How to Raise Good Cholesterol – 3 Tips to Raise Good Cholesterol
High cholesterol, as you might already know, is not good for your health. You are at high risks for clots, plaque build up, and heart disease. These debilitating problems all result from allowing your cholesterol to raise above normal levels.
There are two types of cholesterol, good and bad. The bad cholesterol (or ldl) is the type that brings cholesterol from the liver to the cells. When your body contains a large amount of this type of cholesterol, your blood level of cholesterol increases.
Good cholesterol (or hdl) is the type that removes extra cholesterol from your body. By increasing the level of this type of cholesterol you will successfully reduce total levels of cholesterol.
So, how do you raise this special type of cholesterol?
Exercise
30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise including running, jogging, and cycling have been proven to raise hdl cholesterol in the body. If you have not exercised in a long time, this is your opportunity to begin before your condition worsens. Starting with a walking routine is a good way to improve your chances of starting a real exercise routine.
Change Your Diet Read more
Why Cholesterol is a Problem
Far from being a totally unwanted substance in the body as many would probably believe, cholesterol is in fact an important constituent of certain bodily hormones such as estrogen and testosterone, and of cell membranes. In other words, cholesterol is actually something that is required and which performs vital functions within our bodies.
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. Read more
