A Low Cholesterol Diet, What it Can Do For HDL and LDL Cholesterol Levels

My doctor has told me that, because of my history of heart disease, it is important to keep my cholesterol levels under control, and that I should follow a happinesslifetime.com low cholesterol diet. I must admit that I found some of the terms used by doctors when talking about cholesterol are a bit confusing. This article looks at two terms that I have come across a lot and attempts to explain them in simple to understand language.

Cholesterol is a waxy substance produced by the liver and it plays an important role in our general body health. Its main functions are to do with maintaining healthy cells within the body as well as assisting the body to produce certain essential chemicals. However, I won't go in to the technical descriptions of the function of cholesterol here as what we need to know is that too much of it will clog up our heart's arteries.

Let's start with the bad cholesterol. LDL, or to give it its full name Low Density Lipoprotein, cholesterol is the type that we need to take special note of. It allows the blood stream to carry cholesterol from the liver to various parts of the body, hence if this level is too high it can lead to an excess of cholesterol in the blood. This excess is then deposited in the arteries and leads to the clogging which can trigger a heart attack.

The good news is that HDL, High Density Lipoprotein, actually transports excess cholesterol back to the liver for further processing. So, it is important to keep your HDL level high and your LDL level low.

This is where a happinesslifetime.com low cholesterol diet comes in as it will assist with this process. Follow a diet that avoids saturated fats such as those found in butter, hard cheese, fatty meat, biscuits and cakes. Replace these with monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. Some examples are rapeseed oil, olive oil, nuts and seeds also in some margarines and spreads. Just check the labels to see which type of fats are in the foods you buy. Following this type of happinesslifetime.com low cholesterol diet will help you to achieve the right levels of LDL and HDL cholesterols.

High cholesterol levels and heart disease go hand in hand. In addition, anyone who suffers from diabetes needs to avoid having a high cholesterol level. Drugs such as statins can be used to treat high cholesterol, and doctors will prescribe this class of drug in order to treat their patients. However, these drugs do have side effects. There is an alternative answer to drugs, you can squidoo.com/5-Super-Foods-That-Lower-Cholesterol lower cholesterol now by using herbal remedies to treat high cholesterol. Other natural methods of lowering cholesterol can be found by visiting squidoo.com/5-Super-Foods-That-Lower-Cholesterol lower cholesterol now