The Insanity of Lowering Cholesterol
In the United States, the idea that cholesterol is evil is very much engrained in most people’s minds. But this is a very harmful myth that needs to be put to rest right now.
“First and foremost,” Dr. Rosedale points out, “cholesterol is a vital component of every cell membrane on Earth. In other words, there is no life on earth that can live without cholesterol. It cannot be evil. No wonder lowering cholesterol too much increases one's risk of dying. Cholesterol is also a precursor to all of the steroid hormones. You cannot make estrogen, testosterone, cortisone, and a host of other vital hormones without cholesterol.”
Your liver makes about 75 percent of your body’s cholesterol, and according to conventional medicine, there are two types: High-density lipoprotein (or HDL) and Low-density lipoprotein (or LDL). It combines with other fats and proteins to be carried through the bloodstream, since fat and our watery blood do not mix very well. Fatty substances therefore must be shuttled to and from our tissues and cells using proteins. LDL and HDL are forms of proteins and are far from being just cholesterol.
We now know there are many types of these fat and protein particles. LDL particles come in many sizes and large LDL particles are not a problem. Only the small dense LDL particles can potentially be a problem, because they can squeeze through the lining of the arteries and if they oxidize, otherwise known as turning rancid, they can cause damage and inflammation.
Essentially, HDL takes cholesterol from your body’s tissues and arteries, and brings it back to your liver, where most of your cholesterol is produced. If the purpose of this was to eliminate cholesterol from your body, it would make sense that the cholesterol would be shuttled back to your kidneys or intestines so your body could remove it. It is taking it back to your liver so that your liver can recycle it; put it back into other particles to be taken to tissues and cells that need it. Your body is trying to make and conserve the cholesterol for the precise reason that it is so important, indeed vital, for health.
Inflammation has been linked to so many different diseases. And one of those diseases is heart disease, the same heart disease that cholesterol is often blamed for.
Inflammation, in many respects, it’s a good thing as it’s your body’s natural response to invaders it perceives as threats. If you get a cut for instance, the process of inflammation is what allows you to heal. If your arteries are damaged, a very similar process occurs inside of your body, except that a “scar” in your artery is known as plaque. This plaque, along with the thickening of your blood and constricting of your blood vessels that normally occur during the inflammatory process, can indeed increase your risk of high blood pressure and heart attacks.
Cholesterol comes in because, in order to replace your damaged cells, it is necessary. Remember that no cell can form without it. So if you have a bunch of damaged cells that need to be replaced, your liver will be notified to make more cholesterol and release it into your bloodstream.
It’s also possible for damage to occur in your body on a regular basis. In this case, you will be in a dangerous state of chronic inflammation. Even conventional medicine is warming up to the idea that chronic inflammation can trigger heart attacks. But they stop short of seeing the big picture. In the eyes of conventional medicine, when they see increased cholesterol circulating in your bloodstream, they conclude that it --not the underlying damage to your arteries --is the cause of heart attacks.
If you have increased levels of cholesterol, it is at least in part because of increased inflammation in your body. The cholesterol is there to do a job: help your body heal and repair.
Conventional medicine misses the boat entirely when they dangerously recommend that lowering cholesterol is the way to reduce your risk of heart attacks, because what is actually needed is to address whatever is causing your body damage --and leading to increased inflammation and then increased cholesterol.
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“First and foremost,” Dr. Rosedale points out, “cholesterol is a vital component of every cell membrane on Earth. In other words, there is no life on earth that can live without cholesterol. It cannot be evil. No wonder lowering cholesterol too much increases one's risk of dying. Cholesterol is also a precursor to all of the steroid hormones. You cannot make estrogen, testosterone, cortisone, and a host of other vital hormones without cholesterol.”
Your liver makes about 75 percent of your body’s cholesterol, and according to conventional medicine, there are two types: High-density lipoprotein (or HDL) and Low-density lipoprotein (or LDL). It combines with other fats and proteins to be carried through the bloodstream, since fat and our watery blood do not mix very well. Fatty substances therefore must be shuttled to and from our tissues and cells using proteins. LDL and HDL are forms of proteins and are far from being just cholesterol.
We now know there are many types of these fat and protein particles. LDL particles come in many sizes and large LDL particles are not a problem. Only the small dense LDL particles can potentially be a problem, because they can squeeze through the lining of the arteries and if they oxidize, otherwise known as turning rancid, they can cause damage and inflammation.
