High Cholesterol

What is Cholesterol? And is it all bad?

Cholesterol seems to get a bad wrap in the media. But it can be good. And it serves some vital functions within your body. One of the primary functions of cholesterol is to patch nicks that form inside your blood vessels. These nicks can be caused by a variety of things, such as high blood pressure - like a fire-hose blasting away at the smooth lining of your vessels. (also, high blood sugar, stress, chronic inflamation, STDs, anger).

There are two types of Cholesterol.
(1) Low-density lipoprotein (LDL): is the "lousy" cholesterol.
(2) High density lipoprotein (HDL): is the "happy" cholesterol.

GENERAL RULE: you want your HDL levels to be higher than your LDL levels.

Why? Because, if LDL is more readily available than HDL, your body will use LDL to patch nicks in the blood vessels. When LDL is used it causes an inflamatory response which encourages blood clots to form. The LDL plaster used to patch the vesslel is rough (HDL is smooth), which encourages plaque to stick to it, resulting in cloged blood vessels.

Cholesterol can be influenced by genetics, but there are things you can do to help out.

Ways to raise HDL levels / lower LDL levels:

consume healthy fats: (to raise HDL)
- raw olive oil - on salads (olive oil salad dressings), on pasta, dip whole grain breads in it.
- fish - ideally 3/week, especially those high in omega-3 fatty acids such as salmon, and wild which is lower in mercury
- nuts - walnuts or almonds are best - you only 12-14/day

- walking or doing any physical activity for 30 minutes a day. A 3-in-1 deal: lowers LDL, lowers blood pressure, and helps with weight control.
- Too cold to go out walking? Check out these indoor, on the spot 'walking' exercises: http://www.realage.com/videos/?bclid=5030523001

- Fibre. Has been found to help lower LDL levels significantly.
- Try oats. Choose quick oats or old-fashioned oats over instant - it would take three packets of most instant oatmeal to get the same 3 grams of fibre, and they're often loaded with sugar. Not a fan of oats? I add make my oats in a saucepan - I start by boiling a chopped up apple with some cinamon, or I substitute the apple with one cup of frozen blueberries. Bring it to a boil, remove from heat, add 1/3cup instant oats, a little brown sugar. mmm. For extra fibre I sometimes add 2 tablespoons of wheat bran.
- I add a 1/4cup 'Bran Buds' to a small cup of yogurt.
- I also enjoy a cup of "Shredded Wheat with Bran" as a snack.

- reduce your intake of saturated and trans fats (lower LDL). Found in red meat, doughnuts, deep fried foods, potato chips, butter,

- avoid simple carbs: mostly white foods, white bread, white sugar, white pasta. Which will add to your waistline and raise your blood pressure.

- Cranberries may help raise HDL (good) cholesterol and thwart plaque-building oxidation of the bad kind (LDL).

Other resources:

High Blood Cholesterol: What you need to know
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/chol/wyntk.htm

Almonds: Grab a Handfull for Heart Health
http://www.eatright.org/ada/files/almonds.pdf

Eating Complex [Carbs]
http://www.realage.com/tips/eating-complex

Getting Started

As a health professional, an RN, and as a person who has been able to maintain a relatively healthy lifestyle people often ask me questions. How did you lose weight? What can I do to improve my health? And the number one question as of late: "My doctor tells me that I have high cholesterol. What does that mean? And what can I do about it?".

I might not know all the answers - but through my training I have become skilled at knowing where to look and how to discern whether the information I am reading is of good quality.

My hope for this blog is that I can share with you some of the information I have and that you can challenge me by asking questions.