Cholesterol: Falsely Accused??

I saw a lady at the practice today who has not had periods for several months - and she's not pregnant. Course she's worried about this. I have reassured her though, that it doesn't mean the blood is being stored in her womb ready for a big flood someday in future.

What is happening is that, because she is not making enough hormones, her womb lining is not being regenerated as it would normally do each month, so there's nothing to shed (which is what happens when you have a period) .

Now, she has some features which very likely are responsible for this, so we're working on them. One of them we'll talk about below.

Basically, her body is not making enough hormones because she's on a strict low/non-fat diet. The cholesterol she is depriving her body of, is the basic building block for the hormones she needs to have periods.

However the amazement she showed when I told her her body needed cholesterol in order to make the hormones responsible for her periods - and she is a highly educated lady, very posh too - made me realise that there is a HUGE amount of ignorance out there, and has moved me to post this blog entry today.

This ignorance is scary to me because I see lives being destroyed by it (no wonder it is written that the people perish for lack of knowledge...). People generally mean well, people mean to lead healthy lives and such, but there is a lot of misinformation out there that they end up confused or doing the wrong things.

You see, in her quest for a healthy life, she has not eaten ANY fat or cholesterol- containing food for the past year, because Cholesterol has been demonized by society and big pharma (I'm not a fan of big pharma, but that rant is for another post).

When I was in med school, I was taught that cholesterol was a very important, vital nutrient.
Well guess what, God has not created another species of man in whom cholesterol is bad. Read every biochemistry textbook you can find - the truth has not changed, never will.

My approach to all this is to stick to the basics, cos they NEVER change.
Your body's basic design has not been changed.
You are still made up of lots of cells, and the structure and function of each one will never change.

So I work with what you may call biochemistry and physiology 101, and help clients to improve their health that way. That means the principles I share don't change with fads: they are based on the truth about the way your body functions.

I'm finding that when a patient or client is educated about how their body works, they are empowered to make the right choices about what to eat and all that, and are no more swayed from one diet to another.

No wonder it is written that 'the truth shall set you free'.

Cholesterol was a vital nutrient back when I was in medical school, and it still is right now. Let's stop all this ignorance already! Do your homework. Seek the truth from people who have no financial benefit in telling you lies about your health.

The functions of cholesterol (which your body naturally makes, though you can also get some from your food) include:

- Precursor for ALL your steroid hormones (including the sex hormones responsible for regulating the menstrual cycle...). Folks, low or no-fat diets are BAD for your health, especially for women; among other things, they disrupt the natural balance of your hormones cos your body is prevented from manufacturing enough quantities. If you're doing low-fat /low cholesterol dieting for weight loss, you've been had: this is exactly what helps keep you overweight, for reasons I explain in another post.

Other steroid hormones include the glucocorticoids which help regulate your blood sugar, and mineralocorticoids which help regulate your body's minerals and blood pressure.

Blocking your body from making these hormones is courting disaster on so many levels!

- Precursor for Vitamin D (I wonder if the current epidemic of Vitamin D deficiency has anything to do with the rise in statin intake, and the current demonization of cholesterol in general...?). Later on in this blog I'll share with you the outstanding 'discoveries' of the functions of Vitamin D, and why several patients have called me a 'miracle worker' when all I've done is check their levels of Vitamin D, found them to be very low, shown them how to replace it and they've felt better than they've done for years, after being told several times that their symptoms were not physical but rather in their minds...

- Manufacture of Bile Acids (which your body needs in order to break down fat...), thus making it very important for normal digestion...

- Found in EVERY CELL in your body, cholesterol is necessary for maintaining the covering (membrane) of each of your cells, and for facilitating communication between your cells (which is why you are able to function as a whole entity, rather than just a bunch of cells...). This is why cholesterol is sent to any part of your body that experiences damage - it's needed to repair the lining/membranes of the cells involved in the damage. THIS is why cholesterol levels can be high when there's damage to the blood vessels which damage increases the risk of strokes and heart attacks - not because cholesterol has caused these things - it's been called to the scene to fix things! I love the way someone put it - blaming cholesterol for heart disease is like blaming policemen for a crime just cos there's lots of them at the crime scene! Cholesterol is NECESSARY in repairing your cells.

- Optimal brain function: your brain NEEDS cholesterol. 25% of your brain and nerve tissue is made of cholesterol. It enables memory and learning to happen. This is one reason why sleep is so important for you if you want to enhance your learning and memory - cholesterol is manufactured mainly while you sleep! What are you doing to your nervous system when you deprive it of this vital nutrient?


Need I go on?

You do NEED cholesterol.

So where can you find cholesterol?

Get this straight: dietary cholesterol has very little impact on the amount of cholesterol in your blood.

This is because your body already has an efficient mechanism for making cholesterol when you supply it with the precursors for it: if you don't eat foods rich in cholesterol, your liver makes more cholesterol to try and maintain normal levels. If you do eat lots of foods rich in it, your liver makes less cholesterol - your body is all about maintaining BALANCE (there's a life success principle right there, but that's for another blog :) ).

However you do need some in your diet otherwise if you chronically deprive yourself of it, your liver can't keep up with the demand for it and so because it has to divert its cholesterol generating properties to life-enhancing processes (eg brain function...) it does this at the expense of other functions (eg making hormones that regulate periods and sugar levels and so forth).

Having said that, some foods are good sources of cholesterol and these are:

Food	Cholesterol Content by mass (mg/g)
Chicken Liver	5.61
Chicken Giblets	4.42
Eggs	4.24
Beef Liver	3.81
Turkey Giblets	2.89
Butter	2.18
Pork Liver Sausage	1.8
Shrimp	1.73
Sardines	1.42
Heavy Cream	1.4
Veal	1.34
Pork Ribs	1.21
Lamb	1.21
Turkey Neck	1.2
Pork Shoulder	1.14
Beef Chuck	1.05
Lard	0.94
Crab	0.89
Duck Meat	0.89
Salmon	0.87

Data taken from the USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 17


The problematic fat is known as 'trans fat' - (trans fatty acids) : trans fats raise your 'bad cholesterol' (LDL) and lower your 'good cholesterol' (HDL).

They're the artery-clogging fats you get when vegetable oils are processed and hardened into margerine or shortening. Trouble is, they're cheaper than healthy oils eg omega 3 oils, fish oil, so are widely available eg in fast food eg french fries, fried chicken, biscuits, doughnuts. They're also used to increase the longevity of a food.

If you see the term 'hydrogenated' or 'partially hydrogenated' in your food label ingredients, that's a trans fat!! Stay away from it! These are disastrous and deadly!

Read your food labels! Be sensible! Seek the truth otherwise you'll fall for anything!

DISCLAIMER:

This article is meant for your information only. What you do with the information here is your responsibility. Be sure to contact your doctor if you are considering any lifestyle change.
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