Cholesterol: What really it is?
Addressing the dis-ease.
Information | Remedy
10 minutes read on Cholesterol effects.
Knowing what Cholesterol is
Cholesterol is a substance in our body that has a smooth and fatlike appearance (the hump on your hand or back ?!). It helps in making the outer cell membrane stable.
Same as other chemicals and hormones, cholesterol is crucial in the body for conducting certain activities.
Did you know: that our body needs high amount of cholesterol to function normally?
Although higher amounts of it is not usually needed, when there is excess of it then the body deposits it along the lining of our artery walls.
Food has huge and direct influence when it comes to cholesterol levels. So, if you are having issues related with cholesterol (heart and bile function, alleviated blood pressure, artery function) then there is high chance that the egg you eat with bread or bacon; just this (and many) mornings is probably causing the rise in cholesterol level.
Why do we need Cholesterol?
Our body uses it to build the structure of cell membranes, make hormones (estrogen, testosterone and adrenal). Cholesterol is also essential to produce vitamin D and bile acids in the body. These help the body to better digest fat and keep the body to function properly.
There are, of course, situations when the cholesterol is high and when this happens, the body deposits the cholesterol in the bloodstream. In fact, there is much more cholesterol in the blood, then it probably will end up in the coronary arteries inside the heart or the carotid arteries inside the brain. Both of these arteries bring blood to legs and intestines. Cholesterol deposits block the arteries and interfere with the blood supply.
Now, you might want to know who have high cholesterol rates. The answer is simple, if there are lumps on your body, higher fat percentage or if you are suffering from high blood pressure and other heart related diseases, prone to diabetes and other cardiovascular related diseases then, you are probably having higher amount of cholesterol and if you are functioning slowly, symptoms of depression and anxiety, fear in mind, etc., then you may have lower than required cholesterol level.
Japanese people have lower cholesterol rate. This makes them less prone to develop any heart related diseases. Whereas, more than 71 % of Americans have higher bad cholesterol level.
What is causing higher Cholesterol level
The most primary causes are unhealthy diet and in-appropriate lifestyle. And, this is not my saying but of doctors all around the globe. 1,000s of researches have been conducted on this topic and all are pointing to the same thing.
There are cases in which high cholesterol is directly related to genes, but it is mainly happening due to excess weight and bad lifestyle choices. Over-weight increases the LDL (Low Density Lipid), also commonly known as bad-cholesterol, and that is why losing weight may help in maintaining it.
Now, there is another major factor affecting the cholesterol level. It is Alcohol !!!
Well, this might make me unpopular but you need to lower your alcohol use as much as you can. It is quite amusing that how one or two glasses of this can increases the normal cholesterol but the bad cholesterol remains unaffected.
We have two types of cholesterol in our body. HDL (High Density Lipid), which is good for us and LDL (Low Density Lipid) which is bad if in excess i.e more than 80mg/dL avg. Total Cholesterol Level count should be around 125-200mg/dL (>170mg/dL for below 18).
In Nepal, acc. to researches, people with more than 40 years of age have high amount of bad cholesterol in their body. It is reported, this is mostly due to high consumptions of junk and fast food, little or no physical exercises and daily lack of nutritious food
