Bad Cholesterol – Facts
Cholesterol gets so much bad press that it’s hard to believe that your body actually needs it. There are two kinds of cholesterol in your body, good cholesterol also known as HDL cholesterol, and bad cholesterol or LDL cholesterol. Cholesterol in your body is necessary to make hormones, vitamin D and bile salts.
The bad cholesterol on the other hand can cause you lots of problems. The main worry with LDL cholesterol is that it will dump cholesterol onto artery walls that will create plaque. The plague in turn will narrow and block the arteries. This may cause blood flow to be blocked, which is bad news for your heart.
The cause of cholesterol
Lots of terms are being used for cholesterol which can turn out to be very confusing and one among them is dietary cholesterol. There is a general belief that dietary cholesterol increases the blood cholesterol but in reality this never happens. The two things that raise the cholesterol levels are saturated fats and acids that are Trans fatty.
Therefore the best way to tackle the cholesterol problem is to cut down the levels of LDL or bad cholesterol. The most effective way the world over is the diet. You will have to make certain dietary changes in your daily routine. More to the point, as you cut down on food that are bad for cholesterol such as eggs, meat, and seafood, you can also fill up yourself with food that are LDL cholesterol friendly.
Packaged foods usually have Trans fatty acids. The main culprits are popcorn that is microwave, margarine hard sticks and French fries from some fast foods. By cutting down these foods or taking alternative substitutes that are better for the health one can cut down on the Trans fatty acids which contributes to the cholesterol that is bad for health.
Upping Good Fats
Consuming a good deal of packaged food and margarine or micro wave popcorn and also French fries are responsible for the increasing of the trans fatty acid. Stay away from fast food as this too leaves your cholesterol in a bad condition. Good cholesterol does all the cleaning up for you, like throwing out the excess cholesterol through the liver out of the body. That is why you need a good amount of good cholesterol which in turn cuts down the threat to your heart.
One more way of reducing bad cholesterol is to consume food which have abundant source of soluble fiber and polyunsaturated fats as well as monounsaturated fats. The good cholesterol will definitely increase with this change in eating habits.
One can also do a lot of physical activities to bring a reduction in the cholesterol levels. It is also good to limit the intake of alcohol to two glasses a day in case of men and one glass in case of women.
Cholesterol info and resources. Get the know about the healthy cholesterol levels for happy living.