The Good and the Bad of Cholesterol

High cholesterol is a contributor to heart disease and the risk of a stroke.  Cholesterol is mostly produced in the liver but some foods contribute to increasing or reducing your cholesterol levels.

There are two types of cholesterol, namely “LDL” (”bad” cholesterol) and “HDL” (”good” cholesterol).  Bad cholesterol comes from foods containing saturated fats and trans fatty acids such as cakes, red meat, chips and pies.  Your diet should contain no more than 10% of saturated fat. 

Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats can reduce your cholesterol levels.  These are found in the likes of avocados, nuts, olive oil, seeds and oily fish.  Some people have naturally high cholesterol, which means that they need to pay particular attention to diet.

Importantly, exercise can increase your good cholesterol (HDL) levels and therefore has a positive impact on your health too.

This entry was posted on 28/07/2010 at 05:59 am and is filed under Latest from Ann. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.