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Lipid is another name for fat, so blood lipids are fats in your blood. Your doctor can create a profile (a breakdown of the different types of fat in your blood) of your lipids to help determine the type of heart disease you’re at risk for (if any) and also to help determine the dietary approach to best lower your lipids.

When your healthcare provider checks your lipids, you’re likely to get a list of numbers in each of the following categories:

 Total cholesterol: This is a measurement of your total blood fats. This includes the sum of the HDL, LDL, and VLDL cholesterol components.

 High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol: This is commonly called “good” cholesterol because it carries excess cholesterol back to the liver, which processes and excretes the cholesterol. You want this number to be greater than 40 mg/dl.

 Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol: This is commonly called “bad” cholesterol because high levels are linked to increased risk for heart disease. Ideally, you want this number to be below 100 mg/dl.

 Very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol: This number is determined by dividing the triglyceride number by 5. VLDL cholesterol can be converted to LDL or “bad” cholesterol.

 Triglycerides: Triglycerides are a blood fat that is not only affected by the fat in your diet but is also increased by excess calories in the diet and by excess carbohydrate in the diet. Triglycerides normally increase after eating a meal, and they usually fall back to normal in two to three hours. Chronically high triglycerides have recently been linked to heart disease. You want this number to be below 150 mg/dl.

Check out Table 4-2 for guidance on what blood lipid levels you should be shooting for.

TABLE 4-2 Blood Lipid Levels

Type of Cholesterol	Desirable	Borderline	Unacceptable
Total cholesterol	Less than 200	200 to 239	240 or above
HDL cholesterol	60 or above	40 to 59	Less than 40
LDL cholesterol	Less than 100	100 to 159	160 or above
Triglycerides	Less than 150	150 to 199	200 or above