So we keep on talking about cholesterol which is really important and we always hear the HDL and the LDL I know the H is good because H is like happy high right but I want you to explain that we have a graphic to show you so you can understand why the cholesterol is so important doctor walk us through this and how you get that total cholesterol score sure so the total cholesterol that you’re gonna see on your lipid panel will be a combination of all three of these these three components so let’s first talk about LDL because that’s the lousy cholesterol or the one you want low all starting with L but this is the one that’s directly responsible and has been the most implicated in heart disease and it’s generally it contains proteins on the outside of that structure which tend to be sticky and I have a predisposition for infiltrating for sneaking in between the cell the the blood vessel cells and leading to plaque buildup then on the Left we have HDL so this is good cholesterol this may be counterintuitive to think that cholesterol can be good but it is because this HDL actually picks up cholesterol from the blood vessels from the body and takes it back to the liver for to be discarded so HDL is actually good and it’s and to have a high HDL can actually decrease risk for cardiovascular disease then lastly are our triglycerides triglycerides are also implicated in heart disease there’s been a lot of research and debate as to their involvement with heart disease but they are known to be a risk factor also for heart disease just not as as important as LDL and the total is going to be your total cholesterol you