I heard it again in a conversation with friends – and it shows up in ads and health discussions.  And yes, I battled my M.D. over this in the last years before he retired (and I have now moved on to a more naturopathic clinic).

And it is my own personal opinion this issue contributed to an early death of a dear friend of mine from college days (and her husband’s death).  

So I am quite serious about this topic.  

Does your M.D. check your cholesterol level and push you to “lower” it below certain numbers?   Recommend drugs (statins) aimed at lowering it?  Do you see “high cholesterol” vilified?  And huge warnings about it?  Even the CDC website (as you quickly research on Google) says that too much cholesterol puts you at risk for heart disease and stroke.  Have you been convinced by the publicity of it all to avoid “high cholesterol” foods and saturated fats?

What’s the real story here?

First – it is complicated by your belief system regarding medical treatment.  

Dr. Peter Glidden, a main source in this blog, is a licensed naturopathic physician with 27 years of clinical experience helping people recover their health with science-based, clinically-verified, wholistic therapeutics.  He is a leading source of health education via his books and webinars on a subscription website that I use to guide me in my nutrition medicine approach to health.

As described by Glidden, one of the types of medicine is M.D. medicine (described as allopathic reductionistic medicine) but that is only one piece of the pie.  Unfortunately, many believe it is the only medicine to which they will subscribe – and all others are “alternative” or somehow substandard.  

What are the other “pieces of the pie?” – naturopathic, osteopathic, chiropractic, traditional Chinese medicine, ayurvedic, acupuncture, herbalism and many others. 

The reason I point this out up front is that if you only follow M.D.-directed medicine and discount all others, you may not want to read further.  But skip it at your own risk.  The analogy offered on this is that it is like saying the only “real” dog is a German shepherd and every other dog is an alternative dog.

A hugely-simplified description is that M.D. allopathic reductionistic philosophy breaks down the body as a machine and each part gets its own prescription.  Treatment is primarily drugs or surgery plus their treatments can only “manage” and do not cure disease.   [As an aside, that is what my own M.D. years ago told me about my eye black-outs which he said were early signs of TIA’s. He said he could only help “manage” it and the problem could not be cured.]

All other medical physician philosophies are trained in the wholistic method.  Per Glidden, this method believes “the body has a built-in, God-given ability to fix itself; the body is inhabited by a dynamic spiritual force which is intelligent and…which manages all of the millions of automatic, bio-chemical reactions that are happening in your body every second of every day.”

Don’t get me wrong – I value M.D. medicine for certain situations (bullet in the arm, broken bone, needing surgery) and I see the value of drugs (thank heavens for novacaine, etc.) but M.D.’s are only one piece of the pie.  For chronic diseases or improving and supporting health and body systems, I am seeking out a wholistic medicine practitioner.

To narrow down more, Glidden’s description of the naturopathic maxim is based on the fact the body has a soul which brings intelligence into play.  Your body grew from a cell into you – and the body knows how to fix itself.  His summary of how to support and promote our body’s ability to optimize structure and function is:

–give the body the nutrients it needs to manage its affairs

–stop putting food into the body which are harming the body

–help the body to detoxify on a regular basis 

Second – do your research to confirm what I am going to share from Dr. Glidden.  I can only give you the overview.  But, as I stated above, what you probably have heard (and would find in your “google” research) is that high cholesterol causes heart disease.

Dr. Glidden, and Dr. Joel Wallach, would tell you differently.  Cholesterol is not the bad “dude”  – but in fact, it is exceedingly important for your body to function the way nature and God intended it.  In fact, it is so important that your body makes it – your liver makes it.

Glidden explains that if you don’t eat enough fat and your body starts to become deficient in cholesterol, it will start to make it – because your body needs it for so many different things.  

