The Shocking Secret to Lowering High Cholesterol

When it comes to lowering our cholesterol, we’ve all been told to eat less cholesterol. Sounds good right? Intuitively speaking, it sounds logical. But if this were logical, our epidemic of heart disease should be on the wane. Well, after 40 years of the powers that be telling us to eat less fat and less cholesterol, something strange has happened. Heart disease has continued to increase. Today, it remains the leading cause of death in the United States.

So what is to be done?

Well, ready to surprise you?

Eat more cholesterol!

Sounds crazy right?

The truth is that it is very difficult to change blood cholesterol levels through dietary intake of cholesterol. Cholesterol is so essential, and so vital to so many functions in your body, that your body produces it on its own. Eat more and your body will produce less. Consume less and your body produces more.

Except in one circumstance: excessive consumption of carbohydrates, particularly refined carbohydrates and sugar, which are essentially the same thing. In this case, your body will produce excess cholesterol.

Let’s understand why.

First, let’s consider just some of the essential functions of cholesterol:

* Vital component of hormones, particularly sex hormones: testosterone, estrogen and progesterone. Food for thought: Could our low-cholesterol diets have something to do with the explosion in Viagra sales? Could they have something to do with the epidemic of menopausal symptoms in women? Could they have something to do with our infertility epidemic?

* Needed in the synthesis of vitamin D. Food for thought: I met a doctor a while ago who told me he doesn’t even test for vitamin D anymore. He said everyone is so deficient that it automatically puts everyone in a vitamin D supplement. Perhaps low cholesterol diets contribute to this?

* Low levels alter hormones in the brain. Total cholesterol levels below 150 are positively associated with depression, violent behavior, and early death.

*Essential component of breast milk. Fat and cholesterol are an essential part for the proper development of a child.

*Acts as an antioxidant.

The latter is key to understanding. One thing every doctor knows is that your cholesterol skyrockets after surgery or even dental work. Why? Because cholesterol is an antioxidant! It is a key component of the inflammation process that is necessary to heal damaged tissues.

High cholesterol is almost always a direct response to inflammation, particularly from pro-inflammatory foods.

The standard American diet is a pro-inflammatory diet. Refined carbohydrates and sugar will harm your body. Guess what your body does in response? protects you. But you can only do it for so long.

Keep eating sugar and your body will continually store it as fat. Weight gain and obesity develop.

Keep eating sugar and you will eventually wear down your body’s ability to remove it from your blood. Blood sugar rises. Results of type II diabetes.

Keep eating sugar and you can damage the lining of your arteries. Your body will have a clot of fat and cholesterol to protect it. Heart disease develops.

Sugar will degrade the functioning of all systems in your body. It will depress immune function, demineralize bones, alter the gastrointestinal environment, etc. Get the idea?

Am I saying never eat sugar again? Of course not. Who doesn’t have a sweet tooth? We can enjoy a sugary treat here and there. Your body can handle it in small amounts.

But there is no question that we need to reduce the incredible amounts we consume. 1 in 3 children born in the US will develop type II diabetes if current trends continue. That scares. Friends, type II diabetes is a disease of chronically high blood sugar. This is directly related to the 150+ pounds of sugar the average American consumes per year.

I have no doubt that one day the sugar industry will be viewed in the same light as the tobacco industry. There is no longer a shadow of a doubt that smoking causes lung cancer. But as hard as it is to imagine now, there was a time when the research was controversial. Over time, it became clear.

The same is happening with sugar. People still blame fat. They still blame cholesterol. They blame the meat. They blame eggs, whole milk, butter. But as the dust settles, our epidemics grow, and the low-fat, low-cholesterol approach continues to fail, one obvious culprit remains: sugar. Am I oversimplifying it? I do not think. Yes, there are other reasons for our collective health problems: stress and toxins, in particular. But in my opinion, sugar is at the top of that list.

In my last blog post, this is what one person commented: “I used to have high cholesterol. Then I stopped eating sugar and processed foods. I also eat a fair amount of meat, eggs, dairy, and (healthy) fats.” , probably a good deal more than before. Guess what happened: yes, had blood work done, cholesterol was very low, doctor was frankly amazed. He (the doctor) had been contemplating putting me on a statin. I’m very Glad I avoided taking statins.”

Statins reduce the production of cholesterol. But as we have seen, the body is not stupid. It is more to produce cholesterol on purpose. Remember the analogy I used in my previous blog? Statins prevent firefighters (cholesterol) from reaching the scene of the fire (inflammation).

Not very smart.

I see this over and over again. When people come to see me, I almost always have to educate them about sugar. I show you all the hidden forms it takes in cereals, fruit juices, refined grains, sweetened yogurt, etc. I show them that they are consuming a greater amount than they know. It is almost universal. And then I show you how to get it out. And when they do, weight is reduced, cholesterol is lowered, energy is increased, and many other health problems begin to improve as well.

It is not an exact science.

So the question is, how much sugar do you eat? Stay tuned for my next blog where I’ll show you a simple test you can do at home to see if you have too much of a sweet tooth. Then I’ll give you some essential tips for eliminating sugar from your diet.