What Are The Causes And Symptoms Of High Cholesterol
Causes of hyperlipidemia include a family history, high-fat diet, being overweight, certain illnesses including diabetes, and some drugs.
Most people have no symptoms until their blood vessels are nearly closed or become clogged. Some people may have small fat deposits under the skin when lipids are very high. High cholesterol raises your risk for heart disease and heart attacks.
S To Healthy Cholesterol Or Why You Should Stop Your Statins Now
How do I lower my cholesterol? Its a question often asked by millions of people. You know why? Because your doctor, the medical profession, the media, and the government have all told you that the secret to living a long, healthy, heart disease-free life is lowering your cholesterol.
But what if I told you that the countries where people have higher cholesterol tend to have lower rates of heart disease, that people with the highest cholesterol have the least risk of death? What if I told you that studies dont prove any benefit to taking cholesterol medication in people who have no risk of heart disease, if their cholesterols just a little high, or that theres no reason for any woman over 69 to take cholesterol medication to prevent heart disease? What if I told you the studies show that cholesterol medication works only for those people who have already had a heart attack but not for the 75% of people whove never had a heart attack, which is most of the people taking the drug?
I know this flies in the face of conventional wisdom, but the scientific establishment is often different from the established science. Im interested in the established science, rather than what is said by the scientific establishment, which is often influenced by pharmaceutical companies.
Your body needs cholesterol
So, its not about having lower cholesterol; its about having the right type of cholesterol.
The truth about cholesterol
Why?
6 steps to healthy cholesterol
What Is High Cholesterol
Do you have a liver? Then you produce cholesterol.
Our liver produces anywhere from 1-2 grams of cholesterol per day. Production can decrease when we eat cholesterol-rich foods and increase when we eat foods without cholesterol.
Cholesterols name comes from the Greek words khol, or bile , and stereos, or solid, which indicates that its part of a class of molecules that are known collectively as sterols.
Cholesterol is necessary to produce vitamin D, steroid hormones, and bile acids. Its also a component of cell membranes.
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Triglycerides In Your Blood
In addition to cholesterol, your blood also contains a type of fat called triglycerides, which are stored in your bodys fat deposits. Hormones release triglycerides to make energy between meals.;
When you eat, your body converts any extra energy it doesnt need right away into triglycerides.
Like cholesterol, your body needs triglycerides to work properly. However, there is evidence to suggest that some people with high triglycerides are at increased risk of heart disease and stroke.;
If you regularly eat more energy than you need, you may have high triglycerides .;
What Lifestyle Changes Can I Make To Help Improve My Cholesterol Levels
Exercise regularly.
Exercise can raise HDL cholesterol levels. It can also reduce levels of LDL cholesterol and triglycerides . Try to work out for 30 minutes, 4 to 6 times a week. Your workout should be moderate to vigorous. Make sure you talk to your doctor before starting an exercise plan.
Lose weight if youre overweight.
Being overweight can raise your cholesterol levels. Losing weight, even just 5 or 10 pounds, can lower your total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglyceride levels.
If you smoke, quit.
Smoking lowers your HDL cholesterol. Even exposure to second-hand smoke can affect your HDL level. Talk to your doctor about developing a plan to help you stop smoking.
Eat a heart-healthy diet.
- Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.Fruits and vegetables are naturally low in fat. They add flavor and variety to your diet. They are also the best source of fiber, vitamins, and minerals for your body. Aim for 5 cups of fruits and vegetables every day. This should not include potatoes, corn, or rice. These count as carbohydrates.
- Pick good fats over bad fats.;Fat is part of a healthy diet, but there are bad fats and good fats. Bad fats include saturated and trans fats. They are found in foods such as:
- Butter.
- Fats in whole milk dairy products.
Limit the amount of saturated;fat;in your;diet. Avoid trans fat completely.
In addition to fiber, whole grains supply B vitamins and important nutrients not found in foods made with white flour.
