Cholesterol & Heart Disease – Myths & Facts

Many people wonder about the facts surrounding cholesterol and heart disease.

I get many questions about the correct dietary approach to high cholesterol. The good news is that foods such as meats and eggs do not need to be entirely avoided if you have high cholesterol! There are other dietary applications that you can take to help to lower cholesterol naturally.

Cholesterol is not the enemy, it is essential to many of the bodies metabolic processes. Yes it can kill you when it blocks your artery. But what we need to understand is why does it block your artery in a first place?

Studies show that first there is an inflammation in your artery, then the body attempts to heal it. Cholesterol is one of these substances that your body sends to the site of inflammation and injury in order to help you to heal.

If you find that you have high cholesterol the best approach you can take is to identify the major causes of inflammation in your body and in your diet.

Cutting cholesterol rich foods out of your diet will not help you much, as your liver is able to synthesise it when it needs to use it. Taking cholesterol lowering medication will cause you to reduce the cholesterol  and may work as a short therm solution but hey, nothing will stop the inflammation, which is the real cause of the problem to begin with!

So let’s treat the cause, not the symptom!

Foods that cause inflammation are sugars, refined carbohydrates, alcohol, vegetable oils, additives and processed foods. Before you turn to taking cholesterol lowering medication or cutting out meats and eggs, I recommend that you first visit a qualified nutritionist and take a closer look at your diet.

It would be great to asses any pathological changes in your body adding to systemic inflammation, such as leaky gut.

Watch the video below for a deeper explanation of the interplay between inflammation in the body and cholesterol.

As for the next few festive weeks over the Christmas and New Years celebrations; it is a good idea for all of us to maintain a happy balance between enjoying ourselves and taking the healthiest options we can wherever possible. For example; you could drink water in between each alcoholic beverage, skip the chocolates and the sweets for the most part, and try not to over eat.