Is ricotta cheese bad cholesterol rich?
QUESTION: Ricotta cheese is one we use it often in my house. One of my friends told me that it is rich in bad cholesterol. Is it true?
ANSWER: Hi,
it is true that Ricotta cheese has a lot of cholesterol in it, about 246 g per kilogram of cheese.
Important for you to know is that you can not define the cholesterol contained in this cheese, or in any other particular food as a bad, because the bad cholesterol is produced in the organism in a response of increased amount of consumed foods high in cholesterol and fat acids.
With regards to this particular food, it definitely leads to the production of bad cholesterol in our body.
If you consume more cholesterol with other foods, then, that will lead more and more to an elevation of the cholesterol, more than you normally consume.
For that reason, you can eat ricotta cheese but you have to limit other foods, which contain more cholesterol in purpose to reach the normal level of cholesterol consumed daily.
In that way you can live normally without developing atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases provoked by it.
Everything is a matter of diet and you have to follow the right one if you want to eat ricotta cheese, because this food leads to an elevated risk of cardiovascular diseases.
My advice is to run your blood tests regularly in purpose to see how your organism is reacting to the increased amount of cholesterol and fat acids in foods.
All the best!
Dr.Alba
Is Spaghetti bad for cholesterol?
QUESTION: I have high cholesterol problems, and some of my friends have told me not to eat spaghetti as it is bad for cholesterol? Is this true?
ANSWER: Hi,
Uncooked spaghetti is not containing any type of fat acids or cholesterol. If this meal leads to an elevation of the cholesterol level in your organism, you have to rethink about the way of cooking as there is a great difference in the amount of cholesterol and fat acids in spaghetti with meat and made with tomato sauce.
The elevation in the cholesterol level is observed in people who are eating spaghetti made with a lot of oil and especially the fried ones. Meanwhile, when tomato juice is used instead of meat, there is another story.
Please find below a simple recipe to make low cholesterol and low fat spaghetti. They are the most preferred in our Mediterranean region:)
First of all, boil the spaghetti until your tooth likes them. After that, you have to prepare a sauce composed of 1 tbsp. canola oil, then add 1 garlic button and 4 tbsp. of sugar.
After mixing them, add 3 cups of tomato juice and 1 tbs. of salt and one bay leaf. If you cannot resist the meat balls, you can also add some small amount, but try not to fry them.
This is the meat with the lowest amount of fat acids and cholesterol in it. My advice is to be careful with the spice. You don’t have to put a lot of salt or other spices in excessive amount because this leads to a slight elevation of the cholesterol and the blood pressure of course.
Buon appetite!
Dr.Alba
