Did you know that cholesterol is needed by the body for many functions? In today's America, when we think about cholesterol, most of us also think: heart attack, plaque, and just plain bad! In reality, this is not true. While we don't want cholesterol to be too high, we also don't want the levels to be too low.
According to Mary Enig, PhD, world renowned biochemist and researcher in the area of fats and lipids, "Cholesterol is essential to life." Even my pathophysiology textbook from PA school states, "Cholesterol and triglycerides are useful lipids." Did you know that your liver makes the majority of cholesterol that is in your body? AND did you know that when you eat a food with cholesterol in it, your body knows this and tells your liver to calm down its own production? AND, did you know that when your body needs to make new healthy tissue or repair damaged tissue, it needs cholesterol to do so? Doesn't it make sense then, when your body is going through recovery from illness or injury that your cholesterol levels would naturally go up until healing has been completed?
What? How can this be?? From Dr Enig's book, Eat Fat, Lose fat, here is a list of the many important reasons why our bodies need cholesterol:
1. to make hormones for dealing with stress
2. for protection against chronic disease
3. to produce sex hormones
4. to help your body make vitamin D which is crucial for good health
5. to make bile salts for digestion
6. to act as an antioxidant (this fights against those free radicals in our body that wreak havoc on our tissues)
7. for proper functioning of serotonin receptors (if cholesterol is too low, you are more prone to depression)
8. an important ingredient in breast milk for an infant's brain and nervous system development
9. to maintain a healthy intestinal wall allowing you to absorb important nutrients from your food
10. to repair damaged tissue at the cellular level (all cells have cholesterol in their cell membrane)
Most doctors are aware of the Framingham study that began in 1948 and studied thousands of men over several years. This study is one frequently used to support the idea that high cholesterol causes heart disease. When in fact, a 30 year post anaysis report states, "For each 1mg/dl drop in cholesterol, there was an 11% increase in coronary and total mortality." This goes against everything we have ever heard in the media and even through our doctors. Why and how did this discrepancy occur? Unfortunately, those who financially support many research studies and the specialists that sit on our government run health committees are the drug companies who make cholesterol lowering medications. At one point in time, Lipitor was the number one selling drug in the world!
I am not against good medicine and good drugs when they are used appropriately and for good honest reasons. What we need to remember is that our bodies were designed to survive and it will do whatever it can, given the proper tools, to heal and repair itself. By lowering cholesterol levels too low, you are diminishing one of the essential tools that the body needs for survival. Have you ever been amazed that a simple cut on your skin can heal without any remnant of leftover existence? Do you have to tell your eyelids to blink or your diaphragm to move so you can breathe? Do you have to tell your heart to beat or your hamstring muscles to move so that you can walk? Your body is amazingly designed and created so when something goes wrong, find out why. Get to bottom of why your body is doing what it is doing and try your best to give your body the tools (nourishment) it needs to function well and balanced!
Cheers!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
The Terrible Two: #2: HFCS
Okay, I know it's been a while since the last post, so in case you have forgotten, the Terrible Two #1 was trans fat, that is, any type of hydrogenated oil.
Now for #2: HFCS which is high fructose corn syrup.
Why is this bad, you ask? If you've seen the commercials for this substance, they have reassured you that it is just another type of sweetener and that in moderation, this is perfectly fine. However, those ads are sponsored by the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) and they are quick to tell us that this substance is safe because it is one of the lifelines of their business. Corn is a huge crop in America and many farms receive government subsidies to grow it! The CRA website is sweetsurprise.com, if you are interested.
However, I'm telling you that this substance is proving more and more to be very detrimental to our health. A recent study found that pancreatic tumor cells were "fed" by fructose and the tumor cells used this sugar to grow and multiply. Cancer Research August 1, 2010;70:6368.
