What if I told you that you could lower your cholesterol and total blood triglycerides naturally, without statin drugs and without bad side effects? Many people have done it and you can, too, with natural cholesterol remedies.
You have likely seen the television advertisements featuring men and women that look healthy, say that they eat right and exercise every day. The announcer says that if you have that problem, it comes from your family, not from your diet.
While there is such a thing as familial hypercholesterolemia (high blood cholesterol for genetic or inherited reasons), it is relatively rare and is characterized by normal blood triglycerides, normal HDL (good) cholesterol levels and very high LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, typically within the 95th percentile range.
Only with a thorough evaluation can a physician determine that a person is suffering from familial hypercholesterolemia. Sadly, the condition does not always respond to medical treatment, including statin drugs. In short, the ads are misleading.
Familial hypercholesterolemia contributes to heart disease at a very young age, much younger ages than in the average population. High blood triglycerides, high LDL cholesterol levels and low HDL levels contribute to a number of different diseases, including age-related heart disease and macular degeneration.
As you can see, your risks depend on your numbers.
If you have normal or high blood triglycerides, low HDL levels and high LDL levels, then the cause of your problem is not predominantly genetics.
Will statin drugs help?
It may sound odd at first, but statin drugs sometimes "help" too much! In other words, it is possible for your total cholesterol levels to become too low, although this is something you virtually never hear about in the media or mainstream medical sources. Statins sometimes push cholesterol levels dangerously low whereas natural remedies do not.
Moreover, statin drugs interfere with the body’s production of an antioxidant called coenzyme Q10 (COQ10), which is essential for normal function of the muscles, including the heart muscle. Early research from pharmaceutical companies indicated that coenzyme Q10 should be added to their drug or the doctor should prescribe the supplement, along with the statins.
Drug reps apparently forgot to mention that to the doctors, because many of them are unaware of the issue with COQ10 depletion. If blood levels of COQ10 become too low, the result can be muscle death -- and the heart is a muscle.
Statins typically cause a 40% reduction in blood COQ10 levels. That’s low enough to cause severe muscle pain and tendon damage in many people.
Suffice it to say that statin drugs can harbor direct and indirect dangerous, like COQ10 depletion. There is a great deal of controversy surrounding them, especially since LDL reduction can be accomplished naturally.
Diet plays a role, although a great deal of the cholesterol in your bloodstream is produced by your liver. You see, the body actually needs cholesterol to create hormones and for other purposes. That's right: a certain level of cholesterol is essential for good health. How many times have you heard that in the mainstream media? Probably never.
In any event, if there is a reasonable amount of cholesterol in your diet, your liver produces less of it. If not, the liver produces more, which is one reason that dietary changes alone are sometimes ineffective.
Moreover, there are several different types of cholesterol in your bloodstream. They are categorized according to their density. LDL and VLDL cholesterol particles are low in density. They adhere to the arterial walls, contribute to clots, cause blockages and lead to hardening of the arteries.
HDL cholesterol particles are high in density. They do not adhere to the arterial walls. They help to carry LDL and VLDL particles back to the liver for reprocessing or safe disposal.
In addition to your cholesterol levels, you should also be concerned about high blood triglycerides. Triglycerides are a combination of fatty acids and glycogen or glucose. High levels are present in the bloodstream due to a high intake of simple, sugary carbohydrates, not simply because of your intake of dietary fat.
High cholesterol is most dangerous when it occurs in conjunction with high trigylcerides.
But instead of lowering your cholesterol obsessively, your goal should be to balance your cholesterol levels. Normally, that means increasing your HDL levels, which will result in lower LDL levels.
Lowering your total blood triglycerides should, of course, be another one of your goals.
All of this can be done naturally, too.
What You Can Do
You may need to make some slight dietary changes and if you are not exercising regularly, you should consider starting under a doctor's supervision. But, to lower your triglycerides and balance your cholesterol levels, you need the right nutrients.
Research has shown that consuming policosanol, a nutrient found in raw sugar cane and beeswax, significantly decreases LDL cholesterol levels, increases HDL levels and lowers total triglycerides, without raising blood sugar levels.
Lecithin oil is high in nutrients. It helps to raise HDL levels and inhibits the absorption of cholesterol from foods. Two of the nutrients found in lecithin help to cleanse the liver, so that it can function more effectively, removing more fats from the bloodstream.
Pumpkin seed oil contains nutrients we refer to as essential fatty acids. They are also used by the body to create hormones. Consuming the essential, polyunsaturated fatty acids may help to reduce the amount of cholesterol produced by the liver. The oil has also been shown to enhance the cholesterol-lowering ability of policosanol and other nutrients.
D-limonene is a nutrient found in orange peel oil. It has been used to successfully dissolve gallstones, which are composed of cholesterol. It reduces blood cholesterol levels, additionally.
Phytosterols, which are compounds found in plants that are similar in structure to cholesterol, have been shown to decrease cholesterol absorption in the gut by competing for absorption. Beta-sitosterol, for example, has been shown to inhibit cholesterol absorption by about 50% and lower blood cholesterol levels.
Additional benefits of beta-sitosterol for men include a reduced risk of enlarged prostate; for everyone, there is a reduced risk of gallstones and possibly several types of cancer.
Several nutrients found in brown rice bran are beneficial for imbalanced cholesterol. The antioxidants selenium, theaflavin and tea catechins help, too.
There are many natural cholesterol-reduction supplements on the market. Some of them contain one or two of the ingredients highlighted above.
Only one brand I have found contains them all, in the right concentration, to ensure that you get the greatest benefits for LDL reduction and HDL increase, as well as total triglyceride reduction. That brand is Xtend-Life Cholest-Natural.
I use Xtend-Life products myself but reading through their unsolicited testimonials from other customers is instructive as well.
For example, some of their testimonials about their Cholest-Natural product includes some of the following excerpts:
"Lowered total triglycerides from 600 to 300"
"Lowered total triglycerides from 128 to 57"
"Increased HDL from 31 to 40"
"Lowered LDL from 171 to 141"
I am not including the customer's names here, just reporting on some of the interesting experiences. More detail can be found at the company's website.
In conclusion, if you are concerned about high blood triglycerides or imbalanced cholesterol levels, take a peek at Xtend-Life Cholest-Natural. It is a safe, natural alternative.
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