Lower Your Cholesterol Naturally

Have you been to your doctor and he or she has said, “Your cholesterol is too high. We’re going to start you on medication”?

Wait a minute hold the phone! After hearing God only knows how many spoken-high-speed disclaimers (which often times are unintelligible) on TV – those that occur after medication ads – now, do you really want to start on those pills?

What if you replied to your doctor, “Can I lower cholesterol naturally – without medication?”

I would believe that most doctors would try to work with you and give you a suggested diet and exercise plan for lowering cholesterol naturally.

Lately when I go and pick up medication for my father-in-law, it comes with several pages of fine print – all the known problems that this medication might cause. In effect a huge disclaimer. Do you really want to start popping similar pharmaceuticals daily?

Today on TV there are advertisements that make your mouth water. You see chicken, hamburgers, pizzas – the list goes on and on. The advertisers know exactly how to grab your undivided attention, tantalize you, entice you into running down to that restaurant and buying that food dish – right now! Even though that food might be exactly what your doctor does not want you to have. Because it will definitely raise your cholesterol and is as far away from a natural food as one can get. I’m sure it tastes incredibly well and will leave you wanting more. Nevertheless, it is a manufactured food with food additives and cooked in a way that leaves your mouth watering every time you see the same dish on TV.

Advertisers do their job well. Sometimes I think they work hand and hand with the pharmaceuticals. They raise the cholesterol with these delectable foods and the phramas bring it down at a good price – medications are not cheap.

Anymore I am quite immune to the food commercials. This is because I know these foods do taste like something out of this world, but at the same time they come at a price – I feel crappy for two days after I eat them.

I like eating fresh carrots and peas, and corn and broccoli and grilled steak or salmon. Fresh fruits and vegetables do not cause me any problems in digestion. I’m not overweight. I exercise everyday, and I eat natural foods. I’m not on medication and I feel great – why mess with that?

Food binges can erase many days of watching a low cholesterol diet. This post considers what binging is and how one might go about dealing with it.

Binge eating is the most common eating disorder amongst millions of people worldwide.  It is even more common than anorexia and bulimia.  Even so it is a disorder that is not openly discussed nor understood.   Binging occurs in two ways.

Food Trances and Regret
The first occurrence of binging produces something called a ‘food trance’.  A food trance is a mind numbing experience that happens during eating.   It can be described in different ways.  While in the trance a person feels that they belong.  They feel loved, appreciated, important and happy.  They remember happier times and this soothes them.  Food trances have even been likened to heroin cravings.  When we are ‘doped’ on food we don’t have to deal with our problems and nothing in the world matters to us at that time.  Binging is a perfect escape form having to deal with emotions.  Depression, anger, loneliness, rejection and even stress take a back seat for a while. Binging is a form of self medication that provides short term relief.

When the mind is overrun by uncomfortable thoughts, binge eaters run toward food as a way to find some peace.   However when emotions are pushed to the background and not dealt with, it is then that binging can become uncontrollable.  When the mind needs food to deal with problems it is difficult to control eating, no matter how hard one tries.

Regret is the second way binging occurs.  It may seem inconsistent on the surface yet once a binge is over it is replaced by feelings of regret.  You keep telling yourself how terrible you were to give in to the urge and in turn give yourself something else to stress about. These feelings of regret replace having to deal with real issues.

People binge in order to cope with their feelings, to create the illusion of feeling good shut out the world and feel safe.  It is a cycle that keeps repeating itself.  It starts with binging and the promise to stop.  When it happens again we hate ourselves for being so weak which often prompts another binge.

Dieting as a means to stop binging and is a recipe for failure. If you can understand the cycle and what drives you to binge, it will be easier to find alternative ways to deal with emotional emptiness.

Recovering emotionally after a binge
It is never easy to prevent each and every binge so the key element is to take back your power each time a binge occurs.

Before loading your plate take a moment to investigate what has triggered your need to binge.  The reason often boils down to an emotional incident that has triggered the conditioned thought that food equals comfort.  However, there are bingers who are not even aware they are binging until after it is done.  If this is the case, it is still possible to back track and identify the trigger.

