Does your diet increase or lower cholesterol levels?
How does diet actually reduce the risk of heart disease?
What if foods you eat helped correct other diseases that are food-related through modification of diet?
What is cholesterol?
Cholesterol is an essential type of fat carried in blood.
All cells in your body need cholesterol for internal and external membranes.
Cholesterol is needed to produce some hormones and other body functions.
Your body generally makes all the cholesterol it needs.
Some dietary cholesterol is normally excreted via the liver, however eating too much saturated fat leads to excess cholesterol in the blood stream.
Why is high cholesterol a problem?
High cholesterol in the blood stream are a risk factor for coronary artery disease (heart attacks and angina).
If your cholesterol level is 6.5 mmol/L or greater your risk of heart disease is 4 times greater than for women with cholesterol levels of 4 mmol/L.
In fcat, not all women with high cholesterol levels get heart disease.
About 30 per cent of the community will die of heart disease and most will be over 65 years old.
Heart disease usually takes 60-70 years to develop…
What if you discover your cholesterol level is high?
Visit your doctor tomorrow and discuss the risk factors for heart disease which include smoking, high blood pressure and obesity.
Good cholesterol and the bad cholesterol.
Cholesterol is carried in the blood stream in particles called lipoproteins.
These are named according to how big they are:
- Very large particles are called Very Low Density Lipoproteins (VLDL)
- Intermediate size particles are called Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) causing heart disease
- Smaller particles are called High Density Lipoproteins (HDL) actually protect against heart disease
What to do if your cholesterol level is high?
The most effective way to lower cholesterol is to reduce the amount of saturated fats (animal fat) in your diet by various means.
You could:
- Reduce cheese intake and/or substitute low fat varieties
- Choose reduced fat milks
- Substitute polyunsaturated margarine for butter
- Choose leaner cuts of meat (remove all visible fat)
- Eat skinless chicken or fish
- Eat more vegetables, legumes and beans
- Beware of hidden fats and trans-fats in processed foods
- Make cakes at home with polyunsaturated fat
- Cook chips with polyunsaturated or monounsaturated oil
- Lose weight if you’re overweight
If you decide to make a number of changes to your diet you can expect your cholesterol to fall by 10 per cent.
About 15 per cent of women will see no change and another 15 per cent will see changes of 20-30 per cent.
High Cholesterol?
If your cholesterol is between 5.5 and 6.5 your risk of heart disease is only increased by a small amount.
Don’t panic but make a few moderate changes to your diet.
However if you already have heart disease or one of your parents developed heart disease at an early age, (less than 55) you need to make bigger changes.
If your cholesterol is higher than 6.5 then you need to make more changes.
If despite changes to your diet your cholesterol level remains above 6.5 you may need medication…
Especially if you have the other risk factors mentioned or you have a family history of heart disease see your doctor.
What are triglycerides?
Triglycerides are a stored energy source.
Most of the triglyceride is found in the very large particles (VLDL).
Under some circumstances high blood triglyceride can be a risk factor.
If your cholesterol is high (greater than 6.5) and HDL cholesterol is low (less than 0.9) triglycerides can increase risk of heart disease if greater than 1.7.
Triglyceride levels greater than 10 can cause inflammation of the pancreas which is a very serious condition.
How can you lower your triglyceride?
Reduce your intake of animal or hard vegetable fats, lose weight and reduce alcohol intake, (alcohol is very powerful at elevating triglyceride).
See your family doctor if your cholesterol and triglceride remains elevated as you may require medication.
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