I just read an article at Newsweek's website by Dean Ornish that compares a person's HDL to a garbage truck that removes excessive cholesterol from your blood and tissues -- "garbage" -- and delivers it to your liver for removal. Interesting analogy.
His suggestion is that some people are genetically predisposed to having more garbage trucks in their systems than others. Those folks typically don't have coronary-related problems.
For those of us who may have been blessed with fewer rather than more garbage trucks (lower HDL), it is imperative that we be responsible stewards of our bodies and not generate a lot of garbage. That is done by eating low-fat, high fiber diets with little red meat, lots of chicken and fish, and even more fruits and vegetables.
AND .... we must exercise. Exercise typically increases HDL, creating more garbage trucks to remove cholesterol.
Sigh. I wonder if thinking about generating little Tonka-cute garbage trucks in my bloodstream will help motivate me to exercise more? I hope so!
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