The Dangerous Truth About Cholesterol

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Let me start out this article with some news that may shock you.

Cholesterol is not the major culprit in heart disease.

I know this may be hard to believe after all you’ve heard about the dangers of high cholesterol from doctors and the media.

But the truth is, it’s not high cholesterol levels alone or the cholesterol containing foods that are the guilty party in heart disease, it’s a combination of those foods and any other thing that causes inflammation in your body that is the major cause of heart disease.

What is cholesterol and why do we need it?

Cholesterol is a soft, waxy substance found among the lipids (fats) in the bloodstream and in all your body’s cells. It’s an important part of a healthy body because it’s used to form cell membranes.

Cholesterol aids in the manufacture of bile (which helps digest fats), and is also important for the metabolism of fat soluble vitamins, including vitamins A, D, E and K. It is the major precursor for the synthesis of vitamin D and of the various steroid hormones like cortisol.

How could cholesterol be so good and so bad at the same time?

Cholesterol is getting bad press because upon inspection of the arteries of someone at risk for a heart attack, high levels of cholesterol and a build up of plaque are present.

Cholesterol is actually being transported to tissues as part of a response to inflammation that is there to repair damage. It will only lodge itself onto the artery and cause plaque if the artery has become damaged. Inflammation in the artery is causing the damage. In fact, it is now known that the coronary disease that causes heart attacks is now considered to be caused mostly from chronic inflammation.

Stop Blaming Cholesterol for Heart Attacks

To blame cholesterol for heart attacks is like blaming an increase in crime on an increase in police presence in a high crime area. It wasn’t the police that caused the crime, they were just sent there in response to the crimes.

A more important question to ask ourselves, is how do we decrease the amount of inflammation in our bodies so that cholesterol will not bind to our arteries?

We must decrease all of those things that we do that cause inflammation and increase those things that decrease inflammation. Makes sense. First and foremost we must stay away from foods that cause inflammation in our bodies.

Any food that causes a fast rise in blood insulin levels increases inflammation in the body. These foods are sugar, white breads, most dairy products and almost all packaged and processed foods.

I hear you asking the question, So what does this leave me with? It leaves you with the things your body needs most fresh, wholesome foods such as fruits, vegetables, lean animal proteins, nuts, and lots and lots of water. Also, taking in lots of omega-3 rich foods will dramatically decrease inflammation in the body. Omega-3 rich foods include salmon, sardines, organic eggs and walnuts.

Why not just use cholesterol medication to reduce cholesterol?

Some may be thinking, instead of following a rigid cholesterol diet for lowering cholesterol I’ll just take a pill instead. It’s a whole lot easier to take a pill and not have to change my eating habits. I get the best of both worlds. Foods I want to eat and lower cholesterol levels.

Doctors and pharmaceutical companies love to hear that kind of logic and heavily promote it in most health clinics around the world. They have a penchant for prescribing pills to combat your ills. But lowering cholesterol by using cholesterol medication is only combating the symptoms and not the cause of the problem.

Don’t forget there is usually a dark side to drug use, even the so-called good ones. Pharmaceutical companies are fond of bragging about the positives in a certain drug while ignoring the negatives.

The Dangers of Cholesterol Reducing Drugs

So you may want to think twice about taking drugs to fix yourself. Let’s consider the side effects of statins which are cholesterol lowering drugs.

The most common side effects reported are fatigue, headaches, nausea and the most common of them all, severe muscular pains and muscular degeneration. If you remember that cholesterol is essential for the formation of cell membranes, taking a drug that drastically lowers your cholesterol may be causing membrane damage in neural and muscle tissue. That doesn’t sound good. It shouldn’t surprise you then that most people on cholesterol reducing drugs complain of neck, back or leg pain.

Millions of Americans are now on cholesterol lowering drugs, but the number of people suffering from heart attacks and heart disease keeps going up. If that wonder drug is so wonderful why isn’t heart disease decreasing?

And consider this…if people are suffering pain induced side-effects from taking cholesterol reducing drugs is it any wonder that they are also taking more pain killers to kill the pain? Who do you suppose is prescribing the pain killers? Who’s creating your pain? Who’s profiting from your pain? Go ahead, fill in the blanks.

Here’s the bottom line…

Start taking responsibility for your own health and truly get to the root of the problem. Managing your diet and staying away from foods that are causing an inflammatory response in your body is the first step to decreasing your chance of heart disease and heart attacks.

You need to stop hurting yourself with sugars and other gut rotting poisons so that doctors feel compelled to help you out with daily doses of symptom chasing medications.

You’ll save yourself a lot of money and physical pain by building your body up from the inside out with a proper fitness and weight loss program. You’ll feel better, look better and live longer if you do.

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About the Author:

Isabel De Los Rios is a certified nutritionist and exercise specialist who has already helped over 25,000 people all over the world lose incredible amounts of weight, regain their health and permanently change their lives.

She is the creator of The Diet Solutions Program and the Owner of New Body — Center for Fitness and Nutrition in New Jersey.

Isabel has become the #1 "go to girl" when it comes to Fat Burning Nutrition by several of the most popular fitness professionals around the globe. Isabel’s cutting edge and completely different approach to nutrition is what sets her apart from all the rest.

 

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