Diabetes & Cholesterol: How The Two Are Related
Diabetes & cholesterol go hand in hand. If you have been diagnosed with diabetes, you are more likely to have abnormalities in your cholesterol readings which can have an end result of cardiovascular disease. Keeping a low cholesterol and LDL (low density lipoprotein) cholesterol is extremely important, especially if you have diabetes. LDL is bad cholesterol and HDL is good cholesterol. In keeping a low level, you will drastically reduce complications of cardiovascular disease by as much as 20-50 percent. You can find out your cholesterol reading with a lipid profile done by your physician who measures the different kinds of fats in your body.
Your liver is what creates cholesterol. It is described as a waxy substance in your blood from your liver. You can also find it in many different types of animal foods, such as; egg yolks, fish, and meat, poultry and whole milk dairy products. Having some cholesterol in your body is healthy as it helps make hormones and build cell membranes, but too much cholesterol in your body can build up on the linings of your arteries and lead to plaque and fatty deposits.
When you have diabetes & cholesterol, your diabetes tends to lower the good part of your cholesterol while raising your triglycerides, or bad cholesterol levels which can put you at a much greater risk for a stroke or serious heart disease. It is much harder to control cholesterol in a diabetic because of the insulin issues that diabetics deal with in which the bodies of diabetics are not able to respond to the insulin it produces efficiently. There are a few diabetic medications available today that may actually help to lower your cholesterol levels. You can also help keep your cholesterol level in check by having your cholesterol checked regularly, eating a diet low in trans fat, saturated fat and cholesterol, exercising regularly (at least 30 minutes for as many days of the week as you can, preferably 5 days or more a week). You can discuss with your doctor the best course of treatment for you to maintain a healthy lifestyle and help to manage both your cholesterol and diabetes together.
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