What are the good and bad things about Cholesterol?
Cholesterol is necessary for many bodily functions. It is a vital part of cell structures and helps insulates nerves from other tissues. It helps to convert sunshine to vitamin D.
However, if your liver produces too much cholesterol, or your diet contributes to high LDL (especially oxidized LDL) cholesterol, you can develop heart or artery disease. Fatty streaks can develop in arteries and eventually those can become plaques. Plaques can inhibit or block blood flow to the heart or other areas like the brain.
To help control the oxidation of LDL, we need to eat more veggies, fruits and antioxidants, including tomato sauce. Omega-3 fats/fish oil can also help to keep LDL from oxidizing.
If you can minimize the oxidation of LDL, you can help control the fatty streaks and plaque that grows in arteries over time. Recent studies show that many teenagers have fatty streaks these days!
Exercise also helps to control cholesterol and can improve HDL, or good cholesterol levels (HDL helps to remove excess LDL).
I hope that makes sense!