Cholesterol Guidelines

How to Stay Healthy with a Good Cholesterol Level

Cholesterol guidelines will help anyone who’s planning to keep his body healthy and risk-free of any serious diseases in the future. One of the important points in most cholesterol guidelines is that one should keep a good cholesterol level. But before anyone can find out more about keeping a good cholesterol level, he should first try to learn more than the basic ones about cholesterol in the body.

There are two primary forms of cholesterol found in the body—the bad cholesterol and the good cholesterol. Scientifically, these two kinds of cholesterol are called LDL or low density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol) and HDL or high density lipoprotein (good cholesterol). Now anyone of the readers must be asking: How do they differ and what makes one bad and the other good? Cholesterol guidelines also include these kinds of information that everyone conscious of having a healthy body by maintaining good cholesterol level should know.

Cholesterol Guidelines 1 – LDL: The Bad Cholesterol

LDL or low density lipoprotein is the form of cholesterol that sticks to the walls of arteries and other blood vessels. Remember that cholesterol freely circulates in the blood without being dissolved. LDL flows with the blood and tends to stick to the walls of the blood vessels.

Too much amount of LDL levels in the body makes a person high risk for coronary artery disease (CAD). Why? When too much LDL is in the bloodstream, they stick together to the blood vessel wall and form a plaque. The plaque will make the blood pathway narrower and narrower until the blood flow becomes obstructed, leading to a serious cardiovascular disorder. Another important point to note from cholesterol guidelines is how to lower the LDL levels of the body.

Cholesterol Guidelines 2 – HDL: The Good Cholesterol

If there’s a bad guy, there’s also the good guy. HDL or high density lipoprotein serves as the hero that one can find from his or her cholesterol guidelines. It’s an important factor to know how to increase the good cholesterol level of the body. But what exactly is HDL and how does it become the good guy in cholesterol guidelines?

HDL works in a way that it lowers the LDL in the body. HDL carries the cholesterol away from the blood vessel walls and then carries them back to the liver. HDL is like a police that arrests the LDL criminals and sends them back into their prison which is the liver. Many studies and researches had already proven that increasing the HDL or good cholesterol level can actually protect a person from having cardiovascular diseases.

Cholesterol Guidelines 3 – How to Keep a Good Cholesterol Level

Before continuing with the cholesterol guidelines, one should understand that a good cholesterol level means low LDL and high HDL blood levels. One can only determine his LDL and HDL values through a blood test.
The normal HDL level is 40-60 mg/dL wherein a higher than 60 mg/dL is considered desirable but lower than 40 mg/dL makes one at risk for CAD. The situation is reversed for LDL levels. A low LDL level (160 mg/dL) puts the person at risk.

The trick in keeping a good cholesterol level in many cholesterol guidelines is by lowering LDL and increasing HDL in the body. The following are very useful tips to consider as your cholesterol guidelines:

•  Regular Exercise

Exercises such as jogging, brisk walking and running for at least 20-30 minutes a day can already keep a good cholesterol level by increasing HDL. The duration of exercise is more important than the intensity. Losing weight through exercise is helpful in lowering LDL levels.

• Stop Smoking and Have Some Alcohol

Smoking elevates LDL but drinking some alcohol helps elevate HDL. A glass or two of alcohol a day can increase HDL, however one should not rely on alcohol drinking as part of the cholesterol guidelines because daily alcohol consumption of more than three glasses can actually put him more at risk for cardiac diseases.

• Right Diet through the Right Kind of Fats and Food with Soluble Fibers

Monounsaturated fats are the answer. These are fats that increase a person’s HDL. Soluble fibers such as oats, legumes and vegetables can lower LDL and increase HDL leading to a good cholesterol level. Taking cranberry juice and omega 3 fish are proven to be helpful in keeping a good cholesterol level.

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