Allison Staker

For the last 40 years cholesterol in the diet has been vilified as the root of all dietary evils - and the cause of such problems as heart disease, clogged arteries and obesity.  The problem with this is that very few actual studies show any causative connection - and the more studies that come out and the longer the cholesterol connection is studied, it is showing what many people have known all along - that cholesterol in the diet has little causative correlation to heart disease.  This information is finally being recognized by medical doctors and the mass media.

What is cholesterol?  Cholesterol is an essential component of every cell membrane in your body - where it helps to control what goes in and out of your cells and the health of the cell membrane - it is also a precursor to many of your hormones - and it is necessary for the synthesis of compounds that help you to digest fats, and is necessary for the absorption of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Cholesterol is also important for proper serotonin function - regulating mood.  Cholesterol is so important that about 80% of the cholesterol in your body does not come from diet, it is synthesized in the liver and other organs.  Cholesterol is actually protective in the body - so what does it mean when you have your serum cholesterol measured and it comes back higher than normal?

Simply put, cholesterol is an indicator of inflammation in the body.  Your body will make extra cholesterol if there is inflammation present in the body.  Cholesterol production naturally increases as we age also - to help protect our cellular processes.  So what might be a healthy cholesterol number in a young person, might be too low in an older person. 

So what causes chronic inflammation in the body?   Foods, chemicals and toxins that our bodies were never designed to deal with cause chronic inflammation.  One of the biggest of these is refined sugar and refined flour - they are a systemic inflammatory - and ARE a likely candidate for causing clogged arteries and heart disease.  The chronic and exaggerated insulin responses necessary to deal with simple sugars cause inflammation. 

So what can you do?  Eliminate simple sugars and refined flours from your diet - and increase your intake of traditional healthy fats that are essential to body processes.  Healthy fats in the diet actually decrease body fat, lower LDL and raise HDL, and increase fluidity, and is essential for brain and nervous system health.  Healthy fats include unrefined olive oil, butter, unrefined coconut oil, omega 3's, any non-rancid unrefined oils (for example: nut oils) and animal fat in moderation.  Trans fats (margarine, shortening) and refined oils (safflower, wesson, canola, etc.) are processed and detrimental to the chemical processes of the body - and can create inflammation in the body.