In addition to low cholesterol diet you may come across the name of high cholesterol diet and start thinking of what the latter means. If it has been decided that high blood cholesterol level leads to the heart disease, why would one want to follow a high cholesterol diet? The thing is, that in the year 2001 the National Cholesterol Education Program NCEP released this diet specifically for people who are know very well their blood cholesterol is high and know they might be at risk of having serious heart problems.
In the case of low cholesterol diet, it may be followed in two stages or steps. Most adults and children over the age of two with the high blood cholesterol are treated by the Step-1 diet. The Step-2 diet is recommended in case a person has a high blood cholesterol level, even though he/she has been following a Step-1 diet for a period of 6-12 weeks. It can also be suggested for a person who has evidence of atherosclerosis or had a heart attack or stroke.
High cholesterol diet is a modernized version to replace the two-steps low cholesterol diet. The amounts of basic nutrients have been changed so that the best results would be reached in the least period of time. According to a high cholesterol diet, the amount of daily total fat should not be more than 25% – 25% of total calories. Saturated fat should not be more than 7% of total calories. Polyunsaturated fat should make up to 10% of total calories per day, while monounsaturated fat can be 20% of total calories. Carbohydrates should make the bulk of your daily calories norm, i.e. 50%-60% and 15% of them should be products containing protein. You should not eat more than 200 mg/dL of cholesterol and 2g of plant sterols per day.
