Cholesterol is a fat that circulates in the blood. The body needs cholesterol, since it is a building material for body cells. Cholesterol is a fatty, soft, waxy substance resembling hardened grease - and it occur in the bloodstream.
Now, cholesterol is not bad in itself. For one thing it is the raw material to make sex hormones. It also helps form hormones involved in the stress reaction. However high cholesterol can slowly clog arteries resulting in heart disease and stroke. This clogging of arteries takes years to become life threatening, but also can be reversed using nutritional supplements, exercise a low fat diet.
There are two types of cholesterol, Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) and High Density Lipoprotein (HDL). LDL cholesterol, is called the bad cholesterol, because it causes the build up of plaque inside blood levels. Remember this is the cholesterol to lower. HDL is the good cholesterol, because it actually removes the cholesterol from the blood vessels' walls. This is the one to increase by as much as you can.
Where does cholesterol come from?
While there are various causes of high cholesterol, cholesterol as such comes from two sources: your body and the food you eat. In your body, cholesterol is made in the liver. Your liver makes all the cholesterol your body needs. That's why you don't really need the cholesterol coming from the second source--foods that you eat. What ever food you eat the live will take from it the necessary ingredients to produce cholesterol. As a rule of thumb all animal and dairy products contain high cholesterol. However vegetables contain none of it. As such one way of lowering cholesterol is to avoid foods that contain high cholesterol - or at least minimize their consumption, that is animal and dairy products.
http://www.all-about-lowering-cholesterol.com/cholesterol-information.html
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