Welcome to Paging Dr. Gupta. You know, if you're like most people, you probably have a few health questions. You may be wondering how to improve your health, how to optimize your health, or how to deal with a nagging health problem. And you've been sending a lot of questions in, so every week we're trying to answer them. Jennifer is back with us. Who do we have first?

Hey, Sanjay. Our first question is from a listener named Gwen, and she's calling from Magnolia, Texas.

I have a question about cholesterol and about the foods, and how it directly relates to cholesterol levels in our body. For example, if we eat a lot of eggs, does it actually raise our cholesterol levels in our body? Thank you so much!

'Okay, Gwen from Magnolia, Texas, thanks so much for calling in. Cholesterol is one of the things we're often told to watch out for. As you may know, if you're a listener to this podcast, I have a significant family history of heart disease, so I do think about all sorts of things, including cholesterol. But what I've realized is that a lot of people are confused about cholesterol - what it actually is, where it comes from, what we should really be paying attention to. And on top of that, what we know about cholesterol and the guidance around it has changed over time. So today, we're gonna talk about cholesterol. And we are gonna talk about whether you need to worry about foods like eggs. More on that right after the break.

'Ok, Gwen from Magnolia, Texas, wants to know how what we eat, eggs for example, relate to cholesterol levels in our body. Now before I answer that, I want to give you some, I think, important context. First of all, cholesterol is a type of fat, and it is something your body naturally produces. How much? Well, your liver and intestines make up about 80% of the cholesterol in your body. About 20% comes from the foods you eat. Okay? Just keep that in mind. 80% is made by your liver and intestines. On top of that, not all cholesterol is bad for you. In fact, when you measure cholesterol with a blood test, you are measuring HDL, which is good cholesterol - high-density lipoprotein - and LDL, bad cholesterol - low-density lipoprotein. Now, for many people, eating foods that are high in cholesterol raises LDL, and that is the type of cholesterol most linked to heart disease. But the question specifically is about eggs.

Eggs remain the most concentrated source of cholesterol in the modern diet.

That's Dr. Andrew Freeman. We invited him on the podcast today to talk a little bit more about eggs and cholesterol. He's a cardiologist. He is the Director of Clinical Cardiology and Prevention at National Jewish Health in Denver, Colorado.

Believe it or not, a single large egg contains about 186 milligrams of cholesterol, nearly all in the yolk.

But there's an important caveat. What you're eating around those eggs probably matters just as much as the eggs themselves.

'Eggs are eaten as part of a typical standard American diet, which is already high in saturated fat, cholesterol. LDL levels are already elevated. Adding or subtracting a few eggs may not appear to produce a dramatic change. But if you shift to people who have a healthier dietary pattern, one that's predominantly low-fat, whole food, and plant-based with high soluble fiber, LDL cholesterol typically falls substantially, even if small amounts of dietary cholesterol remain in the diet.

Now, it is important to know that adding eggs is going to introduce a concentrated dose of cholesterol. Not dramatic, again, depending on what you're eating it with, but maybe enough to matter to some people who are particularly worried about heart disease. The key point is this: your overall diet is gonna be the main driver of your cholesterol levels. Eggs can absolutely fit into a healthy diet, but you need to be mindful, especially if you're trying to lower your LDL, or if you already know your cholesterol runs high. And as Dr. Freeman said, the yolks are a big culprit here. The yolks have the majority of the cholesterol. There have been some studies that have shown eating more eggs to be linked to a higher risk of heart disease and diabetes. But I think it's important when you read these studies to realize that these studies are not showing cause and effect. They're not proving that eggs cause these conditions, but they show that the risk tends to rise as egg intake goes up. Again, that could be because of what else you're eating those eggs with, and the fact is, many Americans eat way more eggs than they realize.

Some studies define low egg intake as up to three eggs per week. Average U.S. Consumption can be 280 to 300 eggs per year, or about five to six eggs per week. Many households consume a dozen or more eggs per person, weekly. At those levels, dietary cholesterol exposure is substantial.

'So, what do you do? Focus on your overall eating pattern first. Eggs can be part of a healthy diet. What you're eating them with matters a lot. You wanna have more whole plant foods, such as beans, whole grains, vegetables, and fruits. Those changes can actually lower the LDL. They can lower the bad cholesterol for most people. After you do that, figure out how eggs fit into that pattern, especially if you're someone who has high cholesterol, if you're trying to lower your cholesterol. And if you love eggs, you don't necessarily need to cut them out, but it's probably helpful to think of them as an every-now-and-then food instead of an everyday food, especially, again, if you're watching your cholesterol. Gwen, hope that helps answer your question. Okay, we're going to take a quick break here, but when we come back, there's an interesting question about the pelvic floor and weight lifting. Stay with us.

We are back with Paging Dr. Gupta. Jennifer, who do we have next?

Okay, we have a question from a listener named Jeannie, who's 75 years old, and reached out to us from Pioneertown, California, with a great question. She is wondering about strength training for older women. Now, she recently listened to some podcasts that said that in order to build muscle strength you need to lift heavier. However, she does have some pelvic floor disorder and is afraid that lifting heavier weights will strain her abdominal pelvic floor too much. She wants to know this: is there a way that she can build up her strength without causing any undue pressure on her lower pelvic floor?

