If you have just been diagnosed with high cholesterol, if is essential that you be informed about the disease in every way possible, so that you could take informed decisions on how to manage it.
Cholesterol plays an important part in our body. It works hard to produce vitamin D, certain hormones, cell walls and bile acids. It is a naturally occurring fat-soluble molecule. Our liver produces cholesterol and also in a smaller amount, through our diet.
In our bloodstream, we have little pockets of cholesterol, carrying two types: One is called LDL (low-density lipoprotein) whose function it is to take cholesterol from the liver to our tissues. This will build up in our arteries causing them to narrow if we don’t take certain precautions, which then translates in a high level of cholesterol.
Another type namely; HDL has the job to take the cholesterol away from the arteries to the liver where it is then processed and cast-off. Our bodies should have a high level of HDL (high-density lipoprotien), which in turn gives us healthy arteries and a healthy heart. The heart and cholesterol foundations of the world, now concur that an acceptable level of cholesterol in ones bloodstream would be 5. 5mmol/L or a bit lower. In layman’s terms this means we must maintain our bad LDL low and our good HDL high.
Eating things like; milk, cheese, butter, fast foods, sugars, fatty meats, snack food would all contribute to high cholesterol and is known as saturated fat. In moderation of course these foods would be processed under normal conditions. Try to exchange these types of foods for unsaturated fats like nuts, margarine, seeds and oily fish, just to name a few.
How can one start to reduce your high cholesterol level? Physical exercise is a know method. Start off with mild exercise by maybe walking up steps or a brisk walk each day. Increase your exercise gradually until you feel comfortable with your results. Consuming an excessive amount of alcohol is undesirable as well as smoking if you want to better your cholesterol level.
There are some factors that are unavoidable should you have cholesterol problems. Things like your gender would be one. It is known that males have a high cholesterol level than females. This does however level out when women start with menopause. Age also plays a big role as one tends to develop cholesterol problems with increased age. There is also the question of ethnic groups. Here it is also proven that certain ethnic groups are prone to have a higher risk than others. If your family members also suffer from high cholesterol, then the chances are that you would also as it is hereditary.
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