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Article 01:        Is Cholesterol Really the Enemy?

I am going to be blunt here. I have been studying Omega-3s, heart disease, cholesterol and statins for 2 years now. I am not a doctor, not a scientist, and I got a ‘C’ in high school chemistry. I am more than likely just like you – a laymen in this field. And I am going to throw down the gauntlet: Don’t believe a word I say.

I want you to start asking questions. Yep, just like all the commericials on the TV say, “Ask your doctor about…” But here is the question I have been asking for 2 years and finally, finally am beginning to see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

It’s about this cholesterol doctrine or dogma, the action of Omega-3s on cholesterol, etc.

It is certainly not what you see on the television. So last week I am at a trade show with all the new health products and I run into a gentleman, a pharmacologist, who is also an inventor of nutraceutical supplements.After one hour of being schooled, I have some possible answers. You don’t have to believe it, you don’t have to accept it. After all, you have had 15 years of indoctrination from TV and that is a lot to overcome after reading this short article.

We say there are two kinds of cholesterol HDL and LDL. HDL equals “Good” and LDL equals “Bad”. The simplicity of modern medicine!

In actual fact there is only one kind of cholesterol and it’s all GOOD. It is called cholesterol. The transport mechanism is Lipid Proteins. Cholesterol being a fat needs a vehicle to travel in through water based bloodstream.

The High Density Protein transporter, called Good, is the vehicle that is on a mono rail heading straight to the liver to be pump out or expressed out of the body. We call that

Good. HDL has other functions enroute like gobbling up LDL cholesterol that may be hanging around and no longer being needed .

Low Density Lipid Proteins on the other hand, have another function. They don’t go to the liver, they go everywhere else …hence we say “Bad”. The unexplained mystery is that these LDL Bad, nasty vehicles carrying the very same cholesterol actually are there for a reason.

Cholesterol is basic to human make up and function. There are too many functions to list in this short article but suffice it to say that it is needed in many parts of the body including the brain where neurotransmitters need to be insulated and coated just like the electrical wiring in your home.

This is one entirely needed function of cholesterol. So if you don’t get that cholesterol to your brain by the LDL transporters, you begin to develop degenerative problems.

Now, too much of anything can be a bad thing and the fact that LDL gets really out of whack, the body is telling us something. If the LDL in ratio is abnormally high compared to HDL, this is a sign that there are stressors in the body.

The body is ordering up the LDL to deal with some serious problems. High blood pressure, hyper tension, high blood sugar, cigarette smoke and other life style issues that we actually have control over. Could it be the LDL is being manufacturered because of a deficiency in Omega-3s?

Let’s use a simple analogy. I get sick. I have a fever. It’s 102 degrees and I feel bad. Is the fever the cause of my sickness or is it a sign, a signal that something is wrong? Do I just treat the fever?

Aspirin may make me feel better, but is it curing my illness? Or is the chicken soup (nourishment) actually helping me to overcome whatever ailment is dragging on me? Or ask the next question, why do I have a fever? So with high LDL cholesterol. It begs another question.

Why is my LDL high? Instead of settling for a statin to lower the cholesterol (the symptom) unnaturally, why not look a little bit further and find out why the body feels it needs the extra cholesterol to help body function because of the life style stressor? Again, I ask could it be that a deficiency in Omega-3s could be part of the answer?

My contention is that both types of cholesterol are needed. By ingesting lots of Omega-3s, we are actually adding another fat to the body that will make the blood platelettes silkly smooth because this fat has the proper electrical charge to keep the blood from being clumpy.

We are providing healthy fats so that the body doesn’t have to restock on LDLs quite as often. People who take a large amount of Omega-3s find that their ratios of HDL and LDL get better even if total cholesterol takes awhile to level out.

Work with your body. Use natural solutions through nutrition. If the situation is acute then by all means use the pharmaceutical products to save life where necessary, but remember its a marathon not a sprint. Those who have been on statins for years find out that their liver functions are impaired and other side effects present themselves.

