How To Raise Good Cholesterol

High levels of cholesterol are bad for the health. Cholesterol is not bad in itself, in fact, it is vital for the normal functioning of the body to some extent. It only becomes a problem when there is too much in the body. The way that too much gets into the body is by eating types of foods that are high in cholesterol. Typically, high cholesterol levels lead to thickening of the artery walls or atherosclerosis. This can lead to high blood pressure and heart disease if untreated. One way to treat it is to raise good cholesterol levels. This article will discuss what good cholesterol is, why raising it is good for your health and some ways on how to raise it.

Cholesterol is a waxy deposit that exists in most animal products like dairy and meat. After being eaten and broken down, food is absorbed from the intestine into the bloodstream where it can be transported throughout the body and used for energy or nourishing the body. Cholesterol is also absorbed into the bloodstream but it is not soluble in blood and thus needs to be carried by something. The job is done by lipoproteins. There are various types of lipoproteins but the important one's are low density and high density lipoproteins (known as LDL and HDL). LDL transport cholesterol around the body and have a tendency to stick to the walls of the arteries. This causes atherosclerosis. HDL is responsible for transporting cholesterol to the liver where it is excreted. Thus LDL is often referred to as bad cholesterol and HDL as good cholesterol.

If you want to improve your health by lowering your cholesterol there are two broad strategies to take. Lower bad cholesterol and raise good cholesterol. Sounds simple but how do you raise good cholesterol ?

Through studies it has been proved that there is a direct link between obesity and low good cholesterol. Obesity is not the cause of this but rather another symptom of the underlying problem. And that problem is a poor diet.

Obesity is the inevitable consequence of eating too much than our body needs over an extended period of time. Most people need a certain amount of calories a day. This is based on a variety of factors from age, sex, size and type of daily activities performed. The aim of a diet is to eat a balanced range of foods that provide the right amount of calories for a persons needs.

Exercise is a way to expend some of the calories that you consume if your daily routine does not involve much physical activity. Exercise can be fit round your normal life by doing things like walking to work or washing the car every weekend. Or it can be a dedicated session in the gym or playing some sport. The goal of a diet/exercise is to get the food consumed - food needed down to zero.

Smoking is another activity that has been shown to lower the levels of good cholesterol. Quiting smoking will raise good cholesterol.

Raising good cholesterol will improve your health. If you can get it to above 60mg/dl then the risk of cardiovascular illness is significantly reduced.

Find out how to get your cholesterol reading using lowcholesteroldieting.com/Cholesterol_Test.html cholesterol testers by visiting lowcholesteroldieting.com lowcholesteroldieting.com . Adrian Whittle writes on issues related to reducing cholesterol and a lowcholesteroldieting.com/Cholesterol_Diet.html diet for high cholesterol.