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High Cholesterol causes
There are in fact more than 5 causes of high cholesterol, however there are some pretty common ones which keep turning up again and again, and it is these ones that we will address today. In addition to looking at these 5 causes of high cholesterol what we will also do is look to see how we can counteract them, preferably without the use of statins.
1. Being Overweight - Being overweight can have a direct bearing on cholesterol levels. And excess weight becomes more of a problem as we get older as weight goes on very easily and is harder to lose. One of the first things that you can do is obviously pay attention to the food that you eat. In particular you want to cut down on foods that contain saturated fats such as meat and dairy products, but more so you want to eliminate foods containing trans fats from your diet, as these can have a significant effect on your cholesterol levels. In addition to that eat more fruit and veg, eat smaller portions and exercise more.
2. Lack of Exercise - Even if you are not overweight, lack of exercise can lead to high cholesterol levels. To be frank, the vast majority of people do not exercise enough and when we are saying exercise this is not about gym memberships and extreme workouts. All exercise has to be is just to get your body moving and your pulse rate up a little bit for approximately 30 minutes daily. Exercise can be anything as simple as walking briskly to cycling, whatever takes your fancy really.
3. Lifestyle Choices - There are some lifestyle choices that you may need to look at if you have high cholesterol. One that we already touched on is the type of foods that you eat, but in addition to that if you are a smoker then you really need to quit the habit, because we already know smoking can be behind various diseases and your cholesterol levels is one of them. Something else to look at is excessive alcohol intake; a glass of wine is great because it can help to raise the HDL levels, however it does not lower the LDL levels and in fact if you overindulge it can increase triglyceride levels, as well as cause damage to the liver and it is your liver that processes and produces cholesterol.
4. Age and Gender - When we are younger we tend to have less problems with cholesterol, although if we do it tends to be men that have problems with it rather than women. However once women go through the menopause then they too are at an advanced risk of having cholesterol problems. Therefore as we get older it becomes even more imperative that we watch our weight and maintain our exercise levels.
5. Genetics - Finally, having high cholesterol levels may have nothing to do at all with your lifestyle or anything else that we have discussed, it may purely come down to genetics. When this is the case it is of course harder to get the cholesterol levels under control because it is something that you have inherited. In this instance if you know that your family has had a history of high cholesterol, then you really need to go discuss it with your physician to see how you can best deal with it.
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