6 Steps to Healthy Cholesterol and Why Statin Drugs are not the answer

Aloha!

Contrary to conventional wisdom, cholesterol is not the enemy.

The question on the lips of many Americans these days is, "How do I lower my cholesterol?"

• How do I get the right type of cholesterol?
• How do I lower my triglycerides and raise my good cholesterol or HDL?
• What's the best way to prevent heart disease without drugs?

So, what is the way to prevent heart disease? What is the best way to deal with cholesterol, and what is the truth about cholesterol?

Well, here’s the truth: most of you are not getting the right cholesterol test. You need to get the test of the 21st century, not the test of the 20th century, which is most doctors are doing. The 21st century test measures not just your cholesterol by weight (mg/dl), let’s say 200, but it measures the number of particles that make up that number and the size of those particles.

I had a patient come to see me recently who was under 200 pounds and had high cholesterol. Today, he’s 180 pounds. Before he came to see me, he was on a statin to control his cholesterol levels. Today, he is off the statin, and his cholesterol is far better now than when he was on the statin.

Why?

Because the cholesterol in his blood consisted largely of those small, dense cholesterol particles that cause heart disease. These small particles are like golf balls that bang around in your arteries and cause damage, as opposed to large, fluffy beach ball-like ones that just bounce off and don’t cause a problem. So, he went from having 1,000 small, dense cholesterol particles, which was very bad—you want less than 400—to having zero. Zero! He was almost diabetic, and we changed that by simply changing his diet and lifestyle. We didn’t give him a statin medication.

You might be surprised to learn that I did not recommend a low fat diet for this patient. In fact, I had him increase the fat in his diet! But I also advised him to decrease the amount of sugar and flour he was eating. Most people don’t realize this, but it’s not fat that causes your cholesterol to go up. It’s sugar or anything that turns to sugar like flour! Why? Because when you eat sugar, particularly fructose, which is in high fructose corn syrup, it causes the cholesterol-producing factory in your liver to turn on.

So, if you have high triglycerides, if you have a low HDL, if you have high cholesterol, the best way to fix it is to get off flour and sugar. Eat more quality fat—nuts, avocados, seeds, and coconut butter. And eat good quality protein with every meal. These are very helpful in balancing your blood sugar, balancing your insulin, shutting off the fat-production factory in your liver, and making your cholesterol normal.

So, how do you get the right type of cholesterol? How do you lower your triglycerides and raise the level of good—and necessary—cholesterol in your body?

Here are some very simple treatments you can use. I find them very beneficial, and often, I see people getting better cholesterol off medication than on medication.

1. Cut out or dramatically reduce flour and sugar, because those are the things that turn on the cholesterol factory in your liver.
2. Eat the right fats—avocados, nuts, seeds, coconut butter, olive oil, and fish oil. These are the good fats that help balance your blood sugar, balance your insulin, and correct lipid problems.
3. Have protein for breakfast and at every meal (nuts, seeds, eggs, chicken, fish, grass-fed meats).
4. Exercise.
5. Manage your stress.
6. Take supplements to help balance the whole system.

• First, fish oil, is great; two to four grams a day will help lower cholesterol, lower triglycerides, boost the good cholesterol, and reduce inflammation.
• Next, you can take Vit D3 often referred to as the Sunshine Vitamin. D3 reduces inflammation in your arteries and your risk of Diabetes and heart disease .
• And I use plant sterols like phytosterols that help to balance insulin, blood sugar, and cholesterol.

So, follow these simple steps, and if you want, you can find the best quality supplements by contacting my office at 650-212-1000

Now, I’d like to hear from you…

• Are you on statin medication?
• Do you have high cholesterol?
• What have you tried?
• Have you tried anything else that’s worked besides taking the medication?
• Have you had side effects?

Tell us your story; share what you’ve learned with our community in the comments section below. Next, share this on Facebook and Twitter and with your friends and family, because I bet some of them are on statin medication and may not need to be. They should be able to find out a different way to do this. And submit your questions so that, next week, I may make a House Call to you. Thank you.

Dr. Christopher M. Colgin, D.PSc