High Cholesterol Food Bad For Your Blood Cholesterol? 6 Guaranteed Strategies To Improve Cholesterol!

Cholesterol, as much as bad it seems, isn’t bad! Cholesterol from food directly affects your blood cholesterol levels, and as much as we criticize it, it is pretty essential for the human body. So, why does high cholesterol cause issues in our bodies, and how is it harmful? There are mainly two types of cholesterols; let’s understand them and get to know the best ways to improve your cholesterol levels!

High cholesterol is something that most of us worry about these days. There is a lot of negative press around cholesterol and most of this is focused on saturated cholesterol, or cholesterol in our diet. This blog is going to look at the different types of cholesterol, and what foods and lifestyles will increase your cholesterol.

The Two Types of Cholesterol

HDL: The Good One

HDL (high-density lipoprotein) is the type of cholesterol that is considered good, and it absorbs the cholesterol from dying cells. It is then carried to the liver, from where it is flushed out. Surprisingly, the higher this form of cholesterol is, the better it reduces the risk of heart diseases. Along with that, it is also vital for the human body to produce hormones.

LDL: The Bad One

LDL (low-density lipoprotein) is the bad form of cholesterol, and it is the type that carries cholesterol from the liver. It is then transferred to different organs, which creates a fatty element that affects the entire body. High LDL is highly harmful since it affects the blood vessels and the wall. It also increases the chances of stokes and opens the door to heart diseases.

As human beings, we get worried every time we find any form of cholesterol high; however, that shouldn’t be the case. We tend to ignore the HDL or LDL sign, we just notice the term cholesterol, but instead, we should be checking the HDL: LDL ratio. Always remember, it is wise to have a high HDL and low LDL to keep the human body functioning intact. This ratio gives a better representation of heart disease risk than the HDL or LDL alone. Ideally, a person’s HDL to LDL ratio should be above 3:1. This means that you should have more HDL than LDL. As the ratio approaches zero, it becomes more likely that a person will develop heart disease.

Quick Question: Where Does Cholesterol Come From?

Cholesterol comes from various sources, but mainly there are 2; internal and external. These sources determine the rate of cholesterol in our bodies. External sources refer to the foods we consume. If you consume fried food in vegetable oil or packed / processed trans fat food, then that may result in a high LDL; however, fruits and veggies have fiber - that help control the ratio and reduce LDL.

Internal sources refer to the content produced by our body, and mainly it refers to the liver. Whatever our liver produces is directly associated with our cholesterol; therefore, it is essential to look after it. If you eat things that are high in cholesterol, then it decreases the production of cholesterol in the body, and lesser cholesterol foods result in higher production of the same in the body.

The key to maintaining cholesterol levels is just one; balance. Balance is the key to smartly managing your body, and if you do that, you will be healthy.

If you want to lower your blood cholesterol levels, there are three things you can do. First, eating a diet with a lot of unhealthy saturated fats is one of the worst things you can do for your health. Eating a diet with a lot of unhealthy saturated fats will cause your blood cholesterol levels to go up. Second, having a lot of excess body fat, as in a lot of fat on your body, is another one of the worst things you can do for your health. Lastly, exercising less (and many people in modern society do exercise less than they did in the past) is another one of the worst things you can do for your health. So the three things you need to do to improve your blood cholesterol levels are eat less saturated fat, have less body fat, and exercise more.

Eggs are a staple in many people's diets. While they are high in cholesterol, they are high in good cholesterol as well. Cholesterol is not as bad as people make it out to be. In fact, for some people, it is essential to good health. Eggs have a lot of good benefits and you should eat them more often.

What Can You Do To Improve The Blood Cholesterol Levels?

To reduce the cholesterol levels in your body, you need not reduce the number of food items you consume. However, you need to take care of certain things to manage as well as balance the ratio:

1) Increasing Physical Activity

Increasing physical activity will help you keep your body intact and manage your cholesterol levels efficiently. Once you begin losing body fat %, your LDL will come down, and with a healthy dietary intake, your HDL will go up. This will prevent you from having any stokes or cholesterol-based diseases in your life.

2) Increasing Fiber Intake

Once you start eating fiber enriched foods such as apples, carrots, oats, beans, lentils, chia seeds, and raspberry, there will rarely ever be an issue about cholesterol. Fiber based foods are always supportive in building HDL, which further benefits your body.

3) Reducing Processed & Unhealthy Foods

Processed foods might be readily available and feel very tempting, but you need to avoid them not only for your cholesterol but for a healthy lifestyle as well. Anything fried, starchy, and packaged, etc., is considered under processed foods, and it is best to avoid them for your cholesterol levels since it imbalances the LDL.

4) Reducing Trans Fat

It is essential to cut down on refined oils, vegetable oils, and any other unhealthy cooking agent that can increase LDL and decrease HDL. Try eliminating such base products and opt for cooking olive oil or a better solution to avoid your ratio imbalance.

5) Reducing or Quitting Smoking

Tobacco is harmful to health, and it is specifically negative for your cholesterol as well. Smoking tends to clog the arteries, due to which the presence of LDL in the body increases. This ruins your body’s functioning and leads to other unavoidable circumstances.

6) Regulating the Saturated Fat Intake

Once you begin to avoid processed dairy products, chips & crisps, and artificial flavoring products, you will find that the saturated fat element has automatically decreased. With this, you can also incorporate omega-3 in your diet to make your cholesterol ratio function better.

There are several myths surrounding the fact that any form of cholesterol, when high, is bad for the human body. However, that is not the case at all. If it is a good form of cholesterol like HDL, it will only be good for your body. But you also need to check out the LDL levels since that is the bad form of cholesterol. 

Like we said above, balance is the key to everything. All it takes is just these six steps to keep your cholesterol ratio, i.e., the HDL: LDL ratio, intact, and you are all good to go!