How To Lower Your Cholesterol? Understanding Cholesterol Levels
How To Lower Your Cholesterol? Understanding Cholesterol Levels

How To Lower Your Cholesterol? Understanding Cholesterol Levels

How To Lower Your Cholesterol? Understanding Cholesterol Levels

How To Lower Your Cholesterol? Understanding Cholesterol Levels. More than half of the world today has high cholesterol. What this means is that every other person that you see walking down the street is at risk for some sort of heart disease. The average person doesn’t even know how their cholesterol stands because you can’t see high cholesterol. However, the stats stand for themselves when it comes to your cholesterol; you need to understand it to be able to deal with it.

Once you get past the code, it is very easy to understand.

  • There are five different ways that you can use to get a complete reading on your cholesterol levels and they are: total cholesterol levels, HDL, LDL, total/HDL ratio, LDL/HDL ratio.
  • These measurements are written down to be what is desirable and what is not desirable.
  • Measurement units for checking your cholesterol are conducted as milligrams per deciliter.
  • It is extremely confusing if you try to look at these separately.

You can talk to your doctor if you want to understand your cholesterol levels and what, if anything, you need to do about them or how to maintain them properly.

  • I am going to give you the actual numbers that are involved when it comes to your cholesterol.
  • Your overall desired level should be below 200 mg/dL, 200 to 240 for a borderline level, and total risk above level 240.
  • This is just for your overall levels.
  • When it comes to breaking it down to each level, your doctor can best explain those to you.

Explaining HDL Cholesterol

  • When you think of your cholesterol, chances are all you care about is that it is low, but HDL levels are not the same as general cholesterol levels.
  • It is just a section of your overall cholesterol when it comes to the HDL levels you want it to be high.
  • HDL is not the same as cholesterol in any way.
  • Your HDL levels are high-density lipoproteins.

We need lots of these.

  • Their role in our body is to carry cholesterol away from the body as soon as LDL has brought it.
  • There are several different ways that you will want to achieve this.
  • On the list are excessive smoking, alcohol, body weight, exercise, and medications.

Let’s look at the actual numbers on this.

  • You have to remember that the smallest changes in HDL levels are significant.
  • It would be going too far to say it is exponential, but a 1 mg/dL increase in your HDL cholesterol levels means as much as a 2 to 4 percent reduction in risk of heart disease and cardiac problems in general.
  • Knowing that your HDL levels need to be high is one thing.

Here are the actual figures to explain.

  • Your numbers are too low if they are at 37 mg/dL for men and 47 mg/dL for women.
  • The normal range for men to have is about 40 to 50 mg/dL, and for women 50 to 60 mg/dL.
  • This is a concern as many people get these levels backward. It helps if you try to see a reasonable goal which would be to increase your HDL cholesterol levels by 10 mg/dL from whatever it is now since most of us need more than what we have.

Your Heart Needs Low Cholesterol

  • Having lower cholesterol is very important and by now we all know this.
  • Age is not a factor when it comes to cholesterol as we can all have a problem here.
  • It is also a fact that you can increase your chances of having a heart attack or stroke if your cholesterol is bad.
  • To understand what this means and how to achieve it, we all need to understand a few of the key concepts and terms first.
  • We will start with this.

Cholesterol is just a fat-like substance that is found throughout the body.

  • The next thing is to know how it gets there.
  • This is easy, you get your cholesterol through the body itself or in the foods we eat and put into it.
  • You need to know that too much of it, however, is not healthy for the body.
  • When your cholesterol is too high you will end up with clogged arteries, block our hearts, and threaten to end our lives.
  • Most of us have bad cholesterol cause we all love bacon and fatty foods.

There are two kinds of cholesterol that we have, which may be confusing at first.

  • High-density lipoprotein is one of them, and it is commonly known as HDL which needs to be high as it protects the heart from bad cholesterol.
  • Low-density lipoproteins, or LDL, and are sometimes called the bad cholesterol because they can clog arteries and kill us, is the other.
  • We have both kinds of cholesterol in our bodies and we need both.
  • The balance between them is what gives us general health.

How to lower very high cholesterol?

Lowering your Cholesterol

  • For those people who would prefer not to take prescription drugs for lowering their cholesterol, there is a more natural way.
  • The alternative to using drugs is natural cholesterol reducers which could also be found in many whole foods.
  • Most of us now prefer to take natural remedies such as herbs etc. today’s research show the effectiveness in getting rid of the symptoms or in reducing your chances of having heart disease.

Natural cholesterol reducers are substances that help to lower cholesterol without having to have people tamper with it first.

