Want to reduce cholesterol? Why? Is low cholesterol the best solution for burning fat or are there any side effects? Then immediately comes the next question, how much cholesterol per day is required for the body and how much can be reduced. These are some of questions that are often not understood or answered properly. Lets take a look.
Is Cholesterol Good or Bad for Health?
Before answering whether it is good or bad, let’s quickly try to understand what cholesterol is. Cholesterol is a fatty substance required by our body in certain quantity. It plays a vital role in making and functioning of certain hormones. It helps in producing Vitamin D, deficiency of which can cause various health issues such as joint pain related diseases. It also helps in producing some substances that are necessary for digestion. So, we can safely say that cholesterol is good for health, but how much?
Cut Out One Hidden Ingredient to Lower Cholesterol
Is your cholesterol level high?
There is a lot of information available online and on other media suggesting that high cholesterol is the root cause of heart health or various types of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Though it is partially true, what really needs to be understood is whether it is LDL or HDL. If your LDL level is high, which is often the case, then you need to take action. If your HDL level is high, then you can relax.
LDL or HDL
Basically these are two types of cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL). While HDL is good for overall health and LDL is bad for health, or simply put, high LDL level means your arteries start getting clogged. This is kind of onset of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) or the groundwork for heart disease to be visible later.
Hypercholesterolemia
A genetic disorder called hypercholesterolemia is a condition when the cholesterol level in the body is more than 2-4 times higher than average. According to a study, people suffering from hypercholesterolemia should try eliminating carb and not fat from their diet. Read the full report.
What is Normal Cholesterol Range?
Well, the total count of cholesterol consists of LDL, HDL and Triglyceride count. Triglycerides are also certain types of fat produced by our body by converting excess calories. Just like LDL, high triglyceride level is also considered bad for health. So, lets a take a look at healthy and normal cholesterol range.
How much cholesterol per day
Now comes the real question. How much cholesterol per day should you eat? As a general rule, if you are a healthy adult, then your daily intake of dietary cholesterol should not exceed 300 mg. If you are already suffering from heart disease, then the upper limit of cholesterol per day should not be more than 200 mg. Cholesterol is a waxy substance produced by the body itself and is found in animal products. Your body can and does produce as much cholesterol as is required for proper functioning of your body.
Cut down on sugar to reduce cholesterol
When you eat saturated fat and trans fat in excess quantity, then your liver is kind of forced to produced more LDL than is required. That is what causes the whole problem. Considering this, experts and doctors recommend that only up to 5-6% of your your daily calorie intake should come from trans fat. Simply put, an adult consuming 2000 Cal per day should not eat more than 10-13 grams of saturated fat per day. A simple and easy way to reduce your cholesterol level is to reduce sugar intake. This makes the task easier and saves you from calorie counting unless you keep on munching on fatty foot as a habit.
Eggs or No Eggs to Lower Cholesterol?
It has often been mentioned that egg yolk increases cholesterol level. There is another group of experts who believe that eating egg is healthy. Egg is one of the healthiest foods. So what is the truth about eggs? It is simple, strike the right balance. If you are eating eggs in breakfast, then go easy on fatty food at lunch. In simple words, a typical egg contains approx. 200 mg of cholesterol and 1.5 gram of saturated fat. So one egg a day is quite safe if do not eat more fatty food. Eating one egg a day does not increase the risk of heart disease unless you are diabetic. Read more. To make it more safe, experts believe up to 5 eggs a week is safe and healthy. Makes sense?
Cholesterol Lowering Food
Though symptoms of high cholesterol are not easily noticeable in early stages, you can be alarmed if you feel chest pain in left side, fullness or pressure in chest quite often, dizziness or slurry speech. Though medical attention is always recommended if pain is severe, you can start consuming cholesterol lowering food as soon as you notice any of these symptoms the first time. So, what are those cholesterol reducing food? Here is a brief list.
- Soy
- Green and leafy vegetables
- Olive oil
- Garlic
- Dark Chocolate
- Oat
- Fatty Fish
- Avocado
- Green Tea
- and more
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Is low cholesterol bad?
It will not be out of context to discuss if low cholesterol is bad or what are its side effects? Though low cholesterol is not so common, it is noticed in some people due to various reasons such as malnutrition, hyperthyroidism liver or kidney diseases. While the reasons can be many, the question is what are its effects on overall health. Though it is a matter of debate, some researchers believe that cholesterol makes hormones and Vitamin D, deficiency of which can affect mental health. Those suffering from low cholesterol can suffer from anxiety and even depression. Read the full report here.
An interesting fact about brain cholesterol is that brain has only 2% of body weight but contains 20% of body cholesterol. And brain makes all of its cholesterol. Read full report here. This report says as brain produces its own cholesterol, low level in the body does not impact its functioning, therefore low blood cholesterol does not necessarily cause mental health problems.
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