Increasing Good Cholesterol Levels Part Two

Increased cholesterol levels seem to be the health care buzz these days. We are constantly warned of the health risks of heart disease and stroke from elevated cholesterol levels. Keeping bad cholesterol in check is relatively easy with a few dietary changes and the added benefit of exercise. Raising your good cholesterol is equally as important and often more difficult.

LDL cholesterol is smaller than HDL cholesterol. LDL have tails to anchor to blood vessel walls and tend to accumulate, causing decreased blood flow, increased blood pressure and put us at greater risk of clots breaking off and causing major problems. HDL actually scrubs LDL from vessel walls, sending them back to the liver to be reprocessed. If HDL is low, LDL is left unchecked, rising despite our efforts to control this health problem.

In Part One of this article serious we discussed the importance of activity, or exercise, to raising good cholesterol levels. Moderate activity will increase HDL in our bodies. Exercise removes toxins, stimulates health and growth, increases oxygen intake and distribution, burns stored energy and causes the body to produce more hearth healthy HDL.

There are other things you can do besides exercise that will affect cholesterol levels:

If you smoke, stop! Giving up tobacco will cause an increase in HDL. In addition to all of the other negative effects smoking directly causes or contributes to, smoking suppresses HDL production and leads to higher LDL cholesterol levels. Studies have shown that quitting smoking can raise your HDL by about 4 mg/dL in a relatively short period. Smoking puts you at high risk for heart disease and stroke. These are not experiences you want, especially since they are the #1 and #3 killers in this country and strokes are the #1 cause of disability.

Eliminate trans-fats from your diet. Do not cook with saturated oils, margarine or butter. High intakes of trans-fats lower HDL and cause plaque build-up of LDL in your blood vessels. It is hard enough to improve cholesterol levels with foods good for you. Cutting out fast foods, processed foods and foods made with hydrogenated oils will at least stop drops in good cholesterol and will stem the rise of bad cholesterol. This is not an easy task since many of our favorite prepared foods contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. At one time I ate too many fast and processed foods for the convenience. I eventually found I was killing myself. It took a devastating stroke to wake me up. It is really not that difficult to begin adding healthy meals to your diet.

One or two 4-6 oz drinks a day containing alcohol, no more, may show a beneficial increase to HDL levels. The studies conducted show that this benefit is true regardless of the type of alcohol. However, the barley from beer and the healthy benefits of the grapes in wine offer other benefits not offered by distilled spirits. This increase in HDL was by up to 4 mg/dL in some studies. This is not an invitation to drink excessively. The benefit is lost when larger amounts are consumed. Consult your doctor if you have liver or other conditions affected by alcohol or you have an addictive nature.

In your efforts to raise good cholesterol levels exercise has great benefits for cholesterol management with other great healthy side effects. Simple changes in lifestyle can also result in increased HDL levels. The next articles, Increasing Good Cholesterol Levels Parts 3-5, will discuss other methods to increase your good cholesterol levels, including foods and supplements that will help raise HDL.

Jeff Keto - ThingsYouWantToKnow.com ThingsYouWantToKnow.com