Know Your Cholesterol

Know Your Cholesterol

The idea that high cholesterol causes heart disease is based on the premise that cholesterol is found in the plaque of people with coronary artery disease.

But does that automatically mean that cholesterol itself is the root cause, and must be kept at a minimum to prevent plaque formation?

The answer is “NOooo..”

Missing from this hypothesis is the holistic understanding of how cholesterol operates inside your body, and why arterial plaques form in the first place.

Cholesterol is actually a critical part of your body’s foundational building materials and is absolutely essential for optimal health. It’s so important that your body produces it both in your liver and in your brain. Cholesterol is also the raw material for all of your steroid hormones and vitamin D. There’s no doubt that you need it.

“Think about this for a second. Your neurons are making it for a reason,”……… Right !

 

So what’s the connection between cholesterol and heart disease?

If your body needs so much of it, what causes it to clog your arteries?

The devil is in the details, and this is definitely true when it comes to cholesterol, because, the cholesterol found in arterial plaque is not just any cholesterol, but oxidized, damaged cholesterol.

“There is an excellent research on animals where they fed animals plenty of cholesterol in their diet and they did just fine. But when they gave them even small amounts of tainted cholesterol, meaning oxidized cholesterol, within weeks it showed up in fatty streaks in their arteries,” 

“ We know why now. There are receptors in the endothelial cells that are the lining of your arteries. There are receptors there for oxidized cholesterol. It picks it up, and it goes into the endothelial cells. The problem is that oxidized cholesterol does not look native to your macrophages, your immune system. It actually looks like bacteria. The macrophages move in to try and clean up what it thinks is bacteria, which is nothing more than oxidized cholesterol, and it creates a whole bunch of inflammation inside your arterial wall. The real culprit is oxidized cholesterol ”

Where Does Oxidized Cholesterol Come From?

Oxidized cholesterol is introduced into your system every time you eat something cooked in vegetable oil. As soon as the oil is heated and mixes with oxygen, it goes rancid. Rancid oil is oxidized oil, and should not be consumed. This is why organic coconut oil, which remains stable and does not oxidize at higher temperatures is preferable.

“It is always advisable to eat more raw uncooked foods, because heat is damaging the oils, which in turn is going to damage the cholesterol and lead to vascular disease problem”

Why Statins Do NOT Promote Good Health

According to conventional medicine, there are two types of cholesterol:

1. High-density lipoprotein, or HDL: This is the "GOOD" cholesterol that helps to keep cholesterol away from your arteries and remove any excess from arterial plaque, which may help to prevent heart disease.
2. Low-density lipoprotein, or LDL: This "BAD" cholesterol circulates in your blood and is more prone to oxidation. According to conventional thinking, it can build up in your arteries and form plaque that makes your arteries narrow and less flexible (a condition called atherosclerosis). If a clot forms in one of these narrowed arteries leading to your heart or brain, a heart attack or stroke may result.

The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends keeping your total cholesterol below 200 mg/dL, but what they do not tell you is that total cholesterol level is just about worthless for determining your risk for heart disease, unless it is above 330. Additionally, the AHA updated their guidelines in 2004, lowering the recommended level of LDL cholesterol from 130 to less than 100, or even less than 70 for patients at very high risk. To achieve these outrageously low targets, you typically need to take multiple cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Statin drugs are very effective for lowering your cholesterol across the board. However, as mentioned earlier, they shut down your body’s innate capability to create the cholesterol it needs for proper cellular- and brain function. Statins also prevent your body from generating sufficient levels of vitamin D from exposure to the sun, because the UVB rays in sunlight interact with the cholesterol in your skin and convert it to vitamin D. While statin drugs effectively reduce cholesterol values, they typically do not.

Markers for Heart Disease

Always look at the ratios between so-called good and bad cholesterol—the HDL and LDL—as well as your triglycerides. These are far more potent markers for heart disease. There are number of people with total cholesterol levels over 250 who actually were at low heart disease risk due to their HDL levels. Conversely, there are even more who had cholesterol levels under 200 that were at a very high risk of heart disease based on the following additional tests:

• HDL/Cholesterol ratio: Divide your HDL level by your total cholesterol. This percentage should ideally be above 24 percent.

• Triglyceride/HDL ratio: Divide your triglycerides by your HDL level. This percentage should be below 2

As per experiments, high triglycerides specifically, and elevated cholesterol in general, is typically related to excessive consumption of grains and sugars. A high-fructose, high grain-carb diet contributes to insulin resistance, which will cause your liver to produce more cholesterol and more inflammatory LDL particles, raise your triglycerides, and increase your risk of metabolic syndrome.

Tips for Optimizing Your Cholesterol Without Drugs

Your body NEEDS cholesterol—it’s important in the production of cell membranes, hormones, vitamin D and bile acids that help you to digest fat. Cholesterol also helps your brain form memories and is vital to your neurological function.

“Please don’t live in fear of your raw cholesterol number, Unless it’s around 300 or higher, it’s not going to be indicative [of heart disease risk].”

The goal of the guidelines below is not to lower your cholesterol as low as it can go, but rather to optimize your levels so they're working in the proper balance with your body. Seventy-five percent of your cholesterol is produced by your liver, which is influenced by your insulin levels. Therefore, if you optimize your insulin level, you will automatically optimize your cholesterol. This is why my primary recommendations for safely regulating your cholesterol have to do with modifying your diet and lifestyle as follows:

• Reduce, with the plan of eliminating, grains and sugars in your diet. It is especially important to eliminate dangerous sugars such as fructose. 
• Consume a good portion of your food raw.

• Make sure you are getting plenty of high quality, animal-based omega 3 fats, such as krill oil. New research suggests that as little as 500 mg of omega 3 fats per day may lower your total cholesterol and triglycerides and will likely increase your HDL cholesterol.
• Replace harmful vegetable oils and trans fats with healthful fats, such as olive oil and  coconut oil (remember olive oil should be used cold only. Use coconut oil for cooking and baking)
• Include fermented foods in your daily diet. This will not only optimize your intestinal microflora, which will boost your overall immunity, it will also introduce beneficial bacteria into your mouth. Poor oral health is another indicator of increased heart disease risk.
• Optimize your vitamin D levels, ideally through appropriate sun exposure as this will allow your body to also create vitamin D sulfate—another factor that may play a crucial role in preventing the formation of arterial plaque.
• Exercise regularly. Make sure you incorporate high intensity interval exercises, which also optimize your human growth hormone (HGH) production.

·         Avoid smoking or drinking alcohol excessively.

·         Be sure to get plenty of high-quality, restorative sleep.

Final Thoughts

“The simplest thing you can do, and the most powerful, is to clean up your diet first”

“Eat more raw, uncooked, living foods organic, grown around you, ripe when in season – ancient Chinese wisdom...

"Get exercise. Exercise can overcome – I’m not going to say anything – but a lot"

We know that people have eaten toxic diets for years, including a lot of cooked foods. When they get exercise, it can overcome a lot of that. These are things that cost absolutely nothing for you to do. Go for concept of eating fermented foods, keeping your mouth clean. The so-called antioxidants, particularly vitamin E or the natural vitamin E’s, are good. Especially if you can get it in your food, these don’t cost anything.

These are the things that you can do that don’t cost a penny, and can alter your health dramatically.”- Dr. Robert Rowen

Regards,


Er. Yashi Shrivastava

Food Technologist

yashi.shrivastava@gmail.com