Heart disease is a common complication of diabetes. You can help lower your risk by paying attention to the fat in your daily diet. Here are some tips that will help:

• Eat less of these:
  • Saturated fats:
    • These raise your cholesterol levels by triggering your body to produce more LDLs (the "bad" fat) and less HDLs (the "good" fat).
    • They are found primarily in meats and whole-milk dairy products
  • Cholesterol-rich foods:
    • These directly raise cholesterol levels in your blood.
    • They are primarily animal foods such as meat, poultry, egg yolks, whole-milk dairy products, and some seafood.
• Eat more of these:
  • Polyunsaturated fats:
    • These lower LDL levels (they also lower HDL levels).
    • They occur mainly in foods of plant origin such as corn, sunflower, cottonseed, safflower and soybean oil.
  • Monounsaturated fats:
    • These also lower LDL levels.
    • They are found in olive, canola, peanut, macadamia, walnut, and avocado oils.

Limiting cholesterol intake to 200-300 mg/day and dietary fat to 30% of total daily calorie intake are the standard rules of thumb for healthy eating patterns.

Next week, we'll look at easy tips for low-fat cooking.

Related information Complications: heart | Lifestyle: diet | Nutrition & Fitness channel