How to Raise Good Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a fat-like substance that circulates in your blood. Some cholesterol is made naturally by your body, but the rest comes from foods you eat. There are two main types: HDL and LDL. LDL, or low-density lipoprotein is bad cholesterol and HDL, or high-density lipoprotein is good cholesterol. LDL is the cholesterol that can clog your arteries. HDL helps filter bad cholesterol out of your body through the liver. Unhealthy levels of cholesterol can increase your risk of heart attack, stroke, and other medical problems. It is important to have enough HDL, but not too much LDL. Total cholesterol is just as it sounds; the total of all of the cholesterol in your body. Fortunately, there are certain foods that you can eat to help regulate your cholesterol to healthy levels. Learn ways to increase your HDL, or good cholesterol level.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. 

   Lose weight. Obesity, or extra weight reduces HDL cholesterol. In order to have healthy levels of total cholesterol, we need to have high numbers of good cholesterol. If you are overweight, losing weight should increase your HDL levels.

2. 

   Stop smoking. Giving up tobacco will result in an increase in HDL levels. Not only will quitting smoking increase your good cholesterol, but it will also lower your risk of heart disease and cancers.

3. 

   Do aerobic exercise. As much as some of us hate to exercise, regular aerobic exercise that raises your heart rate for 20 to 30 minutes at a time will increase HDL levels. Try walking, jogging, or bike riding to achieve your exercise goals.

4. 

   Eliminate, or drastically reduce the trans fatty acids in your diet. If you are unsure of what foods you buy have trans fatty acids, look on the food label. If you see "partially hydrogenated vegetable oils," avoid that food. On the food label, you will see "trans fat" under the total fat heading. Trans fatty acids are found in many commercially packaged foods you buy at the store, such as cookies, snack cakes, and crackers

5. 

   Limit your alcohol intake to no more than one or two drinks per day.

6. 

   Add soluble fiber to your diet. These are the fiber found in fruits, vegetables, and legumes. Try for at least two servings each day.

7. 

   Increase the monounsaturated fats you eat. Examples of these fats are canola, avocado, and olive oils. Also peanut butter is packed with monounsaturated fats too. Monounsaturated fats will raise your HDL levels without increasing your total cholesterol.

8. 

   Adding a couple of servings of fish to your weekly diet will help raise your good cholesterol because they contain omega-3 fatty acids. Choose trout, herring, salmon, and tuna.

9. 

   Drink plenty of cranberry juice too. Not only is this good for your kidneys and urinary tract, but it also raises HDL levels.

Resources

• How to Lower Total Cholesterol

[goldiec]

on 4/23/2009 Thanks for the tips on raising good cholesterol! 5*'This is so important.

[sonni57]

on 4/14/2009 Thanks for the info on how to raise good cholesterol.

[wefourmoores]

on 3/24/2009 Great advice! My husband was just diagnosed with high cholestral, and we both appreciate the wonderful advice in you article!

[Delaplane]

on 3/12/2009 Thanks for the advice - unfortunately, my cholesterol levels need helping

[luv2laugh]

on 2/17/2009 It is super important to know your LDL and HDL levels as they are very much genetic and important to your health and how you should live.