The most common cause of death worldwide is heart attacks, and heart attacks occur when the heart receives too little oxygen through blood. It is not an acute process and needs decades to happen. One of the negative points about such chronic conditions is that people ignore changing their behavior until it is too late. When the blood vessels of your heart are too narrow, it usually means that you are too late. Therefore, changing your behavior while you are still healthy and without symptoms is your best chance at avoiding such a condition.

The term “Cardiac Diet”

There is a loose term called cardiac diet that has been around for a few years without a firm definition for it except some guidelines by the American Heart Association (AHA).  The Cardiac diet is one that mainly revolves around food that is low in calories with few processed foods, sugary foods and drinks, and foods with a high content of cholesterol. On the other hand, foods that are a part of the cardiac diet include vegetables, fruits, fish as a source of protein, healthy grains, and low-calorie drinks.

Types of Cholesterol

The term cholesterol is usually linked to heart diseases and bad health. In fact, not all cholesterol types are bad. Cholesterol is divided depending on its structure into 4 types. The main 2 types are called LDL and HDL. LDL refers to low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, commonly known as the “bad” cholesterol, while HDL refers to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol or the “good” cholesterol. Bad cholesterol is called so because it is the one that is deposited within the walls of the blood vessels, causing their narrowing and the consequent heart attacks and strokes.

On the other hand, good cholesterol has many health benefits, including removing LDL or the bad cholesterol from the walls of the blood vessels and helping lower its level. It is usually encouraged to eat healthy food that contains unsaturated fats, since they are the ones that are high in HDL and low in LDL.

In addition to the above, you should know that the vast majority of cholesterol in your blood is made in your body by the liver from excess sugar that you consume, and that the contribution of cholesterol in your diet to that in your blood is minimal, making the amount of carbohydrates that you eat the main cause of your high cholesterol.