High Cholesterol ?!?

Aashish and his wife Archana, both came to the clinic with worried face and a fat file of their latest test reports. Aashish - 46, works in a multinational company as a Finance Manager whereas Archana – 44, is an architect. I welcomed them with a warm smile but they were so overwhelmed with the numbers in the report that they returned it with a frantic cry for help! “Sonal, do something. It is not good to see the numbers in bold (falling out of range, I mean) at this age. Kids are just finishing high school…”

With my smile intact, I made them sit and offered a glass of water while I started going through the numbers. Aashish and Archana both were on higher side of Cholesterol and that is what made them run to me after listening to dozens of free advises from friends and family.
In their heads the only end result of high cholesterol was a ‘Cardiac arrest’ down the line.
What was surprising them the most was that they were pretty regular in their morning walks (45 minutes of brisk walking every morning?) and yet this disaster had struck them!?!

I see many such AA s around trying to get the numbers in range. The effort ranges with lemon and honey in warm water to xyz fad diet that is recommended by family members or sometimes just received as a persuasive emotionally charged whatsapp message. With all due respect to all their efforts and all the information floating around in the media, here is a small attempt to clear some basics around ‘High Cholesterol’.

Courtsey: Google images / myheart.net

What does High Cholesterol Mean?

It may mean different in different conditions. First and foremost, Cholesterol is a necessary component in the body. Nothing in the nature exists without a definite role.

Here, some basics:

1. Cholesterol is essential body building material. It is a precursor of many hormones and enzymes. It is an insulating material that acts as a cement, protects and repair cells and is responsible for neurological health. It is not appropriate to view the readings in isolation.
2. Cholesterol is produced by liver and has a little connection with the dietary cholesterol.
3. No plant foods have ever have cholesterol. So no need to get fooled by ‘zero cholesterol’ label on packaged foods that do not use animal origin ingredients (butter and milk solids come under this category though we classify them as vegetarian)
4. Total high cholesterol is a combined figure of good (HDL) and a bad (LDL) cholesterol.
5. HDL or Good cholesterol carries fat from cells to liver for processing. That means when you are burning fat through exercise, demand for HDL is on higher side and body has to produce more of these vehicles.
6. LDL or bad cholesterol carries fat to cells for storage. Which means that when you are consuming more calories and burning less, excess calories are stored as fat and body needs to produce these bad guys more.
7. TG or triglycerides are the fatty acids flowing freely in your blood. High values mostly resulting from excess calories especially due to high carbohydrates. These are potentially dangerous as they can clog your arteries.

Now that we know the essential basics lets connect the dots.

High cholesterol numbers in your report are definitely indicating a need for correction. But correction does not mean starting on cholesterol lowering drugs!

Here is why your cholesterol might show shot up on reports.

1. Low Vit D levels: Vitamin D is a hormone. Cholesterol is a component or a building block of many hormones. Low vit D levels send body a signal that more of this hormone is required. Body starts supplying the building material i.e. Cholesterol. Sometimes only correction required is getting Vit D levels in range.
2. Same goes with impaired insulin function. Most diabetics develop dyslipidaemia as a secondary condition.
3. When there is inflammation in the body, it produces more cholesterol because is cholesterol is essential for cell repair.
4. Stress. Any mental or physical stress cause stress hormone Cortisol to be secreted. Need for more cortisol means need for more cholesterol as a building block for the hormone. Stress makes heart work harder, liver work harder to meet this need.
5. Wrong dietary habits and sedentary life style.

Now imagine if you are on a cholesterol lowering drug (They lock the cholesterol production by the liver) and these various underlying conditions are demanding cholesterol for essential functions?
The internal conflict of interests may not take you to the ‘optimal health’ that you expect.

Therefore it is important to first get the basics in place. By just lowering the numbers on the reports you may feel good but chances are that you will land up inviting more problems.

So instead of popping the pills in frantic, next time look at what needs to be corrected and can be corrected through simple lifestyle and dietary changes. More o these changes in the next post.

Till then ‘Happy Healing’!

#anahathealing, #nutrition, #healthyeating, #healthawareness, #foodawareness

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Writer is a Clinical Nutrition expert, holistic health consultant, and inner work specialist. Though a nutritionist, she sees food as only one part of the overall solution as roots of any issue are deeper in the hidden emotions. She finds her passion in helping people discover these roots and reconnect to themselves.