what causes high cholesterol?and how to prevent it

High cholesterol is usually associated with high fat diets, diseases like diabetes and hypothyroidism, sedentary lifestyles and some medications.

Ways to prevent it are pretty basic – choose foods low in saturated fat, regular exercise, maintain a healthy weight (or lose weight if you’re overweight) and get regular screenings (especially if heart disease is prevalent in your family’s history).

Now sometimes these things don’t help – which is why they have medication to help lower cholesterol. I’m not a doctor so I can’t tell you what works – but if you’re worried about high cholesterol you should talk with your Primary Care Physician.

Another thing to be aware of is that you have good cholesterol (HDL) and bad cholesterol (LDL). Your cholesterol levels may show as high from a basic test – but you could have high levels of HDL. Best thing to do is get tested by a medical facility where they can see the levels of both. You also need to be tested before you’ve had anything to eat for the day to make it as accurate as possible.

Hope this helps!

Great answer SFgirl!!! I’ll just add that since I started taking garlic, my cholesterol has dropped significantly.

There’s a good component of genetics in your cholesterol numbers – there are people who can eat red meat in cream and butter sauce all day and still have shockingly low cholesterol, and there are people whose numbers spike if they even have a brief fantasy about a cheeseburger.

But as a general rule – if you are unfit and eat lots of saturated and trans-saturated fats, you will have high cholesterol.

Eating. Stop eating!

what to eat and not to eat to prevent cholesterol?

Cholesterol comes from animal fats – it’s not found in plants.

If you’re not willing to go vegetarian, read the labels on the foods you eat, and pay attention to the saturated fat information.

And you don’t want to prevent cholesterol entirely—you need some for your body to function properly. The key is to have the right balance of cholesterol. If you’re concerned, your doctor can do a basic blood test to figure out what your cholesterol levels are like, and your doctor is also the best person to talk lifestyle changes like this over with.