A Few Tips On Managing Cholesterol

Understanding Cholesterol

Although it has earned itself a bad reputation, cholesterol plays some essential roles in proper function of the human body.  Cholesterol is a crucial component of cell membranes and is necessary for the synthesis of vitamin D and steroid hormones (including those that help you cope with stress, as well as those for proper functioning of men and woman). 

Formation of cholesterol plaque in artery

Cholesterol’s reputation is not unfounded.  The association between an elevated low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and developing cardiovascular disease is well known.  Furthermore, research has shown that LDL can become oxidized in vivo and that oxidized LDL is atherogenic (has the ability to initiate or accelerate the deposition of atheromas, calcium, and lips in the lumen of arteries). 

However, although research suggests a possible causal association between having high cholesterol (hypercholesterolemia) and developing cardiovascular disease, reducing serum cholesterol levels may not always result in improved health.  Since cholesterol is a precursor for cortisol and is needed for tissue repair, high cholesterol may be a body’s response to arterial inflammation, injury, or other stressors.  Therefore, practitioners should examine the reasons for their patient’s high cholesterol before driving the cholesterol level below a dictated “set point”.  Such caution may avoid interference with the body’s ability to heal itself and deal with various stressors. 

Below is a list of dietary suggestions to consider when your doctor has determined it is time to manage your cholesterol.

Food to Avoid:

Eggs: The majority of studies have shown that regular consumption of eggs (up to 28/wk) has no significant effect on serum cholesterol levels. However, because each person is different, some people do show substantial increases in serum total and serum LDL-C levels while eating eggs.  Therefore, it is important to speak with your naturopathic physician to decide if eating eggs is appropriate.

Trans Fatty Acids: Consumption of trans fatty acids has been shown to increase levels of LDL-C and decrease levels of HDL-C.  Furthermore, consumption of trans fatty acids has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in humans.  Therefore, they are to be avoided. Examples include: Margarine, high-fat baked goods (especially doughnuts, cakes, and cookies), products for which the label says “partially hydrogenated vegetable oils”, French fries, potato chips and many crackers and corn chips. 

Sugar: The consumption of sugar, a refined carbohydrate, leads to an elevated level of insulin in the body.  Higher insulin levels are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease due to its ability to raise the levels of cholesterol, triglycerides and blood pressure.  Therefore, it is wise to decrease all sources of refined sugar, including desserts, pastries, candies, white bread, sweetened cereals, and any other foods containing refined carbohydrates.

Beef: Some studies have shown that beef greatly increases cholesterol levels, while others have not.  However, an association between cardiovascular disease and beef has definitely been found.  This is most likely due to the formation of advance glycation end products and cholesterol oxides, rather than due to its effects on cholesterol levels. Therefore, consuming beef may be bad for your heart, regardless of whether or not it increases your cholesterol level.

Cheese: Is high is both saturated fat and cholesterol. Although it also contains vitamin K2, which may help prevent arterial calcification, avoiding cheese until cholesterol levels normalizes is suggested.

Coffee: Studies have shown that consumption of both filtered and unfiltered coffee increases serum total and LDL levels (although unfiltered seems to cause more of an increase). 

Foods to Include:

Monounsaturated Fats: The most important example here is olive oil.  Monounsaturated fats have been found to not only reduce serum total and  LDL-C levels, but olive oil specifically has also been found to inhibit LDL oxidation (oxidized LD is atherogenic).  Furthermore, olive oil is less likely to reduce HDL levels. Other examples of monounsaturated fats are avocados, nuts, and seeds.

Nuts: Walnuts, almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts, pecans, and macadamia nuts have all been shown to have a beneficial effect on cholesterol levels.

Seeds: Sesame seeds have been shown to reduce LDL levels. This effect may be due to the presence of sesamin in sesame oil.  Studies of rats have shown that sesamin inhibits both HMG-CoA reductase activity and cholesterol absorption. 

Dietary Fiber: Certain types of dietary fiber help reduce cholesterol levels. Water-soluble fibers such as pectin, psyllium and beta-glucan from oat bran are more effective than insoluble fiber, such as wheat bran. Soluble fibers may lower cholesterol levels by increasing fecal excretion of bile acids, which results in increased conversion of cholesterol to bile acids in the liver.

Oat Brain: As mentioned above, the cholesterol-lowering effects of oat bran may be due to a component called beta-glucan.  Oat bran binds bile and cholesterol in the intestines and promotes their excretion.  This action helps raise HDL levels, the "good" cholesterol, and lower LDL.

Barley: Like oats, barley contains beta-glucans. In addition, barley also contains d-alpha-tocotrienol, which reportedly inhibits cholesterol synthesis. 

Other Suggestions:
Meal Frequency and Pattern: Eating breakfast, eating smaller, more frequent meals, and having a regular eating pattern (i.e. same number of meals each day), may all lower serum total and serum LDL-C levels.

Fish Oil: Most studies have shown that fish oil supplementation did not decrease serum total or LDL-C levels.  However, it has been reported to lower triglyceride levels and has a number of positive cardiovascular effects. Therefore, it would be suggested to take fish oil as a means of preventing cardiovascular disease, but not for reducing cholesterol levels in particular.

