Foods To Avoid High Cholesterol – What You Need to Know

When it comes down to choosing foods to avoid high cholesterol, you need understand some of the poor information that is out there. A lot of the time when we think about high cholesterol then our first idea is that we need to completely rule out cholesterol stimulating foods from our lives, however the truth iswe do need some cholesterol in our blood for our bodies to function correctly and also while we can skip certain foods to avoid high cholesterol, diet only plays a small part in cholesterol levels.

Cholesterol is a wax like substance which is created by the liver and the body needs it for creating and looking after cell membranes and equilibrating the hormones. As we have all ready observed a small part of it can be produced through our dietbut most of it is created by our livers. The foods to avoid high cholesterol are more often than not foods that contain saturated fats such as red meats and dairy products, and in all probability the worst types are foods that include trans fats; trans fats are made from hydrogenated vegetable oils, and frequently found in fast foods and processed foods.

The foods to avoid high cholesterol that we have named i.e. the saturated fats and trans fats will lower a little bit of production of LDL cholesterol normally refferred to as “bad” cholesterol, nevertheless there is another cholesterol that you want to increase which is HDL cholesterol. The function of the HDL cholesterol is that it helps to reduce plaque buildup produced by LDL cholesterol and additionally it clears up the LDL cholesterol and returns it to the liver for reusing. Foods that can increase this HDL cholesterol are ordinarily foods that contain omega three fats along the lines of flax seed and walnuts; oily fish is particularly good at boosting the HDL cholesterol because it has 2 omega3 fats which are DHA and EPA and these have been scientifically verified to not only help balance out cholesterol levels but also cut triglycerides as well.

Quite often if you go to the doctors to talk about your cholesterol levels, they will just turn to your total cholesterol and look to cut that rather than observe the seperate cholesterol levels as well as triglyceride levels. Usually the course of therapy that is taken is to order statins. The trouble with statins is that even though they will reduce your LDL cholesterol by way of suppressing the enzymes that produce it, simultaneously they also curb enzymes that the body needs to function properly, and curbing these good enzymes can lead to some severe health complications. Unfortunately statins are prescribed quite often without looking at other treatmentrs to help balance out the cholesterol levels such as talking over foods to avoid high cholesterol. You need to think carefully if you are offered statins by a doctor as once you are on them then you are on them for life.

However, at the end of the day, they are a qualified medical expert, so ultimately you should always follow their advice or get a second opinion from another suitably qualified medical expert.