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Diabetes and Cholesterol
Diabetes and cholesterol can lead to the same problem that is blood pressure and it can lead to heart disease. High blood sugar (hyperglycemia) can have a negative impact on a person’s cholesterol levels. Before understanding its effect on cholesterol levels.
What is Cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a waxy substance that our body needs to build cells and make vitamins and other hormones. But too much cholesterol can pose a problem. Cholesterol is made in our liver or we consume it through animal-derived foods like meat, poultry, and dairy products. Cholesterol circulates in the blood. If the cholesterol level is high in the blood, it may increase the risk of health problems. High cholesterol increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart disease and stroke.
There are two types of cholesterol- LDL cholesterol which is bad cholesterol and HDL which is good cholesterol. Too much bad cholesterol or not enough good cholesterol is harmful to one’s health. It slowly builds up in the inner walls of the arteries that pass the blood to the heart and brain.
Complications Of Diabetes And High Cholesterol
Diabetes is a disease that accumulates excessive glucose in your blood. This extra sugar in your bloodstream interrupts the flow of blood all over the body. The same thing happens when your blood cholesterol is high. Having high cholesterol makes the blood flow worse in people with already high blood sugar levels.
How does Diabetes & high cholesterol affect diabetics?
Blood reaches every part of our body through blood vessels. They also carry blood to the major organs like the heart, kidney, and brain for the exchange of blood sugar for the supply of oxygen and other essential components. The blood is a mixture of water and several types of blood cells. When there is too much sugar in the blood vessels, it makes the blood cells and walls of vessels sticky. This can cause blood cells to stick to the inner wall of the body. Other blood cells and components can also stick to the wall. One of them is cholesterol. Cholesterol is a type of fat present in the blood.
When cholesterol flows through the sticky lining of blood vessels they tend to form a clump. Sticky blood cells and cholesterol can slow down the flow of blood. That means the blood flow becomes weak and can not reach everybody part effectively. This can affect our health majorly, because if blood can not reach the heart, you may develop heart diseases.
So to prevent this, you need to control your blood sugar and keep your total cholesterol levels on normal levels.
Normal levels of cholesterol in an adult
Total cholesterol: 125–200 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl).
If your cholesterol levels are higher, you need to bring them down to keep your blood pressure normal and avoid heart diseases.
How to keep your Cholesterol level normal with diabetes?
You must be following some measures already to keep your blood sugar levels normal. Like eating healthy, exercising, etc. so here are the things you can do to manage your cholesterol level with diabetes-
Eat low carb food
You might be already following a low-carb diet to keep your blood sugar level normal, this also helps in maintaining the target level of cholesterol.
Take a walk after the meal
We all know staying physically active is important for maintaining good health. It helps in keeping the bad cholesterol also known as LDL level low.
Exercise 5 days a week
Along with walking after a meal, exercising is also necessary. You can join some aerobics classes, it will also help in maintaining your blood sugar level.
Keep monitoring your cholesterol level
You already know it’s important to watch your blood sugar level, now keep a tab on your cholesterol level too. If you see any fluctuations, talk to your doctor.
Keeping your cholesterol level is actually quite easy, you can manage it as with your diabetes. You just have to make some healthy changes in your lifestyle, which you already do to manage your blood sugar levels.
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