Cholesterol Off The Naughty List.

Back when I was growin' up there was no such thing as cholesterol.





And if there was...we would have fried it.

 

The cholesterol myth is all about selling drugs and nothing more. The liver produces more cholesterol than you will ever get from food.

 

Cholesterol was never the problem. Red meat, smoking, and a sedentary lifestyle is the problem.

 

The American Institute for Cancer Research concluded in 2007 that “red or processed meats are convincing or probable sources of some cancers.” Their report says evidence is convincing for a link between red meat, processed meat, and colorectal, lung, esophageal, stomic, pancreatic, and endometrial cancer. That said, I do break down and have a cheese burger once a year on July 4th.

 

This is not quite right PR. Your body (liver) produce all the cholesterol one needs (why we need it, I don't know) But, it produces more when you eat foods that are high in saturated fats. Too much cholesterol can cause a waxy build up inside the artery walls causing constrictions which can lead to heart attack, or a piece could break off causing a stroke.

Now as far as cholesterol lowering meds? Unfortunately they are very bad for your liver! So...that makes no sense to take them if you ask me. Eating right and exercise is the best way to deal with it.

Just my opinion.

 

Years ago I discovered when donating blood that my cholesterol level was high on certain occasions. I figured out those were the days I ate little and biked to the blood bank. I considered that my fasting body was producing the cholesterol by tapping into my own fat for energy. At any rate the ratio of HDL/LDL was always good.

However, as with many older ppl, my cholesterol made a steady rise over the years. When I went from 2% low fat milk to fat free, I lost some weight and my cholesterol numbers came back below 200 again. (I consume a lot of milk - I also cut down on my reduced fat cheese intake as well).

 

First, not all cholesterol is the same. There is HDL and LDL cholesterol. HDL is the good cholesterol, and a person can eat a high fat, whole food diet and still have healthy cholesterol numbers. If saturated fat caused heart disease, then the Inuit people would have been keeling over from heart disease long ago when in fact they were at one time some of the healthiest people on the planet (before the Western diet which is high in sugar and refined carbohydrates overtook their native diet). So saturated fat alone does not cause high cholesterol (at least not BAD cholesterol), and it certainly does not cause heart disease. A diet high in sugar, particularly fructose, is more responsible for unhealthy LDL cholesterol than saturated fat has ever been or will be.

There are plenty of people who eat diets high in healthy saturated fats like coconut oil, butter and eggs, and are far healthier than people who subsist on a Standard American Diet of refined and processed foods that invoke an inflammatory response within the body.

Arterial plaque is not even an issue of high cholesterol, but rather chronic inflammation. The arterial walls become cracked and damaged as a result of said inflammation, and the plaque which accumulates over these damaged arterial walls (as a normal, natural repair mechanism) is what causes the gradually occurring blockages that lead to heart attacks and strokes. This does not occur in people with a healthy cardiovascular system, no matter how high their cholesterol may be. Most people who have died of sudden death heart attacks have cholesterol levels that are either normal or below average. The statistics actually prove this.

The fact is that heart disease is the result of chronic inflammation, and that chronic inflammation can be largely attributed to diet and lifestyle, but saturated fat isn't even close to being at the top of the list of culprits contributing to this inflammation.

A can of soda will do more to clog your arteries than a ribeye steak smothered in melted butter will. People have got it ass backwards when they associate blood cholesterol with dietary fat and cholesterol. They are virtually a non-issue.

 

Man I'm really craving a steak.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBYjZTdrJlA

 

My doctor put me on 20mg of simvastatin because my brother had a heart attack. It is just a precaution, my liver tests always come back normal. My brother smokes, eats a lot of red meat & sausage, and never exercises. I'm 99% sure that's why he had a heart attack

 

Activist vegans like to cherry pick from studies which allude to meat causing heart disease and cancer, but these studies never take into account the person's overall diet. A diet high in refined sugar and omega-6 vegetable oils is a proven culprit of ill health -- not meat eating in and of itself. The issue of meat being healthy or unhealthy has everything to do with how the animal is raised and what it's fed. Factory raised, grain fed meat which comes from sick animals pumped full of hormones is not healthy.

 

Studies have actually shown eating an apple a day is as effective as taking statins.

If you eat healthy and exercise you ready shouldn't need a statin. Particularly as a preventative, I would think the risks associated with side effects would outweigh any potential benefit.