TLC Lifestyle

The TLC Diet - Total Lifestyle Change is a low saturated fat, low cholesterol diet designed to help reduce your blood cholesterol level and to decrease your chance of developing heart disease, future heart attacks, and other heart disease complications.

TLC Diet Guidelines - you should eat:

• Less than 7% of the day's total calorie from saturated fat.
• 25-35 percent of the day's total calories from fat.
• Less than 200 milligrams of dietary cholesterol a day.
• Limit sodium intake to 2400 milligrams a day.
• Just enough calories to achieve or maintain a healthy weight and reduce your blood cholesterol level. (Ask your doctor or registered dietitian what is a reasonable calorie level for you.)

If your blood cholesterol is not lowered enough on the TLC Diet, your doctor may first intensify the TLC diet by increasing the amount of soluble fiber and/or adding cholesterol-lowering food products to your diet. These products include such items as margarines and salad dressings that contain plant sterol esters or plant stanol esters. If your LDL is still not lowered enough, your doctor may prescribe cholesterol lowering medication along with the TLC diet.

TLC Diet and You - Your Personal Eating Plan

The recommendations for cholesterol and sodium are the same for everyone on the TLC Diet, regardless of the number of calories they should eat. You should eat less than 200 milligrams of cholesterol a day and no more than 2400 milligrams of sodium a day.

The recommendations for saturated fat and total fat are based on the percentage of calories you eat; the actual amount that you eat will vary depending on how many calories you eat.