HDL & LDL Cholesterol: Good or Bad?
HDL and LDL Cholesterol are the two main types of cholesterols. High cholesterol level means that you’re at a higher risk of heart diseases. Before you jump to such a conclusion, you need to find out which cholesterol is high in your body. It can be a “good” one or “bad” one. High-Density Lipoprotein(HDL) is one of the lipoproteins and is good for health. On the other hand, low density lipoprotein is considered bad for health. So, now you have a series of questions in your mind. How to Increase HDL cholesterol? How to decrease LDL cholesterol? How can non-HDL cholesterol harm your body? Be with us as we discuss all these points below in the article.
How to increase HDL cholesterol levels?
Follow a low carb diet
A low carb diet can help you gain a lot of health benefits. Not only does it help in weight loss but also reduces the sugar level in blood. People with obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome can experience an increase in HDL cholesterol through a low carb diet.
Exercise
Exercise is very important for a healthy heart and thus, you need to stay physically active. Various exercises have been found to increase HDL levels. Such exercises include high-intensity exercise, strength training and aerobic exercises.
Consume Coconut Oil
Coconut oil appears to be quite healthy for heart. Adding it to your diet will increase reduce appetite, protect brain health, increase metabolic rate and also increases HDL cholesterol levels.
Quit Smoking
Despite of other health issues as a result of smoking, if you’re still into it, you need to quit it immediately as it also lowers HDL cholesterol levels. In fact, there has been found zero difference in the HDL levels in those who have never smoked and those who’ve quit smoking.
Avoid Obesity
When an overweight person works to lose weight, the level of HDL cholesterol tends to increase. If you too are obese, you need to start working on your body right away.
Just some changes in your lifestyle can lead to a high HDL level. Here’s how to increase HDL in a simple and easy way:
How to lower LDL Cholesterol Levels?
Lowering Low density Cholesterol (LDL) will also increase HDL in your body. So, here’s how you can lower LDL just by making some changes in your daily life.
Go nuts
Nuts have a high amount of sterols that work a lot in keeping the body from absorbing cholesterol. So, you should start eating nuts but make sure you don’t go overboard as they are high in calories.
Stay Stress free
Stress can boost up the cholesterol in no time. This is why you have to find a good relaxation method. It can be anything like yoga, meditation, a coffee date with a friend, a good romantic novel or even some quality “me” time.
Laugh more
Laughter Cures many problems and a high level of non-HDL cholesterol is one of such problems. You can adopt any measure to laugh. Bring a good comic to your daily routine, watch silly, funny videos and funny movies.
Use Desi Ghee for cooking
Desi Ghee has a high content of good cholesterol. Replacing regular cooking refined oil with desi ghee can work wonders in lowering the non-HDL level. Also, Ghee has high smoke point unlike refined oils that has low smoke points producing extremely harmful free radicals.
Go fishy
Omega-3 fatty fish is considered very healthy for heart and it also reduces the level of bad cholesterol in the body. Replace the red meat if your diet with fatty fish and eat it twice or thrice a day. This will reduce the bad cholesterol and help you stay healthy.
With these changes in your lifestyle, you can develop a good level of “good” cholesterol in your body.
