If you are worried about your cholesterol levels you can discuss this with a doctor or other health-care professional. You can get a blood test done called a lipoprotein profile. This will give you and your doctor an idea of your cholesterol readings.

What are healthy cholesterol levels?

Healthy cholesterol levels may keep your risk of developing cardiovascular illness at the lower end of the risk scale. The following are the recommended numbers for healthy individuals:

• Total blood cholesterol levels should be less than 200 mg/dL.
• HDL cholesterol should be above 60 mg/dL.
• LDL cholesterol levels should be 100 to 130 mg/dL.

You should get a breakdown of the levels of the different lipoproteins in your blood from the test results. If you have less than 40 mg/dL of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in the blood it may indicate a higher risk for cardiovascular illness.

Can you raise HDL cholesterol?

You may be able to raise HDL cholesterol in the blood by eating right and moving like the wind. I read somewhere that drinking about 3 glasses of real orange juice per day can raise HDL cholesterol by about 20 percent after a month. Another liquid to consider is red wine. Drink a glass of red wine with dinner. More than one glass may not increase the overall benefits to your health and may leave you with a slight headache the next morning. Complex carbohydrate foods like whole grain bread or brown rice may also help to increase levels of HDL in the blood.

Can you reduce LDL cholesterol?

Low-density lipoprotein or LDL is often pointed at as the bad apple in the orchard. This is only true if the cholesterol reading is off the charts. It seems that anything above 190 mg/dL is considered to be very high and dangerous to your heart health. In that case you might consider how to reduce LDL cholesterol. A simple yet seemingly effective way to do this is to add some cinnamon to your first pot of coffee of the day. It will brew with the coffee beans and become a healthy drink. Another way is to use olive oil as a salad dressing. Consuming olive oil regularly can help to lower LDL cholesterol. Regular oats (not the instant kind) can be a delicious breakfast that can lower LDL points by a few percent.

What about triglycerides?

Triglycerides are another lipid that might show up in the test results. It is a major source of energy for the human body. You can get it from the food you eat and your own body produces it as well. Triglyceride levels may rise to unhealthy amounts due to age or obesity. The normal fasting triglyceride point is less than 150 mg/dL. Any reading above 200 mg/dL is considered to be a higher risk for heart disease and stroke.

What are natural ways to lower cholesterol?

One of the most natural ways to lower cholesterol is through regular exercise. Depending on your current fitness and activity levels, you might engage in walking or riding a bicycle. If you can do more, try sprinting or jogging. To achieve cholesterol-lowering benefits you should do cardiovascular aerobic exercises in moderation.

Moderate-intensity exercises tend to raise your heart rate and cause you to sweat a little. While doing moderate-intensity exercises you can still talk, but reciting poems will not be possible. Well, for most of us reciting poems is not possible anyway. A better example would be that you will not be able to sing the words to your favorite song out loud while exercising. You will be breathing too fast to sing. You will know when your exercise routine has been too intense when you drop to the floor like a sack of potatoes and complain breathlessly that you cannot feel your legs anymore. That is what is known as a too-high-intensity workout.

Even though the human body produces most of the cholesterol in the blood, what you eat may change your lipoprotein profile for better or for worse. It is generally recommended that you follow a diet low in saturated fat, trans fats and cholesterol. You may learn how to make a few simple low cholesterol meals by doing some research or buying a cookbook. Here are a few examples of low cholesterol meals:

• Microwaved potatoes
• Microwaved sweet potatoes
• Pea soup
• Bean and garden vegetable soup
• Vegetables and rice
• Pasta and vegetables
• Steamed vegetables
• Green bean dishes

You may be able to naturally lower your cholesterol if you know your cholesterol readings, avoid foods with high cholesterol, engage in regular exercise, eat low cholesterol meals and use supplements that can lower LDL points while raising HDL cholesterol.

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