Supplements:

There are a number of supplements that may be employed if diet alone does not achieve wanted results.  This area can be explored with your naturopathic physician after at least a one month trial period of dietary intervention. 

Changing Your Life One Brain Wave at a Time

It's a constant undertone. It is always there.  You feel it at every moment, through out every experience.  There may be flashes of time when it isn't there, and you rejoice in its absence.  It affects every action, every thought, every feeling. Everything.

Over time you may seek help in ridding yourself of this affliction.  You seek counseling, read books, see health care professionals and may even try medication and supplements.  Not much works. Medication and supplements may dull it, but as soon as you stop taking them, it comes back, rushing in like a river breaking its banks.  Counseling helps to a point, but soon you may find yourself talking in circles, never really getting to the source of your struggle.  Breathing exercises, yoga, meditation, etc. all help in the moment, but within hours or days after a session, it slowly creeps back in, always present.

If you are anything like most of our patients, you have tried everything, and over time it may have gone from severe down to moderate, or even to mild.  Of course, it is all relative. Some days it may be a simple uneasiness in your gut.  Other days you may feel sick to your stomach, unable to leave the house.  In some circumstances you may feel slightly lightheaded.  In others, your arms, hands and feet go numb, you struggle to breathe, the room goes black, and your head feels as if it no longer attached to the body below.  You are floating away, lost in a sea of a perpetuating condition and after an attack like this, you wonder if you will every get away from it.

For those of you who suffer from it, you know how crippling it can be.  It affects everything. Loss of work, loss of relationships.  Daily activities can become insurmountable obstacles. If you are lucky, you learn how to function. For some, that means taking medication and/or supplements.  For others, it means hospitalization.  Various techniques may reduce it, but it is still there, every moment of every day.  You accept it as part of your being. You accept it as who you are as a person, and you learn to live with it.

The thing about anxiety is that in order to function, you must learn to manage it.  You learn to dim it. You learn not to fight it. You become one with it.  A sudden racing heart, sweaty palms, and feeling as though you are about to leave your body become manageable through years of learning various techniques.  You no may no longer have the intense panic attacks of your past, but you are still struggling.  You are still at the mercy of it.  All of the techniques you learn take energy to use and you spend the majority of your day talking to yourself in order to calm yourself down.  You have to constantly remind yourself to breathe, to ground through your legs, to do this, to do that, etc., etc., on and on.  Endless.  Constant.

Imagine if one day it just suddenly stopped.

The hum that has always been there is suddenly gone.  You pause, realize it's stopped, and stand there, listening in disbelief.  You try to find it.  You search every inch of your existence looking for a trace of it, but it is no longer there.

It's gone.  It's simply not there anymore.  You feel peaceful.  Relaxed.  Centered.  Grounded. You feel like a whole person.  You are finally in your body.  You feel things differently.  New sensations, new experiences.  You are present in a way you had never known before, and it feels absolutely incredible.

This is possible.

One of our patients came to us with involuntary muscle twitching extending throughout her entire body.  She could not stop them for even a second.  She could not sleep.  She could not eat.  She could barely get herself to work every day.  This was the result of physical and mental abuse and she had learned to live like this.  After two sessions her twitches stopped and she reported that she had never felt so calm.

How did this happen?  Was it a new, revolutionary supplement?  A new type of meditation? Energy work? Acupuncture?

No.  Although these are all wonderful and can reduce anxiety to a certain level, none of them can take the credit.

The credit goes to something called "Brain State Technologies" and it is available right now in the same building as Ocean Park Natural Therapies.

About Brain State Technologies:
Brain State Technologies was founded in 2004 by Lee Gerdes.  Since then, nearly 35,000 people worldwide have experienced an 85% success rate utilizing this technique.  The technology and process combine to form a unique system called Brainwave Optimization with Real Time Balancing (RTB).

Brainwave Optimization with RTB is a holistic, non-invasive method of treatment that effectively guides a brain back to its innate, healthy, balanced state.  It is based on the ratio of brain waves within a specific client's brain.  Success is then measured against personal ratios, rather than against an expected norm, making treatment protocols totally individualized.  Managing brain waves can help alleviate a number of disorders, and has been used by professional athletes to optimize their performance.

Physical and emotional trauma are at the root of brainwave disturbance. We all experience traumas throughout life and each of these can cause brainwaves to deviate from what would otherwise be "normal".  This can result in a variety of problems, including sleep disturbances, anger and irritability, post traumatic stress disorder, addictions, learning disabilities, anxiety and depression, decreased energy, sexual dysfunctions, and physical pain and discomfort.  By using EEG biofeedback, brain training can bring your brain, and your life, back into balance.

If you are interested in learning more about how this incredible program could change your life for the better, please call Ocean Park Natural Therapies at 604-538-3017 (located in Surrey, British Columbia).  For more information on Brain State Technologies, including research and case studies, please visit www.brainharmonycenter.com.  For a list of providers, please visit www.brainstatetech.com. Help take charge of your life, one brain wave at a time.