Some doctors are worried about the overprescribing of statins and their long term side effects. One doctor I heard on radio said that this one action of over zealous prescribing of statins might crash our whole health care system in the future.

This is why respected doctors like Dr. Mercola and Dr. Russell Blaylock decry the myth of cholesterol, tell people to avoid statin drugs and beg people to convert to high potency Omega-3s. Not regular fish oil that can be tainted with mercury, but high powered Omega-3s that are molecularly distilled several times to reduce any risk of mercury.

Any highly distilled Omega-3 should show at least 600 mgs of EPA/DHA Omega-3 per capsule and some can contain as much as 800 mgs per capsule. If your Omega-3s only contain 300 mgs per 1 gram capule then you are ingesting 700 mgs of something else.

So know your source. Tests for purity should always show below 1 ppm (1 part per million) making it safe for human consumption.

It’s extremely difficult to change a mindset that has been conditioned for many years. I only ask you to consider this viewpoint as silly as it may seem.

Statins inhibit cholesterol being produced in the liver but it also inhibits CoQ10, a catalyst in muscle energy production.

This is why you feel tired and fatigued on statins. The heart is a muscle. So here we are medicating for lowering of cholesterol because of fears over heart disease but the medicine is actually robbing the heart of needed energy to pump blood. Go figure!

Take lots of high quality Omega-3s, you’ve feel better and be better, my humble opinion.

Garey Simmons writes about heart health from the perspective of someone who “has been there and done that.” Diagnosed with high risk of heart disease and suspect family history, Garey studied for 2 years to acquire ALTERNATIVE KNOWLEDGE, find more from Garey at http://OptimalHealthRSQ.com

Author: Garey Simmons
Author’s Email Address: garey.simmons@gmail.com

Article 02:         Reducing Your Cholesterol Levels

Cholesterol is lipid waxy like soft substance present in all body cells. The popular fallacy among laymen and many people is all cholesterol is bad. Cholesterol is an important and vital component for producing cell membranes, some vital hormones and serving other needed bodily functions, hence an essential component for a healthy body.

Cholesterol cannot dissolve in the blood and needed to be transported to target organs via lipoproteins. There are two types of cholesterol based on lipid density. The first one is Low density lipoprotein (LDL) and the second one is high density lipoprotein (HDL). The former lipoprotein is also known as Bad Cholesterol and the latter one is termed as good cholesterol. These two types of lipids with triglycerides and lp(a) cholesterol constitutes the total cholesterol count which is determined by blood count. When excess bad cholesterol circulates in the blood stream, some bad cholesterol gets deposited along the artery wall, thereby making the artery passage narrower and also makes the arteries less flexible causing atherosclerosis which in turn can cause heart attack.

About one third of blood cholesterol is carried by high lipoproteins (HDL), which is also known as good cholesterol because it prevents heart attack. Most researchers and medical experts believe good cholesterol carries cholesterol away from the artery to the liver acting as blood cleanser, thereby preventing clogging of artery; also medical experts believe HDL removes excess cholesterol from the plaque thereby slowing down the buildup. Low levels of HDL may increase the probability of heart attack.

Lowering cholesterol levels is very important to lead a long and healthy life. Cardiovascular heart disease, coronary artery disease and stroke are the cardiovascular risk factors that come with elevated and high cholesterol levels.

Some of the natural ways to reduce cholesterol levels are right exercise, correct diet and changing your lifestyle. Correct diet and exercise is imperative to reduce cholesterol levels. A low fat level, low cholesterol diet can work magic to decrease your cholesterol level.

Drugs are usually prescribed to lower cholesterol levels. One of the popular classes of drugs to reduce cholesterol levels is the statin drugs. Statin drug therapy is recommended for patients suffering from elevated cholesterol.

Most of the statin drugs in the market reduce the overall cholesterol.Use of statin drugs This has added benefit as cardiovascular research shows increase in HDL levels reduces the incidence of heart attack and stroke in the patients.

