Battling High Cholesterol?

Everyone is concerned with cholesterol and the amounts of fat consumed. This is a one‐dimensional idea and the dietary issues here are much more complex than simply avoiding fat. The issue may not be the amount of fat or oil, but the quality of the fats eaten; Omega 3 essential fatty acids may actually be cardioprotective. Consuming hydrogenated oil is dangerous to the heart, among other things! Another issue you can have is a fatty acid oxidation issue and therefore not able to breakdown fats without certain supplements. This is where the Organic Acid test provides insight into your own functioning.

A crucial but often overlooked factor is that not many people pay attention to sugar and refined foods. Refined sugar and flour may play an important role in increasing cholesterol. Anticholesterol medications work by suppressing a liver enzyme, HMG CoA reductase. Increasing insulin increases the activity of this enzyme, so eating sugar can have an unfavorable effect on your cholesterol. Sugar and refined grains also increase the growth of yeast and other dysbiotic organisms in the gut. Bile salts can be deconjugated by these organisms and turned into bile acids; this may trigger production of cholesterol by the liver. Epidemiologic studies show that native populations have increased heart disease when exposed to the Western diet, but their fat consumption doesn’t actually go up; their consumption of refined carbohydrates does. Fascinating to say the least. You are what you eat and what foods your body can or cannot breakdown.

Four Quick Tips to Improving Your Cardiac Health with Diet

1. Avoid refined sugar and refined carbohydrates: Refined food may play as important a role as saturated fat. Also, the refined diet is low in folic acid, B12 and B6, all of which are necessary to keep homocysteine levels low. High homocysteine is as big a cardiac risk factor as cholesterol.

2.  Strictly avoid hydrogenated and partially‐hydrogenated oils: You find these in packaged food and in margarine. Be aware of this; there are still physicians out there who have their cardiac patients eating margarine! Limit saturated fats also.

3. Exercise: Simple aerobic exercise is fine, never become out of breath or be unable to talk while working out.

4. Eat plenty of green vegetables: Fiber and folic acid are only two of the reasons to be eating vegetables. Folic acid helps reduce homocysteine levels, and fiber reduces the absorption of fats and sugars and helps intestinal and liver health. Magnesium is important for good cardiac function and can reduce blood pressure. Two of the best ways to reduce cholesterol and blood pressure are fiber and exercise.

Let Food Be Thy Medicine and not Thy Poison.

Tags: cholesterol, high cholesterol, reduce cholesterol