How to Lower high cholesterol naturally
High cholesterol levels can increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and blood circulation. Know the cholesterol level in the blood is the prevention efforts of the disease.
A desirable total cholesterol level for adults without heart disease is less than 200 mg/dL. An HDL cholesterol level of 60 mg/dL and above is considered protective against heart disease, while a level of less than 50 mg/dL for women or 40 mg/dL for men is considered a major risk factor for heart disease.
Cholesterol during is considered negative. Many people avoid foods containing cholesterol, can lead to heart disease, he said. This may be true but maybe not. But, did you know actually what is cholesterol? Is it true that as bad as you imagine? Find out all about it here.
What is cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like, which is found in all cells in the body. This substance may often be viewed negatively. Almost all people think high cholesterol foods should be avoided. But, did you know cholesterol is actually needed by the body?
Yes, the body needs this substance to make hormones (such as cortisol, testosterone, and estrogen), vitamin D, and bile acids to help digest fat from food. The body itself can actually make all the substances according to needs, but it may be only in small amounts.
Most of the cholesterol that is present in the body might you get from food consumption. The liver will produce more of these substances if you eat a lot of foods that contain saturated fats and trans fats. This can then cause the cholesterol in your blood becomes high.
What's the difference between LDL and HDL?
Cholesterol travels through the blood stream in the form of lipoproteins. Lipoproteins are made of fat on the inside and protein on the outer part. Well, there are two types of lipoprotein that carry cholesterol throughout your body, namely:
• Low density lipoprotein (LDL), also known as bad cholesterol. A high HDL CHOLESTEROL buildup in the body can cause arterial blood vessels (which carries blood from the heart to the rest of the body) is clogged. This can then cause heart disease or stroke.
• High density lipoprotein (HDL), also known as the good cholesterol. HDL carries cholesterol from other parts of the body back to the liver. Then by the liver, the substance will be broken down and eliminated from the body. The amount of HDL higher than LDL in the body is a good thing for your health and can help prevent you from chronic diseases.
How much does normal cholesterol levels in the body?
Important that you checked the levels of HDL and LDL cholesterol in the body. This is one step to do the prevention of chronic diseases, such as heart disease and stroke. Cholesterol levels in the blood are measured at least once every five years on every person aged over 20 years, this test is commonly referred to as the lipid profile.
Lipid profile test can show the amount of total cholesterol that is present in the body, the amount of LDL, HDL, and the amount the number of triglycerides. Restrictions for each type of test are:
• a good total cholesterol level in the blood is less than 200 mg/dl, are included in the category of high when simply applied reached 240 mg/dl or more.
• a good LDL Levels in the blood is less than 100 mg/dl, and will harm your health when it is simply applied reach 160 mg/dl or more.
• the levels of good HDL in the body is 40 mg/dl or more, and can be said to be low when simply applied less than 40 mg/dl.
• the levels of triglycerides in the blood are less than 150 mg/dl, and included in the categories high when simply applied reach 200 mg/dl or more.
What causes a person had high cholesterol?
Are you one of those people who have high cholesterol? If so, does that mean you have to be more careful in maintaining your health? This condition occurs when you have too much LDL levels in the blood or a too low HDL levels in the blood. This makes the risk you are exposed to greater heart disease.
A lot of plaque (made up of fat, cholesterol, calcium, and other substances) that can be formed in the arteries due to high LDL levels. This is called atherosclerosis. As a result, atherosclerosis can clog blood flow and cause heart disease.
Levels of LDL and HDL in the body can be affected by many things, among which are:
• the food you eat. Consuming foods that contain saturated fats and trans fats can cause Your LDL levels rise. Examples of food containing high fat is fried foods, chicken with skin, fatty meats, and fast food.
• Having excess body weight. People who have excess weight or obesity tend to have high LDL levels.
• age. The older a person is, the more his LDL levels rise. This may be influenced by changes in the function and metabolism of the body are declining. So it's no wonder people are seniors will have the amount of LDL greater than younger people. LDL levels will begin to rise after you have entered the age of 20 years.
• lack of exercise. It turns out that sports can help increase levels of HDL and LDL also make become less dangerous, by way of increasing the size of the particles that make up the LDL.
• a family history. If your family members have a history of high cholesterol, you may be experiencing the same thing. This is because of genetics also affect cholesterol levels in your blood, even compared to other factors strongly influenced (as above). Skinny people who have high cholesterol descendants can thus have high cholesterol as well. So, this disease can not only owned by fat people, don't get me wrong.
Genetic control of the cell in order to not remove LDL in the blood quickly or can also cause liver produces too much LDL. Therefore, if you have high cholesterol, it is a descendant of control factors that can be modified (like keeping intake of eating and exercise).
What are the symptoms of high cholesterol?
Many people do not know that he experienced this condition, especially if he never controls. Usually, he knew that he had this condition along with the diagnosis of other diseases, such as coronary heart disease, heart attack, or stroke. Of course, it's already late to prevent the disease appears.
In fact, there is no specific symptom or signposted if someone has this condition. Evaluating the levels of HDL and LDL is the only way to find out if you have high cholesterol levels or still in the normal range.