Maintaining normal cholesterol level is very important to lead long and healthy life.
Know all about cholesterol and how you can reduce cholesterol,look at this site
http://www.crestor.info

Author: Kiran Tamada
Author’s Email Address: mark.waugh@digitalrock.co.uk

Article 03:          Want To Lower Cholesterol Level? Do It!

In today’s fast-paced electronic age, high stress levels, physically inactive lifestyles, and easy availability of ready-made processed foods has led to a drastic rise in cardiovascular (i.e., heart-related) diseases. One physiological factor that contributes largely to these is high cholesterol level in the blood. And the sad thing is that most of the times people are not even aware of their high cholesterol levels unless something more serious strikes them.

It is, therefore, essential to have some important information about what cholesterol is and how one goes about lowering it. Here we go.

Cholesterol is a fatty wax-like substance circulating in our blood. A major part of it is synthesized by our liver, but some part comes from our diet – particularly from animal-derived foods like fatty meats, egg yolk, and full-cream dairy products. Vegetarian food items do not contain cholesterol.

Some amount of cholesterol is absolutely essential in the body to carry out a number of physiological body functions, such as formation of cell walls, production of bile for digestion, synthesis of hormones, and metabolism of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.

Cholesterol is water-insoluble, and therefore requires water-soluble protein carriers to transport it via blood stream from liver to various tissues for necessary use and back to liver for breakdown and disposal. The combined units of cholesterol and protein are called lipoproteins (L), which can be either high-density (HDL) or low-density (LDL).
HDL facilitates the transport of excess cholesterol from the arteries back to the liver for breakdown and disposal, and is therefore commonly referred to as “good cholesterol”.

LDL is responsible for transport of cholesterol from the liver to various tissues and organs for necessary use. The problem arises only when LDL is in far excess amounts, and HDL (typically, only 25-30% of the total amount) is not enough to remove it from the blood stream. It then starts accumulating as a plaque on the internal arterial walls, hardening them and impeding normal blood flow – just as in a clogged water pipe – giving rise to a host of diseases. Since high LDL levels encourage plaque formation and artery clogging, LDL is referred to as “bad cholesterol”.

When the arteries are clogged, the blood pressure increases and blood flow to various organs and tissues gets impaired. And if the arteries supplying blood to vital organs like heart, brain, kidneys and liver are involved, the results can be disastrous. For example, clogged heart arteries can lead to coronary heart disease and heart attack, those for brain to stroke and paralysis, those for kidneys to kidney diseases, and so on.

It is of utmost importance to maintain your cholesterol levels within optimum values. The goal should be to lower the total cholesterol and LDL levels and at the same time raise the protective HDL level.

As a first step to lowering cholesterol, experts recommend therapeutic lifestyle changes involving diet control and regular physical exercise. Here are some diet and lifestyle tips to achieving optimum cholesterol levels:

1. Say no to saturated fats (as in red meats and full-fat dairy products) and trans fats (as in commercial bakery items and processed foods), and use instead poly/monounsaturated fatslike olive oil, groundnut oil, and other vegetable oils.

2. Eat a fiber-rich diet consisting of plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, oats, nuts and seeds, beans, legumes, and cold-water fish.

3. Maintain normal body weight.

4. Quit smoking.

5. Consume alcohol, if you must, only in moderation.

6. Embark on a regular exercise program. Exercise is the only means to raise your     protective HDL level.

If these measures do not suffice to reduce your cholesterol to desired levels, you will need to take one of the cholesterol-lowering drugs (called Statins) as recommended by your doctor.

Alex Olson wrote a number of highly popular articles which concern health problems. In the she pays much attention on lowering cholesterol level. If you need such information, you can find it at http://www.centralcholesterol.org .

Author: Alex Olson
Author’s Email Address: alexolson100@gmail.com

Article 04:          Children and Cholesterol

Many people assume that high cholesterol is a problem that affects middle-aged adults only.

In fact, many people don’t even worry about their cholesterol when they are younger, eating all the fatty convenience foods they want, assuming that their early diet makes no difference.

Nothing could be further from the truth. More children today suffer from high cholesterol.

