While cholesterol has been a health concern for many years, researchers are just beginning to learn about the so called good and bad cholesterol. In fact, it seems it is almost as important to raise your good cholesterol as it is to lower your bad cholesterol. To understand why it is important to raise your good cholesterol, you must first understand its function. Once you understand how important this good cholesterol is for you, you may want to learn some proven ways to raise your levels of good cholesterol.

First, good cholesterol's technical name is high density lipoprotein or HDL cholesterol. Second, cholesterol in itself it neither good nor bad, it depends on which type carrier the cholesterol happens to be. With HDL cholesterol, this cholesterol is being taken away from the heart and arteries to the liver where the cholesterol is broken down and excreted from the body.

Bad cholesterol, on the other hand, is the type that builds up in your arteries and causes heart disease and heart attack. Some researchers believe the HDL cholesterol not only carries cholesterol away from your heart, but may help clean bad cholesterol out of your arteries.

Ideally, you should try to raise your good cholesterol level if you want to have a healthy heart. A high HDL cholesterol level is considered to be 60 mg/dl or above. If you can reach this level of 60 mg/dl or above, researchers believe you can offset other causes that put you at risk for heart disease. While 60 mg/dl is a good level to aim for, you should have at least 30 mg/dl or above if you are a woman or 40 mg/dl or above if you are a man.

If your HDL cholesterol level is not as high as you would like for it to be, you are in luck, there are some steps you can take to increase your good cholesterol level. These include getting more aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise includes walking, jogging, swimming and bike riding. Losing weight can also help to increase your levels of good cholesterol.

You should also stop smoking and cut Trans fatty acids out of your diet. Trans fatty acids are found in prepackaged foods and fried fast foods. Another way to raise your HDL cholesterol is to have a drink or two each day. While too much alcohol can be bad for your heart, scientists have found that 1-2 drinks daily can raise your HDL cholesterol. Adding more soluble fiber to your diet can also help to raise your good cholesterol.