What Should My HDL Cholesterol Be and What Can I Do About It

HDL is considered the good cholesterol, to better understand, what should my HDL cholesterol be, we will call it the happy cholesterol. A good level would be 60 or higher. Raising your levels will not be easy, but like anything else, if you do not try you will not know if you can do it. Get your current levels from your doctor and put it on a chart.

In trying to determine what should my HDL cholesterol be, if men are at 40 or lower that is not good. Women tend to be about 50 or higher, but that is still not good enough. Fighting heart disease is not easy and it needs to be at least 60 or higher to begin to work.

Raising the levels can be done is several different ways. Exercise is the number one way to improve your levels. Try to exercise 30-60 minutes a day. Exercising at least four days or more a week will help.

Smoking is another problem for people trying to improve their cholesterol. If you smoke, quit, this will help improve your levels. There are many products on the market that will help a person to quit. Controlling weight will also help.

The food we eat is important to help control the levels too. The American heart association says we should eat vegetables and fruits and whole grain foods. The fiber content should be 25-30 grams a day. We should eat fish twice a week and limit our salt intake to 1500 mg a day.

Making smart choices is what will raise your good HDL. Planning menus and exercise is the best way to begin to control your levels. Begin by sitting down and making up your menus. Plan on what food you will need to purchase and check the ingredients so you can make smart choices.

Next put down a good exercise plan. What kind of exercise do you like to do. Maybe a variety of different exercises would be a fun way to begin. Think about which days you will exercise and begin your program. Starting out slow is probably a good way to begin. Slowly increase your exercise until you reach 60 minutes a day.

To summarize if your cholesterol is to low it will work against you. Removing the actual cholesterol is very important, or you will possibly get heart disease. Raising the HDL will actually help prevent heart disease so it is worth trying. Be consistent and do not give up and the levels will slowly move in the right direction.