Healthy Cholesterol Levels Can Protect Your Heart

Having Good Healthy Cholesterol Levels

Healthy cholesterol levels are important for everyone at any stage of their life. High cholesterol can lead to heart disease and hardening of the arteries, among other health problems. When you get your cholesterol levels checked, your doctor will draw blood and let you know about both your LDL (bad) and HDL (good) and your triglycerides.

Experts agree that if you have a low reading, you will be considered to have a healthy cholesterol level. You should look for numbers below 200, as this is thought to significantly lower your risk for heart disease.

If you constantly eat unhealthy foods, you will find that it’s really hard for you to maintain the low numbers you need to keep your heart healthy. You might also find that if you don’t get enough exercise, you also suffer from high cholesterol.

If you find that your numbers are between 200 and 240, you will likely be put in the moderate risk for heart disease. This means that you need to begin a healthy diet and workout routine, plus there are heart health supplements that can assist in helping you reduce your levels. People in the moderate risk group can lower their numbers with healthy living.

Obtaining Healthy Cholesterol Levels

If your numbers are above 240, it’s likely that you will be put in a high risk group and along with diet and exercise; you will probably be put on medications to bring down your levels. (Dr Dwight Lundell believes this to be completely unnecessary, as inflammation is the main cause. He describes this in his book ‘The Great Cholesterol Lie.’) This high risk group means that you have the risk of getting heart disease as a person whose cholesterol numbers are below 200.

The Good LDL Cholesterol

You should also know that there is good cholesterol, which serves as the building block to every cell in our bodies, so we need it. HDL cholesterol is also essential because it carries all the extra bad cholesterol, or LDL cholesterol out of the body. So, you will also want to make sure that you have a healthy cholesterol level when it comes to your HDL. The numbers should be between 40 to 50 for men and 50 to 60 for women.

Living healthy is essential not only for your overall health, but for the health of your heart. So, if you want to work harder to prevent heart attacks, strokes and heart disease, exercise and eat right and lower cholesterol naturally.