Cholesterol is one of the main factors of heart attack or heart blockages. Abnormal cholesterol level in blood is major problem in 80 percent of the population in whole world. Cholesterol is present in cell membrane of all mammals. Cholesterol is derived from Greek word meaning bile solid. It is essentially fatty oil present in our blood and always roaming around with blood flow. The important facts about the cholesterol are they never dissolves in blood but only move freely in the blood by the help of lipoproteins.
There are two types of lipoprotein to carry the cholesterol high density lipoprotein or HDL or good cholesterol and low density lipoprotein or LDL cholesterol or bad cholesterol. It is extremely important to keep good cholesterol ratio high to prevent heart disease. LDL cholesterol is bad for health and we should try to keep this cholesterol level low by incorporating appropriate diet. LDL cholesterol tends to deposit in the blood vessels or arteries and form plaque and consequently put pressure on the wall of artery cause blockage or heart attack. While good cholesterol or HDL try to carry back the LDL cholesterol back to the liver and excrete out from the body. To maintain good cardiac health it is essential to take care of cholesterol ratio frequently and try to keep up the HDL high than LDL cholesterol. Our body can have capacity to synthesize cholesterol from plant food product. Essentially we don’t need to give our body direct cholesterol food like saturated fats or tran’s fat.
Limited intake of high protein diet like meat, egg or high fat milk can keep your cholesterol level low. If we supplement our diet with lot of fibers and omega fatty acid we can easily maintain the good cholesterol ratio higher than bad cholesterol or LDL cholesterol. It is not that you can forgoe the non vegetarian food but you can just consume low fat skim milk rather full fat milk, you can eat lean meat like turkey or chicken rather than red meat. Try to skip cheese and butter which always shoot up the cholesterol level quickly and instantly. If you know that you are eating those high cholesterol foods try to burn it by doing vigorous exercises and maintain other food intake low. Try to eat lot of fish and high fiber food like lettuce, spinach or any kind of green vegetables. Eating food like avocado or fish which are rich in omega fatty acid keep your cholesterol ratio in good shape. Eat lot of whole food product like whole wheat bread, whole wheat bran and flaxseed to keep your LDL cholesterol low. Maintain a good diet doesn’t mean you should skip protein completely, we definitely need protein our of normal physiological body process. Protein from soy products or beans is good as proteins as well keep cholesterol level low and never increase your LDL cholesterol. Above all of these try to schedule a blood work done in every 6 month to be in the safe side and to know the cholesterol ratio.
