Cholesterol - What All Those Numbers Mean

So you get your cholesterol checked (by the way, you should be doing this every year or every other year or, if you have abnormal numbers, as often as your doctor recommends) and get confused as to what exactly those numbers mean.

Well here’s a breakdown:

LDL (low-density lipoprotein) – This is the bad kind. This is the kind that builds up in the walls of your arteries and over time, can cause heart disease. You want to keep this number low. Less than 130 MG/DG is recommended.

HDL (high-density lipoprotein) – This is the good stuff. This is the cholesterol that basically acts as a cleaner and helps remove the LDL off the artery walls. You actually want to increase this number. A healthy range is between 40-60 MG/DL. It’s important to keep this number at least at 40 MG/DL.

Total Cholesterol (TC) – This is the combined total of LDL, HDL and VLDL (this type isn’t discussed here). Overall, you’d like to keep this figure below 200 MG/DL.

So how do you get those LDL down and the HDL up? The first step is to make lifestyle changes. Lose some weight. Change your eating, and get on an exercise plan. Studies have shown that both resistance training and aerobic exercise can improve cholesterol numbers. Also, if you smoke, STOP SMOKING!!!!

Other things you can do is increase your consumption of foods that are high in monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil, almonds, walnuts, and natural peanut butter. You should also completely eliminate anything in your diet that contains trans fats (check the label. If the word “hydrogenated” is listed anywhere in the ingredients, don’t eat it).

Another big step you can make is by increasing your fiber consumption. Try to get between 30-35 grams of fiber a day. Good sources of fiber are just about any vegetable (broccoli, carrots, celery), as well as whole grains such as oatmeal, whole wheat bread (that’s actually made from whole wheat flour). You can also get a large dose of fiber from legumes like black, pinto, and kidney beans. And don’t forget about fruits. Pretty much any kind of fruit is filled with fiber (apples, oranges, pears).

Once you get your eating in line and your exercise on track, there’s no reason your cholesterol shouldn’t go down and result in decreasing your risk for heart disease.

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