The Holistic Look At Cholesterol - It Is Not All Bad

There is so many negative vibes being bantered around about cholesterol that people may be misinformed about the importance of it in the function of your body. Other individuals may not know that there are actually two types of cholesterol, blood cholesterol and dietary cholesterol. It is a precursor to the sex hormone production; regulate your mood and a defense to stress.

There may even be those who are unaware of the fact that our own liver's manufacture cholesterol and that its presence in our body can increase as well as decrease our risk for heart disease. Most individuals have heard cholesterol referred to as both "bad", and "good", but do they know the difference? It is important to understand cholesterol and the natural and essential role it play in our bodies so that we can make good lifestyle, dietary and exercise decisions.

The cholesterol our liver produce are called the blood cholesterol and circulate in our vascular system. While dietary cholesterol are those that are ingested from our food and diet, absorbed by our digestive system into our bloodstream. These are the difference between them.

The cholesterol that we take in by the foods we eat has less affect on our cholesterol blood rest than our family history, presence of disease such as diabetes, thyroid or kidney disease and also on the lifestyle choices we make such as smoking, our exercise routine, and our body weight.

There is a connection between the amount of fat, especially saturated fat and trans fatty acids that we consume and the level of our LDL cholesterol, (the bad one). When we eat an abundance of foods such as meat, egg yolks, dairy products, and foods that contain hydrogenated fats we can help to increase our LDL-cholesterol level. We want our LDL blood cholesterol level to be low and our HDL blood cholesterol level to be high in order for our bodies to be heart healthy. We should limit or avoid foods such as French fries, doughnuts, breaded or fried chicken, fish, crackers, cookies and baker products when trying to reduce our intake of trans fats (trans fatty acids).

Lowering bad-cholesterol level is important, but it is equally important to take enough amounts of calcium, protein, zinc, iron and B-vitamins etc. Do not avoid the lean meat, fish and eggs in order to lower the cholesterol level, rather, it is more important to lower the bad-cholesterol by avoiding or lower the amount of trans fat and saturated fat.

Having high HDL cholesterol is healthy for our body because it helps to break-up the plaque that high levels of LDL cholesterol form in arteries leading to the heart and brain. HDL cholesterol can also help to reduce LDL cholesterol and get rid of it from our systems.

Now you know that not only is some cholesterol naturally occurring in our bodies because it is produced in our liver, HDL cholesterol is also an essential part to keeping our hearts and brains healthy.

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