For that, you are advised to check regularly the lipid profile in order to prevent the development of chronic diseases that can be caused by the condition. Remember, the better to prevent than to treat!
What's the harm if left untreated high cholesterol?
High cholesterol can cause atherosclerosis, a buildup of plaque occurs wherein the walls of arteries. This can clog blood flow partially or completely and cause coronary heart disease. If atherosclerosis occurs in the arteries that supply blood to the heart (coronary arteries), you will probably feel chest pain (angina) and symptoms of coronary heart disease among others.
Over time, plaque can rupture and cause blood clots formed in the surface of the plaque. If the clot is large enough, it can obstruct blood flow to the heart and makes the heart muscle of oxygen deficiency. If blood flow is not restored quickly, part of the heart muscle begins to die and a heart attack can happen.
Plaque can also be formed in the arteries in other parts of the body, in addition to the heart, such as the arteries that bring oxygen-rich blood to the brain and limbs. This can lead to blocked blood flow and lead to problems, such as carotid artery disease, peripheral artery disease, and stroke.
How to lower high cholesterol?
Don't worry, if you are one of those people who have this condition, there are still many things you can do to lower LDL and raise HDL so that you avoid the risk of chronic disease. Some ways of lowering high cholesterol are:
1. change your eating habits
One of the things that influence the levels of HDL and LDL in the body is the food you eat. For that, you need to control your intake of foods that you eat so that your HDL and LDL levels are maintained. We recommend that you avoid foods that contain saturated fats or trans fats. Both kinds of these fats can raise LDL in the blood.
Examples of foods that should be avoided or limited to eaten is a fatty meat, organ meats, butter, cream, fried or greasy foods, high-fat milk, and more.
2. Lose weight
People with excess weight tend to have higher than LDL HDL. This is because typically obese people often overeat and rarely do sports. To avoid high cholesterol, then it is recommended that you lose weight if you have excess body weight.
No need to lose weight to thin. Simply lower your weight until you reach a normal weight. The effect of weight loss is very positive all levels of LDL and HDL are against you. 5 kg weight reduction alone is capable of reducing cholesterol levels to 8%.
Do weight loss is the healthy way, so it's not just the weight of the water is reduced but also the weight of fat. You can simply target your weight loss of 0.5-1 kg per week.
3. Do regular exercise
High LDL and low HDL is closely related to excess weight. Therefore, you need to burn body fat by way of doing regular exercise. Regular exercise can help increase levels of HDL and lower LDL and triglyceride levels.
Do exercise at least 30 minutes per day or 150 minutes per week so that these benefits can you feel.
4. stop smoking
Smoking can lower HDL in the body, so that it can continue to increase LDL levels. In addition, smoking can also hurt your blood vessel walls. To that end, we recommend that you stop smoking habit if you want to avoid the diseases caused by high cholesterol.
5. avoid stress
When LDL levels, stress can increase. To that end, we recommend that you avoid stress. Discover a fun activity which can make yourself quiet, so avoid the stress. In addition, you also need to fulfill the needs of sleep. Lack of sleep can make the body stress.
Cholesterol-lowering foods anything?
If nobody wants to LDL is high, then you should consume more foods that contain good fats (unsaturated fats) compared to the nasty fat (saturated fat and trans fat). Some examples of food sources of unsaturated fats that you can consume to help lower high LDL levels are:
• olive oil
• salmon, tuna, sardines, herring, or omega-3-rich fish other (but, it's not processed by way of deep fried)
• Avocado
• walnuts, almonds, cashews, Soy nuts, and more
In addition to foods high in unsaturated fats, foods high in fiber are also a food-lowering cholesterol. Fiber can help lower LDL and raise HDL. A fiber in food can block absorption of these substances by the body and help it out of the body through the feces. Vegetables and fruits are a group of foods that contain high fiber.
In addition, oatmeal and foods made from whole wheat also contain fiber that is high enough.
Do I need a cholesterol medication?
In addition to changing patterns of life, another way to lower cholesterol is by taking drugs cholesterol. Drugs can lower LDL cholesterol faster up to 50% compared to other means. Like, control the fat intake only lower LDL by 10%, while the weight loss 5-10% of initial weight only succeeded in lowering LDL to 15%, offered from WebMD. Then, no wonder many people prefer to use medication for lowering LDL than changing patterns of life.
Cholesterol drugs work by blocking the substance that your body needs to make cholesterol, reduce levels of triglycerides in the body, and helps absorb cholesterol and throw it away from the body. One of the cholesterol drugs that is often used is the statins, including atorvastatin, lovastatin, simvastatin, pravastatin, and rosuvastatin.
However, do not rely solely on cholesterol drug only. You still need to keep the levels of LDL and HDL remain normal with controlling your intake of food and regular exercise. It does not mean you are already using cholesterol drugs so you can be free to eat anything, it's wrong. Furthermore, the use of cholesterol drugs Statins can also cause side effects.
Side effects that can be caused by Statins are dizziness, gastrointestinal problems, muscle and joint pain, diabetes mellitus type 2, until the muscle and liver damage. After you know the side effects of statins, do you still want to use cholesterol medication? Do you need a cholesterol medication or not, it depends on the levels of cholesterol in your body. We recommend that you ask it to your doctor.
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