What you need to know about good and bad cholesterol

For many years the word cholesterol was considered bad and dangerous,so the doctors urged us to completely exclude from the diet products containing it and switch to a cholesterol-free diet.

But, as usual, time put everything in its place, and it turned out that the body needs everything in moderation, and the lack of cholesterol is just as bad as its excess.

Why cholesterol is needed ^

Cholesterol is a fatty substance used for building cells, the so-called building material vital to humans:

• Without it, the human body can not function properly and produce vitamin D, sex hormones and adrenal hormones.
• A lack of cholesterol can cause serious hormonal problems, and in severe cases lead to extinction of sexual desire and even infertility.
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• It is also necessary for the production of serotonin, a hormone of joy and good mood, in the absence of which a person develops depression and suicidal tendencies.
• American scientists published the results of sensational studies, according to which, people who managed to reduce cholesterol to the minimum by means of incredible efforts, were more often depressed and committed suicide.

Cholesterol is especially needed for the growing children's body - the normal physical and mental development of the child largely depends on it. Cholesterol enters the body in two ways - one part of it is produced in the liver, and the second, a smaller part, comes along with food. That is why breast milk is rich in cholesterol, and in the diet of growing children for full development include fat-rich foods.

Cholesterol good and bad cholesterol ^

Cholesterol is conditionally divided into "good" and "bad", based on the damage it can cause in excess of the amount, although a person, as already mentioned above, needs both to normal lifeits kind. Cholesterol good through the liver and intestines is quietly excreted from the body without causing harm, which is why it is considered good.

Excess cholesterol "bad", unfortunately, is not excreted from the body:

• It has the property of depositing on the walls of the arteries in the form of cholesterol plaques, thereby narrowing the vessels and leading to the development of atherosclerosis.
• When these plaques eventually become too large, they can completely cut off the artery, which entails the death of the tissues of some organ that is unable to receive the necessary oxygen and nutrients with the blood.
• Such a process can occur in any part of the body, but it is most dangerous when it occurs in the heart - then myocardial infarction and brain develops - a stroke occurs;less frequent infarction of the intestine.

Insidiousness of cholesterol is that often it does not give any alarming signs - a person thinks himself completely healthy and does not even suspect that he has a dangerously high. Checking and controlling your cholesterol is vital, because its increase is a delayed-action mine.

That's why doctors recommend starting from the age of 20 at least once every 5 years to take a blood test for good, general and bad cholesterol. Moreover, all indicators should be monitored simultaneously, since the general analysis is often normal, and the level of bad indicates the impending problems.

Cholesterol is considered a very important indicator and is widely used by physicians to assess the general health of a person along with the level of sugar, blood pressure and body weight.

The most important health assessment criteria ^

There are five main criteria for assessing the state of health by which you can conclude that you do not face cholesterol problems if all these indicators are normal:

1. Total cholesterol - no more than 5 mmol / l
2. Bad cholesterol, or low density - no more than 3 mmol / l
3. Blood sugar level - no more than 6 mmol / l
4. Blood pressure - no more than 140/90 mm Hg
5. The waist circumference in men is not more than 102 cm, for women - not more than 90 cm.

It was previously thought that problems with cholesterol metabolism are inherent only in the elderly, linking it with the inevitable aging of the body, slagging and metabolic disorders. But now this problem, like many others, is very "younger", which is understandable. The fact is that older people are traditionally accustomed to eating healthy home foods, thereby reducing the risk of such diseases.

The younger generation is mainly fed fast food - the most harmful modern food. Different hamburgers, chips, sodas and other semi-finished products contain many preservatives, dyes and other chemical additives.

Such food, used regularly, already by the age of 25 can create a bunch of health problems, including cholesterol. Physicians are sounding the alarm, because atherosclerotic plaques in the vessels began to find even in children.

But there is good news - scientists have experimentally proved that at the early stages of atherosclerotic changes in the vessels that cause the development of hypertension, are well treatable and completely reversible.

How to reduce bad cholesterol without tablets: prevention ^

Doctors say that to prevent the increase of bad cholesterol in the blood it is enough to adhere to the following simple rules:

To consume vegetable fats instead of animals

First of all,its food ration, bringing to a minimum the use of harmful products such as fast food, convenience foods and preservatives. Especially harmful are products containing trans fats , called fat-killers and are considered the main culprits for the rapid growth of cardiovascular and oncological diseases in humans.

Trans fats are so harmful to health that the US obliged each manufacturer to indicate their content in their products and strictly follow the non-compliance with the permissible standards. Trans-fats are found in almost all types of industrial baking, sauces, mayonnaise, chips and even in baby biscuits. Therefore, be sure to read the labels and do not buy products containing margarines and hydrogenated fats.

Often people in the fight against high cholesterol make a mistake and completely exclude from their diet all vegetable and animal fats. This is a very dangerous delusion - vegetable fats do not contain cholesterol and are necessary for normal body functioning.

For example, vegetable oil activates fat metabolism and promotes the excretion of cholesterol surpluses, therefore it is recommended for patients with diabetes mellitus. A taken on an empty stomach spoon of vegetable oil promotes the release of bile and reduces the painful symptoms of cholelithiasis.

To prevent a high level of bad cholesterol in the blood, doctors recommend:

• to dress salads with vegetable and olive oil instead of mayonnaise,
• meat along with vegetables and bake on the grill to drain fat,
• meat broth to cool and remove the upper layer of fat,
• Cut fat from meat and skin from a chicken.

Do not overeat

• Try not to overeat, because overeating and overweight are often the trigger for the development of various diseases.
• Arrange at least occasionally discharge to your body in the form of one-day starvation, which will be of great benefit.
• Remember that the main secrets of long-livers are that they eat very little, because the body needs much less food than is commonly believed.

Normalize the weight of

It is necessary to normalize your weight, because obesity promotes further increase in bad cholesterol, and vice versa, with weight reduction, its level is normalized. This is very useful for moderate physical activity, especially doctors recommend walking, which is equally suitable for healthy and weak people.

Drinking lots of water

You also need to closely monitor your drinking regimen, because insufficient water intake leads to dangerous dehydration of the body and many diseases, especially to:

• blood thickening,
• elevated hemoglobin above normal,
• formation of thrombi.

Often, having started correctly drinking water and restoring your water-salt balance, you can get rid of many diseases, including cardiovascular diseases.

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