7 Things About Your Cholesterol That You Need To Know Now by Dr. Mark Hyman
Home
about Dr. Ho Her Story Client Feedback Disclaimers & Disclosures
Her Story
Client Feedback
Disclaimers & Disclosures
Blog Lifestyle Health & Wellness House & Home Travel & Adventure Wine & Dine Recipes Breakfast & Brunch Fruits & Dessert Main Dish Smoothies & Juices Soup Vegetables & Salad Relationships Community & Friendship Love & Romance Parenting & Family Personal Development
Lifestyle Health & Wellness House & Home Travel & Adventure Wine & Dine
Health & Wellness
House & Home
Travel & Adventure
Wine & Dine
Recipes Breakfast & Brunch Fruits & Dessert Main Dish Smoothies & Juices Soup Vegetables & Salad
Breakfast & Brunch
Fruits & Dessert
Main Dish
Smoothies & Juices
Soup
Vegetables & Salad
Relationships Community & Friendship Love & Romance Parenting & Family Personal Development
Community & Friendship
Love & Romance
Parenting & Family
Personal Development
Get Featured Ads & Sponsored Posts Guest Bloggers Weekly LinkUps Tip Tuesday Link Party Foodie Friday Link Party Places I Link Up Parent Spotlight
Ads & Sponsored Posts
Guest Bloggers
Weekly LinkUps Tip Tuesday Link Party Foodie Friday Link Party
Tip Tuesday Link Party
Foodie Friday Link Party
Places I Link Up
Parent Spotlight
contacts
February 25, 2016
Posted by: Dr. Elise Cohen Ho
Category: Health & Wellness
The concepts presented within the pages and all of the myths that we are working to dispel are also raising question. Therefore, my friend and mentor is back to attend to some of these very important topics. Read on, grab the book and then hit me up and let’s talk. Recently a reader questioned the positive connection between cholesterol and eating fat, “My doctor says my LDL cholesterol is really high and he’s concerned. Now you’re saying that I should eat more fat , which should improve my cholesterol. I thought fat was the last thing I should be eating with high cholesterol.”
The reality is, most of us have little understanding about our cholesterol levels in our blood and the whole topic is much more complicated than we thought.
Many people still believe that eating cholesterol and fat, especially saturated fat , causes heart attacks and that taking statin drugs provide a powerful way to reduce your risk of heart attacks. But is this really true?
One of the biggest refuse-to-die myths is that dietary and cholesterol levels are the enemy and a high-fat diet causes heart attacks.
Your doctor, the media, and traditional health professionals advise that you shouldn’t eat too much fat or cholesterol; yet, study after study shows no link between total fat, saturated fat, or dietary cholesterol and heart disease.
One review of 72 studies comprising almost 600,000 people found no link between total or saturated fat and heart disease, but they did find that trans-fats were clearly harmful and omega 3 fats were beneficial.
Because we have statins and other drugs that lower cholesterol, the belief is that these drugs are preventing the heart attacks. What we need to focus on, is what we can do to reduce our risk for heart attack.
One large study looked at 541 hospitals with 136,905 admissions for heart attacks. Altogether, researchers accounted for 59 percent of all heart attacks in America that year.
Interestingly, all of these patients who had heart attacks did not have high LDL or elevated total cholesterol. In fact, 75 percent of those people had “normal” LDL cholesterol, with 50 percent having optimal LDL levels. So much for the high LDL contributing to heart attacks.
Only 10 percent of the participants had levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol over 60. This means that 90 percent of these patients who suffered a heart attack had HDL levels under 60. Low HDL is a big red flag for pre-diabetes , or what I call diabesity. And we now know that low HDL is the real driver of most heart attacks and heart disease.
Indeed, researchers in this study found most of these patients had metabolic syndrome, pre-diabetes or diabesity .
