The LDL Cholesterol Connection With Heart Disease
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Cholesterol is a vital element for our health and well-being. There are two basic types of cholesterol: HDL cholesterol is good for our health, LDL cholesterol is bad for our health.
HDL cholesterol is beneficial to the body and must be transported to all parts of the body by the bloodstream, whereas LDL cholesterol must be eliminated from the body via the very same bloodstream. The body has a mechanism to regulate the levels of LDL cholesterol and HDL cholesterol in the blood. Bad eating and lifestyle habits cause the cholesterol levels to exceed the normal healthy bounds thus overloading the regulatory mechanism. If this condition continues for a long time our health is jeopardized.
Excessive LDL cholesterol sticks to the inner walls of the blood vessel and forms a plaque which reduces the blood flow. This condition is called arteriosclerosis, which is the harbinger of critical heart diseases.
If this situation carries on for a long time, the blood flow is obstructed and the blood pressure increases leading to overloading of the heart. The plaque can accumulate to such an extent that it completely blocks the blood vessel, or it may get dislodged from one location and lodge itself in a narrower blood vessel, like a capillary, creating a blockage there. Blood supply is choked off at that point, and leads to blood starvation in the region beyond the blockage. If this blood starvation occurs in a critical area of the body, as for example in the brain, then we get a crisis. The affected area of the brain shuts down and this leads to a ’stroke’ wherein the body experiences paralysis in those areas controlled by the area of the brain which has shut down. If the blood vessels of the heart are affected by blockage, then we get a critical situation known as a heart attack. All this is due to an excess of LDL cholesterol in the blood.
Heart disease can be prevented, or the risk of getting it can be reduced, if we follow some very simple health guidelines. The first is to counterattack the invasion of LDL cholesterol into the body. LDL cholesterol gains entry into the body with the food we eat. So you should mount a watch on the kind of food you eat. Saturated fats are heavy with LDL cholesterol and must be shunned. You can and should include the healthy fats into your diet (e.g. omega-3 fats found in fish) because they actively help to reduce the bad LDL cholesterol. Copious draughts of plain water helps the circulatory and excretory functions of the body, which at once improves health and eliminates the bad LDL cholesterol.
Change your cooking medium from heavy saturated fats to unsaturated fats and oils. Virgin olive oil is good for your heart. These dietary changes will be very beneficial in your battle against heart disease.
Smoking actually helps to elevate the LDL cholesterol level in the blood. Give up smoking and see the LDL cholesterol beat a hasty retreat. Follow the other steps in this article to ensure your freedom from a dangerous heart condition.
A stressful lifestyle adds fuel to fire if you have an excessive LDL cholesterol level. Tension adds to the high LDL cholesterol situation, whereas a tension free lifestyle actually goes a long way to decreasing the LDL cholesterol level.
To sum up, LDL cholesterol can be controlled by eating foods which are free of saturated fats, exercising, quitting smoking and ridding yourself of stress. The worst thing you can do is to panic about high LDL cholesterol levels. This article is meant to educate you about the cause and prevention of heart disease, not scare you. Use what you have learnt in this article to control the LDL cholesterol situation. Once that is under control, you can say that the risk of heart disease is under control.
Owning a cholesterol monitor can save you cash by reducing visits to the doctor for a cholesterol test. To discover additional techniques to reduce cholesterol visit www.reduce-high-cholesterol.com.
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