Foods surprisingly bad for your cholesterol

Foods labelled ‘low cholesterol’
When you're shopping and you see an item that says it’s low in cholesterol, you still need to check the nutrition label. If it's high in saturated fat, it can raise your LDL ("bad") cholesterol. Also check the serving size. It might be smaller than you think, and if you eat too much, you'll get more cholesterol than you realized.

Coffee
Your morning cup of joe just might give your cholesterol level an unwanted jolt. French press or Turkish coffee lets through cafestol, which raises levels of LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol. Espresso does too, but serving sizes are small, so there’s less to worry about. If you drink drip coffee, you’re in the clear. The filter catches cafestol, so stick to drip.

Spicy, delicious food
Thai food is spicy and delicious, but it can raise your cholesterol if you don’t choose carefully. The secret ingredient? Coconut milk. It makes curries smooth, and it’s high in saturated fat. Scan the menu instead for stir fries or noodle dishes, and ask to have your dinner steamed or made with vegetable oil. Choose chicken rather than beef, throw in some extra veggies, and enjoy your takeout guilt-free.

Shrimp
You’ve probably heard seafood is a good choice when you’re watching cholesterol. That’s true, but shrimp is an exception. One serving, even if you cook it without fat, has about 190 milligrams of cholesterol. The American Heart Association recommends limiting cholesterol to 300 milligrams per day, or 200 milligrams per day if you have heart disease or high cholesterol. Try the scallops instead. They have less than a quarter of the cholesterol of shrimp.

Organ meats.
“Nose to tail” eating may be trendy in the restaurant world, but it could leave your cholesterol trending up. Organ meats such as liver, kidneys, and sweetbreads are higher in cholesterol than other cuts of meat. Beef liver is high in iron, though there are other foods that aren't organs that give you iron. Enjoying a 3-ounce portion once a month is OK.

Stick to margarine
Butter vs. margarine can be a tricky choice. Both have saturated fats and should be used sparingly. Margarine is made from vegetable oils, so it contains unsaturated "good" fats — polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. These types of fats help reduce "bad" cholesterol (LDL). If you’re using margarine, choose soft tub margarine rather than the stick variety. Tub varieties are lower in trans fats. Read the nutrition label, and look for one low in saturated fats and with no trans fat. Butter, on the other hand, is made from animal fat so it contains more saturated fat.

Pasta
The Mediterranean diet is supposed to be good for lowering cholesterol, right? And it is, as long as you make the right choices. Think marinara or marsala, not meatballs, and linguine with clams, not lasagna. But remember, cholesterol isn't the only thing to think about when planning a healthy diet. Pasta is still high in caloties and carbs. So even though you don't have to do without, remember to limit the amount you consume.

Energy bars
They’re marketed for people who work out, so energy bars have to be a good choice, right? Maybe. Check the nutrition label. You might be surprised at the amount of saturated fat in some. Look out for those with tropical oils like palm oil and palm kernel oil, which add saturated fat.

Saturated fats
Indian food can be a fine choice, but only if you hold the ghee. What is ghee? It’s clarified butter -- and that means saturated fats and cholesterol. How much? One tablespoon of ghee has 33 milligrams of cholesterol, about 11% of the recommended daily amount. It's a staple of Indian cooking, so if you're eating out, ask your server how much ghee is in your dish, and if you're cooking, check the recipe to make sure it fits your diet.

Duck
If chicken and turkey are good low-cholesterol choices, duck should be too, right? Not so. Duck and goose are both higher in cholesterol than chicken and turkey. One cup of cooked duck or goose -- even with the skin removed -- has about 128 milligrams of cholesterol. The same portion of chicken has only 113 milligrams of cholesterol, and turkey is an even better choice at 93 milligrams.

Some dairy products
How many times did Mom tell you to finish your milk because it was good for you? She’s right: Dairy helps you get the calcium and vitamin D you need. Just look for fat-free and low-fat versions, which deliver the nutrients without the same amount of cholesterol. You can also switch yogurt for sour cream in recipes to further cut the saturated fat and cholesterol.
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8 crazy things couples didn’t know about each other until they got married

On FYI’s hit social experiment show Married at First Sight, the guests marry strangers — literally. Naturally, the days following their vows are filled with more than a few rude awakenings.

But what about people who marry their longtime partner? Ask any bride or groom-to-be, and they’ll likely tell you that they know all about their significant other’s dark secrets and annoying habits.

Ask them a few months after the wedding, and well … for better or for worse, right?

