The Health Bulletin

HDL or high- density lipoprotein belongs to the five main groups of lipoproteins that help in the transportation of lipids (i.e. cholesterol and triglycerides) within your bloodstream. About thirty percent or one-fourth to one-third of the cholesterol in your blood is being carried by HDL. HDL acts as a cholesterol searcher; it looks for excess build-ups of cholesterol in your body and brings it to your liver where it is being broken down. Doctors and researchers term HDL cholesterol as “good” cholesterol because through countless tests, they’ve observed that a high level of this lipoprotein decreases the risk of heart attacks and coronary artery disease in their patients.

Cholesterol Levels

Although most of us have been reminded by our doctors to lower our cholesterol levels, we must not forget to raise our HDLs because these lipoproteins are a big help in our fight against heart ailments.

Measurements of our cholesterol levels are in milligrams of cholesterol in deciliter (dL) of blood, or using (mmol) which means millimoles per liter (L). Always remember that when you’re talking about HDL cholesterol, the higher, the better.

The preferred level of HDL cholesterol for both men and women is 60 mg/dL (1.6 mmol/L) and above. For men, levels less than 40 mg/dL (1.0 mmol/L) puts them at risk while levels below 50 mg/dL (1. 3 mmol/L) places the women at risk.

Medical experts recommend that you should increase your HDL cholesterol level whenever they can be categorized in-between the risk levels and the desired levels. In this way, you decrease your risk of developing heart disease.

How do I increase my HDL cholesterol?

1. Avoid smoking. Tests have shown that there is an increase of 10 percent HDL cholesterol in your bloodstream when you stop smoking.

2. Get rid of extra pounds. Excess weight affects your HDL and by getting rid of them, you are on your way to a healthier you!

3. Be active. What better way to lose all those fats and help HDL cholesterol by getting enough exercise every day? Go swimming, play basketball, climb a mountain – anything that pumps your heart to increase your blood circulation.

4. Eat the right kind of fats. Fat is always included in a healthy diet, but how much fat is “healthy”? A total of 25 to 35 percent of your daily caloric need is comprised of fat but take note that saturated fat should be not more than 7 percent of your total daily caloric intake. Foods like fish, olive, nuts, and other foods with omega-3 fatty acids are good for you.

5. Limit your alcohol consumption. Drinking alcohol isn’t all that bad for your HDL. In fact, studies have shown that an intake of one drink a day for women and those over 65 years old, and two drinks for men per day has shown to help increase the levels of HDL cholesterol. Don’t start drinking if your reason is to raise your HDL cholesterol and if you are, drink in moderation.

Chocolate is certainly a very yummy thing to eat and most of us probably eat too much of it.  Although chocolate is generally considered to be unhealthy, this is largely because of the sugar and fat content.

If you eat quality bitter chocolate you are actually eating something very healthy.  So if you’re thinking about making some easy biscuit recipes from scratch you might want to think about using some dark chocolate for a tasty yet healthy snack.

So why is chocolate healthy you are thinking to yourself?  Well there are a number of healthy aspects of chocolate and the first one is flavonoids which are phytochemicals.   Flavonoids are amazing for many different functions in the body and one of them is to boost the circulatory system.

Please note that this shouldn’t be seen as a green light to start scoffing huge amounts of chocolate per day.  Chocolate isn’t the only source of flavonoids.  Fruit and veg plus green tea are all great sources and they don’t contain the same amount of sugar.

If you are an energetic sort of person who likes to go hill walking or cycling then you can benefit from the energy that chocolate gives you.  You are going to be burning up a lot of calories doing these activities so eating some chocolate isn’t going to be a problem.

If you sit all day in front of the computer or TV then you won’t be burning up anywhere near as many calories.  So if you start to eat a lot of chocolate you will simply put on a lot of weight.

Another issue about chocolate is that it contains a saturated fat called stearic acid.  Generally speaking you would avoid any saturated fats however not all of them are bad.  Stearic acid is actually one of the good ones which might actually help lower cholesterol.  Chocolate also contains Tryptophan, Serotonin and Theobromine which are all good for you too.