Measuring your cholesterol levels is an effective way to determine your risk of heart disease and stroke. There are two ways to do this. One way is to measure your total cholesterol. Typically, you want this number to be below 200. An even better way is to calculate your cholesterol ratio. The latter will give you a breakdown of your good vs. bad cholesterol, delivering a clearer picture of your health. If your total cholesterol is 200 and your HDL cholesterol is 50, your ratio is 4. A ratio lower than 4.5 is considered good, but 2 or 3 is best.
