How To Raise HDL cholesterol

An understanding of how to raise HDL cholesterol levels is crucial to your long term health. Healthy HDL levels will contribute to healthy arteries and reduce your risk of heart attack or stroke.

First of all, We will explain the difference between HDL and LDL cholesterol and how to affects you.

The cholesterol number your doctor gives you is the total of two numbers, your LDL cholesterol and your HDL cholesterol.

Your LDL number stands for low-density lipoprotein. This is the cholesterol that is associated with saturated fats and leads to atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). Atherosclerosis can cause heart disease, heart attacks and strokes. It is one of the leading killers in the Unites States and the western world.

Your HDL number stands for high-density lipoprotein. This is the ‘good’ cholesterol that you hear so much about. You can imagine HDL’s as cleaning the walls of your blood vessels, removing the excess cholesterol and plaque from the side of your arteries that can cause atherosclerosis.

One of the foundations of good health is to learn how to how to raise HDL cholesterol levels in your system to over 60 mg/ DL. This HDL cholesterol level is ideal and it has also been shown that for every increase of 1 mg/ DL over the 60 threshold can lead to a decrease in the risk of heart attack and stroke by 2-3%. Therefore, one of the first things that you should do when you make the commitment to losing weight and getting in shape is to increase your HDL cholesterol count to over 60 mg/DL.

how do you raise HDL cholesterol levels?

• Aerobic Exercise-Any form of regular aerobic exercise will increase your HDL levels. The key is consistency and most people get tired of doing the same aerobic exercise day in and day out. To counter this, I have come up with a list of cardio routines to add variety to your workout so you can stay motivated to your goal of raising your HDL levels. Simply put, this is the best action you can take for yourself when trying to figure out how to raise HDL cholesterol levels in your system.
• Lose weight-This is one of the reasons you came to this website, right? Losing 10 pounds can increase your HDL by up to 2 points.
• Eliminate the processed foods-the cakes, sweets and processed foods, cereals and breads can lower your HDL levels and raise the levels of your triglycerides in your system.
• Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids-Omega-3’s have been shown to reduce your LDL cholesterol and be a big part of how to raise HDL cholesterol levels in your system. You can find Omega-3’s in foods such as fish, nuts or fish oil supplements. make sure to take two fish oil supplements daily to make sure that get the proper amount of Omega-3’s daily. mix them in  Whey Protein shake so this is an ideal way to take pills if you have problems swallowing them whole.

• Quit smoking-As if you needed you ANOTHER reason to stop sucking on the cancer sticks, it has been shown that when you quit smoking your HDL levels will rise.
• Eliminate Trans Fatty Acids From Your Diet-Consuming trans fatty acids will not only lower your HDL levels but will increase your LDL levels. The best way to identify a trans fatty is to look at the nutrition label. Anything with ‘partially hydrogenated vegetable oil’ in it needs to be left on the supermarket shelf.
• consume Monounsaturated Fats-These are the fats associated with canola and olive oil, avocados and peanut butter. These will not cause an increase in your overall cholesterol while raising your HDL cholesterol levels. 
• Pump up the fiber-The fiber that is found in vegetable, fruit and oatmeal will lower your LDL cholesterol levels and is a terrific way for you to figure out how to raise HDL cholesterol levels in your system.

There are a few other recommendations out there if you do your research, but before going on we want to caution you to seek out the approval of a physician before trying any of them:

• Niacin-Niacin could be the best answer to ‘How to raise HDL cholesterol’. Niacin is a B vitamin that can raise your HDL levels by 15-35% BUT prescribed in the wrong fashion can come with nasty side effects, including flushing of the skin and a racing heart. So never take Niacin unless you are under a doctor’s supervision.
• Alcohol consumption- for MODERATE users, and that is 1-2 drinks a day, alcohol has been shown to raise HDL levels.

These are just a few of the ways for you to figure out How To Raise HDL cholesterol levels in your system.