If you've recently been told that your cholesterol is a little higher than it should be, you may be wondering what that means for the food you enjoy.
Do you need to give up your favourite meals? Are eggs off the menu? Should you be eating fish every day? And what if you don't want to spend your time cooking everything from scratch?
The good news is that looking after your cholesterol doesn't have to mean completely changing the way you eat. Often, it's about making small, sensible choices and understanding what to look for when deciding what to have for lunch or dinner.
Whether you cook occasionally or prefer the convenience of having meals ready in the freezer, here's a straightforward guide to cholesterol, food and making choices that work for you.
What Is Cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a fatty substance found naturally in your blood. We all need some cholesterol for our bodies to work properly, but having too much of certain types of cholesterol can increase the risk of heart problems and stroke.
You may have heard your doctor or nurse talk about "good" and "bad" cholesterol.
- LDL cholesterol is sometimes called "bad" cholesterol because having too much can contribute to fatty deposits building up in your arteries.
- HDL cholesterol is often called "good" cholesterol because it helps carry cholesterol away from your cells and back to your liver.
One of the difficult things about high cholesterol is that you can't usually feel it. It doesn't normally cause symptoms, so a blood test is needed to find out what your cholesterol levels are.
If you've been told yours is high, your doctor or nurse will be able to explain what your results mean for you and whether any treatment or lifestyle changes are recommended.
Cholesterol as We Get Older
Cholesterol is something many of us become more conscious of in later life, perhaps following an NHS Health Check, annual review or routine blood test.
Age can be one factor in your likelihood of developing high cholesterol, alongside things such as family history, diet, activity levels, smoking and body weight.
If you've been advised to make changes to your diet, that doesn't mean suddenly giving up all the foods you've enjoyed for years.
For many people, a more realistic approach is to make a few manageable changes to the meals they choose each week.
What Should You Eat If You Have High Cholesterol?
It's tempting to search for a list of foods that will "lower cholesterol", but there isn't one particular ingredient that will do all the work.
Instead, think about the balance of what you eat over the course of a week.
Current healthy eating advice includes eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, choosing fibre-containing foods, eating fish regularly and replacing some foods high in saturated fat with alternatives containing unsaturated fats.
That might sound like a lot to think about, but it doesn't have to be complicated.
Some of the foods worth including regularly are:
- Vegetables and fruit
- Fish, including oily fish
- Beans, peas and lentils
- Wholegrain and other fibre-containing foods
- Nuts and seeds, if they're suitable for you
And importantly, you don't have to prepare all of these ingredients yourself to include more variety in your diet.
Fish Is a Good Place to Start
If you enjoy fish, including it regularly is one simple change you can make.
The NHS recommends eating at least two portions of fish each week, including one portion of oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, sardines or trout. Different advice and limits apply to some people, so it's worth checking the current NHS guidance if you're unsure.
But buying and preparing fresh fish isn't always convenient, particularly when you're cooking for one.
Choosing a prepared fish meal can be a much easier way to include fish in your week without having to buy a packet containing several portions or worry about using fresh fish before it goes out of date.
Oakhouse Foods has a range of frozen fish ready meals that can be kept in the freezer and cooked when you're ready for them, making it easy to add some variety to your weekly menu.
Don't Forget Your Vegetables
We all know we're supposed to eat our vegetables, but preparing several different vegetables for one person isn't always appealing.
By the time you've peeled the potatoes, chopped the carrots, prepared some greens and cooked everything, you can end up with a lot of preparation and washing up for one meal.
That's where choosing meals that already include vegetables can be useful.
Fruit and vegetables provide fibre as well as a range of vitamins and minerals, and we're encouraged to eat at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables each day.
When choosing your Oakhouse Foods frozen meals, look at what's included on the plate rather than simply choosing the main ingredient. Alternating between dishes containing different vegetables can help bring more variety to your week without needing to prepare them separately.
Beans, Peas and Lentils Are Worth Looking Out For Too
Beans, peas, chickpeas and lentils might not be ingredients you think about very often, particularly if you tend to enjoy traditional meat-and-two-veg meals.
But they're useful sources of fibre and protein and can make a tasty addition to casseroles, soups, curries and meat-free dishes.
You don't need to become vegetarian to enjoy them either.
Simply choosing a bean or lentil-based dish occasionally can introduce something different into your diet and give you a break from eating meat at every main meal.
If you'd like to try something different, take a look at our vegetarian meals alongside your usual favourites.
