat that. And yes my friends live off retried beans. Not a joke, actually kind of disgusting. I’ll look for recipes and thanks.
I put beans and soups and chilis. I mix beans with barley, farro, or pasta along with chopped veggies and a balsamic vinaigrette for a cold salad. I make rice and beans with tomato sauce. I make burritos with beans and veggies and a little cheese. I make a 3-bean salad with a ton of veggies and some salad dressing.
Lentils go in soup and mixed with corn and peas with a touch of oil and hot sauce as a side dish.
And FYI refried beans are yummy and I've been known to pick canned pinto beans out of the strainer and munch on them while I'm rinsing them off.
If you don't want to eat beans, and you insist on eating low cholesterol and want to get your protein to a very high level, I'd guess you're looking at fish, fat-free dairy, tofu and other soy bean variations, egg whites, and protein powder.3 -
Not sure what a "bad" ingredient is either. OP I think you should pick up Michael Pollan's work. It is not opposed to basic sane nutritional guidance but it will give you a better sense of how to achieve that without breaking your brain.
I don't count cholesterol but am easily under my daily recommended amount just by prioritizing whole homemade foods and plants.1
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