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Not all cholesterol is created equal. Does this seem like a strange statement? While it may seem strange, it is true. Not all types of cholesterol are the same. Your body creates some cholesterol; you add some to your body by the foods you eat. Also, medical experts consider some cholesterol bad while they think that you also have good cholesterol. What, good cholesterol? With all the negative publicity we hear each day about cholesterol, how can you believe that any form of this
substance is good?

To understand how expert can call one cholesterol good, you must first understand the role of cholesterol in the body. Since the body naturally produces this substance, it makes sense the body needs this substance to survive. Cholesterol's main role in the body is to preserve and build cell wall membranes. Cholesterol also aids in digesting fat soluble vitamins and is important in producing hormones.

So, as you see, cholesterol is a substance the body needs for it to be healthy. Cholesterol becomes bad when there is a surplus of it in our systems either because our body produces too much of the substance or when we take in too much cholesterol though the foods we eat. This excess cholesterol can build up in the blood vessels, clogging arteries and causing heart disease and heart attack.

This is the point where doctors begin to distinguish between good and bad cholesterol. Medical researchers refer to good cholesterol as high density lipoprotein or HDL cholesterol, while they term bad cholesterol as low-density lipoprotein or LDL cholesterol. You can also call HDL cholesterol good cholesterol, because the medical practitioners believe that your bodily processes work to transport this cholesterol out of the body. This is good because it does not stick around to plug up your arteries. Meanwhile, it is LDL cholesterol that builds up in the arteries and causes heart disease.

Therefore, if you want to avoid heart disease, your goal should be to raise your good cholesterol levels and lower the bad cholesterol levels. What, then, is the ideal good cholesterol level? Doctors want your good cholesterol to be above 50 mg/DL. Any reading between 35 and 50 mg/DL they consider acceptable while they look at those below 35 mg/DL to be too low.

Now, what can you do if you find your good cholesterol level is too low? What are the best ways to raise it? Here are a few things to try. First, lose some weight. If you are overweight, this change can drastically help improve cholesterol levels. Join a weight loss program to help you reduce your weight. Exercise can also help to raise your HDL level. If you smoke, quitting can also help to raise levels of good cholesterol.

As you can see, all cholesterol is indeed not created equal. By increasing your good cholesterol, you can cut your risk of heart disease and stroke. Several lifestyle changes, such as losing weight and giving up smoking, can help improve your levels of this good cholesterol.