Winter can be a time when our cholesterol levels escalate due to an increase in comfort food and when it’s too chilly to get out of bed in the mornings, we have a tendency to exercise less.
What is Cholesterol?
Cholesterol is essential to our health. Cholesterol makes up more than 50 percent of our cell’s membrane; it plays a major role in fat digestion and is a pre-cursor of our hormones, including progesterone and oestrogen. The liver produces and regulates our cholesterol levels. We need cholesterol to digest and transport saturated fats around the body. There are two types of cholesterol, LDL (low density lipids) and HDL (high density lipids). LDL clogs up our artery walls, while HDL works to clean the walls, by helping excrete saturated fats via the liver.
High cholesterol and clogged arteries have been linked since the 1960’s. As clogged arteries can lead to heart disease and ultimately heart failure, getting our cholesterol back to normal is of prime importance.
Problems may surface when cholesterol levels start to creep up above 6.5 millimoles/litres, at this point; heart attack risk starts to rise.
What Should I Avoid?
The liver is involved in many metabolic processes, two of the simplest functions being neutralising toxins and processing fats. If you avoid highly processed foods, with preservatives etc, and stick to a whole food diet, then your liver has more energy to concentrate on fat burning and your cholesterol levels are more likely to balance.
Cholesterol is found in meat, dairy products and in fatty, fried foods. Many margarines, claim to be cholesterol reducing, however many of them contain trans-fatty acids, which the liver does not recognise and cannot break down. Butter is a real food, it comes from a cow. I generally encourage individuals with high cholesterol to reduce their junk food, red meat, fried food consumption and cow’s milk, before getting them to reduce butter, yoghurt and cheese etc.
Dr Mary Enig, a nutritional biochemist tells us to eat fat to lose fat. She informs us that people from every culture in the world ate fat including lard, butter, cream, fish, eggs and coconut. And ancient people did not suffer from obesity or high rates of heart disease. Our body needs fat. Most things in moderation is the key here and of course each individual is different.
What Should I Eat?
Eggs - Dr Andrew Rochford from Channel 9’s ‘What’s Good for you’ ate 4 eggs per day for 2 weeks. By the end of his egg challenge his cholesterol had substantially reduced!
Apples, Avocadoes, Grapes, Grapefruit and Blueberries - In separate studies, these fruits have been shown to raise HDL (good cholesterol) and lower LDL (bad cholesterol), blueberries have been shown to do this as effectively as Statin, a cholesterol lowering drug!
Healthy Oils - Essential Fatty Acids are found in flaxseed, coconut oil, and evening primrose oil and will have a cholesterol normalising effect.
Vegetarian Diet – Although a vegetarian diet does not suit everybody, vegetarians tend to have lower cholesterol, heart disease and incidence of bowel cancer. Genetics however do play a role and it is possible for a vegetarian to have high cholesterol levels. If your parents’/grandparents’ livers tended to produce high cholesterol levels, then there is a strong possibility that your liver
will as well.
Herbal Medicine and Soluble Fibre The herbs, garlic, cinnamon, ginger and cayenne pepper, globe artichoke, turmeric and St Mary’s Thistle (major liver detoxifying herbs) and psyllium husk are all used by medical herbalists in order to reduce cholesterol. Green and white tea are also known for their cholesterol reducing properties.
Lose Weight with a Liver Detox
If you find it both difficult to lose weight and reduce your cholesterol levels, chances are you will have a toxic and over-loaded liver. An increase in exercise and a change to healthier eating patterns may not be enough – detox your liver using herbal medicines and you will see a world of difference in the way you look and feel.
Miriam Young is a Medical Herbalist, she practices from her clinic Flourish Remedies in Doonan (07 5449 1130)
and Fig Tree Pocket in Brisbane
(0413 024 901).
Explore www.detox4life.com.au
What is Cholesterol?
Cholesterol is essential to our health. Cholesterol makes up more than 50 percent of our cell’s membrane; it plays a major role in fat digestion and is a pre-cursor of our hormones, including progesterone and oestrogen. The liver produces and regulates our cholesterol levels. We need cholesterol to digest and transport saturated fats around the body. There are two types of cholesterol, LDL (low density lipids) and HDL (high density lipids). LDL clogs up our artery walls, while HDL works to clean the walls, by helping excrete saturated fats via the liver.
High cholesterol and clogged arteries have been linked since the 1960’s. As clogged arteries can lead to heart disease and ultimately heart failure, getting our cholesterol back to normal is of prime importance.
Problems may surface when cholesterol levels start to creep up above 6.5 millimoles/litres, at this point; heart attack risk starts to rise.
What Should I Avoid?
The liver is involved in many metabolic processes, two of the simplest functions being neutralising toxins and processing fats. If you avoid highly processed foods, with preservatives etc, and stick to a whole food diet, then your liver has more energy to concentrate on fat burning and your cholesterol levels are more likely to balance.
Cholesterol is found in meat, dairy products and in fatty, fried foods. Many margarines, claim to be cholesterol reducing, however many of them contain trans-fatty acids, which the liver does not recognise and cannot break down. Butter is a real food, it comes from a cow. I generally encourage individuals with high cholesterol to reduce their junk food, red meat, fried food consumption and cow’s milk, before getting them to reduce butter, yoghurt and cheese etc.
Dr Mary Enig, a nutritional biochemist tells us to eat fat to lose fat. She informs us that people from every culture in the world ate fat including lard, butter, cream, fish, eggs and coconut. And ancient people did not suffer from obesity or high rates of heart disease. Our body needs fat. Most things in moderation is the key here and of course each individual is different.
What Should I Eat?
Eggs - Dr Andrew Rochford from Channel 9’s ‘What’s Good for you’ ate 4 eggs per day for 2 weeks. By the end of his egg challenge his cholesterol had substantially reduced!
Apples, Avocadoes, Grapes, Grapefruit and Blueberries - In separate studies, these fruits have been shown to raise HDL (good cholesterol) and lower LDL (bad cholesterol), blueberries have been shown to do this as effectively as Statin, a cholesterol lowering drug!
Healthy Oils - Essential Fatty Acids are found in flaxseed, coconut oil, and evening primrose oil and will have a cholesterol normalising effect.
Vegetarian Diet – Although a vegetarian diet does not suit everybody, vegetarians tend to have lower cholesterol, heart disease and incidence of bowel cancer. Genetics however do play a role and it is possible for a vegetarian to have high cholesterol levels. If your parents’/grandparents’ livers tended to produce high cholesterol levels, then there is a strong possibility that your liver
will as well.
Herbal Medicine and Soluble Fibre The herbs, garlic, cinnamon, ginger and cayenne pepper, globe artichoke, turmeric and St Mary’s Thistle (major liver detoxifying herbs) and psyllium husk are all used by medical herbalists in order to reduce cholesterol. Green and white tea are also known for their cholesterol reducing properties.
Lose Weight with a Liver Detox
If you find it both difficult to lose weight and reduce your cholesterol levels, chances are you will have a toxic and over-loaded liver. An increase in exercise and a change to healthier eating patterns may not be enough – detox your liver using herbal medicines and you will see a world of difference in the way you look and feel.
Miriam Young is a Medical Herbalist, she practices from her clinic Flourish Remedies in Doonan (07 5449 1130)
and Fig Tree Pocket in Brisbane
(0413 024 901).
Explore www.detox4life.com.au
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