Simple Tips About Lowering Cholesterol

Love your food and enjoy your lifestyle, suddenly you realise your need to lower your cholesterol level. This is definitely not rare in today's modern society. Do not wait until you found this out in the hard way. Check your cholesterol level now.

Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance called sterols that is essential to our human cells. We need cholesterol to make vitamin D, hormones, cell membranes and bile salts. It is essential to our development of the brain function. The liver is responsible to produce most of the cholesterol the body needs, with the remaining sourced from dietry intake.

Lipoproteins in our body carries the cholesterol, and there are two main types known as the high density lipoprotein (HDL) and the low density lipoprotein (LDL). Low density lipoprotein is the one which carries the cholesterol from liver to the body, where high level lipoprotein does the reverse. Hence, the lower density cholesterol often referenced as "bad cholesterol", and high level lipoprotein as "good cholesterol".

If you have not been tested your cholesterol level, it will be a good idea to include this check in your next visit to your doctor. It is a simple blood test. Understand your cholesterol level periodically. there is certainly benefit to your overall health. The cholesterol level test result consists of your total cholesterol level, triglycerides, high density and low density lipoprotein cholesterol level. This will give your doctor an overall picture of your health. The best total cholesterol reading is 200 mg/dl with a limit between 200 mg/dl to 239 mg/dl. Medical experts predict you are at risk of having heart disease if you have a total of 240mg/dl above cholesterol readings.

High cholesterol level increases your risk of coronary heart disease. With the excessive cholesterol circulating our body, deposits of cholesterol will form the plagues in our artery walls, hence narrowing the blood flow. In worst case, it can block the blood flood to your heart which ends you up with coronary heart disease.

There are a number of factors which will affect your cholesterol level. This includes your diet, eating habits, body weight, body shape, level of exercise, age, agenda and family history. Dietary change is usually the first thing to lower the cholesterol level. Saturated and trans fats are the most important ones to avoid. Saturated fats are mainly animal fats and can be found in seafood, whole-milk diary products like cheese, meat and poultry skin. Other fats such as monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats are helpful to reduce the LDL level. These fats are found in fish and nuts. In addition, soluble fibre like oats has the same effect of reducing the cholesterol level. Increased level of HDL has a protective effect for coronary heart disease.

Medical research shows that exercise reduces the risk of coronary heart disease. It is because exercise improves the lipoprotein profile. The research shows that it is the amount of exercise which is important. It does not matter you exercise extremely hard with high energy, or just general energy consumption exercise. The most critical factor is the amount, you need to exercise in the maximum duration you can. Consult your doctor to ensure the level of exercise is suitable to your health condition. So, get started whether you have high cholesterol or not. Exercise will definitely improve your health.

Why is it that some people can eat all the ice cream and fatty foods they want without increasing their cholesterol or gaining weight, whereas others have to watch their diets so closely? The answer is in our genes. Although it is known that our genes can be influenced by a number of different factors, including our environment, diet, lifestyle, education and personal and family experiences, this doesn't apply to how our bodies respond to cholesterol. Indeed, no matter what our lifestyle, it seems our genes play an overriding role in our cholesterol response. Some people have to be careful about their diets, while others have much more freedom in their dietary choices. The take home message remains the same - we might not be able to change our genes but we can certainly modify our lifestyle.

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