Mysteries of Cholesterol (Part 3)

In Part Two of the Mysteries of Cholesterol, we discovered that the actual culprit of heart disease and many other major illnesses is chronic inflammation. Inflammation is our bodies’ protective mechanism that is activated anytime any tissue sustains any type of damage.

What causes inflammation and how do we treat it/diminish it?


Causes of inflammation include:

Food allergies and sensitivities that may not present with heavy symptoms.

Having bacterial, viral, fungal infections.

Stress is a major contributor of inflammation;

Mental, psychological, chemical, and environmental.

Physical stress- too little exercise: such as lack of movement, or too much exercise: overtraining.

Exercise always leads to a mild case of inflammation because you break down and tear your muscles while exercising, and then repair to make the muscle bigger and stronger. That is why overtraining is extremely counterproductive. When there is too much inflammation, the muscle tissue is not repaired and the organism stops progressing, usually leading to illness or injury.

Nutrition- Too little good sugar, protein and fat and too much of bad sugar, fat and protein.

Let’s not forget all the processed foods/grains and sugars.

Lifestyle- drinking, smoking, too much consumption of sodas and other caffeinated drinks, too much caffeine.

Most if not all the inflammation processes is from the choices that we make. Which is great news means that we have the power to lower the inflammation ourselves without any help from drugs.

Now a couple of ways to lower inflammation the natural way:

Get good quality sleep!

If you do not exercise, start to do so, preferably strength training. If you currently exercise, then take a look at your training regiment and make sure you are not over training.

(Signs of overtraining: lack of energy throughout the day, not enough sleep, training 7 days a week unless you are a professional athlete is way too much, getting ill all the time, not making progress in the gym etc...)

Start making healthy lifestyle choices: cutting down on alcohol consumption, smoking etc… Tackle one lifestyle choice at a time because too much change is a huge stress on the body. Start with adding whole foods back into your diet; such as vegetables, fruits and meat. Increase your intake of good quality fats. Lower the consumption of processed grains and sugars. And learn to deal with life stresses by either meditating, breathing techniques, massages, etc...

What happens when cholesterol levels are lowered to low? Lots of body functions cannot proceed the way they are supposed to, since cholesterol is needed for every cell in the body. There are also numerous cases that show that with a cholesterol level that’s too low, there are more incidences of cancer. So do not be afraid of the yolk in the egg, or red meat, and coconut oil. This food has helped us survive for thousands of years before the chemists decided to make our food "better" by processing everything.

Finally, let’s discuss what to get tested for when getting your blood work done.

Obviously they will look at your total Cholesterol and your LDL and your HDL. If the number is above three hundred, that is a definite indication of severe inflammation in the body and time to make lifestyle changes to fix that. The other thing that will be tested is the triglycerides. That is a great test because if triglycerides are too high, anything above 200, and that number is not the best approximation, that means that you are consuming way too much processed food in your diet and it’s time to start limiting it or taking it out of your diet altogether. High Triglycerides have been shown to increase the risk of heart issues, which is definitely something to look at. And a great test that many physicians neglect to test for is the actual test for inflammation in the body. The test usually used to determine if you have chronic inflammation is a C-reactive protein (CRP) blood test. Your CRP level is used as a marker of inflammation in your arteries.

Generally speaking:

A CRP level less than 1 milligram per liter of blood means you have a low risk for cardiovascular disease; 1 to 3 milligrams means your risk is intermediate; and more than 3 milligrams is high risk. There are a couple of things that can raise this test level, such as being pregnant and birth control pills. This is a great test, but again all it will tell you is whether or not you have huge amount of inflammation in the body. It will not tell you where and what is inflamed. This test needs to be asked for, since most of the time it is not offered unless the physician suspects tissue damage or bacterial infections.

To sum up: When getting tested, take a look at your Triglyceride levels and get the CRP blood test. These will be an indication of the inflammation in your body. When the physician decides to prescribe you a cholesterol lowering drug, remember whether the risk is worth the reward, and whether this drug will help in lowering the inflammation in the body. Begin with making positive lifestyle changes and start lowering the stress in your life, or learn how to deal with the stress.

If you know of anyone who is on cholesterol medication, please share these articles with them:


Mysteries of Cholesterol Part 1 Click Here
Mysteries of Cholesterol Part 2 Click Here


Resources

http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/crp/tab/test

http://bodyecology.com/articles/inflammation_cause_of_disease_how_to_prevent.php

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/08/10/making-sense-of-your-cholesterol-numbers.aspx

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_04/b4068052092994_page_2.htm



Comments or questions contact me at yuri@absolutefitnj.com