Why Fibre Matters
Fibre is an important part of a balanced diet and is another thing worth considering when you're thinking about cholesterol.
You'll find fibre in foods such as:
- Wholegrain bread and cereals
- Oats and barley
- Beans and lentils
- Fruit and vegetables
- Wholewheat pasta
- Brown rice
- Nuts and seeds
You don't have to eat all of these every day.
It could be as simple as having porridge for breakfast, choosing wholegrain bread for a sandwich at lunchtime and having a meal containing vegetables or pulses in the evening.
Small choices throughout the day can soon add up.
What About the Foods You Already Enjoy?
Being told you have high cholesterol doesn't mean that Sunday lunch, a comforting pudding or your favourite traditional meal has to disappear forever.
It's much more useful to think about how often you eat certain foods and what the rest of your diet looks like.
Foods that can be high in saturated fat include:
- Fatty cuts of meat
- Sausages and some processed meats
- Butter and lard
- Cream
- Some cheeses
- Cakes and biscuits
- Pastries and pies
That doesn't mean these foods are necessarily "banned".
If you enjoy a traditional roast or a pudding, for example, think about the bigger picture. You might choose a fish dish the following day, have a lighter lunch, include plenty of vegetables with your meals or simply enjoy richer foods less frequently.
For most of us, an approach we can comfortably stick with is more useful than trying to completely change a lifetime of eating habits overnight.
Saturated Fat: The Number Worth Checking
If you don't cook from scratch very often, nutritional labels can actually make choosing between meals easier.
When you're concerned about cholesterol, one of the figures worth paying particular attention to is saturated fat.
You'll normally see this shown as "saturates" underneath the total amount of fat.
Rather than assuming one meal is better than another because of its name, compare the nutritional information. Two similar-looking meals can contain quite different amounts of saturated fat.
This is particularly useful when ordering ready meals because you can compare your choices before deciding what you'd like to have delivered.
Are Eggs Bad for Cholesterol?
Eggs are one of the foods people frequently worry about after being told they have high cholesterol.
That's because eggs naturally contain cholesterol. However, for most people, the cholesterol we eat has much less effect on blood cholesterol than saturated fat.
That means most people don't need to stop eating eggs simply because their cholesterol is high.
It's also worth thinking about what accompanies them. A boiled or poached egg, for example, is quite different from regularly serving eggs alongside foods containing a lot of saturated fat.
If your doctor or dietitian has given you specific advice about eggs or dietary cholesterol, particularly if you have familial hypercholesterolaemia, you should follow their recommendations.
Is Salmon Good for Cholesterol?
Salmon is an oily fish and provides protein as well as long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.
Including oily fish as part of a varied diet is recommended in current UK healthy eating guidance, making salmon a useful option to include in your weekly meal choices.
You don't need to buy a whole pack of fresh salmon fillets to enjoy it either.
If you're cooking for yourself and prefer not to deal with the preparation, choosing a complete salmon or other fish meal from the freezer can be a much more convenient option.
Take a look at our fish meals to see what's available.
What If You Don't Cook From Scratch?
A lot of healthy eating advice assumes that everybody wants to plan recipes, visit the supermarket several times a week and cook using fresh ingredients every day.
That's simply not how everybody wants to live.
You may have cooked for a family for decades and decided you've done enough of it. You might live alone and find cooking a full meal for one hardly seems worth the effort. Or perhaps standing in the kitchen, chopping ingredients and lifting pans isn't as easy as it once was.
Whatever the reason, choosing ready-prepared food doesn't mean you have to stop thinking about what goes into your meals.
Instead, concentrate on making sensible choices from the options available to you.
How to Choose Ready Meals When You're Watching Your Cholesterol
If ready meals make life easier, there are a few simple things you can look for when deciding what to order.
- Compare Saturated Fat - Look at the "saturates" figure when comparing similar meals.
- Look For Vegetables - Choose dishes containing a good variety of vegetables throughout the week.
- Include Fish - Try alternating some of your usual meat dishes with fish meals.
- Look for Beans and Pulses - Curries, casseroles and vegetarian dishes can be useful ways to include them.
- Think About Fibre - Vegetables, beans, pulses and wholegrain ingredients can all contribute fibre.
- Choose Variety - Try not to have exactly the same type of meal every day.
- Choose a Portion that Suits You - A balanced meal doesn't need to be enormous.
Oakhouse Foods provides nutritional information for its meals, so you can compare dishes and make choices based on what's important to you.
