Thursday 25 November 2010

A Low Cholesterol Christmas.



Christmas is now well and truly here. I suddenly found myself digging around for my hat and gloves yesterday as the cold had got too much to handle. Christmas is notoriously a time of over indulging so over the next couple of weeks I will be writing some tips on how to avoid the January slug back to health.

Firstly Cholesterol. Before we begin I want to make it clear that Cholesterol is essential to build cell membranes and without it our cells would not be able to function resulting in serious problems. We make the majority of the cholesterol in our bodies and the dietary sources merely top this up.

There are two types of cholesterol; there is LDL and HDL. HDL is seen to be beneficial as it collects any LDL cholesterol and takes it back to the liver. LDL is the cholesterol that is easily damaged and can cause clots and lesions in the arteries that lead to Cardio Vascular disease. Over eating and over drinking during the festive period puts a strain on our already busy liver and this can result in a decline in HDL so less LDL is being collected and is free to cause problems.

So what to do about it. Well firstly there are ways of increasing your numbers of HDL. One of these is exercise and I’m sure I don’t need to waffle on about the other benefits of exercise. Omega 3’s (see blog entry called sorry for the delay in September 2010) have been shown to not only increase the numbers of HDL cholesterol but also increase the Size of the LDL particles. This is important as it is the small, dense LDL cholesterol which are particularly susceptible to damage. Omega 3’s can be found in oily fish as well as flaxseeds. Lycopene, found in tomatoes also has the same effect on LDL cholesterol. Foods high in saturated fats such as mince pies, brandy butter, and bread sauce will all increase your levels of LDL cholesterol I am afraid so eat these in moderation to maintain optimum cardio health.

Enjoy your Festive feasting x