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CholesterolThe idea that high cholesterol is bad for you probably comes as no surprise to anyone in this day and age, but an ongoing question for many people is where exactly does cholesterol come from and how does cholesterol get to be too high?
Cholesterol comes from two sources, diet and internal synthesis.Many of the foods we eat on a daily basis have cholesterol already in them, and our own body makes it out of the things we eat. Therefore, if your diet is high in cholesterol you may have a problem with it. In addition, if your body synthesises (makes / creates) too much cholesterol, you'll also have a problem no matter what you eat. Internal synthesis seems to be regulated by genetics, so if your family has had a problem with high cholesterol in the past, you may want to have your cholesterol levels checked yearly.
Many people who suffer from high cholesterol, whether genetically determined or not, find relief and help through dietary changes.Cholesterol is found in any and all meat or animal products.The most common sources of dietary cholesterol are beef, poultry, egg yolks and shrimp. A popular misconception is that meat contains no cholesterol, only the fat, so by removing the fat, the cholesterol was also removed. WRONG. Lean meat has about the same amount of cholesterol as regular meat. However, there is a significant reduction in blood cholesterol levels to be gained from removing the fat, as animal fats fuel the cholesterol synthesis in the body - types of fats are also explained further down this page. Vegetable matter does not contain more than negligible amounts of cholesterolSo the choice of vegetable or nut cooking oils is usually not too much of a factor. You'd have to drink two and a half gallons of pure peanut oil, which is one of the highest in cholesterol, in order to equal the cholesterol intake of just one egg yolk. However, choosing vegetable oils according to use can be helpful in reducing other problematic dietary factors such as oleoresin and free radicals. Cholesterol is a necessary cell building block, so it is synthesized within the body as well as being part of any diet.Even if you're a vegan, if your body is geared to produce a lot of cholesterol you may need medication in order to regulate the metabolic process responsible. Up to one quarter of daily cholesterol production happens in the liver, while the rest of it is created in the intestines, reproductive organs, and the adrenal glands that sit right above the kidneys. If you suffer from high cholesterol, an educated systemic approach is your best tool to living a long and happy life free of cholesterol-related health problems and anxiety. For most of us, high cholesterol is a life style choice we made much earlier in life - little exercise and eating too muchSo if your cholesterol numbers, cholesterol levels, cholesterol ratings are in the high cholesterol range, then yes, you do have a life threatening situation on your hands. Don't get me wrong, high cholesterol typically kills people very slowly, so you likely have plenty of time to lower and achieve normal cholesterol readings, and avert your impending cholesterol induced disability or death. I'm being deliberately strong and forceful in my words, as most people don't realize the full reality of what high cholesterol does to one's body over time, and take ineffective steps to control their cholesterol - It's BIG changes, not little ones that are needed for lowering ldl cholesterol - Ldl cholesterol is referred to as the bad cholesterol. My father died because of high cholesterolMy father died about 30 years ago from cholesterol related heart disease, when I was just 21. A triple bypass operation gave his life an additional ten years, but he remained always weak and needing to rest. Understanding and controlling cholesterol was new in his day. Yes, he was advised to follow a low cholesterol diet - avoid foods high in cholesterol like butter and eggs, use margarine, eat fish, avoid fat - that was about the most they could tell him about lowering cholesterol. Then, 30 years later, I was diagnosed with high blood cholesterol levelsWhen I came down with high ldl cholesterol, the doctors and dieticians gave me the same advice as my dad received - that didn't really help that much. Let's face it, when you look round this cholesterol web site, you can understand why doctors and health professionals cannot possibly hope to impart this level of cholesterol information to you - the cholesterol information you need to succeed is enormous and many cholesterol sufferers will repeatedly come