Nate D. asked:


How can you tell if your cholesterol levels are unhealthy? You have to consult your health care provider to let you know precisely what your cholesterol level is. Knowing your levels is not nearly enough to determine whether or not you have a high probability of heart disease, you must calculate what your Lipoprotein levels are.

Lipoproteins are molecules that are especially made to transport cholesterol around the blood stream. They are important because they determine exactly how much cholesterol is in your body. There are a couple basic kinds of Lipoproteins:

- High Density Lipoproteins

- Low Density Lipoproteins

The one that you really must be aware of is Low Density Lipoproteins. A higher count of Low Density Lipoproteins means that you may be experiencing a pretty bad cholesterol issue. High Density Lipoproteins are better kinds of cholesterol that are told to transport cholesterol away from cells and to the liver.

The complicated thing about cholesterol is figuring out precisely what levels you should be seeing. A healthcare professional has the training to tell you how different your cholesterol levels should be. The normal person usually should have about 4.0mmol/l but if you have a low density lipoprotein number, you should see around 2.0mmol/l. As I talked about, however, every person is different so you need to get your levels checked to see precisely what you must be aiming for.

Cholesterol is very important and you should be aware of what levels to have so you can aim for them. More and more people are getting heart disease due to high levels of cholesterol so it is a smart thing to go to your doctor and learn your cholesterol level.

There are several methods to lower your cholesterol numbers. Starting to eat healthier foods that can help bring down your LDL cholesterol number is one thing you can do. With a better diet, your body is shielded from the terrible effect of cholesterol. You would have to quit smoking, decrease your weight, and exercise to increase your HDL cholesterol number.

Following a more healthy lower fat diet can lower cholesterol levels. If better eating and exercising seem to not be working after about six months, contact your health care provider to discuss medicine to lower your cholesterol number.

peterhutch asked:


Cholesterol is an important substance we all need for our body to function properly. But in this case to much of something is not a good thing and high levels of cholesterol can be dangerous to your long term health. If you have high cholesterol it is a good idea to lower it to more normal levels and the best way to do this is through diet.

The cholesterol in blood comes from two main sources: the foods we eat and what we manufacture. Cholesterol levels that are too high or too low in the blood can be a very dangerous factor, often leading to a heart attack or a stroke. There are many people who take statin drugs to reduce their cholesterol. However, there are many natural foods that you can eat to help lower cholesterol safely and naturally without the use of dangerous statin drugs.

Cholesterol is an important substance that the body uses to create and maintain cell wall membranes and manufacture many of the hormones we need to keep the body functioning. But high levels of cholesterol in the blood stream can lead to atherosclerosis which is a narrowing and hardening of the arteries. This in turn can lead to high blood pressure, clogged arteries, and blood clots.

Reducing saturated fat and cholesterol in the diet is the foundation of the TLC diet. The strongest nutritional influence on serum LDL cholesterol levels is saturated fats. There is also a dose response relationship between saturated fats and LDL cholesterol levels. For every 1% increase in calories from saturated fats as a percent of total energy, serum LDL cholesterol increases roughly 2%.

One of the reasons your body produces Cholesterol is a self preservation tactic. Your arteries develop cracks and stress factures as a natural occurrence. Your body must patch these cracks and factures or you will bleed to death. The substance of choice for your body to use is Collagen. However, if the raw ingredients needed aren’t present in sufficient quantities to produce this miraculous elixir, cholesterol can also be used instead.

Foods to avoid include fried, battered, crumbed, fatty takeaways, fast foods, sausages, luncheon and processed meats, pastries, pies etc. Others are cream, cakes, biscuits, puddings, ice cream, chocolates, hot chips.

There must always be a balance including fresh vegetables and/or salad whenever you decide to have meat or fish. Chicken is not good for you, if it is fried and if it is to be consumed it is important to remove the skin.

A good breakfast for your sample diet to lower cholesterol should include oatmeal or oat bran and fruits. You can alternate it with cereal and low-fat milk or whole grain products, such as wheat bread. If you use butter or margarine, you may want to replace it with sterol-fortified margarine, instead. For the drinks, you can take sterol-fortified juices, skim milk or water. Vitamin supplement may also be taken in the morning.