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This makes Omega-6 a great food source for staying healthy. If you are worried about the side effects of pharmaceutical cholesterol-lowering drugs or testaments, you may wish to speak with your doctor about drug-free ways to lower cholesterol or you may wish to ask for a recommendation for a natural health practitioner. If you have illnesses such as diabetes or other health issues that may affect your diet and exercise, this is an especially important question to ask as you start making changes to lower your cholesterol. Eat more fresh fruit fruits and vegetables. Who else can I talk to and what other resources are open to me? Check the labels on your breads and baked products, at least, to make sure that you are getting as little fat and sodium in these products as possible.

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Plan your menu for each week ahead of time and select one day a week for food shopping. Virtually all health experts agree that North American children do not exercise enough. Reduce your overall use of oils even further by using cooking techniques that require little or no oil.

Understanding the Types of Cholesterol

While most people talk about cholesterol levels there is in fact more than one type of cholesterol. In fact, there are several different body functions and several different substances that make up our understanding of cholesterol.

As with some fats, cholesterol cannot be dissolved in the blood. Instead, molecules called lipoproteins carry cholesterol to and from cells. Molecules are made from an outer layer of protein and an inner core of both cholesterol and triglycerides, which is another form of fat.

Lipoproteins equip the cholesterol to move around the body. The two main types of lipoproteins are:

1) High Density Lipoproteins (HDL.)

HDL transports cholesterol from cells back to the liver.

HDL is either reused or converts to bile acids and disposed. This is known as "good" cholesterol. You want to ensure that your levels of this cholesterol remain high for optimum heart health, since having too low levels of HDL - even when other cholesterol levels are normal - may lead to heart problems. As you work to lower your bad cholesterol it is important to also take steps and to keep your HDL levels normal.

HDL aids to ensure protection from the risk of heart attack and/or stroke. HDL consists of more protein than triglycerides or cholesterol, and aids to remove LDL from your artery walls.

2) Low Density Lipoproteins (LDL.)

LDL carries approximately 60_70% of cholesterol around the body and are known as bad" cholesterol.

Studies show conclusively that high cholesterol leads to much higher risk of heart attack and/or stroke. Other factors involved in this risk are age, gender, smoking, family history of heart disease, and diabetes mellitus.

Obviously, when we speak of having cholesterol levels we mean more than one number. To maintain optimum health, you will need to know your levels of both LDL and HDL and will need to work hard to keep both levels in healthy ranges.

Being overweight can contribute to cholesterol and to heart ailments. Coffee - whether filtered or not - has been shown to have detrimental effects on overall health and the fats in coffee cream will certainly not help you with your goal of lowering bad cholesterol levels. There are many types of mushrooms, from the common to the exotic, and they can easily be bought fresh or dried to add flavor to just about every meal) Mustard greens Nettles Okra Peppers (from hot peppers like the habanero and others to sweet green, orange, yellow and red peppers, these vegetables are very good for you and extremely tasty) Spinach Radicchio Rapini Parsnips Radishes Rutabaga Turnip and turnip greens Skirret Squashes (there are many of these, from butternut to acorn to pumpkins and gourds. If you have very high cholesterol and traditional methods of lowering your cholesterol and risk for heart disease do not work, you may be referred to a lipid specialist for specialized treatment.