What you MUST know about cholesterol (but won't hear in statin ads)
Nothing your body does as a result of Nature's design is bad or an accident, and cholesterol is certainly no exception to that rule...it is a tool for survival of the body.
It actually is NEEDED by your body and serves several vital functions including these:
1- Cholesterol is your body's healing ointment
First and foremost, cholesterol is your body's internal healing ointment. Your blood vessels become damaged by things such as aging, inflammation, high blood pressure, injuries, wear and tear or free radical damage.
When this happens, cholesterol comes to the rescue to repair the damage and promote healing of the vessel.
Now, if the damage is allowed to worsen in your blood vessels and becomes chronic, cholesterol is continuously summoned to do its job over and over and over...and that's when you can run the risk of cholesterol accumulation, plaque buildup and possibly heart disease.
But note that it's the damage and inflammation in your blood vessels that's the real culprit here. The cholesterol is only trying to help and ends up guilty by association. If this was a murder mystery, "Cholesterol" heard a scream and came running, found a dead body at the scene, picked up the gun next to it, was seen with the gun in hand by witness, and thus was arrested for murder. But Cholesterol is innocent, of course, and wasn't there when the crime took place.
2- Nervous system health depends on cholesterol
Mother's milk is inherently very rich in cholesterol -- that should clue you in that it's pretty important.
Babies and children MUST have cholesterol to ensure proper development of their brain and nervous system.
And we adults need it too.
Cholesterol is crucial for proper functioning of the serotonin receptors in your brain. (Serotonin is your body's "natural antidepressant.") Low levels of cholesterol have been linked to aggressive and violent behavior, depression and suicidal ideation.
3- Cholesterol is necessary for digestive health
Bile salts are made from cholesterol. Since bile is needed for the digestion and assimilation of dietary fats, low cholesterol levels can lead to inadequate bile salt production and poor digestion of fats.
Plus, cholesterol helps maintain the strength and health of your gut wall. That's why low-cholesterol diets have been shown to lead to leaky gut syndrome and other intestinal disorders.
4- Cholesterol helps make Vitamin D & hormones
Your body uses cholesterol to manufacture Vitamin D when you're exposed to the sun.
Vitamin D is essential for healthy bones and nervous system, proper growth, mineral metabolism, muscle tone, insulin production, reproduction and immune system function.
In addition, your body needs cholesterol to make your stress hormones (like adrenaline and cortisol) as well as the sex hormones androgen, testosterone, estrogen and progesterone.
So if your significant other says, "Not tonight, honey" more than you'd like, low cholesterol might be the reason!
5- Strong cell walls & the ultimate deception
Both cholesterol and saturated fat work together to give your cell membranes their necessary strength and stability.
It's also an avenue for another gross misunderstanding that makes food companies richer.
You see, saturated fat in its natural form (from animal foods) is another misunderstood fat that is absolutely vital to your body's functioning--with cell health being one of its many jobs.
The danger with saturated fats arises when you either consume WAY too many of them or especially when you eat trans-fats--a deadly saturated fat that is not found in Nature but is found in abundance in processed foods (under the terms "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated" oils).
Trans-fats are very sticky, they clog up your arteries and make them resemble French fries, and cling to your tissues like a leech, spurring the development of free radicals.
Now, similar to the cholesterol scare, people have been frightened into thinking ALL saturated fats are bad, and this has provided a golden opportunity for food companies to make a fortune marketing "healthier" polyunsaturated vegetable oils.
There are 2 problems with that.
First, when polyunsaturated oils are heated, they turn into trans-fats! So the "heart-healthy oil" you're cooking with is anything but once you turn the stove on.
Second, an excess of polyunsaturated oils in your diet makes your cell walls weak and flabby. When your body senses this, it pulls cholesterol from your blood and drives it into your cells to give them structure and integrity.
When this happens, your blood cholesterol level understandably goes down.
Now, the food processing companies use this as a grand stage to take a bow and purport that their healthy oils are truly life savers--after all, they help lower cholesterol!
But nothing is farther from the truth! Blood cholesterol levels go down because of weakened cells caused by too many polyunsaturated oils and too few saturated fats.
See the deception?
And last but not least...
6- Cholesterol is also an emerging antioxidant!
Recent research is now showing that cholesterol acts as an antioxidant, actually protecting your body against the free radical damage that leads to heart disease and cancer.
It also helps to explain why cholesterol levels typically go up with age. The older we get, the more free radical protection our aging tissues need.
A major misconception about HDL and LDL
Another common cholesterol misconception comes from what's commonly called the "2 types of cholesterol" -- HDL and LDL.
Actually, HDL and LDL are not cholesterol at all, but instead are lipoproteins that are cholesterol "carriers."