Essentially, HDL takes cholesterol from your body’s tissues and arteries, and brings it back to your liver, where most of your cholesterol is produced. If the purpose of this was to eliminate cholesterol from your body, it would make sense that the cholesterol would be shuttled back to your kidneys or intestines so your body could remove it. It is taking it back to your liver so that your liver can recycle it; put it back into other particles to be taken to tissues and cells that need it. Your body is trying to make and conserve the cholesterol for the precise reason that it is so important, indeed vital, for health.
Inflammation has been linked to so many different diseases. And one of those diseases is heart disease, the same heart disease that cholesterol is often blamed for.
Inflammation, in many respects, it’s a good thing as it’s your body’s natural response to invaders it perceives as threats. If you get a cut for instance, the process of inflammation is what allows you to heal. If your arteries are damaged, a very similar process occurs inside of your body, except that a “scar” in your artery is known as plaque. This plaque, along with the thickening of your blood and constricting of your blood vessels that normally occur during the inflammatory process, can indeed increase your risk of high blood pressure and heart attacks.
Cholesterol comes in because, in order to replace your damaged cells, it is necessary. Remember that no cell can form without it. So if you have a bunch of damaged cells that need to be replaced, your liver will be notified to make more cholesterol and release it into your bloodstream.
It’s also possible for damage to occur in your body on a regular basis. In this case, you will be in a dangerous state of chronic inflammation. Even conventional medicine is warming up to the idea that chronic inflammation can trigger heart attacks. But they stop short of seeing the big picture. In the eyes of conventional medicine, when they see increased cholesterol circulating in your bloodstream, they conclude that it --not the underlying damage to your arteries --is the cause of heart attacks.
If you have increased levels of cholesterol, it is at least in part because of increased inflammation in your body. The cholesterol is there to do a job: help your body heal and repair.
Conventional medicine misses the boat entirely when they dangerously recommend that lowering cholesterol is the way to reduce your risk of heart attacks, because what is actually needed is to address whatever is causing your body damage --and leading to increased inflammation and then increased cholesterol.
The Insanity of Lowering Cholesterol
In the United States, the idea that cholesterol is evil is very much engrained in most people’s minds. But this is a very harmful myth that needs to be put to rest right now.
“First and foremost,” Dr. Rosedale points out, “cholesterol is a vital component of every cell membrane on Earth. In other words, there is no life on earth that can live without cholesterol. It cannot be evil. No wonder lowering cholesterol too much increases one's risk of dying. Cholesterol is also a precursor to all of the steroid hormones. You cannot make estrogen, testosterone, cortisone, and a host of other vital hormones without cholesterol.”
Your liver makes about 75 percent of your body’s cholesterol, and according to conventional medicine, there are two types: High-density lipoprotein (or HDL) and Low-density lipoprotein (or LDL). It combines with other fats and proteins to be carried through the bloodstream, since fat and our watery blood do not mix very well. Fatty substances therefore must be shuttled to and from our tissues and cells using proteins. LDL and HDL are forms of proteins and are far from being just cholesterol.
We now know there are many types of these fat and protein particles. LDL particles come in many sizes and large LDL particles are not a problem. Only the small dense LDL particles can potentially be a problem, because they can squeeze through the lining of the arteries and if they oxidize, otherwise known as turning rancid, they can cause damage and inflammation.
Essentially, HDL takes cholesterol from your body’s tissues and arteries, and brings it back to your liver, where most of your cholesterol is produced. If the purpose of this was to eliminate cholesterol from your body, it would make sense that the cholesterol would be shuttled back to your kidneys or intestines so your body could remove it. It is taking it back to your liver so that your liver can recycle it; put it back into other particles to be taken to tissues and cells that need it. Your body is trying to make and conserve the cholesterol for the precise reason that it is so important, indeed vital, for health.
Inflammation has been linked to so many different diseases. And one of those diseases is heart disease, the same heart disease that cholesterol is often blamed for.
Inflammation, in many respects, it’s a good thing as it’s your body’s natural response to invaders it perceives as threats. If you get a cut for instance, the process of inflammation is what allows you to heal. If your arteries are damaged, a very similar process occurs inside of your body, except that a “scar” in your artery is known as plaque. This plaque, along with the thickening of your blood and constricting of your blood vessels that normally occur during the inflammatory process, can indeed increase your risk of high blood pressure and heart attacks.