1. “My wife refuses to poop with the door closed. Refuses. Also refuses to use the exhaust fan. I didn’t know about this when we were dating because we always had a tiny apartment, so the door had to be closed or else the entire place would smell like an ass bomb. Now we have a larger place — with two bathrooms, thank god. I’ve confronted her about this many times, and if I reach in and try to turn on the fan, she shrieks like a banshee.” —Cory, 32, Fort Lauderdale

2. “I married a minimalist. We’ve been married six years now, so this predates all the trendy Marie Kondo stuff. I noticed he didn’t like a lot of clutter when we were dating, but it wasn’t until we were married and bought a home that I realized the extent of his minimalism. He was very involved in the designs of our renovations, which were all very modern — think open-concept bathroom, white everything, floating staircase. As for decor, a few family photos [were fine], but no trinkets or souvenirs. You’d never even guess we have two toddlers. At first I resisted it, but now I’ve grown to love living without excess things. He’s taught me that life value should be placed on experiences, not stuff.” —Michelle, 37, Vancouver

3. “I found out that my husband didn’t want kids. He told me this three weeks after getting married. Of course we talked about whether or not we wanted kids before we got married; we’d been together for six years. I made it clear early on in our relationship that I wanted to have kids one day, and he seemed to agree. We talked about having two kids, tossed around name ideas, had a timeline laid out. We even discussed where we would want to settle down and raise them.

When he finally came clean, he revealed that kids weren’t something he ever wanted but he thought it was something he would eventually start to want. He said being with me made him open to the idea of having them and that he had hoped he would get there one day. It was very deceitful. I had spent the last six years of my life with someone who I thought was The One. Was I supposed to throw it all away?

I quickly fell into a depression and took some time to think long and hard about whether I truly needed [to be with him]. After four months of crying and confusion, I finally could say out loud what had to be done. I knew that the answer was to leave, but it took some time to get there. I never planned on being divorced, let alone separated from someone less than six months after marriage. Now I can say I couldn’t be happier. —Liv, 33, Toronto

4. “She doesn’t screw the cap on anything. Jars, juice, toothpaste, contact lens solution, you name it. More than once, I’ve grabbed some container by the lid and it went flying. I splattered a bottle of marinade down the kitchen cabinet a few months ago when I picked it up by the cap. [Early on], I’d bring it up every time. It was a big deal to me — I was a young engineer! But it just wasn’t a priority to her. Now I just go with the flow, tightening things up as I find ’em. I’m the yin to her yang.” —Paul, 55, Ohio

5. “My husband has an unusual sleep habit. I kept finding a single tissue wadded up under his side of the bed. I obviously thought it had something in it I didn’t want to touch, so I would grab it by an edge and throw it away. One night, I saw him cram one into his fist to the point where I almost couldn’t see it. So I asked about it, and apparently he just holds it in his fist all night — it’s something he did as a kid. He’s like a large baby.” —Kimberly, 31, Oklahoma City

6. “He’s super anal about cleaning the apartment. Even after he vacuums or mops, he’ll go around picking up any stray hair or anything he might have missed. If someone is coming over, he’ll go crazy cleaning up — even if it’s someone who’s been over millions of times. Obviously I knew he liked to keep the apartment clean, but it’s different now that we have an apartment with white floors.” —Stacey, 27, Fort Lauderdale

7. “He has adult ADHD. I didn’t notice any of the symptoms until we got married. I was still in university when we got married, so we had roommates. When we moved into our own place, he lost his inhibitions. He started singing about everything. If I’m doing my hair, he would sing about that and go on to sing about my name and where I’m from and my family and what the cat is doing — until he gets tired.

It wasn’t until he enrolled in school to get some certification for work that I saw how much difficulty he had with studying. As I was trying to help him, he told me he suffered from ADHD. He didn’t like thinking about it and didn’t want to mention it to anyone since he’d rather deal with it on his own. It made me understand him so much better and why he acts certain ways.” —Eve, 24, Toronto

8. “I found out my wife was a drug addict. I had known her in high school. Back then, we smoked a little weed, but nothing heavy. Her mom had legit medical issues and would get [all these pills], and it turned out she was stealing her mom’s and popping pills.

We got married in 1983, had a daughter in 1984, and by 1985, she couldn’t hide her addiction anymore. It got to the point where she didn’t want to work; she just wanted to sit around like a vegetable. In 1994, she left a note on the dry erase board saying, ‘I’m leaving, I need to figure out my life.’ So that’s when I became Mr. Mom — my daughter even used to give me Mother’s Day cards. I don’t cry for shit, but I cry watching my daughter cry. It was the hardest thing about all of this. She didn’t call on our daughter’s birthdays and was never a part of her life. She died last January — apparently she had gotten into heroine by then. I saw a photo of her and never could have picked her out of a lineup. She looked twice her age and her face was sunken in. Drugs really do destroy people.” —Larry, 55, Los Angeles

'Treatment may extend advanced breast cancer survival'

Combining a pioneering drug with hormone therapy may extend the survival of some women with advanced breast cancer, a trial suggests.

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5 Signs That You’re Working Too Much

Most people must work to make a living, to sustain themselves, maybe a family too and a home. But how much of your life are you spending behind a desk or out on the road for your employer? How much free time are you getting to balance your routine? If you’re regularly working overtime and taking work home with you, the long-term impact can be bad for your health. Here are five signs that you’re working too much.

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