How To Have Healthy And Normal Cholesterol Levels?

A lot has been written in recent years about blood cholesterollevels. Not all that long ago, it was thought that eating foodshigh in cholesterol caused you have have high blood cholesterollevels, and this in turn could lead to heart disease, heartatacks, and other heart related problems. And because of thesebeliefs and fears, people were encouraged to eat foods superlow in fat. The problem with that philosophy and teaching is that it was abit too generic and broad. There are actually types of fat thatare good for you. In fact, these so-called "good fats" areessential for proper nutrition and health. There are also "badfats" however, which can be a contributing factor to health andheart related problems. Cholesterol levels in your blood now have a similardistinction. Where once it was believed that you need to haveyour total cholesterol levels below a certain number - such as200mg - now it's becoming clear through scientific studies andresearch that this isn't always a good measuring stick.Instead, there is "good" and "bad" cholesterol. And thosenumbers are what's important, along with the ratio of one toanother. LDL cholesterol is considered the "bad" type, and that standsfor low-density lipoprotein. Without going into a lot ofmedical and scientific terminology, let's suffice it to saythat LDL cholesterol can have harmful reactions in the humanbody. In contrast, there's HDL, or high-density lipoprotein,which creates beneficial reactions in the human body. If you find it difficult to remember which one is supposed tobetter and which isn't, think of LDL cholesterol as the one youwant to keep low - use the L at the beginning as a remindertrigger - and HDL is the one you want to keep higher(H=Higher). The ratio between your LDL and HDL cholesterollevels is important too. Now unfortunately testing is still a bit imprecise. In somecases, medical professionals will still do a generalcholesterol test which gives you the overall levels. It'sbecoming more common though, to at least estimate the LDL toHDL cholesterol ratios, or total cholesterol to HDL levels, butboth of these are estimates instead of actual measurements. Some say that LDL levels should fall at or below 100mg, whilenewer recommendations are calling for less than 70mg. Whentotal cholesterol to HDL is measured, it's said a 5:1 ratio orless is best. Now you can get cholesterol from foods. Primary sources ofcholesterol are from animal products such as eggs, peanuts,flax seeds, and beef. Some cholesterol can be found in plantsas well, but it's usually a much smaller amount. Most peopleassume - and books even teach - that there is no cholesterol inplants at all. This is a misunderstanding however, because theAmerican FDA does not require it to be on food labels if thereis less than 2mg per serving. Keep in mind though, that eating foods which containcholesterol does not mean you'll automatically have cholesterolrelated health problems. Some of these problems can be caused by- or at least contributed to - by poor eating habits in general,poor exercise, and genetics. Cholesterol levels can be hereditary. Like many health problemstoday, it's been found that some genetic backgrounds have muchhigher risks for certain health problems than others do.About The Author: If you're concerned about keeping yourcholesterol levels on a healthy track, you should considertrying herbal supplements designed specifically for this. Visithttp://www.1healthybody.com/ for more information on this now!