Bad Cholesterol - Facts

By Robbert Williams

People have such bad opinion about Cholesterol that it becomes very surprising that the human body actually requires it. Two different types of cholesterol are available in the human body which is known as HDL cholesterol or good cholesterol and LDL cholesterol or bad cholesterol. The human body requires cholesterol to generate the necessary vitamin D, bile salts and hormones.

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

There are a lot of confusing terms being thrown around when it comes to cholesterol. Dietary cholesterol is one of those terms. You might think that all dietary cholesterol is bad, but in fact dietary cholesterol does not raise blood cholesterol as much as you might think. The two bad guys here are trans fatty acids and saturated fats.

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.

How good are good fats

You can increase the amount of good cholesterol in your body while reducing the bad cholesterol. This is because the presence of good cholesterol in your body means that excess cholesterol will be taken back to the liver to be excreted out of your body. This means you want plenty of good cholesterol as high levels of good cholesterol means a reduced risk of heart disease.

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. - 32389

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