I had a physical at the doctor's and was told that I have low "good cholesterol" (I believe the number he threw out was 37). He said it was not much cause for alarm, because overall my cholesterol is "excellent", but it is something to watch. I am an 18 year old male, I don't smoke, I eat healthy (never any fast food), I'm in very good shape with hardly an ounce of fat on my body. When looking up the causes of low "good cholesterol", I was not happy with what I found; not only do I not fit the profile of someone with low good cholesterol, I am more along the lines of the type of person that should have high good cholesterol. I am worrisome because I have a family history of heart disease. Any thoughts on what could be causing my problem and any possible ways to fix it?
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For adult males, HDL should be above 50 mg/dL. But, you should know that the levels may vary from day to day.
One egg contains about 200 mg of cholesterol and the target for healthy people is to get less than 300 mg of cholesterol per day.
Dietary cholesterol increases good HDL cholesterol far more than you bad LDL cholesterol. Eat a couple of eggs each day and that should bump up your good HDL cholesterol.
It's the lack of fat in your diet, and high consumption of sugars and starches, that raises the bad LDL cholesterol.
You should cut sugar and wheat, but enjoy a good steak every so often to get the balance right.
nothing to worry about. Cholesterol buildup in your artery is from inflamatory foods, sugar, fried food, processed wheats.... Avoid the junk foods. take fish oil or flax for omega 3 fatty acids, eat greens, and take vitamins. Listen to gcnlive.com fire your md show to learn about nutrition.