Many find writing out their feelings helps settle their mind.  Be specific as you can, dates, times, names and places.  Being aware is equivalent to donning battle armor.

The next important step is to forgive yourself.  Forgiveness is the road to rectifying guilt and self hatred.  Think of it this way.  The voice in your head that caused guilt and self hatred needs to be stopped.  After all you wouldn’t dream of speaking to a loved one or a friend in the same way.  Replace the criticism with kind and soothing words.  Forgive yourself and remind yourself that you are finding healthier ways to cope with your feelings.

The final step is recovery, or bouncing back.  It is crucial that you don’t wait too long after a binge as it makes it harder to bounce back.  If you practice investigating the reason for your binge and forgive yourself you will bounce back faster.  Each time you bounce back you are getting back on track.  If you go off track simply arm yourself with a soothing voice and an insight into why it happened.

No matter how much you might be afraid of letting go of your method of quietening your mind, this isn’t so.  Each and every person is constantly learning how to overcome negative thoughts and voices.  Focus on the good instead.  Letting go of binging will bring with it a loss of weight and a change in lifestyle.  And it is these things that can help change the negative thoughts and voices to positive ones.

Yesterday my post concerned testing for inflammation. I have posted an article about belly fat and how it might double death risk. Well now researchers have confirmed that fat cells inside the abdomen are secreting molecules that increase inflammation. It’s the first evidence of a potential link between abdominal fat and systemic inflammation.

For years, scientists have been aware of a relationship between disease risk and excess belly fat. “Apple-shaped” people, who carry fat in the abdomen, have a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes and other problems than “pear-shaped” people, who tend to store fat in the hips and thighs.

Too much abdominal fat is associated with a defect in the body’s response to insulin.

Using liposuction to remove excess belly fat won’t help either. In 2004, investigators found that removing abdominal fat with liposuction did not provide the metabolic benefits normally associated with similar amounts of fat loss brought about by dieting or exercising.
“Despite removing large amounts of subcutaneous fat from beneath the skin — about 20 percent of a person’s total body fat mass — there were no beneficial medical effects,” said Samuel Klein, M.D., the Danforth Professor of Medicine and Nutritional Science and the senior investigator on both studies. “These results demonstrated that decreasing fat mass by surgery, which removes billions of fat cells, does not provide the metabolic benefits seen when fat mass is reduced by lowering calorie intake, which shrinks the size of fat cells and decreases the amount of fat inside the abdomen and other tissues.”
A body stores fat as two basic types: subcutaneous and visceral. Liposuction, as mentioned above, removes fat from beneath the skin or subcutaneous fat. This fat does not secrete molecules that affect inflammation. Visceral fat – fat found close to the intestines and other internal organs – was found likely to secrete molecules that contribute to increases in systemic inflammation and insulin resistance.
The researchers sampled blood from the portal vein in obese patients undergoing gastric bypass surgery and found that visceral fat in the abdomen was secreting high levels of an important inflammatory molecule called interleukin-6 (IL-6) into portal vein blood.
Increased IL-6 levels in the portal vein correlated with concentrations of an inflammatory substance called C-reactive protein (CRP) in the body. High CRP levels are related to inflammation, and chronic inflammation is associated with insulin resistance, hypertension, type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis, among other things.

Research has found that people are now drinking almost 50 additional calories of sweetened beverages daily compared to two decades ago, for an average of about 300 calories per day coming from such drinks. At this rate it doesn’t take long before more pounds are packed on.

So, even if you have the exact same diet as you did 20 years ago and your activity level hasn’t changed, those seemingly harmless 50 extra daily calories could cause you to gain five pounds every year.
Super sizing is one contributor to this increase. One 12-ounce can of soda has about 10 teaspoons of sugar. However, today the old can of coke looks small, but the 20-ounce bottle looks normal.
And another problem is sugar-sweetened beverages which include soda, sport drinks, fruit drinks, punches, low-calorie drinks, sweetened tea and other sweetened drinks can be found anywhere.
Drinking something that tastes good and gives you an energy boost is hard to put down. But the fact that those drinks can contribute to you becoming overweight, obese, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Soda pop has been shown to remove calcium from bones as well as weaken stomach acid making proper digestion difficult.
Say you are drinking 300 calories a day in sweetened beverages (which is quite easy) – if you stopped you could lose 2.5 pounds a month.

