In order to manage cholesterol, you, first have to know what it is and what it does. Only then, is it possible to understand it and find a way to control unhealthy levels. This may mean changing the way you live and adopting a healthy or healthier lifestyle. It may mean a change in eating habits or a resolve to lose weight. It all depends upon the levels of cholesterol in your blood and what your doctor determines is right for you.

Cholesterol is a compound necessary if the digestive and nervous systems are to function properly. Unlike other types of essential body requirements, cholesterol is in both food and within the body, naturally. The terms used are dietary or blood cholesterol. In other words, the two main sources of cholesterol are your body and what you eat.

The natural presence of cholesterol in your bloodstream makes it easy for you to obtain the correct levels of cholesterol. It also makes it extremely easy to overachieve, putting too much cholesterol into your body. When this happens, you open yourself up to arteriosclerosis or hardening of the arteries. This, in turn, results in heart-related disorders, including heart attack.

In common jargon, there are two forms of cholesterol: ?good? and ?bad?. Doctors, nutritionists and dieticians refer to high-density lipoprotein or HDL as ?good? cholesterol. They refer to low-density lipoprotein or LDL as bad cholesterol. The trick is to have the right amount of HDL and avoid too much LDL.

Your body actually produces sufficient amounts of cholesterol. You really do not need any more. Yet, blood cholesterol is not on its own in our physical structure. The major source of cholesterol, particularly LDL, is our diet. Dietary cholesterol is prolific; it appears in more than ample amounts in our daily intake of food.

Dietary cholesterol is a product of animal sources. While plant matter does not have any cholesterol, animal products abound with it. It is in red meat, particularly kidneys, liver and other organ meats. It appears in egg yolks, poultry, fish and high-fat dairy products. The most common source, however, is fat.

There are several different types of fat. Monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, saturated and trans fats. While not the only culprit, saturated fats are responsible for high cholesterol in your body. If you read the labels of various products, they will tell you how much saturated fat a product contains. Coconut oil, palm oil and other tropical oils used in various products, including margarine and fast foods, are high in saturate fats.

Another major offender is the trans fats. In fact, trans fats may be worse at increasing cholesterol levels in the body than saturated fats. Trans fats raises blood cholesterol. It overtly appears in vegetable fat and shortening, but is also an ingredient in many unsuspecting foods such as cookies and crackers.

If you wish to manage cholesterol, keep your levels low and reduce your chances of arteriosclerosis, there are several approaches to take. In general, you want to reduce the amount of high cholesterol foods in your diet. This includes cutting back on foods high in saturated fats. To address this particular part of the problem, instead of saturated fats use monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats. You might also want to replace high cholesterol foods with plant material, including fiber.

Maintain your weight at a healthy level. Research concludes there is a link between overweight individuals, obesity and high cholesterol. Characteristics of obesity-related disorders include high blood pressure, type-2 diabetes and high blood cholesterol levels. Overweight and obesity are also associated with low levels of HDL. If you reduce the weight, you increase the levels of HDL. Simultaneously, you decrease your chances of heart attack from high cholesterol and other weight-related problems.

In general, you can do two basic things to maintain healthy levels of cholesterol. One is to cut down on dietary substances high in cholesterol; the second is to control your weight.