Eating Well With a Smaller Appetite
Appetites can change as we get older. You may simply find that you don't want the same size dinner you once did.
If that's the case, forcing yourself through an oversized plate isn't necessarily helpful.
A smaller meal that you actually look forward to eating can be much more appealing.
The important thing is to continue thinking about variety. If you prefer smaller portions, try choosing different types of meals across the week – perhaps fish one evening, chicken another and a vegetable or pulse-based dish another day.
Oakhouse Foods offers smaller meals alongside regular portions, so you can choose a size that better suits your appetite.
A Simple Week of Meal Choices
If all of this advice feels like a lot to remember, don't overcomplicate it.
A varied week could look something like this:
- Monday: a fish meal with vegetables
- Tuesday: a favourite traditional meal
- Wednesday: a vegetable, bean or lentil-based dish
- Thursday: chicken with a selection of vegetables
- Friday: an oily fish dish such as salmon
- Saturday: something different that you haven't had during the week
- Sunday: your favourite Sunday lunch
That's only an example – there's no need to follow a rigid meal plan.
The idea is simply to show that looking after what you eat doesn't have to mean eating the same supposedly "healthy" meal every day.
Small Changes Are Easier to Keep
If you've eaten a certain way for most of your life, there's little point in deciding that everything must change on Monday morning.
Start with something manageable.
You could try having fish one more time each week. Perhaps choose a meal containing more vegetables. Compare the saturated fat in two dishes before deciding which one to order. Or try a meat-free meal you've never had before.
Once one change becomes part of your normal routine, you can always make another.
That's often a much more enjoyable way to approach healthy eating than concentrating on a long list of foods you think you're no longer allowed to have.
Frequently Asked Questions About Cholesterol and Food
What should I eat if I have high cholesterol?
A varied, balanced diet is important. Current guidance recommends reducing saturated fat and eating foods including fruit and vegetables, wholegrains, beans and pulses, nuts and seeds and fish, including oily fish.
If you've been given individual dietary advice by your doctor or dietitian, always follow that advice.
What foods should I avoid with high cholesterol?
It's not usually necessary to think in terms of completely forbidden foods. Instead, try to eat foods high in saturated fat less often and make lower-saturated-fat choices more frequently.
Foods that can be high in saturated fat include fatty meats, butter, cream, some cheeses, cakes, biscuits and pastries.
Are eggs bad for cholesterol?
For most people, the cholesterol contained in foods such as eggs has less effect on blood cholesterol than saturated fat. Most people therefore don't need to completely avoid eggs because of their cholesterol.
Is salmon good for cholesterol?
Salmon is an oily fish containing long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. UK healthy eating guidance recommends eating at least two portions of fish each week, including one portion of oily fish, although different recommendations and limits apply to some people.
Can I eat ready meals if I have high cholesterol?
Ready meals vary considerably, so look at the nutritional information rather than treating them all as the same. Comparing saturated fat, looking for meals containing vegetables, choosing fish regularly and eating a varied selection of dishes can help you make more informed choices.
What should I look for on a food label if I have high cholesterol?
Saturated fat is particularly worth checking. On nutritional information, you'll normally find this listed as "saturates" underneath total fat. Comparing similar products can help you choose an option containing less saturated fat.
Do I have to stop eating my favourite foods?
Not necessarily. Your overall diet matters more than one individual meal. Think about how often you eat richer foods and balance your week with plenty of variety, including vegetables, fish, fibre-containing foods and other nutritious choices.
How can I eat well if I don't like cooking?
You don't have to cook every meal from scratch to think carefully about what you eat. Choose prepared meals with clear nutritional information, compare similar dishes, include different sources of protein and vegetables throughout the week and select portions that suit your appetite.
Make Mealtimes Work for You
Looking after your cholesterol doesn't mean food has to become complicated or that you have to spend your time cooking.
For many people, it's simply about making a few more informed choices.
At Oakhouse Foods, you can browse a wide selection of frozen meals from the comfort of your own home and see the nutritional information before deciding what you'd like.
Choose from fish dishes, traditional favourites, vegetable-rich options, lighter choices and smaller portions, then have your selection delivered frozen directly to your home.
Keep them in the freezer until you're ready to eat and simply follow the cooking instructions when you fancy one.
It means less shopping, less preparation and less washing up – while still giving you plenty of choice over what you eat each day.
Browse the Oakhouse Foods range and find meals that suit your tastes and appetite.