Adjust Our Diet 5: Let Go of Fatty and High Cholesterol Foods

When we gradually let go of animal protein foods, eggs, milk and dairy products, we are keeping away from fatty and high cholesterol foods. Meat is well known as a major fatty food. It contains fatty acids and cholesterol, which could easily bring about cardiovascular diseases and obesity.

Fat is derived from two sources: animal and plant. Animal fat, or saturated fatty acids (SaFAs), is the main source of cholesterol. Such food provides nutrients but too much fat. All forms of animal fats are made of highly saturated fatty acid. These include beef, mutton, pork and dairy products. About 95% of the fats and oils you eat are mixtures of triglycerides and when sugars are turned into saturated fatty acids, these acids also carry triglycerides. Egg yolks, fat deposits of animals and edible oils from seeds are mainly triglycerides (Erasmus 1993). See Erasmus, U. (1993). Fats that Heal Fats that Kills. Burnaby BC: Alive Books.


When you consume this type of food, you will feel the stomach is still full for some time. This is because the fat is difficult to digest in the stomach. The SaFAs can be deposited within cells, organs and arteries together with proteins, minerals and cholesterol. Consequently, constipation develops. When the waste which is supposed to be discharged but instead accumulates in the body, it is a matter of time before diseases develop.

The extra cholesterols will be stored in the blood, accumulates in fat, liver, body systems, thus resulting in hardening of blood vessels and obstructing proper blood circulation. If we take a lot of fatty food, in addition to lack of exercise, fatty liver problem may develop. Simply, if we eat too much fatty foods, the fat can travel directly to our liver and damage it. This leads to a kind of liver toxicity and brings about liver hardening.

When my family abstains from animal meat, eggs, milk and dairy products, we are also keeping away from high cholesterol foods. Cholesterol is an essential nutrient needed by the body. Cholesterol, by itself, is not bad, but what is worrying is too much cholesterol, especially the ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol. It could accumulate in the blood vessels and develop into a ‘bomb’ that would explode any time. Its accumulation takes years before health problems arise. Keeping the balance or ratio of LDL/HDL is important to keep your body cholesterol under control.

Foods that are rich in cholesterol include egg, seafood (fish and shellfish), red meat and full fat dairy products. One egg, ¼ pound of liver and ¼ pound of butter each contains about 250 mg of cholesterol (Erasmus 1993).

Hence even though egg is a rich protein source, the content of cholesterol in eggs is also very high and egg contains hormones which are difficult to digest. Some people think that by not taking the egg yolk, they are free from high cholesterol. But by taking egg white, they have indirectly set the stage for high cholesterol to accumulate. In America, the public has been advised to reduce egg consumption from one a day to not more than four per week to avoid developing cardiovascular diseases.

We now learn that our body can manufacture cholesterol from breakdown of excess sugars, fats and protein. It simply means that when excess calories are consumed from these foods, there is more pressure for the body to make cholesterol. Cholesterol cannot be broken down and it has to be removed from our body through the stool in the form of bile acid and cholesterol molecules. Its removal is facilitated by fibre. If we take lots of food rich in sugars, fats and protein but poor in fibre, the cholesterol and bile acids are reabsorbed and recycled in our body. The cholesterol deposits, especially in blood vessels, slow down blood flow. Hence, low-fibre foods increase blood cholesterol levels. Cholesterol also makes our platelets sticky thus increasing the risk of clot forming. All these may lead to artery blockage and subsequent occurrence of stroke, heart attack, blindness and deafness (Erasmus 1993).

Indeed, high blood cholesterol level is the single greatest risk factor for heart disease. The consumption of saturated fat is the single most important factor in raising blood cholesterol levels. It has been pointed out that in the history of medical research, the correlations between cholesterol levels, saturated fat intake and heart disease are among the strongest and most consistent. The main suppliers of saturated fat are animal products. These saturated fat products are beef, pork, chicken, cheese, butter, milk, eggs and ice cream (Robbins 2001). See Robbins, J. (2001). The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your life and the World. Mumbai: Magna Publishing Co. Ltd.