Cholesterol The Natural And Essential Part Of Your Body

There is so many negative vibes being bantered around about cholesterol that people may be misinformed about the importance of cholesterol to the function of your body. Other individuals may not know that there are actually two types of cholesterol, blood cholesterol and dietary cholesterol. There may even be those who are unaware of the fact that our own liver's manufacture cholesterol and that the presence of cholesterol in our body can increase as well as decrease our risk for heart disease. Most individuals have heard cholesterol referred to as both "bad cholesterol", and "good cholesterol", 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 difference between blood cholesterol and dietary cholesterol is that blood cholesterol circulates in your bloodstream and is produced right there in your very own liver. Dietary cholesterol, on the other hand, is ingested as part of your diet and is absorbed through your digestive system and then is absorbed into your bloodstream. 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 which is the "bad cholesterol". 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). When lowering our LDL cholesterol level it is better to lower the intake of fat and trans fats rather than to avoid or lower our consumption of dairy products, meat and eggs as these items are nutritionally important to our bodies. It is important to lower our LDL cholesterol level, but equally important to give our bodies adequate amounts of calcium, B-vitamins, protein, iron, and zinc.

Having high HDL cholesterol is healthy for our body because it helps to break-up the plaque that high levels of LDL cholesterol help to 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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