It's no secret that if you're overweight, you're going to suffer from a number of negative health risks. Everything from high blood pressure to the development of diabetes to a higher incidence of stroke can be linked to being obese or overweight.
But, one connection that sometimes goes overlooked is that of body fat levels to your cholesterol levels.
Let's take a closer look at what this is all about.
The Diet That You're Eating
The very first thing that you need to consider regarding your body fat level and how it relates to your cholesterol is how you gained that body fat in the first place – the diet that you eat daily.
Those who are quite obese and who are carrying an excess of body fat often got this way because they are eating far too much fast and convenience food.
They didn't get that way because their diet was too full of fresh fruits and vegetables along with whole grains and lean proteins as these foods are naturally lower in calories and you just wouldn't eat enough of them to accumulate that degree of excess body fat.
Because of the types of foods they're eating, this means they will have higher intakes of saturated fat and cholesterol, therefore this will cause their overall cholesterol level to go up.
While in a few very rare cases if someone was feasting on healthy fats (such as consuming high quantities of nuts, nut butters, and healthy oils) each day in addition to their usual diet that could cause them to become overweight without suffering high cholesterol, those cases are far in between.
The Lack Of Exercise
The second major reason why being overweight or obese can cause you to have high cholesterol levels is because the second thing that most of these individuals are doing is not exercising.
Being overweight is attributed to too many calories coming in while too few calories are going out. This is accomplished through that higher calorie diet along with the lack of physical activity to burn those excess calories off.
Those who are exercising regularly and who are still at a slightly higher body weight may not see nearly the same degree of blood cholesterol levels as those who aren't.
Exercise does help to combat high cholesterol levels so this on its own will definitely provide some benefits.
Even still, if you're exercising but eating a diet high in saturated fat you're still going to be running into problems as far as your overall cholesterol profile goes.
So there you have the information you need about the connection between having high body fat levels and having a high cholesterol level. It's vital that you do take your body fat level seriously so that you can gain control over it and avoid all the negative health consequences that come with high cholesterol.
