If you are trying to keep your cholesterol low, the National Cholesterol Education Program recommends that you change your diet first.
They recommend a balanced diet with approximately 25% fat, with a maximum of 10% saturated fat (you should also keep trans-fat at 0-1%).
Cholesterol from food should be kept below 300 mg per day.
That's not 300 mg cholesterol for one meal, but for the whole 24-hour day!
Let's say you have two large eggs with ham, hash browns, and a glass of whole milk for breakfast, a double-patty hamburger and a milkshake for lunch, and some breaded shrimp, a small salad, and a slice of spongecake with French vanilla ice cream for dinner.
Would you be surprised to learn that your daily total is over 1100 mg cholesterol? That you've just eaten enough food containing high cholesterol to last you for 4 days?
To help lower how much cholesterol you eat, you might choose to replace a ham and egg breakfast, coffee and cream.
Instead, try a bowl of oatmeal with cinnamon and a teaspoon of maple syrup, and a cup of green tea.
It's a zero cholesterol breakfast choice.
Every improvement to your daily diet and lifestyle choices helps
Look for ways to add soluble fiber to your diet. Soluble fiber from oats, barley, and oatmeal is also recommended by the FDA to lower cholesterol (FDA, 2002) as one of several natural remedies for high cholesterol.
Another great choice you might make is adding daily green tea, especially when you don't know the exact cholesterol content of your food as green tea may help as a cholesterol blocker.