High LDL: do I have to cut saturated fat?

When someone gets blood work back with high LDL, fat is usually the first thing sent to the electric chair.

"I have to stop eating eggs."

"No more cheese, ever."

"Saturated fat is bad."

Easy.

Food has a big influence on LDL and, when it is high, one of the first things worth looking at is how much saturated fat is in the diet.

Saturated fat shows up mostly in foods like butter, cream, some cheeses, fattier meats, coconut oil and palm oil. In excess, it tends to raise LDL.

The fix is often about reducing what is in excess and making a few smart swaps.

For example, more olive oil instead of butter. Fish more often. Nuts and seeds. Leaner cuts of meat some of the time. More legumes, oats and other foods rich in fibre.

And yes, you can keep eating eggs, cheese or meat.

Healthy eating does not need to be a list of forbidden foods. What matters is the diet as a whole and what happens repeatedly over weeks and months.

It is also worth knowing that cholesterol does not depend on diet alone. Genetics can carry a lot of weight, and there are people who eat very well and still have high LDL.

So, faced with high LDL, it makes sense to start with the basics: look at the food, see how much saturated fat is in it, and check whether it can be reduced and replaced with sources of unsaturated fat.

Then we go back to the blood work and see what happened.

Because, in the end, a spoonful of olive oil will not fix everything. Just as a slice of cheese will not destroy your health either.