Cholesterol Awareness Is Key

You can find out just how healthy you actually are by being vigilant and checking your cholesterol levels on a daily basis. With all of the current advances in medicine, it will not prove difficult at all to find a doctor who will explain these numbers to you and provide you with a real understanding of your health status. Some truly disturbing statistics from the American Heart Association include:

"The age-adjusted prevalence of U.S. adults age 20 and older with LDL cholesterol levels of 130 mg/dL or higher, which is associated with a higher risk of coronary heart disease, is...

For non-Hispanic whites, 31.5 percent of men and 33.8 percent of women.

For non-Hispanic blacks, 34.4 percent of men and 28.6 percent of women.

For Mexican Americans, 42.7 percent of men and 30.4 percent of women."

The best method I have observed so far involves testing daily with a cholesterol testing kit in the comfort of your own home. The setting of ones own home will enables you to take your time and learn the math associated with calculating and understanding you results. Again, it is important that you get assistance initially to insure you are calculating properly, afterall we are talking about our health!

It may prove to be somewhat challenging understanding the kit at first, but if your persist through the math you will then gain understanding as to the meaning of the numbers and the results. Bad cholesterol is often referred to as low density lipids cholesterol or LDL and reportedly comprises approximately 65% to 75% of your total cholesterol. This is the 1st number and you want to keep lower than 125. This type of bad cholesterol is responsible for thousands of deaths yearly because it causes heart attacks. In this battle your diet is very important, you must consume low cholesterol foods. Even more important is the consideration that risk factors like obesity or history of familial heart disease may exist, you absolutely must strive to keep you bad cholesterol levels below 100.

The good cholesterol is represented by the 2nd number and is known as High Density Lipid Cholesterol or HDL. The levels differ between the sexes and recommended at 40 or higher for women while the minimum is 35 or higher for men. By exercising regularly and abstaining from smoking, one can effectively raise their HDL level. By maintaining a healthy balance with the LDL and HDL levels you can have a good combined cholesterol level.

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