Health Nutrition & Diet The 8 Worst Foods for High Cholesterol It's a bad day to be a french fry. By Seraphina Seow Seraphina Seow Seraphina is a health writer with a background as a registered dietitian. Real Simple's Editorial Guidelines Updated on February 8, 2023 Medically reviewed by Kristy Del Coro, MS, RDN, LDN Medically reviewed by Kristy Del Coro, MS, RDN, LDN Instagram Website Kristy Del Coro is a registered dietitian nutritionist, RDN, and professionally trained chef with more than 10 years of experience in the field of culinary nutrition. Her strong background in nutrition science, sustainable food systems, and culinary education makes her exceptionally qualified to write about food that is good for us and the planet—while not sacrificing flavor. Learn More Fact checked by Isaac Winter Fact checked by Isaac Winter Isaac Winter is a fact-checker and writer for Real Simple, ensuring the accuracy of content published by rigorously researching content before publication and periodically when content needs to be updated. Highlights: Helped establish a food pantry in West Garfield Park as an AmeriCorps employee at Above and Beyond Family Recovery Center. Interviewed Heartland Alliance employees for oral history project conducted by the Lake Forest College History Department. Editorial Head of Lake Forest College's literary magazine, Tusitala, for two years. Our Fact-Checking Process Share Tweet Pin Email If you have high cholesterol, your doctor has probably advised a diet overhaul. Well-meaning friends, family, and health professionals may have offered you conflicting advice about what foods to avoid. So we asked registered dietitians to explain what it means to have high cholesterol, how diet plays a role, and the actual worst foods to eat if you have it. A Guide to Healthy Fats vs. Unhealthy Fats Cholesterol Isn't All Bad Cholesterol is often described as a "waxy" substance found naturally in our own cells and in animal-based foods. It gets a bad rap when there's too much of it in your blood (aka the medical condition, hypercholesterolemia). But in reality, having normal levels of cholesterol is important: The body needs cholesterol to carry out various functions, including making hormones, forming cell walls, and producing bile acid to help your body absorb nutrients from food. It's so important, in fact, that your liver makes 80% of the cholesterol currently in your body, notes Alanna Cabrero, RDN, registered dietitian and founder of Alanna Cabrero Nutrition. But when cholesterol levels in the blood go above the normal, healthy range, it often leads to an increased risk of heart disease. A specific type of cholesterol—low-density lipoprotein (or LDL)—poses concern. Getty Images Avoid These Foods for a Healthier Heart, According to Experts High Cholesterol, Explained There are two types of lipoproteins that carry and circulate cholesterol around the body, explains Jasmine Westbrooks, RD, a registered dietitian in North Carolina and co-founder of Eat Well Exchange. Cholesterol carried by low-density lipoproteins, or LDL, is the harmful kind when its levels in the blood are high. This is because LDL brings cholesterol to your blood vessels and lines them with fatty deposits—one of the multiple risk factors for heart disease and stroke. The target is to have LDL levels at less than 100 milligrams per deciliter of blood (mg/dL), Westbrooks says. People on cholesterol-lowering medications may be recommended a target of less than 70 mg/dL. Besides a low LDL level, you also need to ensure your high-density lipoprotein levels, or HDL (known as "good cholesterol"), is also within their recommended range. "HDL is like the garbage truck," Westbrooks says. "It goes to pick up additional, circulating cholesterol and brings it to your liver, and your liver gets rid of it." Unlike LDL, HDL in most people actually needs to be increased in order to meet the target of above 40 mg/dL for men and above 50 mg/dL for women, with over 60 mg/dL being ideal. How Diet Impacts Cholesterol Levels Whether or not you're genetically at higher risk of developing hypercholesterolemia, everyone should maintain a diet to balance the LDL and HDL levels in the blood. LDL rises when you eat trans fats and excessive amounts of saturated fats, says Westbrooks. Saturated fats are found in animal-based foods, and trans fats are mostly in processed foods. The American Heart Association recommends that only 5 to 6% of your total dietary caloric intake consists of saturated fats. This is equivalent to 13 grams of saturated fat per day if your total caloric intake is 2,000 calories per day. Using this example of 2,000 calories, a person should aim for 2 grams or less of trans fat per day. You might assume limiting dietary cholesterol is the best approach. But experts say that high saturated fat intake has more impact on your LDL levels. Even if dietary cholesterol does have some impact, there are no additional dietary guidelines you need to follow. "The moment you start reducing animal fats [in your diet], you're naturally going to start decreasing the amount of dietary cholesterol you eat, since cholesterol is only in animal foods," says Cabrero. 