What is Cholesterol? Tips on How to Reduce Cholesterol

What is cholesterol? Usually people only focus their interest in ways to lower cholesterol without ever really understanding what is cholesterol. If you understand what cholesterol is, at least give you a little better understanding of why it is necessary that it is small, and so on. If not, then at least help to prepare you for high cholesterol risk.

What is cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that presents itself naturally in cell walls and membranes everywhere in your body, including the brain, nerves, muscles, skin, liver, intestines, and heart. Your body uses cholesterol to maintain the overall health and body function, some cholesterol is good, it works to build and repair cells, produces hormones such as estrogen and testosterone, vitamin D, and produces bile acids which are proven to assist in fat digestion. Cholesterol produced by the liver and is also found in certain foods. It only takes a small amount of cholesterol in the blood to meet these needs and our body produces enough cholesterol needed.

Olive oil contains a potent mix of antioxidants that can lower your "bad" (LDL) cholesterol but leave your "good" (HDL) cholesterol untouched.

Try using about 2 tablespoons (23 grams) of olive oil a day in place of other fats in the diet to get his heart healthy benefits. To add olive oil to your diet, you can saute vegetables, add it to the marinade and mix it with vinegar as a salad dressing. Basting meat or as a substitute for butter bread dip, you can also use olive oil. Olive oil is high in calories, so do not eat more than the recommended amount.

Cholesterol-lowering effects of olive oil are even greater if you choose extra-virgin olive oil, the oil is less processed and contains more heart-healthy antioxidants. But keep in mind that "light" olive oil is usually more processed than extra virgin or virgin olive oil, and a lighter color, not fat or calories.

5th Added plant sterols or stanols foods

Food products are now available that have been fortified with sterols or stanols - substances found in plants that help block the absorption of cholesterol.

Margarine, orange juice and yogurt drinks with added plant sterols can help reduce LDL cholesterol by more than 10 percent. Daily plant sterols needed for results of an amount not less than 2 grams, which equals about two 8-ounce (237 milliliter) servings of plant sterol-fortified orange juice a day.

Plant sterol or stanol fortified foods do not appear to affect levels of triglycerides or high-density lipoprotein (HDL), "Good" cholesterol.

The problem comes when you have too much cholesterol in the blood. Too much cholesterol in the blood, especially LDL "bad" cholesterol in the arteries will be prevented from working at their best. Fat and cholesterol are deposited in artery walls in many of the body and damages your arteries blockage. This allows you to have a serious illness such as heart attack and stroke risk. Indeed, the main reason behind heart attacks and strokes clog your arteries from high cholesterol.

To understand cholesterol are serious consequences when you have high levels of bad cholesterol, because cholesterol can cause blockages in the arteries. For this reason it is essential, then, that you keep the bad cholesterol in the arteries of optimal health.

The good news is, there are things you can do to control your cholesterol. They can be used with success in life. It is recommended that you visit your doctor regularly so that a keen eye on your levels.