All about Cholesterol: LDL, HDL, testing, lowering and more -

Hi. I would question if you can actually sense when sodium levels have gone up. Keep in mind just trying to feel some of those things entails stress. Stress is the number one ager, and a big risk factor in heart disease specifically. I'm not saying it's wrong to worry about your cholesterol levels if they're completely out of whack, but to try and sense when you had too much sodium or carbs regularly in everyday life is a big stressor when your focus should be on other things that you enjoy or are interested in.

Now, you gave us your total blood cholesterol level. The important thing is the ratio of HDL to LDL however. You may want to give those numbers. There are many factors which effect blood LDL levels. The top factors that influence high levels of low-density lipoproteins are excessive intake of saturated fats, escessive intake of trans fats (critical in importance), high blood pressure, high blood sugar may play a role by cross-linking with proteins and sometimes joining an LDL molecule, and lastly acidity of the fluids outside the arteries.

The most important dietary factors "directly" related to high cholesterol are too many satruated fats, and in particular trans fats. Trans fats are those lethal hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated soybeans oils I've been talking about in many posts here. These oils are saturated with hydrogen to make them solid at room temperature. The use for them in baking is because it's solid at room temperature and well stored and preserved first of all, and secondly because it's easier to mix it into flour than buter, according to many bakers. However, trans fats are not just solid at room temperature, but also at body temperature because it's melting point is higher than 98.6 degrees farenheit! And did you know, that trans fats are one molecule short of being a plastic? How many of you would enjoy eating plastic for a snack? Eliminating trans fats entirely from your diet can be one of the most important steps you can take for cardiovascular health. Do you think this is just my opinion and no one elses? Well, guess what, by the year 2006 ALL nutritional labels will be forced to put the amount of trans fat in grams in their product right underneath satruated fats and unsaturated fats. Many snack brands already do this, probably because they're proud they found other alternatives to flavor the product. In numerous studies trans fats are key to the heart problems of many generations of people.

What foods contain trans fats? First of all, margarine and vegetable shortening, is almost purely trans fats. It's unebelievable the FDA allowed margarine's and shortening's introduction to grocery circulation at Crisco's genesis in the early 1900's. Any chemist knows it's lethal. People mistakingly believe they're doing someting for their health by consuming margarine instead of butter. That is simply not the case. I wholeheartedly recommend butter and healthy olive or canola oils as alternatives. Many snack foods which don't have Trans fats - 0 grams on their label yet, likely have them, most popcorns are full of them, all baked goods have a prime ingredient as shortening in many cases, etc. etc. The list goes on. For instance most fast foods have historically been fried in tras fats because they "taste better" than other oils according to McDonald's for instance. This is why it is so impertive to make your own meals and not cosune fast food. I just read that President Clinton requires a bypass surgery after a diet rich in fast food and sweets! Big surprise? Not really.

So I just addressed the fat issue (particularly trans fat) of one's diet in its relation to blood cholesterol levels. Cholesterol hardly impacts the blood cholesterol much at all. The low-density lipoproteins are circulated in the blood stream for a couple reasons. First of all if you had trans fats, it likely hasn't broken down from digestion, and is still solid at your body temperature, and it runs through your veins with the sole aim to plug them up, and secondly, LDL's circulates your veins because the liver told it to go to seal the beginning stresses and lesions in the arteries from high blood pressure and the acidity of the fluids surrounding the arteries which eat at the muscle tissoe of arteries. These are the indirect factors related to LDL levels. Most people don't understand that the body puts cholesterol in the blood stream on purpose many times due to these indirect factors even if you consumed 0 grams of trans fats per day.

So aside from limiting saturated fats, and consuming 0 grams of trans fats per day, one must consum ample stores of vitamins and minerals to catalyze the body's natural defense mechanisms and to alkalize the lymph fluids between and surrounding cells which become acidic after too much protein and not enough minerals like calcium and magnesium. Ask any nutritionist, bio-chemist like myself, or dietician, whether calcium and magnesium greatly influences cardiovascular disease, and you'll get a "Huge influence!" response every time! Calcium in particular influences all nerve action and muscle action (including the heart's). Also calcium secures and improves bone structure. Minerals in bones are critically important to protect the marrow which produces red blood cells that carry oxygen to all your cells. The mineral calcium is also required to be a substrate of DNA. In laymen's terms this means that in order for your hundred trillion cells to replicate, and all the complex DEA and RNA biology which makes new proteins designed with a specific genetic code to work, the DNA must be in a "cloud" of calcium ions. Calcium, dousing acididty in lymph fluids allowing oxygen back in there in order to get to the capillaries and into the cell, donating electons to eliminate free radicals, and providing a substrate for DNA to replicate (aside from controlling all nerve and muscle function, and aside from its ability to cross-link with proteins by binding on to 7 oxygen locations on a protein), make calcium the most important element in the human body by far! It is crucial in heart disease and in many other diseases to consume this element in enough quantity in a form that's highly absorbable. And of course Mangesium is critically important as well, it does a few things calcium can't due because of size differences and because the electrons are more tightly bound to magnesium, however calcium is the most skilled and important bio-element of any in existence.

I hope this little technical lecture helps you to decide to intake a lot of minerals in good forms to protect you from heart disease, cancer, lupus, MS, Alzheimer's etc. etc. The best forms of minerals are glycinates, picolinates (zinc and chromium are best in picolinate form), aspartates, or citrates, malates etc. Coral calcium may be a useful pre-ionized addition to your supplement cabinet because it contains calcium and magnesium. However the best forms of calcium are calcium citrate/malate currently, and the best form of magnesium is magnesium glycinate. As mentioned Niacin is also an important B-vitamin to help in heart disease. 50-100 mg's is the general concensus. Perhaps bodybuilders need more B-vitamins than normal people though because they control the body's energy production in cells. Vitamin C, E, and A are the most crucial vitamins for heart health however. You can intake grams worth of vitamin C often times without consequence.

Lastly, eliminating sweets from your diet, and very sugary fruits will definitely help control blood sugar which is another risk factor for heart disease and in particular diabetes. However keep in mind the more protein and fats you consume (a la Atkins), the more vegetables, and particular fruits you need to balance and pH. Mineral supplements help greatly in this regard too. Hope this helps.

Tim

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