The good, the bad, the fats.

Wuz Good My People?!

I truly hope all ya’ll are as good as you can be out there. I understand how tough this world can be. But check it, if you are above ground today take a deep breath and say, “Imma be Alright!”. I have to tell myself this on a regular basis. LOL. I have been real busy the past couple of weeks so I am behind on my postz. Ya’ll know how that goes. I have a bunch of cool stuff poppin! I am working on an invention for the medical field that I hope will help some people (more on this as I get things ready). It is real cool though and I believe it will be a major THING. I have also been working on new music! Good stuff ya’ll! Anyway, I am hoping to break down this cholesterol (Ko-less-ter-all) thing so it makes a little more sense yo!  Before I became a nurse I was confused about all the different types of cholesterol and how they effect my body. Well now I got a little bit more understanding about it and Imma try to lace ya’ll with low down.

The Fats

In the medical field, fats in the human body are called “Lipids”. There are two major ones that we are going to focus on here HDL, LDL. Imma let ya’ll know that our bodies make cholesterol naturally, so it is important to just try to maintain a healthy balance. The liver, for the most part, keeps all this stuff in check. Our liver makes stuff called bile that is stored in our gallbladder. The gallbladder squeezes out that bile after we eat to help process the “lipids” we ate. If we get a build up of bile and lipids we get gall stones and other problems. Super wack!

HDL – The Good Fats

All right ya’ll, the HDL here means “High Density Lipoprotein”. These are the fats, or lipids that are okay to have floating around in the blood stream. This type of  “lipid” floats around our bodies picking up the cholesterol in our cells and packs it up into nice little tight packages and then you essentially poop them out. Some of the HDLs are used to make things like testosterone and estrogen, but that is a whole other topic. These are the lipids that that you want to have higher levels of.

LDL – The Bad Fats

Next, we have LDL or “Low Density Lipoprotein”. These are the bad lipids because they go around dropping off cholesterol on the inside of your blood vessels causing clogs.  This is when you hear words like atherosclerosis (Athero – Artery, Sclerosis – Hardening) and Coronary Artery Disease (Main Artery Around Your Heart). Although our bodies naturally make this type of lipid, it is important to regulate how much extra cholesterol we take in.

The Low Down

Humans actually need to have a certain level lipids and cholesterol in the body in order to function properly. Lipids and cholesterol are involved in so many processes in the body that we can not live with out them. The deal is, EAT HEALTHY and GET PLENTY OF EXERCISE  the likleyhood of the nasty words I mentioned above happening to you will be less. There are drugs such as (STATIN) drugs that doctors can prescribe to lower cholesterol levels but can cause some really nasty side effects (e.g. muscle wasting). I suggest eating more veggies and adding some oatmeal or Cheerios to yo diet. If you are not one for a workout go for a 30 minute walk each day. It is good for your mind and your body.

As I usually say ya’ll, This topic is really deep and can get quite extensive, so I am just touching the surface. Here is a video to help break this down for us!

I hope this helps ya’ll. Have a blessed week!

Peace,

MaddHadda aka The Hood Nurse.