That said, high cholesterol, or hyperlipidemia, is an adverse health condition characterized by excessively high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, often referred to as “bad cholesterol.”.

While regular consumption of these types of foods, along with foods high in saturated fat and trans fats, can cause high cholesterol, hyperlipidemia isn’t necessarily solely attributable to poor diet; rather, there are numerous risk factors at play.

The good news is that several of these risk factors are modifiable, meaning you can lower your risk of high cholesterol with a few healthy lifestyle choices.

Many animal products are high in saturated fats, and diets high in animal protein and fat have been shown to cause deleterious changes to the balance of bacteria in your gut, increasing the abundance of inflammatory microbes and reducing the abundance of bacteria that aid digestion, protect your gut barrier, and produce good HDL cholesterol.

Unlike saturated fats and trans fats, unsaturated fats can lower your cholesterol and may reduce your risk of heart disease.

For example, studies show that diets high in monounsaturated fats can lower LDL cholesterol and increase HDL cholesterol.

While high-cholesterol foods can increase blood cholesterol levels, when considering a diet, saturated fats and trans fats are the real offenders of high cholesterol.

Much like exercise acts as a positive double whammy against high cholesterol by concurrently raising good HDL cholesterol and lowering bad LDL cholesterol, so too can following a healthy weight loss diet and losing excess weight.