by Rachelle de Bretagne

Created on: January 03, 2007   Last Updated: April 28, 2012

We have all heard the word "Cholesterol", but how many really know what it is ? More importantly, how many know how to reduce it ? Let's try and explain.

Imagine a sink with a drain that never gets cleaned. Imagine the build up of grease in the pipes, and how the pipe becomes clogged and doesn't work as efficiently as it did when it was new. Cholesterol actually needs to circulate in the blood, but excess of LDL cholesterol really does clog up the arteries, and can form a plaque on the sides of them, making them not work as efficiently as they should. Blood not being able to flow properly can cause Heart attack or stroke, so it is rather important to know what your levels are, and to ascertain whether your lifestyle contributes to the levels, or whether it is the body itself that is producing the cholesterol excess.

When I was diagnosed as having high levels of cholesterol, I decided it was time to take responsibility for my body, and designed a diet that actually did some good and lowered the levels without the need to resort to medicines. Not everyone can reduce their levels by diet, though you can aid the body enormously by making the effort.

So what are the things you can change ?

The first thing that I changed was my meat eating, since many of the meats I ate had excessive fat content. I went from red meat to white meat and fish that was not greasy, and did not find the transition difficult at all. I thought that I would, although now indulge occasionally in eating duck which is known for its goodness and the fat of duck is actually HDL and works against the bad cholesterol. You've probably seen adverts on the telly about "good" and "bad" germs. Well cholesterol works much in the same way in that HDL cholesterol (or the good cholesterol) carries the bad cholesterol away from the arteries towards the liver and slows the growth of plaque caused by "bad" cholesterol. Avoid all salamis and prepared meat like sausages, since the fat content is renowned as high.

Little by little, I began to take the advice of my doctor and look at the foods that I ate that were actually harmful to me, and was surprised at many of them. I wanted to eliminate bad things, but also to have something to replace them with, because deprivation doesn't work for me, and I quickly lose incentive. Ice cream was something I ate a lot of and the fatty content within it really is not helpful at all. I found that I could eat Zero Percent Fat Yoghurts, and that I actually enjoyed them enormously,

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