Foods To Avoid High Cholesterol – What You Need to Know

When it comes down to choosing foods to avoid high cholesterol, you need understand some of the poor information that is out there. Most often when we think about high cholesterol then our first thought is that we need to completely get rid of cholesterol causing foods from our lives, the fact is thatwe do need some cholesterol in our blood for our bodies to function correctly and also while we can avoid particular foods to avoid high cholesterol, what you eat has a tiny role in cholesterol levels.

Cholesterol is a wax like entity which is created by the liver and the body needs it for building and maintaining cell membranes and balancing the hormones. As we have already mentioned a small part of it can be created through what we eatbut most of it is produced by our livers. The foods to avoid high cholesterol are chiefly foods that contain saturated fats such as red meats and dairy products, and probably the worst offenders are foods that contain trans fats; trans fats are produced from hydrogenated vegetable oils, and frequently found in fast foods and ready made meals foods.

The foods to avoid high cholesterol that we have named i.e. the saturated fats and trans fats will keep down a little bit of production of LDL cholesterol which is the “bad” cholesterol, nevertheless there is another cholesterol that you want to have high amounts of and that is HDL cholesterol. The purpose of the HDL cholesterol is that it helps to repress plaque buildup produced by LDL cholesterol and not only that it mops up the LDL cholesterol and takes it back to the liver for recycling. Foods that can give you a good boost of this HDL cholesterol are normally foods that contain omega three fats along the lines of flax seed and walnuts; oily fish is particularly superb at boosting the HDL cholesterol because it contains 2 omega3 fats which are DHA and EPA and these have been scientifically proved to not only help balance out cholesterol levels but also cut triglycerides as well.

Quite often if you go to the doctors to talk about your cholesterol levels, they will just look your total cholesterol and look to lower that rather than observe the seperate cholesterol levels and also triglyceride levels. Usually the course of action that is taken is to order statins. The problem with statins is that although they will reduce your LDL cholesterol by way of suppressing the enzymes that produce it, simultaneously they also inhibit enzymes that the body needs to work properly, and suppressing these good enzymes can lead to some severe health complications. Regrettably statins are prescribed quite often without looking at other treatmentrs to help balance out the cholesterol levels such as talking over foods to avoid high cholesterol. You need to think cautiously if you are offered statins by a physician as once you are on them then you are on them for life.

However, at the end of the day, they are a qualified medical expert, so ultimately you should always follow their advice or get a second opinion from another suitably qualified medical expert.