What If Cholesterol Is Not All That Bad?

In order to understand what bad cholesterol is, it is important to know what cholesterol means. Cholesterol is a vital part of all tissues of a human body. With that said, cholesterol cannot be all evil. Our body cannot exist without cholesterol. 

Our body will not be able to produce estrogen, testosterone, DHEA, and other vital hormones without cholesterol. It is vital for manufacturing of vitamins and metabolism of fatty acids.

Cholesterol comes from the human body and from the food that we eat. Our liver manufactures cholesterol, on the other hand, food sources such as dairy, eggs, and meat contains cholesterol.

HDL or good cholesterol and LDL or bad cholesterol was created in order to differentiate poor health and cholesterol.

Cholesterol becomes a problem when it is oxidized because it can irritate the tissues like the lining of your arteries.

This irritation can lead to inflammation which when allowed can form a scar tissue inside the arteries which is commonly known as “plaque”.

It now makes sense to avoid the factors that help with the oxidation of cholesterol and start eating healthy foods. With excessive damage or oxidation of cholesterol, our body reacts by distributing more cholesterol through our bloodstream in order to help repair the damage. This gives the impression of having “high cholesterol” in the body.

But before grabbing your cholesterol-lowering pills, it is wise to determine first why your cholesterol became high in the first place.

Did you know that our body has its own lowering-cholesterol agent? Hormones such as insulin, glucagon, and leptin play a very important role in regulating your cholesterol. When these hormones become out of balance, they lead to diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and even obesity.

When your body is treated the right way, that is, eating the right food and exercising regularly, our body is provided with a means to regulate hormone and cholesterol levels.

The key here is balance. Low cholesterol has not been conclusively shown to save lives. As a matter of fact, low cholesterol may increase your risk of dying. It has been shown that low cholesterol levels can cause neurological problems as well as impair your health. It ahs also been shown to worsen certain diseases such as congestive heart failure. So, lowering cholesterol may not be a good idea as we all think.

It is important to be educated and be able to make conscious decisions when dealing with cholesterol. Cholesterol just like any other vital component in our body has to be regulated for our body to work in harmony.

Chris McCombs is an Irvine Personal Trainer and owner of Positively Fit Personal Training in Orange County California. His team specializes in fat loss and muscle toning.