The Misleading Dietary Guidelines For Cholesterol

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It’s been over 40 years since the dietary guidelines to start eliminating fat in our diets was introduced. These guidelines recommend eating a low fat diet to help lower our cholesterol levels, to reduce our risk of heart disease. The only issue is that cholesterol is not a strong indicator of heart disease.

There has been research for many years now showing in some cases that those with higher cholesterol levels live the longest. Cholesterol has many health benefits, such as maintaining a good memory and helping to produce vitamin d in the body.

Low cholesterol levels have been linked to memory loss, depression, stroke, and Alzheimer’s disease. This is why it’s extremely important that you eat the right foods to maintain your health. Staying away from low fat foods and incorporating high quality 1 ingredient foods such as fresh veggies and learn proteins is far more healthier.

Cholesterol that is not damaged causes no harm to your body. Cholesterol is actually produced by your liver and 25% of it is stored in our brains.

If you’ve ever tried to avoid cholesterol in foods, then you probably haven’t had much luck, since your liver will pick up the slack, and produce the cholesterol it needs if you don’t get enough from food.

So if total cholesterol isn’t the problem, what is? Well the issue lies within cholesterol that becomes oxidized, which can cause health problems. Cholesterol becomes oxidized when you eat processed carbs, low fat labelled foods, or any forms of sugar. Stress is another way that cholesterol can become oxidized.

Oxidized cholesterol is made up of primarily LDL particles. LDL cholesterol has 2 particle sizes, LDL-A and LDL-B. The LDL-A particle size consists of big and fluffy cotton ball like molecules, that bounce around your arterial walls and cause no harm.

LDL-B particles are small and dense, similar to BB gun pellets, and they damage arterial walls and increase your risk of heart disease. Now that you understand more about cholesterol, here are a few steps to take to reduce oxidized LDL-B cholesterol inside of your body…

1. Eliminate any low fat foods from your diet.
2. Increase your healthy fat intake with olive oil, coconut oil, avocados, nuts, and seeds.
3. Reduce your stress levels and try to take 20 minutes to yourself each day to relax.
4. Avoid hydrogenated fats that can oxidize cholesterol. Avoid “hydrogenated” ingredients.
5. Stay away from processed carbs and sugars that can oxidize your cholesterol.

If you stick to these 5 steps then you’ll maintain good cholesterol and start to remove the LDL-B particles that you want to avoid and have very little of.

You can test your particle size by asking your doctor about adding the particle test on to your next blood test. You’ll then see a break down of LDL-A and LDL-B particles, which is a much stronger indication of weather or not you’re eating the right foods and reducing your stress levels enough.

The particle test is the right first place to start when analyzing your cholesterol, since measuring total LDL and HDL levels the conventional way will not tell you weather you’re on the right track or not.

Another method you can use is the HDL to triglyceride test. Lets say that your HDL is 50 and your triglycerides are 100. Then you’re score would be 2. If you’re HDL was 50 and your triglycerides were 150, then your ratio would be 3.

If your score is greater than 3 then I would highly recommend a particle test because ratios 3 and above can put you at risk of diabetes, heart disease, and many other health complications that you’ll want to avoid.

What have you been told about cholesterol? Are you eating the right foods to help reduce LDL-B particles? ')}

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Matt Green is a health and fitness expert who trains clients and helps anyone achieve the health and fitness goals they are reaching for. Matt has been into health and wellness for over 13 years. For more information please check out his short bio
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