How to Prevent High Cholestrol??

For people who do not have familial hypercholesterolemia (a genetic disorder in which the body produces too much cholesterol), high cholesterol is completely preventable. To a large degree, high cholesterol is considered a lifestyle disease. In other words, how healthfully you live your life determines whether or not you will get it. The same healthy habits that can lower your cholesterol can also prevent high cholesterol in the first place.

Not Smoking
Smoking cigarettes can have a negative impact on high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol—the good stuff that helps keep your arteries clear. Smoking also damages blood vessels and speeds up the hardening of the arteries.

Maintaining a Healthy Weight
Being overweight or obese can raise “bad” low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. Because it’s much harder to lose weight than maintain a healthy weight, controlling calories to avoid weight gain is optimal. Some experts believe weighing yourself every day is a good way to gauge whether you’re eating too much. If the scale starts climbing, you know it’s time to cut back on how much you’re eating. Extreme dieting can also slow down the metabolism and lead to weight gain. That’s why it’s better to eat a healthy and balanced diet. If you feed your body the nutrients it needs and avoid the junk it doesn’t, you are more likely to keep your weight and your cholesterol down.

Exercising Regularly
Getting 30 minutes of moderate physical activity, like brisk walking, most days of the week can help lower high triglycerides. Bumping up the intensity by climbing hills or stairs or by running can boost “good” HDL cholesterol. What’s more, exercising regularly can lower blood pressure and help overweight individuals lose weight, which can lead to lowering “bad” LDL cholesterol levels.

Eating a Healthy Diet
To keep your weight down and your heart healthy, you should avoid eating more calories than you burn each day. Extra calories are converted into triglycerides—a type of fat—in the blood. Consuming too many calories also leads to weight gain, which can elevate your cholesterol.

What you eat is just as important as how much you eat. When it comes to high cholesterol, saturated fat, trans fat, and refined carbohydrates are some of the biggest dietary culprits. Heart-healthy diets should be low in saturated fat, cholesterol, trans fat, sodium, and sugar. In fact the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute recommends a so-called “TLC diet” (Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes)—a low-saturated fat and low-cholesterol eating plan.

Foods that contain high amounts of saturated fat include:

•     Red meat
•     Processed meats
•     Fried food
•     Butter
•     Hydrogenated vegetable oil
•     Many processed baked goods, such as cookies and cakes
•     Dairy products that aren’t low-fat.

You can limit the amount of cholesterol-boosting fat in your diet by swapping saturated fats for healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. These kinds of fats can actually lower your cholesterol. Those foods include:

•     Olive oil
•     Sunflower oil
•     Peanut oil
•     Canola oil
•     Flaxseed
•     Fatty fish
•     Avocados
•     Nuts
•     Seeds

It’s also important to include plenty of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes in your diet, because fiber-rich food plays a role in bringing down cholesterol. Limit or avoid foods that have added sugar, like juice drinks, soda, and packaged foods. Excess sugar can boost blood pressure and triglycerides and lower “good” HDL level.

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High Cholesterol Risk Factors

Many factors can increase your risk of developing high cholesterol. The good news is that most of them are things you can control. There are only a few risk factors for high cholesterol that are out of your hands.
Gender and Age

Being a man or a post-menopausal woman increases your risk of high cholesterol. The female hormone estrogen appears to offer a protective effect on cholesterol. For that reason, from puberty to menopause, women generally have higher levels of “good” HDL cholesterol and lower levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol than men. After menopause, however, women tend to have higher levels of LDL than men.
Family History

Having a family history of high cholesterol can put you at risk as well. Most of the time, this is due to shared eating habits and lack of exercise. You can reverse your risk by leading a heart-healthy lifestyle. However, if high cholesterol is due to inherited genes, a person could be born with high levels of LDL cholesterol and must work with their doctor to control it.

Diet
A diet high in calories from saturated fat, trans fat, and sugar can elevate your "bad" LDL and triglyceride levels and raise your overall risk of high cholesterol.

Obesity
A body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more puts you at greater risk of high cholesterol. Losing weight, ideally through a healthy diet and exercise, can lower it.

Physical Inactivity
Regular exercise can help lower your LDL cholesterol. Not getting enough exercise, on the other hand, increases your risk of high cholesterol.

Smoking
Cigarette smoking damages your arterial walls, making them more susceptible to plaque buildup. It may also lower your “good” HDL cholesterol.

Diabetes
People with diabetes are more likely to have low levels of “good” HDL cholesterol and high levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol. Like smoking, high blood sugar can damage the lining of the arteries and, when coupled with high cholesterol, increase the risk of plaque buildup. High cholesterol due to diabetes is called diabetic dyslipidemia.

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High Cholesterol Causes

Your body manufactures some cholesterol and gets the rest from food. Your genes play a role in how much your body makes on its own. The rest is determined by what kind of lifestyle you lead. The following factors can contribute to high cholesterol.

