You probably know that having high cholesterol is a bad thing healthwise, but do you know what cholesterol is and what it does? Many people do not. Cholesterol itself isn’t a bad thing; it is essential for our bodies to function. Cholesterol is a waxy substance that our bodies need to build cells, but too much of it can become a problem.
Our livers make all the cholesterol our bodies need to make new cells, and our diets account for the additional cholesterol we have in our bodies. Meat, poultry, and full-fat dairy products contain cholesterol, called dietary cholesterol, which is the kind we need to watch. Foods such as these are high in saturated and trans fats, which cause the liver to make more cholesterol than it would otherwise. For some people, this causes too much cholesterol production and leads to unhealthy levels. Oils often found in baked goods, such as palm oil, palm kernel oil, and coconut oil, also can trigger your liver to make more cholesterol.
Cholesterol is found in the blood, and as the amount in the blood increases, so do health risks. Knowing your cholesterol levels is important, and getting them tested by the doctor is fairly simple.
Because of the waxiness of cholesterol, it can easily join with other substances in the body to form a thick, hard deposit on the inside of the arteries, which can narrow the arteries and make them less flexible. In the case that a blood clot forms and blocks one of these narrowed arteries, a heart attack or stroke can occur.
The American Heart Association says to remember three things when it comes to your cholesterol: check, change, and control.
- Check your cholesterol levels. It’s key to know your numbers
- Change your diet and lifestyle to improve your levels
- Control your cholesterol, with help from your doctor if needed
The American Heart Association also warns that high cholesterol is one of the major controllable risk factors for coronary heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. If you have other risk factors, such as smoking, high blood pressure, or diabetes, your risk increases even more.
How do you read nutrition labels for cholesterol?
It is important to remember that not all cholesterol is bad, but too much of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is. To keep these levels in check, the Food and Drug Administration recommends you choose foods with a lower percentage of daily value (DV) of cholesterol and do not go above 100 percent daily value in the foods you eat during the day. Consider 5 percent DV or less of cholesterol as low and 20 percent DV or more as high.
The FDA also notes that one of the primary ways that LDL cholesterol levels can become too high in the blood is by eating too much saturated fat and cholesterol. Saturated fat raises LDL levels more than anything else in your diet.
Keep these notes in mind when choosing which foods to eat, and talk to your doctor if you have some of the risk factors that contribute to high cholesterol.
Remember: Check, change, and control!