High Cholesterol

When your doctor tells you that you have ‘high cholesterol’ do you know what he or she means? The National Institutes of Health recommend that:

Total Cholesterol

Less than 200mg/dL                                  Desirable

200-239 mg/dL                                         Borderline High

240 mg/dL and above                                 High

LDL (bad) Cholesterol

Less than 100 mg/dL                                Optimal (ideal)

100-129 mg/dL                                         Near Optimal

130-159 mg/dL                                          Borderline high

160-189 mg/dL                                          High

190 mg/dL and above                                Very high

HDL (good) Cholesterol

Less than 40 mg/dL                                    Major heart disease risk                                                                                                        factor

60 mg/dL and above                                    Gives some protection                                                                                                             against heart disease

Triglycerides

Less than  150 mg/dL                                    Optimal

150 mg/dL to 199 mg/dL                                Borderline high

200 mg/dL to 499 mg/dL                                High

Levels above 500 mg/dL   Need to be treated with medication to prevent the pancreas              from becoming inflamed.

Risk Of Heart Disease

Having high cholesterol increases your risk of heart disease. So if your doctor tells you that your total cholesterol falls in the borderline high or the high levels above, you should consider lowering it. He or she can help you by prescribing certain medications, but you can help yourself too. 

You are at high risk for heart disease if you smoke, eat fatty foods - especially fast foods, are overweight, and don't exercise. By cutting out or limiting the first two and starting a good, heart-pounding exercise like walking or swimming for 30 or more minutes a day five days a week, you can bring your cholesterol and the risk of heart disease down and under control.

 Remember to check with your doctor first before you start an exercise program. 

Eating a healthy diet of fresh fruits and vegetables and small portions of meat and/or fish daily will bring down your total cholesterol and further lower the risk of heart disease.

If you wish to monitor your cholesterol at home, kits do exist to help you do that. Home health testing has a wide variety of testing kits from which you can monitor your vital signs in the convenience of your home. You can see at a glance how your diet and exercising program is affecting your body. Click on the link above and checkout their line of home test kits.

Do you know that you can, in large part, control the levels of your blood cholesterol? A healthy diet of natural foods can lower the bad cholesterol and raise the good cholesterol. This is a natural treatment for high cholesterol. With the proper food and exercise you can lower cholesterol, and free yourself from high cholesterol and all its inevitable, heart-related problems.