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Eat More Plant Sources Of Protein
Excellent plant proteins include beans all beans, like lentils, red beans, pinto beans, and soybeans. Rather than raising blood cholesterol levels, as animal sources of protein do, beans actually help lower cholesterol.
Beans also help reduce blood sugar and insulin levels, and may even lower cancer risk.
Checking Your Blood Cholesterol Level
A cholesterol screening is an overall look at the fats in your blood. Screenings help identify your risk for heart disease. It is important to have what is called a full lipid profile to show the actual levels of each type of fat in your blood: LDL, HDL, triglycerides, and others. Talk with your healthcare provider about when to have this test.
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Foods For A Healthy Liver
Mika, Facty Staff
Something that often surprises many is the fact that our liver is our second largest organ, and it performs a variety of tasks that we take for granted. The liver does so much more than just filter alcohol; we couldn’t live a healthy life without a liver, making this one of the most crucial organs in our body. Unfortunately, many people suffer from unhealthy livers, which aren’t able to perform their functions optimally. On the bright side, there is a multitude of foods that may be consumed for better liver health. Find out the top 10 foods for a healthy liver.
If Lifestyle Changes Arent Enough
Take medications, if you need to, to lower your cholesterol into healthy ranges. Drugs like statins can be very effective, says Dr. Danine Fruge, MD, ABFP – Medical Director at the Pritikin Longevity Center, but do continue in your efforts to eat well and exercise because a healthy lifestyle can give you far, far more than drugs alone.
With a healthy living program like Pritikin, youre not only reducing cholesterol quickly, youre also creating changes throughout your body that can profoundly improve your overall well-being. Youre reducing blood sugar levels and blood pressure. Other heart disease risk factors like triglyceride fats are also dropping dramatically. Youre also reducing inflammatory factors that sicken arteries. Youre shedding excess weight. And, quite simply, youre feeling better, much better. Many of our guests at Pritikin tell us, I had no idea I could feel this good again.
Can any pill or combination of pills do all of the above? I highly doubt it. But a healthy lifestyle like Pritikin can.
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Eat Fewer Refined Grains Such As White Flour
Were a nation of white food eaters white bread, white rice, white pasta, and white-flour foods like muffins, croissants, bagels, crackers, dried cereals, tortillas, pretzels, and chips. Yes, more than half of many Americans typical diets are made up of hyperprocessed refined white flour, often injected with sugar, salt, and/or fat.
Thats a real problem in part because the more white, or refined, grains we eat, the fewer whole grains we tend to take in. Research has found that eating whole grains can help lower both total and LDL cholesterol, and improve heart health.
In Harvard Universitys;Nurses Health Study, for example, women who ate two to three servings of whole-grain products each day were 30% less likely to have a heart attack or die from heart disease over a 10-year period than women who ate less than one serving of whole grains per week.2
When first starting to make the switch from refined to whole grains, many people often feel a bit confused. Where to begin? Whats whole? What isnt?
The registered dietitians at the Pritikin Longevity Center start with one very simple rule. When looking at products like breads and cereals, they recommend turning the package around and making sure the first word in the Ingredient List is whole. If you see the word whole at the top of the list, its a good bet that what youre buying is in fact 100% whole grain, or close to it.
What Vitamin Is Good For Lowering Cholesterol
Niacin is a B vitamin. Doctors sometimes suggest it for patients with high cholesterol or heart concerns. It benefits you by increasing the level of good cholesterol and reducing triglycerides, another fat that can clog arteries. You can consume niacin in foods, especially liver and chicken, or as a supplement.
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Health Problems That Raise Cholesterol Levels
While genes or an unhealthy diet are often the causes of high cholesterol, many health conditions can also be culprits.
More than 73 million American adults have high cholesterol, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , but no two cases of high cholesterol are exactly alike.
