Cholesterol: The good and the bad
Most people have been made aware of the negative aspects of excess cholesterol in the body. High cholesterol/arterial plaquing that results in narrowing of the blood vessels and increased risk of stroke and heart attack are certainly an important concern not to be overlooked. But frequently what is ignored is the importance of cholesterol in the body. Also, if your cholesterol is high, why is it high? It’s not like the body has some vendetta against you and is trying to wreak havoc on your body for the fun of it! There is a reason why your cholesterol is elevated.
But first let’s talk about the good. Cholesterol is either an essential component of, or a precursor to, many hormones: DHEA — a hormone that is necessary for male and female sex hormones and for sustained energy throughout the day; Growth Hormone Releasing Hormone — needed for releasing growth hormones that are needed for bone growth; Incretin — a hormone needed for blood sugar regulation; Erythropoietin — needed for healthy red blood cell production; Triiodothyronine — a thyroid hormone; Androstenedione — needed for female and male hormone regulation; ACTH — an important component of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and important for the body’s response to stress and many other functions; Adrenal cortical hormone — critical for the management of stress; and Aldosterone — essential for sodium conservation in the kidney, salivary glands, sweat glands and colon, amongst other things. Why is all this important? Because without cholesterol your body is unable to perform many, many functions, like those just mentioned. In addition, part of the composition of the hormones themselves is cholesterol. So without cholesterol in adequate amounts, the body cannot produce enough hormones or allow them to play active roles in the body.
If your body needs cholesterol, then why do we try so hard to bring it down, sometimes to alarmingly low levels? For fear of a cardiac event. But what we should be asking, is why is the body producing levels of cholesterol high enough to be a risk to the body? By searching a little deeper, we can determine what the body is trying to communicate to us. Because the body doesn’t do anything “just because,” it is prudent to do some investigative work in order to fix the problem, rather than just shoving cholesterol levels down with a drug. That may get it down all right, but the problem that caused it to go up in the first place will still be a problem.
Very little cholesterol actually comes from the foods we eat. But the foods we eat can have a great impact on our cholesterol levels. The liver makes most of the cholesterol and it does it for very important reasons. That’s why cholesterol wasn’t left to just the whim of our food availability or our dietary craziness.
To discover some of the reasons why our cholesterol goes up, come to our upcoming health class, How to Improve Cardiovascular Health Naturally, 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26 at Vital Health in Coeur d’Alene. Fee: $10. RSVP: 208-765-1994 or register here: http://bit.ly/VHCardio
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Holly Carling is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Licensed Acupuncturist, Doctor of Naturopathy, Clinical Nutritionist and Master Herbologist with over four decades of experience. Carling is a “Health Detective.”
She looks beyond your symptom picture and investigates WHY you are experiencing your symptoms in the first place. Carling is currently accepting new patients and offers natural health care services and whole food nutritional supplements in her Coeur d’Alene clinic.
Visit Carling’s website at www.vitalhealthcda.com to learn more about Carling, view a list of upcoming health classes and read other informative articles. Carling can be reached at 208-765-1994 and would be happy to answer any questions regarding this topic.