Diet To Lower Cholesterol: Improve Your Health With Cholesterol
July 2, 2008
Many people often hear from their doctor about their cholesterol level either being bad or good, but many do not actually understand just exactly what cholesterol is and what its function is in the body. Many often develop a misconception as to what it really does. Cholesterol is simply a waxy substance produced by your liver that is designed to perform a number of tasks for our health.
When we consume foods in our daily diet, our liver takes the food and turns it into cholesterol which helps aid in developing bile salts to digest the fat, build cell walls, and to create vitamin D. So why would we worry about eating too many foods that produce too much cholesterol in our body? The answer lies in the fact that too much of anything is essentially bad for you. If we understand what is cholesterol, we can better steer clear of consuming to much cholesterol.
The Bad Cholesterol Verses The Good Cholesterol.
One easy way to watch our cholesterol level is to understand what foods that we eat in our daily diet which produce the good cholesterol bad cholesterol. Foods that carry animal fat such as dairy and meats carry bad cholesterol, Foods such as vegetables, fruits, and whole grains carry no cholesterol at all.
Too much bad cholesterol in our system can lead to blocked arteries which is very bad. When our arteries are blocked it prevents our blood from flowing, which is very bad for our health.
Good cholesterol on the other hand has a very good job that keeps our body healthy. Its main job is to carry the excess cholesterol back to the liver so bile salts can be created to carry it out of our system.
What Causes High Cholesterol?
Many of us who go to the doctor are usually worried about having a high cholesterol level. There are several reasons that we acquire a high cholesterol level and the main reason is our age. As we age our cholesterol level goes up and we are thus more able to get high cholesterol.
There are many possible reasons that we have high cholesterol levels in our body. One reason may be hereditary. If this is the cause then you need to consult your doctor and get tested to determine if you also have high cholesterol. Another reason is physical activity. The more we exercise, the higher the levels of the good cholesterol will get within our system.
When we are looking at the causes and cures for high cholesterol, we often find a direct link between the food we eat and our cholesterol levels. If we eat foods rich in fiber, vegetables, beans, fish, and fruits we can keep the good cholesterol levels up within our body. We also need to try and avoid eating foods that promote high cholesterol levels within our body like meat and dairy products.When we go to the doctor and he gives us our cholesterol reading, many do not understand just exactly what he is talking about. Many people know that cholesterol is either good for you or bad, but many do not understand what is cholesterol. Cholesterol is simply a waxy matter that the liver creates which handles a number of duties in our body.
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