Many people have high cholesterol because of physical inactivity or a diet too high in saturated fats, or because it runs in the family. But having other health conditions can also cause high cholesterol levels, especially conditions that affect your metabolism, such as diabetes or;hypothyroidism .
How Statins Work And Why Theyre Not Enough
To talk about statins, we first need to talk a little about cholesterol. When you hear the word cholesterol, it is referring to one of two sorts.
First, there is blood cholesterol. Most of it comes from the liver. The liver produces cholesterol because our bodies need it for all kinds of reasons. Cholesterol helps our cells do their jobs. It is also an integral part of several hormones. We would not exist without blood cholesterol, but then again, neither would heart disease.
There’s cholesterol in your blood , and cholesterol you eat .
Blood cholesterol is also the number were referring to when we say, My cholesterol level is . . .
Heres one really important point: Our liver manufactures all the cholesterol we need.
The second type of cholesterol is dietary cholesterol. This is the cholesterol we eat. Major sources include egg yolks, organ meats like liver, and shrimp.
If we eat too much dietary cholesterol, we can raise our blood cholesterol somewhat, but what really sends our blood cholesterol soaring are saturated fats and trans fats. Foods full of saturated fat include red meat, butter, cheese, cream, whole milk, palm oil, and coconut oil. Foods with trans fats include anything that has partially hydrogenated oils in its ingredient list, such as many store-bought cakes, pies, and cookies as well as biscuits, donuts, and some margarines.
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Controlling ‘bad Cholesterol’ Production Could Prevent
The ‘bad cholesterol’ binds to LDL receptors in the liver, the organ in charge of degrading it and excreting it from the organism as bile. ‘Cancer cells need lipids to grow. They can make their. Effects of high cholesterol levels The liver is the main processing centre for cholesterol and dietary fat. When we eat animal fats, the liver transports the fat, together with cholesterol in the form of lipoproteins, into our bloodstream. Too much cholesterol circulating within LDL in our bloodstream leads to fatty deposits developing in the arteries. This causes the vessels to narrow and.
Eating Well + Exercise
For best results with a healthy lifestyle, new research has found that plunging right in with both healthy eating and exercising is the way to go.3
The Stanford University School of Medicine study involved 200 middle-aged Americans, all sedentary and with poor eating habits. Some were told to launch new food and fitness habits at the same time. Others began dieting but waited several months before beginning to exercise. A third group started exercising but didnt change eating habits till several months later.
All the groups received telephone coaching and were followed for one year. The winning group was the one making food and exercise changes together. The people in this group were most likely to meet U.S. guidelines for exercise and healthy eating , and to keep calories from saturated fat at less than 10% of their total intake of calories.
For best results with a healthy lifestyle, new research has found that plunging right in with both healthy eating and exercising is the way to go.3
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Drink At Least 4 Cups Of Tea Each Day
Tea can help to lower blood cholesterol, reduce arterial plaque, improve blood vessel function, and decrease lipid oxidation. If you drink coffee or soda, aim for the lower caffeine varieties. Caffeine can increase cholesterol levels by nearly 10%.
Finally, if you dont drink alcohol, dont start. If you do, only use it in small amounts, see All About Alcohol for more.
A note on supplements
With all supplements, dont run out to the vitamin store and fill your pockets. Chat with your doc first and consider what you really need.
A note about dietary cholesterol
Dietary cholesterol has minimal impact on blood cholesterol for most individuals. In general, eggs dont seem to have a negative effect on blood cholesterol measures. Omega-3 eggs might even have a beneficial effect since they improve key blood proteins and decrease blood glucose.
What Are The Symptoms Of Coq10 Deficiency
What are the symptoms of CoQ10 deficiency? Whilst everyone is different, people who have a deficiency in CoQ10 levels often experience physical fatigue and muscle weakness, even while undertaking relatively non-strenuous physical activities such as walking.
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So Whats The Point Of Cholesterol
Cholesterol has a number of important metabolic functions, as described above.
A higher cholesterol intake might be associated with greater muscle growth.
