Cholesterol and Diet

Cholesterol and diet are huge subjects, and the relationship between them is tight.

High cholesterol affects millions of people every year, and high cholesterol foods are one of the main contributors and cause of high cholesterol in the blood. This is the link between high cholesterol and diet.

Ordinarily, cholesterol by itself is actually good for your body and is used to make up hormones and cell membranes.

When Cholesterol Poses a Problem

Cholesterol is an essential element of every part of your body.

However, too much of it is a problem and often increases the risks of contracting other lifestyle health problems like high blood pressure, obesity, stroke, heart disease and cancer.

High cholesterol is a health problem that’s too risky to ignore or to take a laid back approach to.

If you’ve been diagnosed with high cholesterol, you don’t have time to act. The time is NOW to start taking steps to lower your cholesterol levels. You cannot wait until you start seeing heart disease signs or symptoms to change your eating habits. It may be too late.

Symptoms of heart disease may not always show up to announce the arrival of heart disease. Some people experience silent or “no-warning” heart disease or attack with no symptoms.

The most natural and most effective way to reduce high cholesterol is diet changes. Adjusting your diet to reduce cholesterol is not difficult to do. There probably are several diets for high cholesterol, but be careful that you are getting all the necessary nutrients in food from naturally balanced diets.

Controlling your diet, reducing on or avoiding high cholesterol foods, increasing your physical activity will help you greatly. You may or may not see immediate results. Be patient, committed, consistent, disciplined, and have a positive mind.

There is also a link between low cholesterol and diet.

Can cholesterol be too low?

Well, the answer is yes it can be; although the condition is not nearly as common as high cholesterol.

Good and Bad Cholesterol

In this day and age, our diet is mostly very high in cholesterol and saturated fats. Saturated fats increase the levels of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol in your blood.

The best foods to lower cholesterol are foods that contain help to raise HDL (“good”) cholesterol. The great thing about HDL cholesterol is that it lowers LDL cholesterol (“bad”) in your body.

One way or another, there is also a link between fish oil in your diet and cholesterol.

Cholesterol levels in UK are at an all-time high. HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels in women are generally higher than men’s.

Cholesterol medication usually comes into play once someone is diagnosed with high cholesterol. Lowering cholesterol without medication is always the best scenario; largely because, as usual, medication has side effects. That’s why you should not allow your cholesterol levels to get out of hand before you start acting. Simply reduce bad cholesterol in your diet.

The summary of the difference between “good” and “bad” cholesterol is simple. One is healthy for you, and one is bad for your health! I elaborate more on this in the cholesterol foods sections.

The bottom line? High cholesterol is caused by and can be controlled by diet. The best approach to managing high cholesterol is through a healthy cholesterol diet, and low cholesterol eating.

The information here is for general guidance only.
Talk to your doctor before making any changes to your diet and lifestyle.