Cholesterol became a popular buzz-word round about the time that saturated fats became the enemy and low-fat diets became trendy. The best thing, according to everyone and their doctors, was to have as low cholesterol as possible. Well, like the low-fat diet, we have been misinformed! Eggs, butter, red meat, full cream dairy; they've all gotten a bad rap when it comes to our health. According to "experts", they are all just so bad for you, you need to stop eating ALL of them. Instead, you need to eat more grains and carbs. In other words, more sugar?!
Well, people are doing that and, guess what? More people are dying of heart attacks then EVER before. So how's that workin' for ya? Let's take a closer look at what cholesterol is really, and perhaps we'll have a better understanding of it.
When a woman gives birth to a baby, the first milk that her body will produce, is called colostrum. For those who didn't know, colostrum is essential to your baby's development. It is considered your baby's first vaccine because it contains so many antibodies. It is also extremely high in cholesterol...
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| What?!?!?! |
If you go to a doctor, and they tell you that you have high cholesterol, that doesn't immediately suggest that there is something wrong with you. First of all, high HDL (high density lipoprotein) which is considered the good cholesterol by conventional doctors, is indeed good, and necessary, for everyone. HDL takes excess cholesterol in your body, and transports it back to the liver. LDL (low density lipoprotein) is known as the "bad" cholesterol by conventional doctors. LDL takes cholesterol from your liver and transports it to the rest of the body. So, we can deduce from that, that both HDL and LDL are not actually cholesterol so much as "transporters" of cholesterol, right? Now, there are also TWO types of LDL: the big fluffy kind, which you don't need to worry about, and the small, dense kind, which MAY be more cause for concern and I'll explain why in a bit.
The problem is, most blood tests don't distinguish between HDL and LDL, never mind the two different types of LDL so, more than likely, the reading you are getting, is not telling you the whole story. It is one of my biggest issues with Discovery Vitality's health assessment. A finger prick test gives you the total of ALL your cholesterol levels, not a breakdown of good and bad. Penalising you points-wise, based on that, is simply incorrect and it can cause unnecessary worry as well.
If you have high cholesterol, it is a symptom of some underlying problem in your body. It ISN'T the cause of the problem. Cholesterol gets sent TO the problem areas to try and alleviate said problem. If there is inflammation in the arteries, cholesterol will be sent to the artery to help heal the inflammation. If it's successful, everything will return to normal. But, when the inflammation doesn’t subside, more cholesterol is sent and it eventually starts to accumulate around the artery. This is where the small, dense LDL will pose a problem because that's when plaque starts to form and that, as we know, is going to cause all kinds of trouble.
So you can see that cholesterol is sent to treat a problem, not to cause it. The root of the problem is actually the inflammation. What is that caused by: High levels of insulin, and high levels of insulin are caused by excessive carb (sugar) consumption, as well as excessive transfats and vegetable oil consumption. Can you see the link here between high sugar and high cholesterol? If you fix one, the other will likely balance out.
Getting a pill from your doctor isn't going to fix the problem. You knew I'd say that though;) Pills don't fix problems. They just mask symptoms. While the pill may lower your cholesterol, it won't stop the inflammation around your arteries. Whether you lower your cholesterol or not, you will STILL be sick and in danger of something going horribly wrong. The great irony is that, if you lower your cholesterol by cutting it out of your diet, or by taking pills, your body will simply MAKE its own cholesterol, because it needs it to function. If you eat cholesterol, your body won't need to compensate and so it won't make more.
So how can you fix both of these issues? It's actually so easy and, if you've read all my blog posts (if you haven't, start here and work your way through) you already have the tools! As I've said before, you really ARE what you eat. The only way you are going to lower your sugar levels, is to start eating REAL food. Cut out ALL processed foods. If you aren't sure what that means, read up here. Go through your cupboards and throw out anything that you have bought from the middle shopping aisles in a grocery store. That means all this stuff.
Real, organic food is not only GOOD for you, it's healing and it will heal you faster than any pill, or anything labelled as "health food", ever could. If none of this is making sense to you then I urge you to read the rest of my blog posts. I have spoken about all of this ad nauseum so it's pointless repeating myself, although I probably am anyway;) There is NOTHING else that is going to lower your sugar levels and regulate your cholesterol permanently. But remember, high cholesterol isn't a bad thing unless it is being sent out to fix a bad problem. Once you fix that problem, you lower your cholesterol to acceptable levels again, and you will be good to go! If your doctor tells you your cholesterol is high, ask them for a breakdown of the types of cholesterol. That will give you the tools you need to fix the problem IF there is a problem at all.
My advice? Fix your sugar by fixing your food intake, and you will fix yourself. Give it a try for a few weeks. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain!