In fact, the numbers of children who are taking cholesterol drugs is on the rise! Some studies have suggested that a childhood of poor eating choices can contribute to higher cholesterol later in life.

Besides this, many of the eating habits learned in childhood affects eating in adulthood. Children who are used to eating high-fat foods and convenience foods are more likely to make the same choices as adults. Switching to healthy foods in adulthood may be harder for children who have made less-than-heart-healthy food choices all their lives.

For all these reasons, controlling food intake and lifestyle choices even in early life can contribute to life-long heart health and good cholesterol levels.

If you have children, you can help ensure that they make the right food choices that can help them with their cholesterol levels now and later in life.

In fact, if you and other members of your family have high cholesterol, you need to introduce your children to cholesterol-healthy eating, as your children may be at an increased risk of developing high cholesterol themselves.

Luckily, it is not that hard to teach your children how to make smart food and lifestyle choices that are heart-healthy:

* Teach your children about healthy eating and cholesterol. If you have high cholesterol yourself, you may want to speak to your children about this. Informed children are better able to make smart food choices that can help keep their cholesterol levels healthy later in life.

* Let children make healthy food choices for themselves. Give your children some say about the fruits, vegetables and other foods that they like. Go through heart-healthy cookbooks with your children and let them help you decide what recipes to try.

* Be careful of the food and cholesterol attitudes you convey to your children. Children pick up emotional cues from their parents. If you treat a cholesterol-friendly diet as a type of punishment, your children will likely see it the same way.

If your children see you turn to fatty junk food when you are depressed or feeling stressed, they will likely do the same thing. Many parents are fussy eaters and pass this on to their children, which is a terrible disservice. Fussy eaters will simply not try the different healthy foods out there simply because the foods are different.

* Do not reward children with food. If your child does well at a sport or gets great grades in school, do not take them to a restaurant or for take-out to celebrate.

Give them horseback riding lessons or let them choose a toy or favorite activity instead.

Many parents are tempted to keep sweet foods such as cupcakes and cakes for “special occasions” and “special treats” but this inadvertently makes children associate sugary foods with good times and vegetables with punishment or everyday life.

* Take your children food shopping – especially when you are shopping for fresh produce. Let your children choose which vegetables, fruits, and other healthy foods they would like.

Encourage your children to decide which fruits and vegetables look as though they might be tasty. Treat your produce shopping trip as an adventure and your children may be more likely to eat their fruits and vegetables without a fuss.

* Monitor what your children eat. As a parent, it is your responsibility to make sure that your children eat three meals a day that include foods that are low in fats and high in nutrients. Reduce the amount of sugars and fats your children eat and limit how much junk food is allowed.

* Become involved in your child’s school lunch program or cafeteria. Many schools offer less than healthy school lunches as well as vending machines full of sugary foods. At a number of schools, though, parents have banded together to force school boards to provide better foods choices for students. Use this as your inspiration to make sure that your child can make healthy foods choices in school.

* If you are worried about what your children eat, consider taking them to a nutritionist who can help teach them what they should be eating.

* Even if your child has elevated cholesterol levels, realize that growing children still need more fats and nutrients than adults. Never simply place your child on a very low-fat diet – consult with a pediatrician to find a diet plan that can help your child grow while keeping cholesterol under control. A too-low-fat diet may affect childhood development.

* Teach your children about the dangers of smoking. Smoking is a risk factor for cancers, heart disease, and high cholesterol.

* Get your children to exercise. Virtually all health experts agree that North American children do not exercise enough. This has disastrous effects on cholesterol levels and overall health. One of the best things you can do to keep your children away from the dangers of high cholesterol is to get them to exercise at least a little each day. Find an activity they enjoy and encourage them in their activity.

* If your child smokes, is overweight, or has at least one parent who has a cholesterol level of more than 240mg/dl, your child is at an increased risk of high cholesterol – even at an early age. Take you child to the doctor – especially if your child has more than one of the risk factors – for a complete check-up and cholesterol check.

Author: Adrian Kennelly
Author’s Email Address: webmaster@egdcltd.com
 

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