back to this site to gain more and more cholesterol information as they digest the earlier information they have obtained here. How dangerous is dangerous when we talk about cholesterol and heart disease?Well, if your high cholesterol has created deposits in the arteries feeding the heart, you have cardiovascular disease, and the heart disease that occurs from an artery becoming blocked - the heart attack - causes the heart to stop beating or not beating right, then, even if you were to be given immediate CPR, your chance of NOT being resuscitated is 90%. If you are lucky to be amongst the 10% who live, you run a 10% chance of remaining in the hospital for the rest of your life. Cholesterol is deadly - very few people get a second chance when they ignore their high cholesterol or fail to control it. Controlling cholesterol is vitally important. What you may not realise is that a cholesterol caused stroke could occur anywhere in your body. If the cholesterol doesn't kill you, it can still be very disabling. I saw a photo of foot that had had a stroke caused by cholesterol. It looked yuk and the person may have been going to lose it. People can lose their eyesight when cholesterol deposits build up in the blood vessels feeding the eyes, even dementia may result from the effects of cholesterol buildups in the veins and arteries feeding the brain. High cholesterol is not a game, you may feel well, but cholesterol can still be doing it's thing... That's why cholesterol is called a silent killer. Education is your main defense against high cholesterol - without the knowledge to treat your cholesterol, you will most likely die, after, maybe, suffering several serious heart attacks and strokes, which may leave you more and more disabled each time. Very seldom will high cholesterol lower of it's own accord. The typical outcome is for high cholesterol to just get worse, slowly and silently killing you as the months and years progress. That's why it's so important to learn to lower cholesterol, to learn about cholesterol diets, cholesterol meal planners and sample diets to lower cholesterol. It's important to learn about how to lower cholesterol naturally and safely, while only pursing the use of cholesterol drugs when absolutely necessary. There are also cholesterol fighting herbal preparations that can help. Let's start with the essentials first - What is cholesterol? How often should you have a cholesterol test? What are the dangerous fats and why are they dangerous for people with high cholesterol? When you have read our essential cholesterol information and the other sections on this page, you can find more indepth cholesterol information through our links on the left - we go into things in greater detail on our other pages - but this is an excellent page to start with.
CHOLESTEROL TYPES: LDL, HDL, VLDL, Apo B and Apo A1.The next simple step is to understand the different types of cholesterol - if we lower the wrong one we can kill ourselves, likewise, if we increase the wrong cholesterol, we can again kill ourselves. Read on for ... The essential cholesterol information for understanding and victoryThere is some confusion as to what cholesterol actually isThere is confusion even in the medical definitions of cholesterol given by universities and doctors. It is sometimes described as fat, other times it is defined as a fat like substance, sometimes as a waxy substance. What ever the actual definition, we can at least measure the cholesterol in the blood.
There are three basic cholesterols you need to know about.VLDL refers to Very Low Density Lipoproteins. HDL is short for High-Density Lipoprotein, LDL refers to Low-Density Lipoprotein. The HDL cholesterol is referred to as the good cholesterol, the cholesterol we want lots of, while the LDL is portrayed as the bad cholesterol, that we need to keep low. HDL cholesterol also helps to clean the LDL cholesterol out of the blood. How are the three cholesterols different from each other?It's a matter of size - the VLDL cholesterol is large in comparison to the medium sized LDL cholesterol or the tiny HDL cholesterol. A more medical explanation of the different types of cholesterol: VLDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and HDL cholesterol are all composed of cholesterol, protein, and triglycerides. They are different from each other according to the ratio of the amount of cholesterol to protein to triglyceride. LDL is high in cholesterol. HDL is high in protein. VLDL is high in triglyceride. Why does the type of the cholesterol matter so much? Why is the HDL cholesterol referred to as the good cholesterol? Why is