Many people often hear from their doctor about their cholesterol level either being bad or good, but many do not actually understand just exactly what cholesterol is and what its function is in the body. Many often develop a misconception as to what it really does. Cholesterol is simply a waxy substance produced by your liver that is designed to perform a number of tasks for our health.

Cholesterol has a vital function in our body because it produces vitamin D, creates bile salts to help in the digestion of unused fat, and it aids in building call walls. So, if cholesterol does all these wonderful things, why would we need to worry about having too much in our body? The answer is simply because anything in excess is bad for our bodies. If we can learn what is cholesterol, then we can avoid having too much in our system.

The Bad And Good Cholesterol.

If we understand which foods produce the good cholesterol and the bad cholesterol, then we will be able to monitor our cholesterol level more readily and keep it at a good level for our heath. Foods that have the bad cholesterol are items that have animal fats like meats and dairy products. Foods that have the good cholesterol are items such as fruits, whole grains, and vegetables.

Too much bad cholesterol in our system can lead to blocked arteries which is very bad. When our arteries are blocked it prevents our blood from flowing, which is very bad for our health.

Good cholesterol behaves very differently than bad cholesterol because its main goal to keep our bodies healthy. What the good cholesterol does is carry the surplus of cholesterol we have in our bodies to the liver so it can create bile salt and expel it from our system.

What Causes High Cholesterol?

Many of us who go to the doctor are usually worried about having a high cholesterol level. There are several reasons that we acquire a high cholesterol level and the main reason is our age. As we age our cholesterol level goes up and we are thus more able to get high cholesterol.

There are many things that can cause us to get high cholesterol levels. One thing is we may inherit from our parents. If your parents have high cholesterol, you should ask your doctor to be tested to make sure if you have it or not. Another thing is doing physical activity. When we exercise and do any other physical activity, this causes our good cholesterol levels to rise thus keeping us healthy.

When we are looking at the causes and cures for high cholesterol, we often find a direct link between the food we eat and our cholesterol levels. If we eat foods rich in fiber, vegetables, beans, fish, and fruits we can keep the good cholesterol levels up within our body. We also need to try and avoid eating foods that promote high cholesterol levels within our body like meat and dairy products. When we go to the doctor and he gives us our cholesterol reading, many do not understand just exactly what he is talking about. Many people know that cholesterol is either good for you or bad, but many do not understand what is cholesterol. Cholesterol is simply a waxy matter that the liver creates which handles a number of duties in our body.