Tune up Your Cholesterol For Better Health

Have you had a tune-up lately? You took your car in for its 40, 60 or 80 thousand mile check, what about your body? Did you know that high cholesterol has no warning signs until you have a heart attack or stroke?

The only way you can find out if your cholesterol level is too high is from a blood test. If you aren't doing regular screening and maintenance health exams for yourself, you should be. Make an appointment today.

Heart disease is a leading cause of death in the United States and high blood cholesterol can put you at risk for both heart attack and stroke. Cholesterol is a waxy-fat type substance that is produced naturally by your body. To some extent your heredity determines if you will be predisposed to high cholesterol, but your lifestyle can make a big difference in your cholesterol level. Having a cholesterol test will let you know your total LDL, HDL, and triglycerides levels.

LDL and HDL are confusing terms. An easy way to remember which one is which is that the LDL is "lousy" cholesterol. You don't want your "lousy" score to be too high. On the other hand, HDL, think of it as "heavenly or holy" is actually good for you.

LDL low is the main source of cholesterol build-up in your arteries, and this is what can lead to decreased blood flow to your heart, even to blockage. On the other hand the HDL, "holy" cholesterol does just the opposite. It can help keep the blood flowing through your arteries at full speed ahead. The more HDL you can get your body to produce the better! Triglycerides, as you may have guessed, are another form of fat in your blood, and of course you'll want to keep them at acceptable levels.

Your good test results will look like this:

Total Cholesterol of less than 200 mg/dL

HDL at over 40 mg/dL, (the good stuff)

LDL at less than 100 mg/dL, (the bad stuff)

Triglycerides at under 150 mg/dL (fats from the food you eat)

Your Doctor will discuss your test results with you and if your cholesterol is too high, your diet, your weight, and your physical activity can go a long way toward bringing your levels down.

Here's how to get started. There is a specific diet to lower your cholesterol. It's called the TLC diet. You'll want to make what's called Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes that will include a cholesterol-lowing diet, exercise, and weight management. Then, if needed, your physician may also prescribe medications that can help.

Here are some high cholesterol foods that you want to eliminate from your diet: fatty meats, fried foods, whole milk, fatty cheeses, butter, and cream. Egg yolks are very high in cholesterol, but the whites have none. You might have guessed cookies, cake, candy, doughnuts, pastries and pies are all foods to avoid.

The TLC diet limits the amount of saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium you consume a day. It limits your cholesterol intake to less than 200 milligrams a day, and your sodium to less than 2,400 milligrams a day, and even lower if your cholesterol is high. On this diet you will be eating mostly fruits, vegetables, whole grain breads, low-fat (only) dairy and protein. A diet that would be good for anyone! Dinner might be a stir-fry with lots of veggies, instead of meat, as the main ingredient.

Other foods for a low cholesterol diet are oatmeal, bran, walnuts and almonds, and the omega 3 acids found in fish and plant oils, even a baked potato if you leave the butter off and go with a sterol-fortified margarine. That means it's been fortified with substances found in plants which can help block the adsorption of cholesterol.

Other things that can help lower your cholesterol include:

• Drinking only in moderation. No more than one drink, a day, for women and two, at the most, for men.
• Exercise, take a walk, swim, ride a bike. Get up and start moving.
• Don't smoke. If you do, quit. Quitting can improve your HDL (the good cholesterol), and lower your blood pressure as an added benefit.

There are cholesterol-lowering supplements that you may want to consider also, like artichoke extract, barley, and garlic extract and oat bran. You are only limited by your own boundaries, make a healthy choice and step into the future.