Keeping Healthy: Taking Care of Your Cholesterol: Brief Version

Cholesterol is a fatty substance in your body. Cholesterol can be both helpful and harmful to your body. On the good side, it helps build the hormones and nerve cells your body needs. But when you have too much cholesterol, the walls of your blood vessels can thicken. This can cause heart attacks and strokes.

Measuring Cholesterol

When you get your cholesterol checked, your health care provider will tell you how high your cholesterol is:

If your total cholesterol is

• less than 200, that is healthy.
• 200 to 239, it is a little too high.
• 240 or above, it is too high.

Your health care provider may also check the two main types of cholesterol in your blood. One type is HDL or "good" cholesterol. (You can think of "H" for "healthy" cholesterol.) The other type is LDL or "bad" cholesterol (think of "L" for "lousy" cholesterol).

• HDL helps prevent heart disease. It helps your body get rid of cholesterol.
• LDL leaves fat on the inside of the blood vessels. When you have too much LDL, you have a higher chance of heart disease.

It's good to have high HDL and low LDL.

If your HDL is

• 40 or higher, that is healthy.
• less than 40, it is too low.

The level of LDL that is healthy for you depends on your risk of heart disease:

• For most people, an LDL less than 160 is recommended.
• If you have an increased risk of heart disease, your health care provider will recommend an LDL less than 130.
• If you have heart disease, diabetes, peripheral artery disease, abdominal aortic aneurysm, or symptomatic carotid artery disease, your provider will recommend an LDL less than 100.

Keeping Your Cholesterol Low

Most of the time, you can take care of your cholesterol by eating right and getting the exercise you need.

It's important to eat healthy foods to keep a healthy weight.

• Eat fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains every day.
• Eat less fat. Stay away from saturated fat, like that in butter and meat.
• Use oils like sunflower, safflower, canola, olive, and corn. Stay away from palm and coconut oil.
• Eat chicken, turkey, and fish instead of a lot of red meat.
• If you eat red meat, cut off any fat and choose the lowest-fat ground beef.

It also helps to:

• Check food labels for fat and cholesterol.
• Take the skin off before you cook or eat chicken and turkey.
• Use egg whites instead of whole eggs.
• Drink skim or 1% milk instead of whole milk.
• Instead of regular sour cream, use yogurt, cottage cheese, or sour cream that is low-fat or nonfat.

Follow your health care provider's advice for exercise.

• You may want to swim, jog, walk, or bicycle.
• You should exercise at least 20 minutes every other day.

High cholesterol may be a problem in your family. Know your family history. Talk about it with your health care provider.

Remember, to take care of your cholesterol:

• Eat healthy.
• Exercise often.
• Check your cholesterol every year.