I have seen this over and over in my practice over several decades. Fat and dietary cholesterol are not the culprits. It’s sugar and refined carbs that contribute to diabesity, heart disease, and so many other problems.
The 2015 U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee reviewed all the research over 40 years and told us to stop worrying about dietary cholesterol, arguing it is “not a nutrient of concern.” They also finally lifted any recommendations to restrict dietary fat after 35 years of a steady diet of low-fat recommendations! This was buried in the report but is huge news.
I recently interviewed one of the world’s leading cholesterol experts, Dr. Ronald Krauss. He told me in the 1980s, when low-fat recommendations were in their heyday, he performed a study taking people with normal cholesterol and feeding them a low-fat, high-carb diet, which experts considered healthy at the time.
Dr. Krauss was shocked at what happened. This supposedly healthy low-fat diet changed healthy cholesterol profiles into heart attack-prone profiles, with high triglycerides, low HDL, and small LDL particles. Researchers were shocked.
What we now know matters most is the type of fat you eat, not the amount. Trans-fats and refined vegetable oils promote abnormal cholesterol profiles; whereas, omega 3 oils from fish and monounsaturated fats found in nuts and olive oil can actually improve the type and quantity of your cholesterol.
Trans and damaged fats are unhealthy, but the biggest culprit of abnormal cholesterol levels is not fat at all. It is sugar in all its many forms .
The sugar you consume converts to abnormal blood cholesterol and belly fat. The biggest culprit of all is high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) found in soda, juices, and in most processed foods. That’s what causes cholesterol issues in most people, not saturated or total fat.
When you ingest fructose in high amounts without the associated fiber found in whole fruit, it turns on the cholesterol-producing factory in your liver called lipogenesis which makes super dangerous small LDL particles, jacks up your triglycerides, and lowers the HDL (or good) cholesterol. So does sugar in any form, including flour and refined carbs .
So, why are we all obsessed with total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol when we know they aren’t the primary culprits for heart attacks? Because a multi-billion dollar drug industry exists. They stand behind the number-one best-selling class of drugs on the market: Statins.
Believing that having a low LDL is the best way to prevent heart disease, doctors often prescribe medications to keep those levels low.
Yet these drugs can introduce a whole host of problems. These include muscle damage , memory issues, and muscle aches and pains. We now know that statins can increase risk of diabetes by about 50 percent .
They also prevent your muscles from working properly so when you exercise, you can’t get as fit. One 12-week study found that people who took statins showed a 13 percent reduction in fitness after a vigorous exercise program. The statins blocked the benefits of exercise.
Even more concerning is that statins don’t even work that well for preventing heart attacks, despite all the media hype and your doctor’s advice. You have to treat 50 people with statins to prevent 1 heart attack or treat 890 people to prevent 1 death. That means 889 people are taking statins with no benefit.
When the statins do work, it often has nothing to do with their effect on cholesterol. Some of the touted benefits of statins are that they lower inflammation and perform like antioxidants in the body.Overall, however, the drawbacks outweigh these and other potential benefits for most people. They may have a little more benefit for those who already have had a heart attack but not much for those who have never had one (which is when most statins are prescribed – before an incident has occurred).
If your doctor is concerned about your cholesterol, you will want to use these seven strategies to optimize lipid levels and your overall health:
Get the right cholesterol tests. You must check for particle size and particle number by asking your doctor to do a particle size test . Other cholesterol tests are outdated. A regular cholesterol test won’t reveal particle size. The tests to get are either an NMR Lipid Panel from LabCorp or the Cardio IQ Test from Quest Diagnostics. Insist on one of these tests. They are the only way to know what’s really going on with your cholesterol. You want to see results that show lots of safe, light, fluffy, big cholesterol particles. You do not want to see small, dense, artery-damaging cholesterol particles.
