Ask your cardiac rehab specialist for stress management techniques and programs available. Cholesterol is a blood fat or lipid. Our bodies make cholesterol, and it is found in some foods. Cholesterol is essential to health. It enables the body to build cells, repair tissues and make sex hormones and vitamin D. Unfortunately, too much cholesterol can build up in the arteries, reducing blood flow and leading to heart disease.
Cholesterol is carried in the blood by proteins.
The blood fat and protein together are called lipoproteins. HDLs help transport cholesterol from the body's cells to the liver where it is broken down. HDLs also may keep LDLs from entering cells. LDLs are mostly fat and tend to break down as they move through the blood. They leave behind deposits of cholesterol, which builds up in the arteries.