Setting Your Cholesterol Goals

The Plan will help you reduce your cholesterol. How much you need to bring it down depends on your CHD risk factors. In a nutshell, the greater your risk for a heart attack or stroke—in other words, the more risk factors you have-—the lower your ideal cholesterol level

If you have high cholesterol, the main goal is to lower your LDL. Why, you mightcask, is this true when your ratios of HDL and LDL to total cholesterol are what countcthe most? First, because it’s much easier to lower LDL than raise HDL, Few drugs orcsupplements reliably raise HDL (niacin is probably the best). Intense physical activity is effective, but few people are willing to work that hard. Alcohol also moves the needle, but of course the “dose” is limited by alcohol’s inherent dangers. Lowering LDL is also the most direct way to slow plaque buildup, since LDL plays the most direct role in forming the stuff

Perhaps the best way to think about your cholesterol goal is in terms of Improving your HDL/LDL ratio, This can be done by raising HDL, lowering LDL, or both, And since it’s easier to reduce LDL, that’s where the focus falls,

To figure out how low your LDL target should be,  It will help you assess your current risk for CHD or heart attack, Remember, the greater your risk, the lower your cholesterol target should be.