Check for metabolic syndrome or diabesity. If you have small LDL and HDL particles or high triglycerides (over 100), you probably have metabolic syndrome. If your triglyceride-to-HDL ratio is over 2 you also likely have diabesity. Ask for a glucose-insulin challenge test or an insulin-response test. Most doctors don’t do this test for insulin; they only check glucose. It is performed by checking your glucose and insulin after fasting. Then you drink a 75-gram glucose drink and your insulin and blood sugar are measured again at 1- and 2-hour intervals. You should also ask your doctor to check your hemoglobin A1C, which is a measurement of your blood sugar control over the last six weeks. If it’s greater than 5.5 percent, you may have metabolic syndrome.
Eat a healthy diet with healthy fats. The good fats in foods like avocado, coconut oil, extra-virgin olive oil, wild-caught fish, nuts, and seeds can improve the type and quantity of cholesterol in your body.
Eat a low-glycemic load diet . Besides healthy fats, focus on a high-fiber, plant-based diet with lots of phytonutrients and omega 3 fats. That includes lots of non-starchy veggies. Consume plenty of good-quality protein found in beans, seeds, nuts, and high-quality, sustainably raised or grass-fed animal protein.
Exercise regularly. Studies show consistent, regular exercise can optimize cholesterol levels. If you’re a newbie, even 30 minutes of walking will help. More advanced exercisers can incorporate weight training and high-intensity interval training.
Focus on quality sleep . Optimizing blood sugar is just one of the numerous benefits of eight hours of sleep every night. Practice good sleep practices: Turn off the TV and Internet a few hours before bedtime. Many patients like to unwind with my UltraCalm CD . Get 19 of my top sleep tips here .
Take the right supplements . These include:
A multi-vitamin
Fish oil or EPA/DHA
Vitamin D3
Niacin
Glucomannan or PGX (a super fiber)
Red rice yeast
Low-dose statins (only if you’ve had a heart attack, heart disease or if you have multiple other risk factors while carefully monitoring for muscle and liver damage.)
I hope you can see how the story of cholesterol is not black and white. It’s certainly not the enemy. Follow these seven strategies outlined above and you will be able to optimize your cholesterol levels and achieve optimal health.
If it’s not fat, what is the true cause of heart disease, diabetes, and disease?
· How can we differentiate between good and bad fats?
· Is butter really good for you?
· And how did we get into this big, fat mess?
Go HERE to watch this video.
Wishing you health and happiness,
Mark Hyman, M.D.
It is pretty fascinating stuff that you will read in this book as you learn How to Eat Fat Get Thin And Feel Amazing. Much of what we learned in The Blood Sugar Solution and The 10 Day Detox ties directly into this so watch the video, check out these Eat Fit, Get Thin recipes, and share any questions or comments that you have below. Have an awesome day. ~ Elise
Ben February 27, 2016 at 4:06 am Reply Thanks for clarifying the story about fats, blood sugar and heart attacks. I’ve heard many times that it isn’t all fats that are the problem, just the wrong fats. I hadn’t heard that the real problem was refined sugar. That’s a lot more proof that we should be eating real food, not lab or factory food-like matter. They have done a good job of marketing it as food though. Ben recently posted… I Was a Nikken Customer Before I Was a Nikken Distributor Dr. Elise Cohen Ho March 6, 2016 at 6:39 pm Reply They certainly have done a good job marketing. It is best to eat fodos as close to the way Mother Nature provided. Dr. Elise Cohen Ho recently posted… Kakolee Sustainable Yoga Bundle
Thanks for clarifying the story about fats, blood sugar and heart attacks. I’ve heard many times that it isn’t all fats that are the problem, just the wrong fats. I hadn’t heard that the real problem was refined sugar. That’s a lot more proof that we should be eating real food, not lab or factory food-like matter. They have done a good job of marketing it as food though. Ben recently posted… I Was a Nikken Customer Before I Was a Nikken Distributor
Dr. Elise Cohen Ho March 6, 2016 at 6:39 pm Reply They certainly have done a good job marketing. It is best to eat fodos as close to the way Mother Nature provided. Dr. Elise Cohen Ho recently posted… Kakolee Sustainable Yoga Bundle
They certainly have done a good job marketing. It is best to eat fodos as close to the way Mother Nature provided. Dr. Elise Cohen Ho recently posted… Kakolee Sustainable Yoga Bundle
Edward Thorpe February 27, 2016 at 4:14 am Reply Hi Dr. Elise, Thank you for sharing this post. I’ve been dropped as a patient by several doctors because I wouldn’t take statins and didn’t follow their diet plans. This information about cholesterol, reinforces my independent research. Thank you, Edward Edward Thorpe recently posted… 14 Healthy Ways To Beat Insomnia Dr. Elise Cohen Ho March 6, 2016 at 6:36 pm Reply I love that you shared this information. To me, it is sad to hear that a doctor would drop you simply because you did not agree with their opinion. Dr. Elise Cohen Ho recently posted… Should You Earn A Reward When You Achieve Your Goals?