Why? Well, cholesterol is the precursor to important anabolic hormones that are related to muscle growth/repair.
Cholesterol is also the basis for other reproductive hormones such as other androgens and estrogens.
Cholesterol is an essential component of biological membranes and helps to increase membrane viscosity, which increases the exposure of membrane proteins to compounds coming in from outside the cell.
The Liver And Cholesterol: What You Should Know
Introduction and overview
Balanced cholesterol levels are important to maintaining good health. The liver is an underrecognized part of that effort.
The liver is the largest gland in the body, located in the upper right part of the belly. It is the bodys master detoxer of drugs and other foreign substances. It stores glycogen, which the body uses for energy. Its also important in metabolizing fat, carbohydrates, and proteins. A healthy liver does all this unnoticed.
An important function of the liver is to produce and clear cholesterol in the body. Most of the attention focused on cholesterol describes its potential for harmful health effects. But cholesterol is necessary for the creation of hormones, vitamin D, and enzymes needed for digestion.
Bundles called lipoproteins carry cholesterol throughout the body. Two important types are high-density lipoproteins and low-density lipoproteins . High and low refer to the relative proportion of protein to fat in the bundle. The body needs both types in regulated proportions.
Its important to know the levels of HDL , LDL , and total cholesterol in your body. A rough estimate of total cholesterol is HDL, plus LDL, plus one-fifth of a third type of fat called triglyceride.
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute recommends the following levels:
| LDL cholesterol levels |
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What Is The Ideal Cholesterol Level
The ideal blood cholesterol level is below 150;milligrams per deciliter , based on the results of the Framingham Heart Study and other research. At that level, heart disease is very unlikely. Unfortunately, nearly 107 million Americans have cholesterol levels that are greater than 200 mg/dL, which is dangerously close to 225 mg/dLthe average cholesterol level of coronary artery disease victims.
Foods To Eat And Avoid
Cutting down on fatty foods may reduce the impact of a fatty liver or NAFLD. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, and foods such as bread and potatoes that release energy slowly can help.
A diet with plenty of protein is a way of obtaining adequate energy supplies without eating high-cholesterol foods. Eggs, nuts, chicken breast, and pulses are excellent sources of protein.
Eating regularly and snacking between meals can be a healthful way for a person to get enough fuel.
A person can help prevent health problems, such as damage to the liver, by reducing high levels of LDL cholesterol.
They can lower cholesterol by eating a healthful diet, with plenty of fruits and vegetables.
Saturated fats contain a high level of cholesterol.
Many fast foods, cakes, butter, fatty meats such as sausages, full-fat cheese, and cream contain saturated fats.
Taking regular exercise can help to lower a persons cholesterol. Giving up smoking can also be beneficial.
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What Does The Body Use Cholesterol For
- Cholesterol is the raw material that the body uses to manufacture the following
- Vitamin D
- Sex hormones and steroid hormones such as testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, cortisol
- Bile salts
- Production of the myelin sheath which insulates nerve pathways
Just the other day I had a patient who came to visit me with her daughter. She was a woman aged 74 years and had been made to feel seriously ill by taking an ever increasing number of prescribed drugs. She was taking drugs for osteoporosis, high blood pressure, acid reflux and high cholesterol. This polypharmacy had made her feel like a toxic stew she said. The diuretics she had been taking had caused her blood electrolytes to become seriously deranged.
Her daughter, being a nurse, had taken her off all the medication, except for her blood pressure tablets. She had made her mother raw vegetable juices and within a week, her mother felt human again and could walk without falling over.
Is the theory that everyone with any risk factors for cardiovascular disease , should have a very low cholesterol level, a conspiracy theory? I think it is.
There are forces that encourage Western governments to subsidise the use of cholesterol lowering drugs for the majority of its older population is that natural? I dont think so.
For a comprehensive plan to improve cholesterol see my book “Cholesterol the Real Truth“
The above statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease.