How about some Cholesterol facts to take you into the Holiday Weekend?

Cholesterol isn’t a dangerous substance that our body sadly makes a ton  of, that goes straight to our arteries and causes plaque build up.  Cholesterol is a Gift from God, seriously.   Our liver sends it to heal areas of damage and inflammation in our body. It’s an antioxidant.  Cholesterol is also a “recipe” component of Vitamin D; all our adrenal and sex hormones (no Testosterone or Estrogen without it); every SINGLE cell membrane; our neurotransmitter receptors (want your Serotonin?); and our bile salts (they break down fats).   And that’s a short list.  You can’t live without cholesterol, and studies, (study after study after study for decades) show that people with higher cholesterol LIVE LONGER.  Here’s a blurb from Dr. Brownsteins Blog about women and mortality:” Compared to those with a cholesterol of less than 190mg/dL, women with cholesterol levels from 190-308mg/dL had a 41-43% reduction in all-cause mortality.  Similarly to men, cholesterol levels over 308mg/dL had an insignificant (2%) rise in all-cause mortality.”   Don’t hear that every day, do you.  Cholesterol is CARDIO-PROTECTIVE.  The pharmaceutical industry’s push to get you to lower cholesterol has been about money, not your health.  There’s a great analogy that blaming cholesterol for your heart disease is like blaming the firemen at the scene of the fire.  They’re there to put out the fire, they didn’t cause it.

If you’re one of the more than 30 million Americans on a statin drug, maybe you should rethink that.  The side-effect list of these drugs is scary:  memory loss and confusion, muscle weakness, liver damage – we’ve all heard these; but did you know that about 60,000 people A YEAR are developing Type 2 Diabetes from their statin drug?  (if that’s happened to you, different law firms are running ads looking for clients to represent – maybe some settlement money will ease the pain.)  And what about someone who’s already Diabetic being put on a statin?  Diabetes is a condition of too much glucose/blood sugar, and too much insulin.  Guess what increases blood glucose and insulin?  Statin Drugs!  Hmm.    Oh, and Insulin – which is a very irritating, damaging hormone – damages the arteries, which causes the liver to make cholesterol to send to the site of the damage and patch it up.  So the statin drug that lowers cholesterol, supposedly to prevent heart disease ( studies show it doesn’t), actually causes damage to the cardiovascular system.    Here’s another tidbit about statins:  we now know that some types of cholesterol have more potential to cause damage than other types (small, dense LDLs are more prone to oxidation than large, fluffy LDL, ONLY oxidized cholesterol is dangerous;   HDL is considered cardio-protective).  Statins lower ALL cholesterol – not just small, dense LDLs.  There’s NO drug that can do that.  There’s also NO drug that raises HDL.   Diet does though – the right diet.  Lower carbohydrate, higher fat diets,( that keep your blood glucose in the NORMAL range of 80 – 100mg/dcl), lower LDL and raise HDL.  This diet also lowers your triglycerides, which are a DIRECT reflection of the amount of carbohydrate you eat. (the success rate of Standard Health Advice, i.e. eat low fat, high carb, exercise a ton, has failed abysmally) Did you know that for all the triglycerides you make out of your excess carbs, your liver has to make LDL – small and dense, to transport it? Isn’t that interesting??!!!  I just learned that last week.  Interested in learning more yourself?  Here’s a Dr. Mercola article, or you could pick up this book:http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Cholesterol-Myth-Disease/dp/1592335217, or this book:  http://www.amazon.com/Cholesterol-Clarity-What-Wrong-Numbers/dp/1936608383.

Review:  lower your cholesterol with a statin drug, and you’ll also:  lower your production of Vitamin D; lower your production of sex and adrenal hormones;  decrease integrity of your cell membranes; impede your neurotransmitter uptake (serotonin, dopamine, gaba..) lower your ability to heal wounds; and raise your risk for artery damage, Type 2 diabetes, liver damage, muscle weakness and soreness, and memory loss.  OH!!  Some of the same cells that produce cholesterol also produce CoQ10 – an enzyme that’s vital for the jobs of every single cell in our body. Turn off cholesterol, turn off C0Q10.   Wow.  That’s a long list, and I haven’t even covered everything.

There’s some food for thought (Real Whole Food), for the long holiday weekend.  Happy Labor Day!