Birth of an In-Depth Article About Cholesterol and How to Control it Naturally

First of all, let me tell you I'm not an M.D. nor am I a PhD.  What I am is a researcher, author and programmer.

When I did my dissertation in grad school, my most valuable takeaway was how to do research,  aggregate all that is published about a certain topic, aggregate it,  do some original data gathering and then push out the envelop of knowledge on that topic.

That's how I write for FitCommerce.com. We painstakingly double check our facts. Because we have readers from the medical community and even attorneys pressing a case and seeking facts. So, morally we can't be wrong.

I wrote a very in-depth article about cholesterol because I had a problem with it. In fact, I've pretty much been on the high side my entire life, but then it got to the point where my primary care physician wanted to put me on a statin drug which gave me the willies.

The very idea of being on a drug for the rest of my life didn’t settle well. So, I went on a quest to learn all I could, I read the books, I searched the web, I used myself as a laboratory as to what worked and what didn't. 

So, I wrote a full feature story entitled "Natural Ways to Lower Bad Cholesterol, Boost The Good, Improve Your HDL Factor and Get Healthy" back in 2006, and it has been the runaway most highly read story on FitCommerce.com, even to this very day.

I figure it's because of all the boomers that are in exactly the same boat that I'm, facing high cholesterol but wanting a better way to control it without the use of drugs.

You can read the full article at FitCommerce.com, Natural Ways to Lower Bad Cholesterol, Boost The Good, Improve Your HDL Factor and Get Healthy,



but here's a synopsis.

High cholesterol is no joke. Sustained high levels over years can lead to heart disease.

Cholesterol raises naturally as we age. We start off as kids with a total cholesterol reading somewhere in the 30-70 range, then as middle-aged adults it's around 200 and rising.

However,  there are two types of cholesterol, the LDL and the HDL.  Think of HDL as the healthy one and LDL as the lethal one.

Simplistically speaking, LDL deposits cholesterol onto your artery walls while HDL removes it.  So you obviously want less LDL and more HDL.  That's why there is a big chance you can control your cholesterol through natural means.

O.K. so how do you raise HDL?  Through aerobic exercise.

How do you lower LDL? By removing cholesterol from your diet.  Many meats are high in cholesterol while most fish don't have any. Chicken with the skin on is high, with the skin off is much lower.  Think about giving up dairy products.

You can eat more foods that have a positive effect on cholesterol such as  oatmeal, red grapefruits,  high omega-3 foods, red wine (you heard it right) and soluble fiber foods.

For supplementation you can take Niacin daily.

As I conclude in my piece, when all else fails, take the statin drug. I was able to control my cholesterol for 7 years the natural way, but alas,  it then creped up, and I'm now on a statin drug.