Let’s get a picture of what “cholesterol” is:

–it is referred to as a fat but more correctly it is an “alcohol” – it just doesn’t behave like alcohol

–it does not dissolve in water – it is waterproof

–cells in your body use it to become waterproof – impacts electrical signals so the brain and central nervous system “stockpile” cholesterol  (over 75% of the brain and nerves are made from cholesterol) 

–all your sex and stress hormones are made from cholesterol 

–spheres of fats and proteins (LDL & HDL) are like submarines that carry cholesterol through the blood from the liver to wherever it is needed and then back to the liver

Now let me get to the “myth” part of this discussion which is exposed by Dr. Glidden in his webinar on this topic:   cholesterol is UNRELATED to clogging of the arteries and artherosclerosis.  In fact, per the studies and research, just as many people with ‘low’ cholesterol get heart disease as those with ‘high’ cholesterol.  Plus there is no “good” or “bad” fat — boy, that goes against the grain of what you have heard, right?

So why are statin drugs prescribed due to ‘high’ cholesterol numbers but other times just as a ‘precaution’ or ‘preventative’ measure?  Check the research not only on cholesterol but on statin drugs.

OK – more shocking information from Glidden (because it does not fit the common narrative you hear everywhere and in your doctor’s office):

—low cholesterol is associated with an INCREASED chance of death

–cancer is associated with low levels of LDL and statin drug use

–other issues associated with statin drugs:  peripheral neuropathy, short temper & aggressive behavior, kidney failure, and dementia

The most impactful in Glidden’s webinar on this was a graph he showed of Alzheimer’s incidence from the year 1800 to 2000.  Around 1980 was a huge, skyrocket increase of Alzheimer’s and that is the same time frame when statin drugs were introduced into the marketplace.  Glidden stated that he and a handful of his colleagues believe the rise in Alzheimer’s to becoming the 6th leading cause of death (which happened in the 80’s) and continues to escalate is tied to the introduction and rise of use of statin drugs.

I know, the stats, research, details can get overwhelming to try to read and digest.  But this is important – and I hope I have at least gotten you to examine the issue for yourself.  

Because of my great experience with Dr. Joel Wallach and his products developed under Youngevity, I learned of Dr. Glidden and his passion for education on these health topics.  It may be helpful for you to hear Dr. G’s description of why this medical nutrition all works so well.  His words:

Supplements developed by Dr. Joel Wallach work better than anything I have seen in 27 years. Why? Because his products are formulated on $25 million dollars of federally-funded research. A massive undertaking — an old-fashioned, boots-on-the-ground, pragmatic, non-pharmaceutical research which literally re-wrote the book on medical nutrition.

Dr. Wallach is the world’s leading expert on the relationship between medical nutrition and chronic or acute disease. Nobody has done more research than he and nobody has treated more patients than Dr. Wallach.

So if you are ready to give medical nutrition a try – wouldn’t it be best to get it from the expert, Dr. Wallach?

With regard to medical nutrition, do you have questions or would you like more clarity on whether it is right for you?  Connect with me HERE  

Here are the “helps” I would offer as you take a deeper dive for yourself into the cholesterol myths:

Glidden’s recommended initial books to read:

1. 1. Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS The 150 Healthiest Foods On Earth
   2. Stephen Sinatra, MD, FACC The Sinatra Solution: Metabolic Cardiology
   3. Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD The Cholesterol Myths: Exposing the Fallacy That Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease

As a subscriber to Dr. Glidden’s website, I can send you a limited-time link to the full webinar which has so much more (50 articles support the myth-busting statements and more of the stats and research info) plus a full discussion of his specific recommendations for medical nutrition aimed at heart disease.  You can just “reply” to this email with your request for the link – or you can investigate his website yourself HERE  or you can follow him on YouTube.

Education is important – and it empowers you to direct your own health and longevity.  

 

 

Food and dietary supplement products sold by Youngevity are intended to contribute to the daily diet and overall health and are not intended for use in the prevention, treatment, mitigation, or cure of any disease or health-related condition.  Individuals who have or suspect they have an illness or who wish to commence a diet or exercise program should consult an appropriately licensed health care practitioner for a medical history evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, and health recommendations.