'All right, thanks so much for the question. First of all, strength training is so important. Whether you use weights, or bands, or machines, or even just your own body weight, this is really important for long-term health. I think for a long time, people focused on aerobic activity, which can be really important, but sometimes it was to the detriment of resistance training. We know strength training can help increase your muscular strength, your endurance, and bone density. Very important, especially as you get older. Also, weight training can help with blood glucose control and improve your sleep. CDC says it can even reduce your risk of falls and fractures as you age. So I really commend you for wanting to lift heavier weights - that is awesome. But I think your question is about the pelvic floor specifically. Look, everybody's body is different. Everybody's body is gonna have a unique set of challenges. And something known as pelvic floor dysfunction, well, that isn't uncommon as people age. Now, I want to start off by acknowledging that not everyone probably knows what we mean when we say pelvic floor. First thing to point out is that everyone has pelvic floor muscles, men and women both. Those pelvic floor muscles help hold up our internal organs inside of our pelvis, like the uterus, but also the bladder and the rectum. So this is really important if you think about it. These muscles are actually dynamic, as well, meaning they can contract and they can release. They're what allow us to 'hold it', if you will, until we can find a bathroom, and then 'go' when we actually get to the bathroom.

When those pelvic floor muscles get weak, they can kind of be a little too open.

'That's Liz Miracle. She's a board-certified women's health clinical specialist. She's been practicing pelvic floor physical therapy for over 20 years. She's an assistant clinical professor at UCSF School of PT and Head of Clinical Quality and Education at Origin Physical Therapy.

And if you are someone who has internal pelvic organs and a vagina, those organs can start to kind of drop down. And so when you can track the pelvic floor muscles, it can help to lift those organs back up inside of you and prevent that type of feeling.

So the pelvic floor, even if you might not think of it very often, is very important for all of us. Now, it's hard to make an assumption about what pelvic floor dysfunction you have specifically, Jeannie, because there are different types that are out there. Some people have too little pelvic floor muscle strength. Others actually have the opposite problem. The muscles are actually too tight. But the question about weight lifting. I think there's some good news here.

I would say if lifting heavier is a goal of yours, don't let a pelvic floor disorder keep you from being able to achieve that goal.

Liz says that a common problem is that there's too much pressure going into the bowl of the pelvic floor. Imagine the pelvic floor like a bowl, and think about all those organs being inside that bowl and causing a lot of pressure.

The way to combat that pressure is to provide enough force up and against it. And the way that we do that is by strengthening our pelvic floor. So it might just be that the level that you're lifting is too heavy for what your pelvic floor is able to combat against, in terms of the pressure. It doesn't mean that you don't wanna lift heavy, it means that you wanna increase your pelvic floor strength to be able to meet the demands of the lifting that you are doing.

Now, one obvious option is to do pelvic floor physical therapy and book an appointment with someone like Liz, who can really help you understand how to strengthen and work with your pelvic floor muscles. You could also talk to an obstetrician, a gynecologist, a urogynecologist, and maybe even get fit for something known as a pessary.

Pessaries are little devices that you insert into the vagina, and they kind of act like a splint. So if you had an injury, you wouldn't just go run a marathon without putting, like, a brace on that injury, right? So if we have a deficit in strength, think about bracing that muscle with a pessary. So, this device is helpful because you can put it in, you can take it out when you're not lifting, if you don't want to have to wear it all the time. But the problem with these devices is they can be so helpful that people then often don't strengthen the pelvic floor because the pessary is working when they're lifting, and then that weakness can show up in other places in their life.

Another thing that can be really helpful is learning how to properly incorporate your breathing when you workout. And again, a pelvic floor physical therapist can teach you how to do this. They can teach how to breathe in a way that supports your pelvic floor, instead of adding more pressure. You can kind of, probably imagine already how that might work. In fact, Liz says that a lot of patients who are weightlifters have even met their personal records because they incorporate their breath with their pelvic floor and their weights. So, don't hesitate to reach out to a pelvic floor physical therapist. They can help you figure out what's really going on. Whether or not your muscles need strengthening, relaxation, coordination, or maybe some combination of all three. So Jeannie, I hope this answers your question. I know it doesn't cover it all, and you can definitely get a lot more information by talking to your doctor, but I hope it at least gets you thinking about the things you can do. And the answer is you can do most things. You can lift safely, you can lift heavy, once you understand how your pelvic floor is functioning and how to support it.

'All right, that wraps up today's show. I just wanna say, again, your questions - they're guiding us. They help make the show. They help shape what we talk about. They show us what you're thinking about and what you're worried about, so thank you for trusting us with some of the most intimate things in your life. If you've got a health question, send it in. We may tackle yours on the next episode. Reach out to us, record a voice memo, email it to pagingdrgupta@cnn.com. That's pagingdrgupta@cnn.com, or give us a call at 470-396-0832, and leave a message. Thanks so much for listening.