LDL cholesterol referred to as the bad cholesterol?LDL, HDL and VLDL actually refer to water soluable lipid protein chains that carry cholesterol around the body. Cholesterol is not water soluable, and will not circulate easily in the blood stream. In fact, cholesterol will drop out of the blood and onto vein and artery walls really fast. To overcome this, the body builds the lipid protein chains to carry it. Much the same as we build boats to traverse water. Well, the HDL lipid protein chains are molecules that run round the blood system picking up cholesterol off vein and artery walls that it finds. When the lipid protein chain has collected the cholesterol, it is referred to as " HDL cholesterol". HDL cholesterol is then jettisoned from the body tissues, it's size tells us it is earmarked so that the liver will eliminate this type of cholesterol from the body or convert it to bile. As HDL cholesterol will not be left to build up on arteries and so on and represents cholesterol being eliminated from the body, it is referred to as good cholesterol. Bad LDL cholesterol on the other hand is cholesterol ear marked for cell use and is carried by LDL lipid protein chains. LDL cholesterol is the necessary cholesterol moving through the blood stream to allow the body's cells to take as much cholesterol as they require for normal functioning. When there is too much bad LDL cholesterol in the blood, there is way too much for the cells to use, the bad LDL cholesterol remains in the blood, but while it is waiting to be used, it may deposit onto artery walls and so on where it then becomes a health hazard increasing the risk of cardiovascular accidents - for this reason, this necessary cholesterol is referred to as the bad cholesterol, even though, in moderation, it is beneficial to us. There is another cholesterol that has been identified as a bad cholesterol and that is Lp(a) cholesterol. Lp(a) is a type of LDL cholesterol and has been found to be linked to cardiovascular disease. This particular type of LDL cholesterol is apparently easily controlled by vitamin C. See our page on the cholesterol myth to learn more about this particular type of LDL cholesterol. VLDL cholesterol, the high triglyceride cholesterol, is also considered a bad cholesterol. The main role of VLDL cholesterol is to act as a storage device for excess calories that cannot be used straight away. When the excess calories are converted to VLDL cholesterol, the VLDL cholesterol is then taken up by the fat cells. When there is more VLDL cholesterol circulating in the blood than the fat cells can immediately take out, it becomes a problem for the cardiovascular system, in much the same way as LDL cholesterol does.
Are there any other cholesterols related to cardiovascular and heart disease?The case of Apolipoprotein B (Apo B) and Apolipoprotein A1 (Apo A1)Since writing the above on the diferent types of cholesterol, several other blood and cholesterol types have been found that originally appeared a bit better at determining your chance of a cardiovascular accident, but other research has not confirmed this, but found instead that the measures were not all that good. Anyway, in case you want to know more about these facets of cholesterol: Apo B is thought to be the really bad part of LDL cholesterol, while Apo A1 is the thought to be the really good part of HDL cholesterol. Essentially, the essence of the bad and good cholesterol respectively. Both Apo B and Apo A1 can exist in your blood independently of hdl and ldl cholesterol. The ratio of Apo B to Apo A1 is apparently 50% better at determining your risk of stroke and so on, when compared to the usual cholesterol measures / tests, but as stated above, this finding is open and not confirmed. In case your wondering,the usual cholesterol tests are able to predict 33% of cardiovascular hospitalizations.
When should blood cholesterol levels be checked?If you are over 20 years of age, it is recommended that you have both your HDL bad cholesterol and LDL good cholesterol checked every five years, along with your triglyceride level - most triglycerides are VLDL cholesterols. In Australia the medical guideline is to do regular cholesterol checks from age 20 years, if there is a genetic history of young relatives dieing from heart attack and stroke. Otherwise, the guideline is for regular tests to begin at age 40 years. The actual levels considered normal or beneficial have been changing over the years, so it is best to check with a doctor about whether your particular levels are high or not, but we have included an ALL ABOUT CHOLESTEROL LEVELS WEB PAGE to assist you.
