Sometimes, members of the health care industry may place more emphasis on LDL -- the bad cholesterol -- than on HDL -- the good cholesterol. Preventing health complications requires more than lowering your LDL. It means making sure both types of cholesterol are in the healthy range, and the foods you eat affects both types. For every 1 mg/dL increase in your HDL, you decrease your risk of heart disease by 2 percent to 4 percent, according to FatFreeKitchen.com.
Significance
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, and low HDL -- high-density lipoprotein -- is a contributing factor. Changing your diet can raise your HDL cholesterol, which helps decrease this risk. Changes in your diet can improve the quality of your life and increase the number of years you have to spend with your loved ones.
Function
Doctors consider HDL cholesterol your friend. It travels through your blood, carrying away excess amounts of harmful LDL -- low-density lipoprotein -- cholesterol, preventing it from building up along the walls of your arteries. It transports the LDL cholesterol back to the liver, which excretes it from your body. This helps lower your risk of developing heart disease or having a heart attack.
Low levels of HDL place you at the same risk for having a heart attack as high levels of LDL in your blood, because the job of HDL is to transport excessive amounts of LDL away from your artery walls. To increase your HDL, you need to consume foods that increase it. Just as the foods you eat can increase your bad cholesterol, they can also have a negative impact on your good cholesterol.
Food Sources
Healthy fats, such as olive and canola oil; avocados; nuts like walnuts, pistachios and hazlenuts; and foods such as black and green olives increase the anti-inflammatory properties of HDL cholesterol. The greater the anti-inflammatory properties of HDL cholesterol, the less chance LDL has of adhering to the walls of your arteries.
Fish such as tuna, halibut, salmon and mackerel contain omega-3 fatty acids, which increase your HDL, giving you more power to battle the LDL in your blood. Eat at least two 3 oz. servings of fish per week.
Soluble fiber sources, such as oatmeal, apples, pears, figs, raspberries and blueberries, help increase your HDL while lowering your LDL cholesterol. Eat 5 to 10 g per day for maximum effectiveness.
Moderate alcohol consumption can help increase your HDL levels as well. MayoClinic.com defines moderate as one drink a day for a woman and two drinks per a for men. However, do not begin drinking just to increase your HDL, because other options exist.
Identification
You might need a wake-up call before you make your health a priority and change your eating habits. This can come in the form of unhealthy cholesterol levels, which have no symptoms. The only way to determine your levels of HDL and LDL is to have a lipid profile, which is a blood test that measures the cholesterol in your blood. When you get your results, you may decide it is time to eat healthier to increase your HDL and decrease your risk of experiencing a heart attack.
Actions
You can prevent low HDL levels by making small changes to your eating habits before health complications threaten to strike. Increase your intake of fruits and vegetables, decrease your intake of saturated fats and lose weight if necessary. Make your health a priority; find time to exercise 30 minutes a day, even if you need to divide it into three 10-minute sessions. The longer your cholesterol levels are too low or high, the more damage your heart suffers.
