This article lists 5 basic foods that can potentially boost your good cholesterol levels. These foods are inexpensive and can be found at any local grocery store.

HDL stands for high density lipoproteins and is often referred to as “good” cholesterol. These proteins transport cholesterol in the blood. If your levels are too high, your risk of heart disease decreases, and likewise, if your levels are low, you risk increases.

There are certain foods that can have a positive effect on your HDL levels. Dark chocolate, salmon, berries, eggs and whole grains are five food items that can help you boost your good cholesterol levels.

A study conducted at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, suggests that eating dark chocolate (the gourmet kind that is 70% cacao) can raise your HDL levels significantly. Eating small daily doses (1/2 ounce) over an extended period of time should help raise your good cholesterol.

According to a Loma Linda University study in California, high density lipoprotein levels rose 4 percent in people who ate two 4-ounce servings of salmon a week for four weeks. Researchers also say that eating other fatty fish, such as, mackerel, herring and sardines should deliver similar benefits.

Eating berries, especially the darker varieties, seem to also help raise HDL levels. It doesn’t matter if the berries are fresh or frozen. Eat about a cup of frozen berries a day to crank your levels higher.

Healthy adults who ate a whole egg every day for 12 weeks increased HDL levels as much as 48 percent in a study from Thailand. Eggs are rich in lecithin, which raises your lipoprotein levels.

Don’t forget to eat some fiber on a daily basis as well. Eating oats, whole grain and oat bran can also to raise HDL levels.

These foods provide you with a natural way to increase HDL levels. If however your HDL level is very low and your family has a history of heart disease, your doctor might suggest medication as well as improving your diet.

Why then, are we constantly told that we need to cut down our cholesterol levels? It is because our bodies actually manufacture all the cholesterol that they need. Cholesterol only becomes a problem for us when we consume it in excessive quantities. About three quarters of the cholesterol in our blood is manufactured by our bodies.

Your liver is extremely sensitive to your cholesterol requirement, so if you consume a somewhat greater quantity of it at some point, your body will manufacture a somewhat lesser quantity to keep the overall level in balance. A problem only arises when you consume so much that the ability of your body to properly balance the quantity is compromised.

The average individual requires something under about 14 grams of fat per day to enable them to acquire their requirement of essential fatty acids, but in the United States the average daily consumption is at least eight times that amount. That is, the average daily consumption is greater than 112 grams when only about 14 grams are required. This excess builds up in the arteries and sets in train a health time bomb in the bodies of the individuals concerned.

Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that cholesterol levels and blood pressure levels increase in proportion to the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol consumed. This results in an increased risk of coronary heart disease, and in fact if you eat excessive quantities of saturated fat and cholesterol and your blood pressure and cholesterol levels still do not rise all that much, you are still at a greater risk of suffering from coronary heart disease.

Cholesterol is commonly divided into two groups: good and bad. The good cholesterol is high density lipoprotein (HDL) and the bad cholesterol is low density lipoprotein (LDL). The so called good cholesterol shifts cholesterol from the artery walls and back to the liver, whereas the bad cholesterol keeps the cholesterol in the bloodstream which results in the arteries becoming clogged up with deposits. To reduce your levels of LDL limit the quantity of saturated fat that you consume and increase the quantity of fibre that you consume by eating such things as oatmeal and other whole grains as well as peas and beans and fruits. Psyllium is considered to be a very good food for reducing LDL as well. To raise your HDL levels you need to lose excessive weight and get moderate amounts of exercise, and try to have a supplement of a gram or so of Omega 3 fatty acid per day.

Animal products and processed foods are the most risky foods to consume in excess in terms of saturated fat content. It has been demonstrated that those who consume a low fat vegetarian diet maintain low levels of blood pressure, low blood cholesterol levels and low rates of heart disease.

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