Hi Dr. Elise,
Thank you for sharing this post. I’ve been dropped as a patient by several doctors because I wouldn’t take statins and didn’t follow their diet plans.
This information about cholesterol, reinforces my independent research. Thank you, Edward Edward Thorpe recently posted… 14 Healthy Ways To Beat Insomnia
Dr. Elise Cohen Ho March 6, 2016 at 6:36 pm Reply I love that you shared this information. To me, it is sad to hear that a doctor would drop you simply because you did not agree with their opinion. Dr. Elise Cohen Ho recently posted… Should You Earn A Reward When You Achieve Your Goals?
I love that you shared this information. To me, it is sad to hear that a doctor would drop you simply because you did not agree with their opinion. Dr. Elise Cohen Ho recently posted… Should You Earn A Reward When You Achieve Your Goals?
Blogs I Like and Read February 27, 2016 at 7:28 am Reply […] Here’s the post link: 7 Things About Your Cholesterol […] Dr. Elise Cohen Ho March 6, 2016 at 6:35 pm Reply Thank you, Ed. Dr. Elise Cohen Ho recently posted… Kakolee Sustainable Yoga Bundle
[…] Here’s the post link: 7 Things About Your Cholesterol […]
Dr. Elise Cohen Ho March 6, 2016 at 6:35 pm Reply Thank you, Ed. Dr. Elise Cohen Ho recently posted… Kakolee Sustainable Yoga Bundle
Thank you, Ed. Dr. Elise Cohen Ho recently posted… Kakolee Sustainable Yoga Bundle
Sign me up for the newsletter
Contact Elise directly at 949-705-8867 or submit an inquiry online.
Dr. Elise Cohen Ho has seen it all and is here to help.
As a mother of three young adults, Auntie to 15 + and an experienced youth coach Elise has answers. Contact her today for 1:1 coaching or to speak at your next event.
Learn more about Elise HERE .
All Recipes
Appetizers & Snacks
Relationships
Self Discovery
Together we will explore the seven dimensions of wellness. Social, Emotional, Spiritual, Environmental, Occupational, Intellectual and Physical. We will, in particular, concentrate on great relationships because if you have this with yourself and with others than anything is possible.
Dessert Inspired Breakfast Smoothie - Dr. Elise Cohen Ho https://t.co/s6bENhGVNW via @drelisecohenho 18 hours ago
#FoodieFriday #LinkParty - Check out the great food & drop a link (or 3) to your favored recipes. https://t.co/LiUG7ArspK @drelisecohenho yesterday
RT @LorelaisLife : A collection of 10 beautiful container garden ideas - get creative and make a garden anywhere!! https://t.co/opsA4HlKed v… 2 days ago
RT @thedscvrr : Enter to Win a Buenos Aires Getaway from The Discoverer! https://t.co/eeYW3fcUEu #buenosaires #giveaway https://t.co/yCn30Dm … 2 days ago