Cholesterol & Fat

[UIZ733]

A mate at work came up to me today and asked me if I knew the difference between Cholesterol & Fat.
Wondering what  the 'brains trust' of the forum thinks the best response is?

[JCOJ]

If you want to answer him in one sentence:

In plain English, fat is what is in the food that you eat, cholesterol is what is in your blood stream.



If you want to look impressive you can recite the following:

Understanding fats and cholesterol
Not all fat is bad. Fats are an essential part of healthy eating so it’s good for you to eat a certain amount of the healthier fats.

Healthier fats
Healthier fats include monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats - omega-3 and omega-6. These fats reduce the 'bad' LDL cholesterol in your blood and increase the 'good' HDL cholesterol. This helps to lower your risk of getting heart disease.

Unhealthy fats
Unhealthy fats include saturated fats and trans fats. Too much saturated and trans fat contributes to the build up of fatty material, called plaque, on the inside of your blood vessels and is a major cause of heart disease. These fats can increase LDL cholesterol in our blood that leads to the plaque. Lowering saturated fat in the diet will help to lower LDL cholesterol.

Foods high in saturated fat include

•Hard and full fat soft cheeses
•Full fat dairy products
•Cream
•Crème fraiche
•Chicken skin
•Fat on meats
•Processed meat such as sausages, burgers and salami
•Pastry
•Coconut oil
•Coconut milk
•Palm oil
•Fatty or fried take-away foods
•Packaged cakes and biscuits

What about cholesterol?
Cholesterol in foods has only a small effect on your LDL cholesterol, especially when compared with the much greater increase caused by saturated and trans fat in food.

How can I get the balance right to reduce my risk of heart disease?
Instead of cutting out all of the fat you eat, try to choose the healthier polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats and limit the amount of the less healthy saturated and trans fats that you eat.

Healthy heart tip
Just one small morning cappuccino with full fat milk could provide almost a third of your daily maximum of saturated fat. Over a year this amounts to more than 1 kilo of saturated fat. By switching to a skinny cappuccino you wipe out almost all of that saturated fat from your diet.
 


Watch that full strength cappucino!! 

[Barry G]

Fat builds up in tissue, as seen in steak, chops, etc.
Cholesterol is deposited in arteries, causing narrowing - and therefore contributing to high blood pressure - and heart attacks due to blockages / strokes, if the blockage is  in the brain.

[achjimmy]

•Hard and full fat soft cheeses
•Full fat dairy products
•Cream
•Crème fraiche
•Chicken skin
•Fat on meats
•Processed meat such as sausages, burgers and salami
•Pastry
•Coconut oil
•Coconut milk
•Palm oil
•Fatty or fried take-away foods
•Packaged cakes and biscuits

John I know we have known each other a long whole mate, but wow i didn't know you knew all of my favorite foods.

[staghornflat]

Difference between fat and cholesterol....?
Have you woken up in the morning with half a cholesterol??
 

[UIZ733]

Difference between fat and cholesterol....?
Have you woken up in the morning with half a cholesterol??
 

Go to the top of class. 
I was suckered also!

[chester ver2.0]

Fat builds up in tissue, as seen in steak, chops, etc.
Cholesterol is deposited in arteries, causing narrowing - and therefore contributing to high blood pressure - and heart attacks due to blockages / strokes, if the blockage is  in the brain.

Cholesterol does not cuase heart disease. It is the hardening of cholesterol in the arteries that forms plaque that slowly blocks the arteries. Basically means you can have a diet slightly high in cholesterol but then need to over compensate with cardio exercise to prevent it from hardening into Plaque.
For example most cyclists will have higher than averge cholesterol numbers due to the high carb diets they consume. however this is offset by the sheer volume of cardio based exercise they do.
Cholesterol levels and fat while there is a causal link often they are mutually exclusive meaning in my workplace we have seen skinny people with cholesterol numbers through the roof and signifigantly overweight people with low numbers. At work we reccomend a cholesterol check at 35 to get a base line then another at 40 then ever 2 to 3 years after that depending on numbers

[JCOJ]

John I know we have known each other a long whole mate, but wow i didn't know you knew all of my favorite foods.

I was just writing down a list of my own favourites!! 

[KeithB]

There are now several schools of thought claiming that the latest research indicates that trans fats and processed fats from grains and seeds are the real bad health culprits. They also say that radically reducing carbohydrates (like sugars and starches) can cause a huge reduction in cholesterol and blood pressure.
Mind you, the "latest news" will probably be something quite different next week.
I can't take cholesterol drugs and Oat bran is supposed to reduce cholesterol. So I ate two bowls full of the stuff for six months and my cholesterol didn't budge. But my toilet paper bill went through the roof!

[HKB Electronics]

Was that an attempt at toilet humor

[Barry G]

I had an intial consultation with a dietician yesterday.  My blood pressure and cholesterol have been edging up for a while so, at 57 it is time to take stock so to speak. Also want to get my tummy below the 100 cm 'gut busters' target - although apparently the new 'standard' is 102.  I am currently at 105 cm.
She is in her mid 60s and made the point that, when she graduated in the 1970s, the current wonder drugs hadn't been invented / weren't on the market, and it was the norm to successfully treat high cholesterol with dietary change.  These days many find this 'too hard', so doctors prescribe pills.
Most will have seen the cholesterol lowering margarine - need to eat 5 tea spoons / day to have any effect.  As I'm also trying to cut down on bread I would find it hard to eat that much marg each day.  However, the plant sterols used in the margarine, which are what cause the cholestorol reduction, are also being added to some milk. Much easier to have 2 - 3 'serves' (i.e. 500 - 750 ml) of milk each day.  Will be good to see how effective this is.