They function like the candy coating on M&Ms. Just as the candy shell on M&Ms prevents the chocolate insides from getting all over your hands, the lipoproteins HDL and LDL form a coating around cholesterol (and other nutrients) and transport them to wherever they're needed -- without getting their messy insides smeared all over your arterial walls.
Low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) carry cholesterol to the various cells and tissues of your body where they're needed, "dropping off" a portion of their "chocolate" insides and then it's off to the next stop.
Following this, high-density lipoproteins (HDLs) come through, pick up any excess cholesterol and other "leftovers" and bring them to your liver to be recycled.
Then your liver "repackages" any remaining usable cholesterol with its own "candy coating" (called VLDLs or Very low-density lipoproteins) and sends them back off into circulation.
When this process works properly as Nature intended, your arteries can stay wide-open, pink, healthy and CLEAN.
Should you look for "low cholesterol" on food labels?
Contrary to what most people think, only 25% or less of the cholesterol in your body is from your food--your liver and most of your other cells produce the vast majority (at least 75%) of it.
And of the cholesterol that you do eat, your body only absorbs about half of it.
So don't bother buying those expensive, taste-like-shredded-cardboard low cholesterol foods that make the food companies richer and you no healthier.
So...what IS the real problem with cholesterol?
The real problem with cholesterol stems from a malfunction with the lipoprotein/cholesterol delivery and clean-up process I just described.
And that is the result of two things:
1- Poor elimination of worn-out, excess cholesterol and
2- SUGAR
Here's the scoop: Cholesterol is a very hard, waxy substance which has a melting point of 300 degrees Fahrenheit. This makes it difficult for your body to eliminate excesses of it from the digestive tract or anywhere in the bloodstream.
Your body depends on strong intestinal activity and the assistance of Omega-3 essential fatty acids and fiber to get rid of excess cholesterol through your GI tract.
If excess cholesterol is not eliminated, it can be reabsorbed back into circulation...and mess up your artery walls.
So if you're like MANY people who can't remember the last time you had a decent BM, if you eat a typical modern processed and fast food diet (which is deficient in Omega-3 EFAs) and wouldn't know fiber if it jumped up and bit you in the derriere, you may be in cholesterol-elimination trouble.
Plus, sugar (especially in the form of refined carbs) "mixes up" the lipid cycle, causing LDLs to miss their cholesterol "deliveries" and be in circulation too long, and the HDL "clean-up crew" to get jammed up.
What that means is your cholesterol doesn't get to the cells that need it and excesses don't get cleared away...so instead the cholesterol can accumulate on your blood vessel walls.
How to REALLY keep your cholesterol "healthy"
In order to keep your cholesterol levels healthy you need to support the cholesterol drop off and elimination cycle in your body.
And that can be accomplished with the help of these 3 steps:
1- Eat your way to healthy cholesterol
Eating refined carbs, too much saturated fat and especially ANY amount of trans-fats can all contribute to elevated cholesterol.
Plus, since fiber acts like a broom in your body to help sweep away excess cholesterol, a diet low in fiber can add to a cholesterol problem as well.
So it's crucial to have a healthy, balanced diet that minimizes refined carbohydrates and excess saturated fat, avoids trans-fats and helps you get natural dietary sources of fiber.
2- Get a healthy essential fatty acid balance
When you have too many Omega-6 EFAs and too few Omega-3s (like most people with a typical diet), you're encouraging inflammation in your arteries (where cholesterol can build up) as well as not being able to eliminate cholesterol as well as you should.
But when you bring the balance closer to the ideal 3:1 range, the Omega EFAs act together in harmony to keep inflammation low in your body and help you get rid of excess cholesterol.
Based on recent studies, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported decreases in cholesterol of up to 20% in just 10 DAYS by boosting Omega-3 EFA's through diet and supplementation!
VitalMega-3 is a molecularly distilled fish oil formula that provides an artery-healthy 1,200 mg of medical-grade Omega-3s in each daily two-capsule serving.
3- Probiotics can help cholesterol too
Probiotics can help reduce blood cholesterol by creating acids that counter cholesterol production, by breaking down bile acids so excess cholesterol is used up to make more, and by downright eating excess cholesterol!
Lactobacillius. Acidophilus "eats" cholesterol like I mentioned above, plus it also helps digest proteins and carbs, and produces B vitamins, folic acid, and lactase (which reduces lactose intolerance).
Congratulations -- now you know the REAL truth about cholesterol and will no longer be a victim of needless scares or clever marketing by food companies.
And now that you know the truth, if your cholesterol is elevated, don't think that dangerous statins are your only option!
When you instead help your body carry out the lipid process like it's designed to, a whole new life free of deadly statins opens up for you.
Start that whole new life for yourself today.