A recently released book ‘French Women Don’t Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure’ encourages readers to enjoy food and drink to the fullest while keeping portions in check. Foods made with fresh, wholesome, and seasonal ingredients are highly recommended.

The basic premise of French Women Don’t Get Fat is that you should eat only good food of very high quality, eat it in small portions, and savor every bite. From chocolate to champagne, eat slowly, with all your senses, and make every dining experience pleasurable so you will be satisfied with smaller portions of delicious food. No food is off limits, only large portions. No counting calories, no skipping meals — just control what you eat.

The author goes on to point out that this is not a quick fix or fad diet, French Women Don’t Get Fat is a three-month plan meant to reset your “body’s dials” for a lifetime of healthy weight through slow, gradual weight loss.
The author also recommends eating a wide variety of healthy foods to be more satisfied without feeling deprived. “Eating the same foods is a bad habit,” the author maintains, and she suggests trying new recipes, flavors, and herbs. There are no forbidden foods in the French Women Don’t Get Fat plan, as long as the portions are kept in check.

I don’t know about you but it seems that control is the keyword here. Logically it makes a lot of sense, but we humans are not necessarily logical.

Another good point is portion control is a good thing until you eat out. The restaurants I frequent serve large portions. I have friends that have no difficulty leaving food on their plates at restaurants. I do have a problem here: I either finish it or I take it home. I probably should do more of the latter.

If one could adhere to a diet plan like the author suggests it just could prove to be a desirable, lifetime diet plan

This morning I read in the paper that the Army trying to keep its number of recruits up in wartime, has to deal with a problem that is new to America – teenage obesity. A top Army recruiter is considering making a ‘fat’ camp for possible soldiers – the number of obese recruits has increased so much that the Army might have to start a fat farm to transform chubby trainees into combat ready soldiers.
According to the defense department, over the past four years, 47,447 potential recruits flunked induction physicals because they were overweight. That represents about 20 percent of the total number of recruits.
The head of Army recruiting said that he wants to see a formal diet and fitness regimen running alongside a new school at Fort Jackson that helps aspiring troops earn their GEDs.
I have written that obesity can raise blood cholesterol levels and lead to type 2 diabetes. Now even our Army must contend with the years of bad eating habits and lack of exercise. On a positive note, fat farms are apparently successful in thwarting obesity and hopefully averting future obesity related health problems.

Researchers examined data on 359,387 European adults followed for nearly 10 years who were enrolled in the larger, ongoing European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) health study.
They found that people with the most belly fat had about double the risk of dying prematurely as people with the least amount of belly fat.
During the follow-up period, 14,723 of the study participants died.
After adjusting for overweight and obesity, as measured by body-mass index (BMI), waist circumference and waist-to-hip measurements were both independently associated with an increased risk for early death.
Death risk increased with waist circumference, whether the participants were overweight or not.
The study provides some of the strongest evidence yet linking belly fat to early death, says lead author Tobias Pischon, MD, MPH.
“Our study shows that accumulating excess fat around your middle can put your health at risk even if your weight is normal,” he says. “There aren’t many simple individual characteristics that can increase a person’s risk of premature death to this extent, independent of smoking and drinking.”
So Are You an Apple or a Pear?
How do you tell if you have more belly fat than is healthy?

To measure your waist circumference, place a tape measure around your waist at the smallest point, which is usually just above the navel. A waist size of 40 inches in men and 35 inches in women is generally considered to indicate increased health risk.
Waist-to-hip ratio is calculated by measuring your waist at the smallest point and your hips at the widest point — usually at the widest part of the buttocks — and dividing the waist measurement by the hip measurement. A waist-to-hip ratio of greater than 0.9 for men and 0.8 for women is generally considered high risk.

For more info on this visit the November 12 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

I have pointed out in other posts that in the U.S. we have an obesity epidemic. And it is occurring in our
children as well. As we sit playing video games and watching TV we are lacking in good old physical exercise.
Now doctors are seeing a correlation between obesity and heart disease as suggested by the following.

