Making Sense of Your Cholesterol Level Numbers
Have you gotten a blood test done recently to check your cholesterol levels? If you have, I’m guessing you were a little surprised to see all the different numbers and stats on the report.
Just what does all of it mean anyway? You keep hearing that your Total Cholesterol should be under 200, so why not just show you that number and be done with it?
That’s exactly what many doctors are doing and frankly they are missing the boat and often times giving out misleading information about the patients real condition when it comes to their cholesterol profile and health.
What is often ignored is looking at the level of HDL content on the test. Most people are unaware that regardless of any other number, that getting HDL between 40-60 mg/dl is preferred and 60 or above has been shown to noticeably reduce the risk of heart disease.
Hence, why the HDL cholesterol is called the beneficial or good cholesterol, because most people need more - not less - HDL in their bloodstream.
And that’s why it’s so important to take steps with your diet and lifestyle to naturally raise your HDL levels.
But you can take this a step further to get a deeper look into your cholesterol profile and how normal or healthy it really is.
You see, what’s more important than looking at the raw HDL and LDL numbers is the relationship between these two types of cholesterol. The key is to maintain a healthy HDL to LDL ratio for the best cholesterol health. Let me explain why this is so important…
Contrary to what you may think, cholesterol and fats do not simply melt away or dissipate in the bloodstream. That’s not how it works.
The bad cholesterol needs to be transported to the right places so the body can properly get rid of it.
And it’s the high density lipoprotein (ie, HDL) that does the heavy lifting so-to-speak as far as carrying bad cholesterol and other nasty fats to the proper places so that the body can properly dispose of it.
Think of it like a fight or battle in your bloodstream: We’ll call it the LDL vs. HDL cholesterol grudge match.
And you REALLY want the HDL cholesterol to win. If not, your arteries can get clogged up with excess plaque making it harder for your heart to pump blood, putting extra stress and strain on the heart, leading to that important muscle wanting to give up … in other words, heart attack.
I realize that’s not terribly scientific, but I think you get the point. Maintaining
high healthy levels of HDL cholesterol is critically important when looking at your cholesterol test numbers and determining your true risk factor for a heart attack or stroke.
So what can you do to get your HDL numbers UP in order to get your heart attack risk percentages DOWN?
Great question.
Some of the easiest things to do include: (When I say easy, I simply mean these are the things that will provide the most significant increase in the shortest time.)
- Stop smoking
- More exercise
- Reduced refined carbohydrates (things like sugar and breads)
Most people find it hard to make the lifestyle changes necessary to really drive their HDL numbers up into the ideal range.
In that case, I suggest an affordable, effective cholesterol supplement like CholesLo to get your body back into balance. CholesLo’s unique Risk-Free Guarantee really makes it a no-brainer to try it out for anyone serious about taking care of a cholesterol problem.
And the time to tackle your high cholesterol problem is right now … before it’s too late.