Good HDL Levels But Low HDL Levels - Four Steps to Solving This Imbalance

What does the number one million mean to you? Does it conjure up images of a lottery win and a place the beach? Or maybe a guy surrounded by a bevy of beautiful girls talking about how he made a million? While the number one million could mean a lot of different things what it means for us is the number of Americans that had a heart attack last year. Out of that one million half of them died. So the real shocker here is not the huge number that had a heart attack but the fact that if one does occur a person is only 50/50 to survive.

For years it was thought that to avoid a coronary event all a person needed to do was chop that bad cholesterol down to size. Now we know that while keeping bad cholesterol (LDL) down is important, perhaps the most important part of the cholesterol equation is keeping HDL or good cholesterol levels high. So let's say for discussions sake that you have good LDL levels but low HDL levels. How in the world can we bring our good cholesterol (HDL) up to a point where it is working for us rather than against us.

The numbers vary slightly as to what is an acceptable range but for our purposes we will go with the National Cholesterol Education Program which is 60 mg/dl. Any number under 40 mg/dl is universally considered low and a major risk factor for developing heart disease.

So are we going to solve our dilemma of good HDL levels but low HDL levels? The answer is surprisingly straightforward; exercise, diet, weight loss (if we are overweight), and avoiding tobacco smoke.

*Exercise: A recent study involving young and middle aged women showed that the more calories a woman burned through moderate exercise, the lower her LDL levels and the higher her HDL levels. So with exercise the more the merrier.

*Diet: There are a handful of foods which could raise your HDL levels. Our fearsome foursome are dark skinned grapes (high in resveratrol), cranberries, apples, and possibly blueberries.

*Weight loss: Shedding a few pounds will help you to lower triglycerides and raise HDL levels.

*Tobacco smoke: Smoking or even second hand smoke are so powerful they will counteract all the good stuff you are doing to raise your HDL. A recent study in Korea involving over 10 thousand men backed these findings.

What else? Many people with good HDL levels but low HDL levels are finding that by adding a lowered-cholesterol.com natural cholesterol supplement to their regime they have been able to balance out their HDL and LDL readings. These products are affordable, available without a prescription, and are considered to be very safe.

Rob D. Hawkins is an enthusiastic advocate for the use of safe and effective high quality alternative health products and natural living, with over 10 years experience in the field. Learn more about natural remedies and natural health at purchaseremedies.com Purchase Remedies.com