4 Foods that Raise your Cholesterol

Before you get to know about which food to stay away from to bring down your cholesterol numbers, do you have a fair idea of what is cholesterol and how does it relate to you? Read more to get a clear picture.

What is cholesterol?

Cholesterol, a type of fat/lipid is essential for your body to perform its functions smoothly.What you eat determines how much cholesterol you consume. This lipid is extracted from all the fatty food that you eat. Your body is naturally blessed to accumulate 85% of the cholesterol needs from the normal food you intake, apart from which you just need to supply 15% cholesterol to the body.

When you give your body more than the needed amount of this lipid, you’ll end up having high cholesterol levels. Having said that, high cholesterol levels will start building up a thin to thick layer on your arteries and this becomes a hindrance for these arteries to do their job—carry blood from the heart to other parts of the body. When this process is affected, the other parts of your body do not receive proper bloody supply and thus it creates a great setback on your health. Apart from this, your arteries also harden up with the lipid content thus leading to a medical condition called “atherosclerosis”. This is when a person is laid down by massive heart attacks and strokes.

How to measure your cholesterol levels?

It is only by a simple blood test procedure that the cholesterol levels in your body can be determined. There is a set parameter to decide the cholesterol level in your body and is as below:

• Lesser than 200 mg/dl- normal level
• 200-239-border level cholesterol
• More than 240- high cholesterol

What causes high cholesterol?

The food you eat is the main cause of cholesterol. Saturated fat and trans fat rich food are the culprits that spoil your whole system. Apart from this, being overweight and inactive by naturewill also contribute to this deadly disease.

How to control your cholesterol?

Apart from the fitness regimen that you undertake, food is the only source that can help you cut down on higher levels of cholesterol. We will look at those 4 major foods that you got to avoid from your diet to keep yourself away from the risks of cholesterol:

• Egg yolk: The egg yolks have the highest amount of cholesterol while compared to any other food. Of course you can enjoy delicious dishes made out of eggs, but see to that you do not include the egg yellow into your cooking.
• Fast foods: It has become a weekend fantasy for every family to feast on fast foods in branded food outlets. We do not realize the fact that these fatty foods fried in oil have been introduced even to the youngest of children and have become their top most favorite foods. The chicken and veg fries sold in such famous food outlets are purely the highest forms of bad cholesterol. Staying away from these will make your heart healthy!
• Cheese and butter: It is a usual dieter’s theory to avoid all the white colored food. Butter, cheese, curds, milk etc. When the skimmed forms are available for curds and milk, butter and cheese couldn’t be replaced with a healthier form of it. Though these food items are high in protein, they can damage your arteries again with their higher count of cholesterol content.
• Meat: The red meat in all forms like sausage, lamb and duck contain very high levels of cholesterol as well. People who want to maintain a healthy lifestyle, must definitely stay away from red meat and replace your food cravings by healthy fruits and veggies which will go a long way in keep you fit and fine!

Stay away from fats and give your heart that healthy smile!