What Cholesterol is and why it is important to us? What do our bodies do with it?

What Cholesterol is and why it is important to us?  What do our bodies do with it?

Cholesterol is a fatlike waxy substance and is produced by the liver. Cholesterol is found in the brain, nerves, blood, bile and liver. It is the stuff from which your steroid hormones are made, and it is essential for good brain function. Cholesterol is important to overall health and body function.

Cholesterol forms every cell within the body. When the cholesterol level is appropriate, it plays a life-giving role in many functions of the body. When cholesterol is at a good level it works to build and repair cells, produces hormones such as estrogen and testosterone, and produces bile acids which are proven to aid in the digestion of fat.

Another function of cholesterol is to stick to damaged places in the arteries as part of a repair process.  Arteries that were damaged from factors such as excess sugar and refined carbohydrates in the diet, hydrogenated oils, obesity, stress and toxins. Arteries that have become inflamed and are crying out to the repairmen (new cells made from cholesterol), to fix the damage and keep you alive. So in trying to save you from leaky arteries, cholesterol builds up along the artery walls and creates plaque.  This is why cholesterol has gotten to be a bad word and is associated with heart disease.