There are several types of fats you need to know about in relation to improving blood cholesterol levels.Why are some fats bad for cholesterol and other fats considered to be good for cholesterol?Unsaturated fatty acids ( plant fats ), such as polyunsaturates and monounsaturates are considered the "good" fats to have in your diet because they don't increase your blood cholesterol directly, while saturated fatty acids ( animal fats ) and trans fats ( which is a type of fat sometimes formed during food processing ) are considered the "bad" fats to have in your diet - bad because they increase the bad cholesterol .... That's right, saturated fat and trans fats contain dietary cholesterol, but more importantly, these bad fats are also the food that the body loves to make cholesterol from as well. So, removing the fat off your meat, can greatly help to reduce your bad - ldl - blood cholesterol level. More about Trans Fats / Trans Fatty Acids and CholesterolTrans fats have been found to be the most dangerous fat for cholesterol levels to date. Trans Fats raise total cholesterol levels, raise the LDL bad cholesterol and lower the HDL good cholesterol. It is believed trans fats can double the risk of coronary disease in women through it's effect on cholesterol. Trans fats are intentionally made in our foods - hydrogen gas reacts with oil under pressure in food processing to form the trans fats which increase the shelf life of the product. Trans fats can be found in cookies / biscuits, crackers, icing, potato chips / crisps, corn chips, margarine, microwave popcorn. Unfortunately, for trying to control cholesterol, trans fats and the amount of trans fats are not normally shown in the ingredients listed on products. However, on a cholesterol controlled diet, these products - except for perhaps small amounts of margarine - are seldom consumed. So for those of us with a cholesterol problem, our low cholesterol diets protect us from them anyway.
THIS WEB SITE WILL LIKELY BENEFIT YOU GREATLY IN YOUR QUEST TO LOWER YOUR HIGH CHOLESTEROLI know, because I followed this information and won my battles with flying colors. No more high cholesterol, no more pre-diabetes, no more high blood pressure, no more metabolic syndrome and no more food intolerance's. Believe me, my life depended on me getting things right - even the specialist thought I was too far gone. May you do as well as I and have a long and happy life ahead of you, full of health and vitality, as I now do. Remember to book mark this page now or add it to your favorites now, so that you can find your way back here. You'll be hard pressed finding a more comprehensive site. Want something fast and easy to buy? Natural Cholesterol Treatments Reviewed and Compared Click Here and Learn More!
ALTERNATIVE SPELLINGS AND MISSPELLINGS OF CHOLESTEROL.By the way, cholesterol is rarely spelt cholestrol now a days, which is why I changed from using cholestrol to cholesterol throughout the information contained here. Colesterol is the Spanish of cholesterol. For some trivia, cholesterol has the common misspellings colestrol, cholestral, cholesteral, chloresterol, cholestorol, cholestarol, kolestrol and kolesterol. Of these misspellings, cholesteral, is the most common. This page on cholesterol has been contributed to by Loni Ice and Donald Urquhart. To read our reviews and price comparisons of cholesterol medications you can buy online, just Click Here! Want more information on cholesterol here? Just email with your question. More cholesterol and health links are available on our cholesterol and health links pages. We are now upgrading to a Cholesterol and Health Portal to properly organise new links into health categories for ease of navigation. If you want us to review a possible web site for inclusion, please email us And please Share us with your online friends.But first, if you want to come back to this website again, just add it to your bookmarks or favorites now! Then you'll find it easy! Also, if you like our content, please consider linking to our site if you are a web master. Always CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR AND DIETICIAN first about lowering cholesterol. See what they say about the cholesterol lowering ideas you find on this website and others.Our Privacy Policy can be found at www.cholesterolcholestrol.com/privacypolicy.htm Copyright © 2000-2009 Donald Urquhart. All Rights Reserved. All universal rights reserved. Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our legal disclaimer. OUR HEMROID HEMORRHOID WEB SITE: HEMROIDS / HEMORRHOIDS - What they are, their APPEARANCE, SIGNS and SYMPTOMS -- BLEEDING HEMROIDS - Symptoms, causes and treatments --
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