People now seem to understand that high cholesterol is a bad thing, and take steps to eliminate cholesterol. Sort of. The information about cholesterol can be hard to understand. It is complicated: there is good and bad cholesterol, and people don’t seem to understand what causes high cholesterol. There are a couple of things that causes high cholesterol, and hopefully, with a few of these tips, you can avoid food that causes high cholesterol, and enjoy a happier and healthier life.
First of all, there is such a thing as good and bad cholesterol. Bad cholesterol sticks to the walls of your blood vessels (arteries) and make it difficult to pump blood throughout your body. This is why cholesterol leads to other diseases and conditions, such as heart attacks and strokes; the blood is unable to bring oxygen to certain organs, resulting in failures. When people speak with concern about what causes high cholesterol, they specifically mean what causes bad cholesterol.
Bad cholesterol causes high cholesterol, and this is found almost exclusively in trans fat and saturated fat foods. It is these foods that cause high cholesterol. Some examples of foods that are high in saturated fat (and therefore, high in bad cholesterol) include red meat and dairy (specifically, butter and whole milk and cream). Trans fats are even worse, and these are found in the variety of hydrogenated oils in packaged foods, such as cookies and frozen dinners, as well as fried foods, such as french fries and chicken fingers.
Good cholesterol, on the other hand, helps your body remove bad cholesterol from your arteries. Good cholesterol can be found in such foods as nuts and legumes (think beans), as well as avocados and egg whites. In addition to good cholesterol, regular exercise is imperative to keeping your arteries free from bad cholesterol. For this regular exercise to have a positive effect on your arteries, you should exercise for thirty to forty minutes, three or four times a week. This exercise should be at least a light jog, anything to build a light sweat, for a continuous period of time. This causes your blood to pump a little harder, clearing out the bad cholesterol from clogging up your arteries.
Fatty foods and a lack of exercise are what causes high cholesterol, but it is simple and easy with to avoid bad cholesterol, as well as simple to begin an exercise today to help your arteries stay healthy.