  • This means that they were not created with the use of chemicals or pesticides.
  • If you are wondering what such things can be construed as natural, I will tell you.
  • Garlic is considered a natural reducer because it acts as an inhibitor.
  • Fish oils with their omega-3-fatty acids are also known to reduce heart disease by at least 40%.

There is another factor that you need to consider too.

  • For example, did you know that Cholesterol’s sister problem beta-sitosterol can very effectively cut blood serum cholesterol with practically no changes at all made in your diet or exercise regimens?
  • The spice Curcumin (an extract of a curry spice turmeric), lowers cholesterol naturally.
  • However golgul gum resin which is from the myrrh tree reduces high cholesterol levels as well as helps you with weight problems.
  • These are just some natural spices that you can add to your diet.

Things That Will Give You High Cholesterol

  • By now, you probably know a lot about the risks of heart disease; especially with the high amount of information that is available on this subject.
  • However, you should know that there are many different risk factors for high cholesterol that we never seem to pay enough attention to.
  • You may be wondering what they are.
  • Perhaps you are wondering what they have to do with you.

The first thing that needs to be said is in identifying what they are.

  • Of course, much of this is just common sense.
  • Some of the foods that can contribute to your high cholesterol are fast foods, chips, soft drinks, candy bars, refined sugars, buttercream, fried cheese, fried dough, and cotton candy.
  • These are the ones you can control by simply not eating them whenever possible.
  • These are all of the comfort foods that most of us have been eating since we were kids.
  • They are familiar to you and your mother.
  • However, you should be warned that they will kill you if you let them so it stands to reason that your health beckons you to avoid them.

Some risk factors for high cholesterol are part of your normal lifestyle.

  • Weight problems, smoking, alcohol abuse, as well as horrible are all another part of your daily life.
  • Some of the causes of high cholesterol can’t be prevented.

For example, high cholesterol is also hereditary.

  • However, it is good to note that this is a factor that you have to live with.
  • Diabetes, kidney disease, liver disease, hyperthyroidism are just some of the dangers that these foods can cause; high cholesterol is just another side effect.

Cholesterol Readings Explained

  • It is highly recommended that one gets their cholesterol levels checked once in a few months.
  • The cholesterol reading received will consist of the total level of cholesterol, level of lipoproteins, triglycerides, and levels of lipoprotein cholesterol (high density).
  • This report will enable the physician to get a basic overall view of one’s health.

If your physician needs different levels checked which gives a combinable reading.

  • It is a splendid idea if one has the three levels of cholesterol which are nothing but the sum of the cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol regularly monitored and verified.
  • The optimal range of total cholesterol is around 200mg to 239mg with 200mg being the spot-on value.
  • Researchers have predicted that one is at risk of attack or any other heart disease if their total reading is above 240mg.

Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol

  • LDL form of cholesterol is the kind one must avoid, in other words, the bad one.
  • This type of cholesterol increases the risk of heart disease by blocking the arteries with deposits of cholesterol.
  • Hence having levels of bad cholesterol which tend to the higher side are bad for the body.
  • The idea limit of LDL level of cholesterol is 200 milligrams.
  • The optimum range is 200- 240 milligrams. Above that is potentially dangerous.

High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol

  • LDL form of cholesterol is the kind one can call the ‘good cholesterol.
  • Let’s look into why it is considered good.
  • What happens is that HDL transfers the surplus cholesterol to the liver from the tissues.
  • This is converted to bile in the liver by breaking it down.
  • The idea limit of HDL level of cholesterol is 40 milligrams.
  • The optimum range is 40-45 milligrams.
  • Above 60 milligrams protects one’s heart and improvises on the brain’s routines which manage the blood vessels.

Triglycerides

  • Triglycerides are nothing but a kind of different fats.
  • It accumulates in one’s body as fat and then slips to the bloodstream.
  • These constitute most of the fats in one’s diet.
  • These harmless-looking triglycerides are one of the primes contributing to heart disease.
  • In the higher ranges of dose, it is known to thicken the blood arteries which may lead to a stroke or heart attack, or any other kind of heart disease.

The optimum range of triglycerides is between 150 and 199 milligrams, not exceeding above 200.

  • There is nothing called an ideal reading.
  • It differs from person to person depending on numerous factors.
  • If the readings are pretty high a change in lifestyle is recommended.
  • One must make sure that he maintains a healthy lifestyle to live a long life.

How to reduce your cholesterol without medication? Read this- Drinking-Water And Weight Loss Does It Work

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Harshit Brave

Health Care Advisor, Guide, Teacher, and Trainer. Life Counselling Coach. About Us. Optimal Health is something you all can refer to as perfect health an individual can have. Being healthy only physically is not enough, to attain that perfect health you need to be healthy in all the aspects of life, hence; Optimal Health – Happiness, Health, Wealth, Wisdom, and Spirituality.