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.

Just What Does It Mean to be "Fit" Anyway

We hear in the news about the importance of being fit for optimal health. That very term, "fit",  means different things to different people. I see people doing nothing but yoga and claim to be fit. Similarly, I see runners who run every day and also claim to be fit.  But, are they?

The point is that fitness is really a smorgasbord of several components, which in their entirety makes a person fit. I happen to like the definition given by the American Council on Exercise (ACE).

The define fitness as having optimized the following:

1. muscular strength
2. muscular endurance
3. cardiovascular
4. flexibility
5. body composition

Thus be addressing all of these, it becomes the gestalt of fitness and optimal health.

If you're missing any one of the pieces, then, as hard as it may be to accept, you're not totally fit.

People addicted to running have incredible cardiovascular systems, tend not to be flexible and also tend to ignore their strength training.

People who are addicted to yoga have incredible flexibility, but tend not to like to go to the weight room, or run on the treadmill.

How about Arnold Schwarzenegger, was he fit at his prime? Perhaps not.  He had a great body composition, was very muscular,  but he may have been lacking in cardiovascular and flexibility at that time.

I think you catch my drift, one needs to blend in various activities to address all five components.

Why Bother?

Like doing all of these,  you could expect the following:

• More juice in life, not afraid to take up any activity, no not golf, how about bungee jumping, Hip Hop dancing.
• Less disease and illness in your life
• Better balance, less falls, therefore less injuries
• Better mental health, less depression
• Get off the couch without grunting
• Healthy heart, less chance of heart disease.
• Don't get winded when you walk up the stairs

So the lesson for this post is to mix it up and form great habits for life.

Aren't you just sick about all the talk of obesity?

Okay I give in.  As cofounder and editor-in-chief of  FitCommerce.com, I was a little snobby  about blog writers. I mean our website is a serious one with editing and fact checking and all that. And, bloggers are just lightweights, right?

But alas, , I was wrong, the blogosphere is huge, in fact, it may even be passé.   Social networking is the new, new thing.  Hey, better late than never.

My goal is to use this pulpit to aggregate what I'm seeing in all my health research. Although these will be my editorial opinions, they will be  laden with hard-core facts.

Today's topic.

Aren't you just sick about all the talk of obesity?

As intelligent and advanced species, we seem to be losing ground in this regard.  The number of people in this country overweight or obese is around 65%. We are driven by short-term pleasures of taste and a carbohydrate serotonin rush, all to the long term detriment to our health.

So many ailments are caused by excess belly fat,  there are so many that I won't bore you with the list now.

Alas,  but the government will have a solution, Right?  Wrong.  In the period where we were gaining all this weight, we had the origianal pyramid. Remember that?  Every lobbyist from cattlemen to grain growers had their fingerprints all over it. All those carbohydrates, the foundational layer of the pyramid,  that people thought were good for them contributed to the obesity crisis.

The truth is, we have to take the initiatives on our own.  It really does simply boil down to more activity, and less food.

I practice what I preach. In my case, I play racquetball two to three times a week for my caloric burn. And, I favor the zone diet. I don't particularly like the word "diet", it implies a short-term painful period of doing without. I've been on the zone diet for 14 years now, and think of it as a "eating lifestyle".

Since my wife makes our dinners at home, she actually favors the Mediterranean diet. So we have lots of veggies, olive oil, garlic, and red wine – yum.

Back to the zone diet,  you will have to read the book, but it's the proper balance of the macronutrients: protein, carbohydrates, fats. All in the proper proportion. When done properly insulin is under control in your body tends not to store body fat.  In fact it burns off more body fat and you don't feel hungry all the time.

So I'll conclude today, by saying that we all have to find an activity that gets us moving, but that was thoroughly enjoy.  And,  eating a little less, and in the right proportions.  Jillian Michaels eat your heart, we got it under control.

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