Cholesterol comes in because, in order to replace your damaged cells, it is necessary. Remember that no cell can form without it. So if you have a bunch of damaged cells that need to be replaced, your liver will be notified to make more cholesterol and release it into your bloodstream.
It’s also possible for damage to occur in your body on a regular basis. In this case, you will be in a dangerous state of chronic inflammation. Even conventional medicine is warming up to the idea that chronic inflammation can trigger heart attacks. But they stop short of seeing the big picture. In the eyes of conventional medicine, when they see increased cholesterol circulating in your bloodstream, they conclude that it --not the underlying damage to your arteries --is the cause of heart attacks.
If you have increased levels of cholesterol, it is at least in part because of increased inflammation in your body. The cholesterol is there to do a job: help your body heal and repair.
Conventional medicine misses the boat entirely when they dangerously recommend that lowering cholesterol is the way to reduce your risk of heart attacks, because what is actually needed is to address whatever is causing your body damage --and leading to increased inflammation and then increased cholesterol.
“First and foremost,” Dr. Rosedale points out, “cholesterol is a vital component of every cell membrane on Earth. In other words, there is no life on earth that can live without cholesterol. It cannot be evil. No wonder lowering cholesterol too much increases one's risk of dying. Cholesterol is also a precursor to all of the steroid hormones. You cannot make estrogen, testosterone, cortisone, and a host of other vital hormones without cholesterol.”
Your liver makes about 75 percent of your body’s cholesterol, and according to conventional medicine, there are two types: High-density lipoprotein (or HDL) and Low-density lipoprotein (or LDL). It combines with other fats and proteins to be carried through the bloodstream, since fat and our watery blood do not mix very well. Fatty substances therefore must be shuttled to and from our tissues and cells using proteins. LDL and HDL are forms of proteins and are far from being just cholesterol.
We now know there are many types of these fat and protein particles. LDL particles come in many sizes and large LDL particles are not a problem. Only the small dense LDL particles can potentially be a problem, because they can squeeze through the lining of the arteries and if they oxidize, otherwise known as turning rancid, they can cause damage and inflammation.
Essentially, HDL takes cholesterol from your body’s tissues and arteries, and brings it back to your liver, where most of your cholesterol is produced. If the purpose of this was to eliminate cholesterol from your body, it would make sense that the cholesterol would be shuttled back to your kidneys or intestines so your body could remove it. It is taking it back to your liver so that your liver can recycle it; put it back into other particles to be taken to tissues and cells that need it. Your body is trying to make and conserve the cholesterol for the precise reason that it is so important, indeed vital, for health.
Inflammation has been linked to so many different diseases. And one of those diseases is heart disease, the same heart disease that cholesterol is often blamed for.
Inflammation, in many respects, it’s a good thing as it’s your body’s natural response to invaders it perceives as threats. If you get a cut for instance, the process of inflammation is what allows you to heal. If your arteries are damaged, a very similar process occurs inside of your body, except that a “scar” in your artery is known as plaque. This plaque, along with the thickening of your blood and constricting of your blood vessels that normally occur during the inflammatory process, can indeed increase your risk of high blood pressure and heart attacks.
Cholesterol comes in because, in order to replace your damaged cells, it is necessary. Remember that no cell can form without it. So if you have a bunch of damaged cells that need to be replaced, your liver will be notified to make more cholesterol and release it into your bloodstream.
It’s also possible for damage to occur in your body on a regular basis. In this case, you will be in a dangerous state of chronic inflammation. Even conventional medicine is warming up to the idea that chronic inflammation can trigger heart attacks. But they stop short of seeing the big picture. In the eyes of conventional medicine, when they see increased cholesterol circulating in your bloodstream, they conclude that it --not the underlying damage to your arteries --is the cause of heart attacks.
If you have increased levels of cholesterol, it is at least in part because of increased inflammation in your body. The cholesterol is there to do a job: help your body heal and repair.
Conventional medicine misses the boat entirely when they dangerously recommend that lowering cholesterol is the way to reduce your risk of heart attacks, because what is actually needed is to address whatever is causing your body damage --and leading to increased inflammation and then increased cholesterol.
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940014470544 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Katherine Washington |
| Publication date: | 05/01/2012 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 35 |
| File size: | 160 KB |
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