9 Plant-Based Foods You Should Be Eating More Of The Worst Foods for High Cholesterol 01 of 08 Fried Foods Commercial oils used for deep-frying foods are often hydrogenated. The process of hydrogenation of unsaturated oils to solidify them creates trans fats. Fried foods are also dripping in saturated fats. A medium serving size of french fries has 2.7 grams of saturated fat. 02 of 08 Fatty Cuts of Meat Aaron Arizpe The fat and skin of meat and poultry are packed with saturated fat, says Westbrooks. Remove these or choose leaner cuts of meat more often. A medium serving of sirloin steak, for instance, has 5.2 grams of saturated fat. 03 of 08 Fast Food and Takeout Choate House You can't know whether a restaurant uses hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils to cook their food. Restaurants may even reuse oils, which converts the fats in the oil into trans fats, Cabrero adds. It's also harder to choose a leaner cut of meat. A cheeseburger contains around 5 grams of saturated fat and may provide 0.7 grams of trans fat. Red Alert: These Are the 4 Worst Foods That Cause Inflammation 04 of 08 Processed Meats Joe Raedle / Staff / Getty Images Processed meats like lunch meat, sausages, bacon, and salami are all high in saturated fat. Three slices of bacon provide 2.3 grams of saturated fat. So keep your consumption to a minimum. 05 of 08 Packaged Foods Allrecipes photo Processed, frozen foods like pizza and nuggets, and packaged foods like microwave popcorn and crackers, may contain saturated fat, hydrogenated oils, or trans fat. Westbrooks advises reading the nutritional label to check for mention of these. 06 of 08 Desserts and Baked Goods Courtesy of Evan Sung Sad news: It's not just the sugar content you need to watch out for in ice cream, cookies, muffins, and pastries. They all contain saturated fat, says Westbrooks. A medium-sized chocolate chip cookie has 1.7 grams of saturated fat, and a mini croissant has 5 grams of saturated fat. 07 of 08 Large Amounts of Butter Getty Butter is high in saturated fat, providing 6 grams of saturated fat in 1 tablespoon. Yikes! While a bit of butter now and then can add unparalleled deliciousness to toast, veggies, grains, and more, consuming more than a tablespoon (at most) every day is an unhealthy habit. (For a dose of healthy fat, may we recommend mashing avocado on your toast or drizzling olive oil on pasta instead?) 08 of 08 Cheese Williams Sonoma Cabrero often asks about her clients' cheese consumption when they're looking to decrease their saturated fat intake. "An ounce serving of cheese can give you around 5 grams of saturated fat, depending on the type of cheese," says Cabrero. "And most people don't just sit down with an ounce [of cheese]." While it's nearly impossible to convince a cheese-lover to give it up entirely, consider this a wake-up call to start becoming more mindful of how much you eat. 14 Healthy Food Swaps That Taste So Good Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit Sources Real Simple is committed to using high-quality, reputable sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts in our articles. Read our editorial guidelines to learn more about how we fact check our content for accuracy. Durrington PN, Bashir B, Soran H. What should be the goal of cholesterol-lowering treatment? A quantitative evaluation dispelling guideline myths. Curr Opin Lipidol. 2022;33(4):219-226. doi:10.1097/MOL.0000000000000834 Vannice G, Rasmussen H. Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: dietary fatty acids for healthy adults. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2014;114(1):136-153. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2013.11.001 Berger S, Raman G, Vishwanathan R, Jacques PF, Johnson EJ. Dietary cholesterol and cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Clin Nutr. 2015;102(2):276-294. doi:10.3945/ajcn.114.100305 Chiu S, Williams PT, Krauss RM. Effects of a very high saturated fat diet on LDL particles in adults with atherogenic dyslipidemia: A randomized controlled trial. PLoS ONE. 2017;12(2):e0170664. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0170664 USDA FoodData Central. Restaurant, family style, french fries. Date Accessed January 9, 2023. USDA FoodData Central. Restaurant, family style, sirloin steak. Date Accessed January 9, 2023. USDA FoodData Central. McDONALD'S, Cheeseburger. Date Accessed December 16, 2022. USDA FoodData Central. Pork, cured, bacon, cooked, restaurant. Date Accessed December 16, 2022. USDA FoodData Central. Mini croissants. Date Accessed January 9, 2023. USDA FoodData Central. Pillsbury, chocolate chip cookies, refrigerated dough. Date Accessed January 9, 2023. USDA FoodData Central. Butter, stick, salted. Date Accessed January 9, 2023. USDA FoodData Central. Cheese, cheddar. Date Accessed January 9, 2023.