How to Increase HDL Cholesterol Levels Naturally
Get informed on increasing HDL cholesterol through the natural way.
Ideally, the HDL levels must be higher than 40 mg/dL, while triglyceride levels less than 150 mg/dL and LDL cholesterol less than 150 mg/dL.
It is important to keep HDL within the normal range as it plays an important role in protecting your heart health.
The very first thing to keep such normal levels of HDL is through making some important changes in your lifestyle habits. I may understand that you are used with your daily lifestyle habits and it might be very difficult to do differently.
However, such changes can help you live longer with fewer problems. And you deserve it!
Here are some facts you should know about cholesterol:
• Cholesterol is a sticky natural material found in all the cells of your body, it helps in anchoring these cells to each others, thus it is very important in building the body tissues.
• Cholesterol is essential in the production and secretion of some important sex hormones.
• Cholesterol is not dissolved in the blood; therefore, it has to be carried from and to the cells by carriers (mainly proteins) via blood stream. These carriers are called lipoproteins.
Furthermore, there are two types of these lipoproteins:
Low density lipoprotein (LDL), which is described as bad cholesterol, because when it accumulates in the blood it causes atherosclerosis by narrowing the arteries that nourish heart and brain. Eventually, a narrowed artery can be easily blocked by a blood clot resulting in a stroke or even a heart attack.
High density lipoprotein (HDL), this is good cholesterol, because high levels of HDL (more than 40 mg/dl) tend to wash away cholesterol from blood vessels, thus protecting against heart diseases.
Medical expert assume that for every 1 mg/dl raise in HDL cholesterol level in your blood, there is about 2-4% decrease in the risk of having a heart disease.
Normal HDL cholesterol level ranges from 40 to 60 mg/dl. When HDL level increases than 60 mg/dl, it will protect you from coronary heart diseases.
The most important question you should ask yourself is how you can raise hdl cholesterol levels in your blood.
Here are some nice easy tips which can help you to achieve this goal without taking any medication:
1. Practice some light exercise (for 20-30 minutes) regularly, like cycling, waking, running, and aerobics. These types of sports increase your heart rate for some time, thus raise hdl cholesterol.
It is advised to start a regular exercise program at least 30 minutes per day. this may help increase HDL up to 10 mg/dl. Walking, running, swimming, or other sport activities are a good source of exercise.
When exercising, you put all of your body muscles into movement. So, the bad metabolic substances (otherwise called “body’s waste”) are removed and good substances are released.
Exercise would help maintaining a healthy weight, which is very important to increase hdl. If you are overweight, start to lose it now and you will see the difference.
2. Keep your weight normal; losing weight increases HDL cholesterol, while obesity increases LDL cholesterol in your blood.
3. Avoid eating saturated fats, only mono-unsaturated fats can raise hdl cholesterol without raising total blood cholesterol.
4. Eat at least 2 servings of foods containing soluble fibers daily.
5. Beware that refined carbohydrates raise your blood sugar and decrease HDL levels.
6. You should know that eating ½ raw onion daily will raise hdl cholesterol by 30%
7. Avoid drinking alcohol. The American Heart Association encourages doctors to advise their patients to stop drinking to keep their hearts healthy.
8. Stop smoking cigarettes, as tobacco decreases HDL cholesterol.
9. The National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) suggests that niacin (vitamin B3) is very important in regulating your blood cholesterol. Niacin can raise hdl cholesterol by 30%, plus decreasing total blood cholesterol by 10- 25%.
10. Eat a lot of fish, walnuts, and other foods containing omega-3. Omega-3 is an essential fatty acid that can raise hdl cholesterol.
Next, smoking cessation is the best decision you ever take. You will see the difference: after eight weeks your HDL will start increasing markedly.
Keep your triglycerides as low as possible. They can alternate the HDL structure and accelerate their cleanness from your bloodstream.
Other natural alternatives you have to raise hdl cholesterol levels is by choosing the food that help, because the "wrong" foods are one of the various causes to low hdl .
So, grape juice can significantly raise HDL according to one study of Boston University School of Medicine.
Grapes
Keep in mind that foods high in niacin (vitamin B3) according to one study in American Journal of Cardiology can raise HDL by 8 per cent in three months time.
Cut the amount of refined sugars and carbs in your diet. This can help increasing hdl cholesterol too.
It has been shown in one study of University of Newcastle that macadamia nuts may raise HDL by 8 percent. Also cranberry juice may significantly increase hdl according to one study published in the British Journal of Nutrition.
Crude rice and wheat bran
Be far away from trans fats and use olive oil randomly. It has been shown in a recent study in the Annals of Internal Medicine that the higher the polyphenol content in olive oil, the higher the HDL is increased.
Use curry (especially curcumin). That can help increasing hdl by 29 per cent noted by one study.
According to Dr. Victor Gurewich of Tufts University one raw onion per day can increase hdl by thirty percent.
I want you to keep in mind that all the above info is to ensure you the importance of these natural steps and remedies in your way of increasing hdl cholesterol.
The extracts of the above foods and other herbs mixed in a natural formula can work too.
The last way is by taking oral drugs. If the strategies above will not work, your doctor will recommend some medications that have shown to increase HDL.
Nicotinic acid, fibrates or other cholesterol lowering drugs (such as statins) can be the drugs of choice.
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