Diet
What you eat plays a significant role in your cholesterol levels. Eating foods with trans fat or high levels of saturated fat can increase “bad” LDL cholesterol. Foods high in saturated fat include red meat, dairy products, chocolate, and processed foods made with cocoa butter, palm oil, or coconut oil. High levels of dietary cholesterol, found only in foods made from animal sources such as meat and dairy, can also raise your bad cholesterol level. Eating too many calories, in general, can elevate triglycerides.

Obesity
Being overweight or obese increases your risk of having high cholesterol. People with a high body mass index (BMI) tend to have lower levels of “good” HDL and higher levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol and triglycerides than people of normal weight. One study found that for every kilogram (2.2 pounds) of weight a person loses, they may be able to raise their HDL by .35 mg/dL. A BMI of 25 to 29 is considered overweight. A BMI of 30 or above is considered obese.

Smoking
Cigarette smoking damages your arterial walls, making them more susceptible to plaque buildup. It may also lower your protective HDL cholesterol. Research shows that quitting increases a person’s HDL by an average of 4 mg/dL.

Inactivity
Not being physically active can contribute to high cholesterol. Getting regular exercise—30 minutes of moderate intensity activity most days of the week—can help lower “bad” LDL cholesterol.

Family History
High cholesterol can run in families. Although that is often due to shared eating habits, sometimes it can also be genetic. The inherited type of high cholesterol affects one in 500 people. The younger you are when high cholesterol strikes, the more likely it is due to genetic factors, especially if you are of a normal weight and you eat healthfully. In these cases, a genetic abnormality leads to the overproduction of cholesterol in the liver.

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Types of Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a fatty, wax-like substance that circulates throughout the bloodstream. Your body manufactures some of it, and the rest comes from your diet. Cholesterol is an essential building block of every cell in the human body. High cholesterol—also known as hypercholesterolemia—is a lipid disorder that can significantly raise the risk of heart disease. When the body has more than it can handle, excess cholesterol can build up and clog the arteries, cutting off the blood supply to the heart. That’s why it’s important to have your cholesterol tested regularly and to keep your levels down. Eating a heart-healthy diet and exercising regularly can help prevent high cholesterol.

Types of Cholesterol
There are several types of cholesterol in the body. When you have high cholesterol, one or all of the types may be within an unhealthy, abnormal range. At the doctor’s office, your physician may talk to you about your total cholesterol, or he may break it down into the different types: low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and triglycerides. The term “high cholesterol” is actually a bit of a misnomer because, while it’s true we want to keep our LDL and triglycerides down, we should strive to push our HDL up. Low levels of HDL are considered abnormal and are a risk factor for heart disease.

High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL)
High-Density Lipoprotein is the so-called “good” cholesterol that may help protect against heart disease. (You can remember that by thinking “H” is for healthy.) The higher your HDL, the better. That’s because HDL cholesterol sweeps excess LDL cholesterol (the “bad” artery-clogging kind) out of the body. The clinical term for having abnormally low levels of HDL is hypoalphalipoproteinemia (HA). Although there is no cut-off number that diagnoses HA, low HDL levels (less than 40 mg/dL for men and less than 50 mg/dL for women) are associated with a greater risk of heart disease. To protect against heart disease, the American Heart Association recommends that men and women should keep their HDL levels above 60mg/dL. 

Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL)
Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL) is the “bad” cholesterol that contributes to atherosclerosis, which is the buildup of plaque along the arterial walls. (You can remember this by thinking “L” for lousy.) Atherosclerosis can cause your arteries— which transport blood, oxygen, and nutrients—to harden or rupture and lead to blockages, strokes, and heart attacks. That’s why high levels of LDL cholesterol are a major risk factor for heart disease. Guidelines state that people with no risk of heart disease should aim for an LDL score below 130. However, some medical experts believe that number is too high.

The American Heart Association and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute both state that everyone’s LDL should be below 100 for optimal health. People who are at high risk of heart disease should keep their LDL below 100, and people who have heart disease or are at an extremely high risk of heart disease should aim to keep their LDL below 70.

Total Cholesterol
This is the sum of your HDL and LDL scores. In general, you want to strive to keep your total cholesterol under 200 mg/dL. Although some physicians will only give you this result after you get your cholesterol tested, it’s a good idea to ask them to break it down for you so you know if your HDL is as high as you’d like and your LDL is as low as you’d like. A total cholesterol score of 200 to 239 mg/dL is considered borderline high-risk, while a score of 240 mg/dL or more is in the high-risk category. According to the American Heart Association, nearly half of all American adults have a total cholesterol score above 200 mg/dL.

Triglycerides
Triglycerides are another type of lipid (fat) found in the bloodstream. Extra calories that your body doesn’t use get stored as triglycerides. As such, frequently overeating and being overweight may lead to elevated triglycerides. High triglyceride levels, known as hypertriglyceridemia, usually go hand-in-hand with high levels of “bad” LDL and low levels of “good” HDL. A triglyceride level below 150 mg/dL is considered normal. Between 150 and 200 is borderline-high; 200 to 499 is high; and more than 500 is very high.

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