[Mallory Black]

slightly off topic but if anyone in the process of modifying their diets AND have a touch of arthritis should also factor in or should I say consider ruling out food groups that contribute to inflamation of the joints and add foods that have natural anti-inflamatory properties.

Red meat, sugar and refined flour are the biggies there. I've kind of altered my diet to significantly cut back on them and thought I'd miss them but not really because of the other benefits.

I still roast up but only as a treat

[oldmate]

Difference between fat and cholesterol....?
Have you woken up in the morning with half a cholesterol??
 

Comment of the year I think. 

[scarps]

So would this affect my cholestorol?

[Jeepers Creepers]

I didn't know that palm oil could be eatin.

I thought it was to stop blisters on ya hand.

[michael h]

I have recently changed my eating habits to a high protein low carbohydrate menu I choose not to use the word diet as I eat as much as I want when I want

Pretty much what I did before switching over to this type of food intake
The heaviest I got was 117Kg but stopped having Plus Muesli with full cream milk every morning and came down to 115Kg within a couple of months.

In June this year I switched to a Paleo/Primal style menu within the first week I dropped 3.5 Kg
By My 45th birthday in September I had lost a total of 10Kg and in this last month another 1 Kg, The weight is slow to drop now but I now plan on starting to exercise a bit more.

I currently Stand Up Paddle board three or four times a week but will start walking and Mountain biking as Summer and Daylight savings has arrived.

This type of Menu/Food is not for everyone but it works for me
In a nut shell - No Grain,Potato,Pasta or Dairy for a full on Paleo or Primal which is roughly 80/20 meaning 20 % of the time you can indulge but must no go under 80% good stuff which is how I have been going but I stick closer to 95/5 on the food intake with the occasional 6 or 12 odd low carb beers or a few Jim Beam cans thrown in on the weekends
Michael
Pm me if you need any more info

[MrCruza]

Just watched a program on Catalyst about this. A group of eminent cardiologists in the US now contend that the argument against fat is completely wrong with no evidence to back it up. The REAL culprit in heart disease is sugar.

Probably see it on Iview.

[KeithB]

If tonight's episode Catalyst is to be believed, and from my own reading I think the science in it is accurate, then it looks very much like the doctor's advice to eat margarine will kill you faster than the cholesterol will. 

They are saying that sugar, processed oils (like margarine) and stress are the real enemies. After age 50 or so, they say cholesterol is protective and has no correlation with heart disease. It's in the arteries at the spot where there is a blockage, just like there is a fireman at a fire; but it doesn't mean that the fireman lit the fire. I hope that makes sense.

Looking forward to Episode 2 in this series next week.

[BobT]

Just watched a program on Catalyst about this. A group of eminent cardiologists in the US now contend that the argument against fat is completely wrong with no evidence to back it up. The REAL culprit in heart disease is sugar.

Probably see it on Iview.

Yeah, I just saw that.  If what they say is half true, it’s revolutionary.  It seems we might have been fed a crock of s*** all these years by the marketeers of anti-cholesterol drugs.  Catalyst is a respected program so should be taken seriously although they do come up with some wacko things sometimes.

[rodw]

If you want to read up on this, look for a book called Sweet Poison. Everything said on TV tonight was covered in his book. The greatest fraud we have seen in the modern world!

I will say if you bring your weight back to a BMI <25, cholesterol will take care of itself (says he who recently dropped 20kg).

[DaveR]

Make sure you watch the 2nd part of Catalyst next week also.
Bit of an eye opener how this whole thing came from 1 guy in the 50's who omitted the facts just to show what he wanted.

Then also, if your interested in medical cover ups, here is another one about aspartame.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owtF2nt2VX4
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[D4D]

I know this is getting off track a bit however the old saying 'output has to be > input' still holds true. I stopped Coke, JD, chocolate, big meals late at night, reduced my portion sizes and have lost 10Kg in about 8 weeks. Nothing earth shattering and I don't expect to keep loosing weight at the same rate but it is a good start when I need to run after a 3 year old.

[DaveCQ]

I know this is getting off track a bit however the old saying 'output has to be > input' still holds true. I stopped Coke, JD, chocolate, big meals late at night, reduced my portion sizes and have lost 10Kg in about 8 weeks. Nothing earth shattering and I don't expect to keep loosing weight at the same rate but it is a good start when I need to run after a 3 year old.

Good work mate. That's as simple as it is. In most instances it is our own choices which determine how many extra kilos we carry. The key is to be personally accountable and not blame other factors.

My rant for the day is now over

[lucky37]

I know this is getting off track a bit however the old saying 'output has to be > input' still holds true. I stopped Coke, JD, chocolate, big meals late at night, reduced my portion sizes and have lost 10Kg in about 8 weeks. Nothing earth shattering and I don't expect to keep loosing weight at the same rate but it is a good start when I need to run after a 3 year old.

This. Calories in v calories out.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[fishfinder]

Fat builds up in tissue, as seen in steak, chops, etc.
Cholesterol is deposited in arteries, causing narrowing - and therefore contributing to high blood pressure - and heart attacks due to blockages / strokes, if the blockage is  in the brain.

So why is my cholesterol levels fine, and has always been fine but i have narrowing to the blood vessels in the brain due to plaque build up