Why is your total cholesterol number so important? It’s because most of that Total cholesterol number consists of the lethal LDL cholesterol. Why is LDL cholesterol so dangerous? The best example of understanding why it is so damaging to the walls of your arteries throughout your body is that of a splinter being stuck in your finger. The tissue in your finger begins to swell. The fluid is filled with soldier type cells, called macrophages, which attack the splinter. Many times, there is even bleeding into this swollen battlefield. The finger turns red and more swollen. Finally, one of two things happens. The resulting inflammation is so fierce that the infected fluid breaks through the skin and drains out. Or, two, the area begins to heal which results in a thicken, fibrous scar tissue formation. A similar process happens when an LDL cholesterol particle gets through the lining of an artery. The LDL cholesterol is the splinter. The arterial wall either ruptures and a clot forms, or it heals and a scar like plaque is formed. As this reoccurs, the plaque gets thicker and thicker until it finally can cause complete blockage to the artery. What causes you to have too many of these “splinters”? The main cause of elevated LDL cholesterol is a result of the foods we eat. The next time you eat red meat or ask for a slice of cheese to be added to your sandwich, or take that first bite of ice cream or cream based soup, or spread on the butter or margarine to your bread, think of eating a mouthful of splinters. Oh yes, most of what is fried is done so with animal oils rich in saturated fats. There are many mouthfuls of splinters in all that fried food you eat. Read Prescription For Life and get a better understanding of foods not to eat. The more you realize what they are doing to your arteries, the easier and easier it will be to avoid them. The day may even come when someone could not make you eat a single bite of any of them.
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