Does high cholesterol cause heart disease? Well, yes and no.
It's really sort of a complicated subject and, unfortunately, putting medical research into layman's terms, it starts to feel like a game of telephone.
A scientific study finds that A is a factor in Y, and by the time it gets around, people are saying that A inherently leads to Y, and that Y is always caused by A.
For all intents and purposes, we might as well say that high cholesterol causes heart disease, but in actuality, it's not QUITE as simple as that.
In reality, it's not that high cholesterol causes heart problems, but rather, is a major factor in heart problems, is one of the leading contributors, and certainly won't help an existing condition.
However, it's still only one factor.
More often than not, heart disease is caused by a number of factors including poor dieting, lack of exercise, genetics, and yes, of course, unsafe cholesterol levels.
What a lot of people don't realize, however, is that there is such a thing as good cholesterol, too, and that we do need SOME cholesterol in our diets to keep us running at peak form.
When people hear that high cholesterol causes heart attacks and immediately cut all cholesterol from their diet, this is no safer than doing the opposite and overloading on bacon and fast food.
All of this can get complicated.
Information gets less clear as it gets passed around there's a lot of myth and misinformation floating around out there.
Luckily, it's not complicated at all to keep your cholesterol levels in a healthy range.
First of all, drink more water.
You need to drink around a gallon a day to ensure that your digestion system is working just fine, to make sure that everything flows as it should.
Second, brush your teeth.
It sounds strange, sure, but bad oral hygiene is a leading cause of heart troubles.
When it comes to letting good cholesterol in and keeping the bad stuff out, the basic rule of thumb is: Stay away from greasy, fried and salty foods.
On the other hand, there's almost no such thing as eating too much when it comes to fruits and vegetables.
For protein, try eating less red meat, more poultry, fish, beans and other non-animal sources of protein.
Some people have also had a lot of success trying natural supplements to help control cholesterol levels, and we're not talking about holistic placebos here, but all natural supplements that actually do help to curb bad cholesterol without affecting good cholesterol.
And finally: exercise.
Even if all you do is walk to work, it's better than sitting on the couch or in the driver's seat all day every day.
It's really sort of a complicated subject and, unfortunately, putting medical research into layman's terms, it starts to feel like a game of telephone.
A scientific study finds that A is a factor in Y, and by the time it gets around, people are saying that A inherently leads to Y, and that Y is always caused by A.
For all intents and purposes, we might as well say that high cholesterol causes heart disease, but in actuality, it's not QUITE as simple as that.
In reality, it's not that high cholesterol causes heart problems, but rather, is a major factor in heart problems, is one of the leading contributors, and certainly won't help an existing condition.
However, it's still only one factor.
More often than not, heart disease is caused by a number of factors including poor dieting, lack of exercise, genetics, and yes, of course, unsafe cholesterol levels.
What a lot of people don't realize, however, is that there is such a thing as good cholesterol, too, and that we do need SOME cholesterol in our diets to keep us running at peak form.
When people hear that high cholesterol causes heart attacks and immediately cut all cholesterol from their diet, this is no safer than doing the opposite and overloading on bacon and fast food.
All of this can get complicated.
Information gets less clear as it gets passed around there's a lot of myth and misinformation floating around out there.
Luckily, it's not complicated at all to keep your cholesterol levels in a healthy range.
First of all, drink more water.
You need to drink around a gallon a day to ensure that your digestion system is working just fine, to make sure that everything flows as it should.
Second, brush your teeth.
It sounds strange, sure, but bad oral hygiene is a leading cause of heart troubles.
When it comes to letting good cholesterol in and keeping the bad stuff out, the basic rule of thumb is: Stay away from greasy, fried and salty foods.
On the other hand, there's almost no such thing as eating too much when it comes to fruits and vegetables.
For protein, try eating less red meat, more poultry, fish, beans and other non-animal sources of protein.
Some people have also had a lot of success trying natural supplements to help control cholesterol levels, and we're not talking about holistic placebos here, but all natural supplements that actually do help to curb bad cholesterol without affecting good cholesterol.
And finally: exercise.
Even if all you do is walk to work, it's better than sitting on the couch or in the driver's seat all day every day.