According to Dr. Linda Ojeda PhD, author of Her Healthy Heart and Menopause Without Medicine, fructose can "profoundly affect the cardiovascular system." She reports a 1993 USDA study finding that fructose increased LDL (bad) cholesterol. Also fructose, like any excessive amount of sugar, is easily converted into triglycerides which increases risk for heart disease. Her Healthy Heart, Hunter House Inc. Publishers, 1998.
In his book, Anticancer, A New Way of Life, Dr. David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, states about HFCS, "This concentrate is to sugar a little like what opium is to poppies. Removed from its natual matrix (there is fructose in all fruits) and mixed with glucose, it can no longer be handled by the insulin our bodies produce, at least not without collateral damage. It then becomes toxic."
Because HFCS is such a concentrated form of sweetener, plus it is incorporated into MANY packaged foods, our bodies are overwhelmed with the sugar overload. This, in turn, causes high insulin levels and the release of IGF (insulinlike growth factor). This promotes fat storage, cell growth and inflammation. Tumors develop from an abnormal cell that is fed and allowed to grow without inhibition. We have a new generation of children who eat most foods from a box or the freezer and heated in the microwave. Most of these are filled with sweeteners and products that are meant to increase the shelf life. Can we possibly conclude, then, that this is part of the cause for rising rates of cancer, especially in our children and young adult populations? Research is ongoing, but very suggestive.
In his own research, Dr Joseph Mercola has found a link between a high fructose intake and high levels of uric acid. This combination, he states, is related to high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and kidney disease. (mercola.com) We know that high uric acid levels are associated with gout as well.
Please do your best to cut back sugars and foods that come from a package, and if at all possible, avoid hydorgenated oils and HFCS.
Now for #2: HFCS which is high fructose corn syrup.
Why is this bad, you ask? If you've seen the commercials for this substance, they have reassured you that it is just another type of sweetener and that in moderation, this is perfectly fine. However, those ads are sponsored by the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) and they are quick to tell us that this substance is safe because it is one of the lifelines of their business. Corn is a huge crop in America and many farms receive government subsidies to grow it! The CRA website is sweetsurprise.com, if you are interested.
However, I'm telling you that this substance is proving more and more to be very detrimental to our health. A recent study found that pancreatic tumor cells were "fed" by fructose and the tumor cells used this sugar to grow and multiply. Cancer Research August 1, 2010;70:6368.
According to Dr. Linda Ojeda PhD, author of Her Healthy Heart and Menopause Without Medicine, fructose can "profoundly affect the cardiovascular system." She reports a 1993 USDA study finding that fructose increased LDL (bad) cholesterol. Also fructose, like any excessive amount of sugar, is easily converted into triglycerides which increases risk for heart disease. Her Healthy Heart, Hunter House Inc. Publishers, 1998.
In his book, Anticancer, A New Way of Life, Dr. David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, states about HFCS, "This concentrate is to sugar a little like what opium is to poppies. Removed from its natual matrix (there is fructose in all fruits) and mixed with glucose, it can no longer be handled by the insulin our bodies produce, at least not without collateral damage. It then becomes toxic."
Because HFCS is such a concentrated form of sweetener, plus it is incorporated into MANY packaged foods, our bodies are overwhelmed with the sugar overload. This, in turn, causes high insulin levels and the release of IGF (insulinlike growth factor). This promotes fat storage, cell growth and inflammation. Tumors develop from an abnormal cell that is fed and allowed to grow without inhibition. We have a new generation of children who eat most foods from a box or the freezer and heated in the microwave. Most of these are filled with sweeteners and products that are meant to increase the shelf life. Can we possibly conclude, then, that this is part of the cause for rising rates of cancer, especially in our children and young adult populations? Research is ongoing, but very suggestive.
In his own research, Dr Joseph Mercola has found a link between a high fructose intake and high levels of uric acid. This combination, he states, is related to high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and kidney disease. (mercola.com) We know that high uric acid levels are associated with gout as well.
Please do your best to cut back sugars and foods that come from a package, and if at all possible, avoid hydorgenated oils and HFCS.
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