“It is clear that obesity is a risk factor for the development of premature cardiovascular disease in youth,”
reports Dr. Catherine McNeal, an associate professor of internal medicine and an assistant professor of
pediatrics at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine.

According to one scoring measure, obesity in male adolescents is a greater risk factor for
cardiovascular disease than smoking, McNeal noted.

The following is some more scary info.

Researchers at the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Medicine and Children’s Mercy Hospital
used ultrasound to measure the thickness of the inner walls of the carotid arteries, located in the
neck, in 70 high-risk children aged 6 to 19.

The average age of participants was 13, most were white, and about half were male. Fifty-seven
percent had a body-mass index (BMI) above the 95th percentile for their age.

On average, participants’ “vascular age,” meaning the age at which this level of thickening would be
normal, was three decades older than their chronological age.

The researchers point out that this is not a definitive study since it only had a test group  of 70.
To me it seems that any group of children taken at random should not be overweight and should most
definitely not have ‘old areteries’.

Is it possible that this generation of youth will be the first generation to not outlive their parents?

A study of more than 111,000 people is one of the first to put real numbers to the risk of obesity and suggests “excess adiposity” – fat tissue – is more dangerous to the heart than smoking.
“The leading theory in cardiology right now is that the fat tissue is actually producing factors that precipitate heart attacks,” says lead author Dr. Peter McCullough, consultant cardiologist and chief of nutrition and prevention medicine at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan.
The theory is that cholesterol builds up in the coronary arteries and inflammatory or other chemicals produced by fat cells trigger the plaque to suddenly rupture, causing a blood clot to form and unleashing an acute heart attack.
But until now, earlier studies “simply just didn’t have enough patients of different body sizes having their first heart attack to really evaluate” whether obesity is associated with premature heart attacks, McCullough says.
His team analyzed data from a nationwide U.S. registry of people hospitalized for heart attack and unstable angina, or chest pain, from 2001 to 2007.
A total of 111,847 men and women who had experienced a first heart attack were included in the final analysis. They were grouped according to their body mass index, or BMI, a measure of body fat based on height and weight.
Researchers found that, the heavier the person, the younger the age of a first heart attack.
The most obese people had their heart attacks on average when they were 59.
The study involved a type of heart attack called non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. They always require hospitalization and have an in-hospital fatality rate of about 10 per cent, and about 20 per cent over the next six months, McCullough says. “They are not trivial events. They account for a leading cause of patients to lose time away from work and actually seek medical disability.”
So keeping one’s weight down adds to the years one is heart attack free and how long one will live. In an age of opulence we still can’t get heart disease under control. More and more of our population is becoming obese which send up red flags portending a future of continued heart problems.

Researchers say rates of teen obesity have nearly tripled over the last two decades. Meanwhile, an estimated 12%-34% of children and adolescents regularly skip breakfast, and that percentage increases with age.
A new study shows that teenagers who eat breakfast regularly are more physically active throughout their adolescence than those who skip breakfast. Follow up years later showed that they also gained less weight and had a lower body mass index (BMI), a measure of weight in relation to height used to measure obesity.
Eating a healthy breakfast may help adolescents avoid overeating later in the day and disrupt unhealthy eating patterns, such as not eating early in the day and eating a lot late in the evening,” says researcher Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, PhD, of the University of Minnesota, in a news release.
In the study, published in Pediatrics, researchers analyzed the dietary and weight patterns of a group of 2,216 adolescents over a five-year period (1998-1999 to 2003-2004) from public schools in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.
The researchers write that teens who ate breakfast regularly had a lower percentage of total calories from saturated fat and ate more fiber and carbohydrates than those who skipped breakfast. In addition, regular breakfast eaters seemed more physically active than breakfast skippers.
Over time, researchers found teens who regularly ate breakfast tended to gain less weight and had a lower body mass index than breakfast skippers.
Despite those statistics, the role of breakfast in preventing teen obesity hasn’t been thoroughly studied. But these results suggest that eating breakfast regularly may be an important tool in fighting teen obesity and promoting a healthier diet.