How To Keep a Healthy, Good Cholesterol Ratio
Its Important To Maintain Healthy Cholesterol Levels
Contrary to popular belief, being healthy does not only mean reducing your cholesterol levels but also maintaining a good cholesterol ratio. Many people mistakenly believe that cholesterol is intrinsically bad for the body and that it should be eliminated completely.
However, the human body does need some amount of cholesterol. Therefore, in order to be perfectly healthy, we need to minimize the bad cholesterol while keeping a healthy amount of good cholesterol at the same time.
Balancing the Good and Bad Cholesterol
There are basically two kinds of cholesterol found in the human body — the LDL or low-density lipoproteins and the HDL or high-density lipoproteins. HDL is the good cholesterol, which is needed by the body to build cell membranes. It is transported to the different parts of the body through the bloodstream. LDL is also found in the blood but it is not really needed by the body.
It can clog up your arteries, especially if there is too much of it in the blood. Once the arteries are clogged up, there will be a very high probability of heart attacks, strokes or other serious complications in the circulatory system. But all these health risks can be avoided by balancing your cholesterol levels and keeping a good cholesterol ratio at all times.
How Do You Maintain A Good Cholesterol Ratio?
There are several ways you can do this, like by watching what you eat. Many foods today contain high amounts of cholesterol — these are the ones that have saturated fats or trans fats among the ingredients.
You can keep your cholesterol ratio favorable by staying away from these foods and choosing instead those that are marked as low-fat or cholesterol-free. Many also choose to help reduce cholesterol levels with natural cholesterol lowering supplements.
If you eat healthy foods, it is still advisable to monitor your cholesterol levels regularly through a cholesterol screening test done once every two years or so.
Getting your cholesterol levels tested is not complicated at all. You will just have to submit a blood sample and the lab results will be returned to you shortly. Interpreting the results is not difficult either. You just have to see whether your HDL count is higher than your LDL count.
If so, then you have a good cholesterol ratio and have nothing to worry about. Otherwise, you will have to reduce your fat intake, exercise more, and perhaps lose some weight. By doing all this, you can improve your cholesterol ratio considerably.
High Cholesterol Levels and Health Problems
The Dangers of Having High Cholesterol
The next time you walk along the aisles of the grocery store, notice how many products are marked “low cholesterol” or “cholesterol-free” — you’ll probably see dozens of them. But why is it so important to avoid cholesterol in our foods?
Is it really so bad for our health to have high cholesterol levels?
The short answer is yes, it is dangerous to have too much cholesterol of the bad cholesterol in the body because this will increase your risks of suffering from heart attack, stroke, or other cardiovascular problem.
However, we do need some types of cholesterol so that our body can function properly.
Monitoring Your Cholesterol Levels
Most people who have problems with high cholesterol levels are not aware of their condition until it has progressed to the more advanced stages. The main reason for this is because they don’t undergo regular cholesterol screenings with their doctor.
As with any other health issue, prevention is the best defense against high cholesterol, so you should make sure to monitor your cholesterol levels every year and take the necessary precautions to prevent it from rising to an unhealthy number.
LDL and HDL Cholesterol Counts
When you undergo a cholesterol screening, you will find three numbers on the results of your test — the LDL count, the HDL count, and the total cholesterol count. LDL or low density lipoproteins are also known as the bad cholesterol and you don’t want this number to exceed 160.
HDL or high density lipoproteins, on the other hand, are the good cholesterol, and you want this number to be at least 60, preferably higher. The total cholesterol is the combination of these two numbers, but not necessarily their sum. If your total cholesterol is higher than 240, then you definitely have a problem with high cholesterol levels.
Heart Health Risks
The higher your cholesterol levels, the higher your risk for heart-related problems, and here is why. As the cholesterol in your body increases, they build up in your arteries, gradually blocking them, necessitating the harder pumping of your heart in order to keep the blood circulation going. The heart is not designed to go into overdrive all the time. Eventually, it will get exhausted and become weak and more prone to illness.
If you already know that your cholesterol is a bit high, then you should take steps to lower cholesterol. You can take many steps including lifestyle changes and natural cholesterol lowering supplements. Even if you currently don’t have an issue with high cholesterol levels, it would be good to start taking precautionary measures so that you won’t be at risk of so many cholesterol-related problems in the future.
