The Good, The Unhealthy and then the Charts
All over the world approximately 17 million people die from heart disease and the bad guy is usually cholesterol. Cholesterol has gained a very bad status in modern society being coined a killer. But this important substance is wrongfully accused of a crime that it did not commit and media plays a big role in advertising this foul reputation. But strangely enough, cholesterol plays a vital role in every day life.
Typically, cholesterol is classified into two. Good cholesterol is known as high-density lipoprotein while low-density lipoprotein is known as the bad type. Low density lipoprotein is important in the body. It is responsible for transporting precious cholesterol to the cells since cholesterol is needed in certain biological processes like hormone and cell production. On the other hand, HDL or high-density lipoprotein scour the body for excess cholesterol and takes it to the liver to be eliminated from the body. You can determine how much HDL and LDL you have by a simple blood exam and then you can compare it to a Cholesterol Levels Chart to determine if you have the right amount circulating in your body.
Normal cholesterol levels should be less than 200mg/dl. The higher you go from normal, the greater the risk for heart disease and stroke. As for LDL cholesterol levels chart, having an LDL reading of less than 130mg/dl is considered normal. In contrast, if you registered an HDL level of more than 60mg/dl in your standard HDL cholesterol levels chart then you have a lot of those micro machines working to get rid of excess cholesterol in your body. These charts are a valuable tool in determining your health status and can be used as a guide for treatment if necessary and also preventive measures.
As mentioned before, LDL is bad cholesterol if you have high levels of the stuff. So obviously, lowering it would be a great first step. Diet primarily plays a role in this. Foods rich of the stuff are meat most especially in beef and pork; processed foods like ice cream and canned goods have nasty quantities of LDL and other chemicals too. Also control consuming food products that are processed, not only are they rich in trans fat but also are jammed pack with preservatives. Finally, limit the intake of butter in your diet. Butter makes everything taste good but bad for your arteries. Simply put, limiting fat intake is very important in having normal LDL levels.
What we need is a good amount of good cholesterol to combat excess LDL. So consuming foods rich in Niacin like eggs, omega-3-fatty acids and also monounsaturated fats help increase the levels of HDL circulating in the body.
Combined with exercise, lifestyle changes like avoidance of smoking and a healthy diet, you can achieve a sense of yin and yang of your cholesterol in your body and achieve bodily and arterial zen.
