Woodbridge Naturopath – Cholesterol Help

Today we’re going to talk a little bit about cholesterol. So, having high cholesterol is a pretty big issue in our society today, and you might be suffering from this condition. You might have been recently diagnosed or have been dealing with it for years.

It’s important to understand a few things about cholesterol. Number one, the fact that you have cholesterol is not a bad thing. We all need to have cholesterol in our system. Cholesterol is very, very important with regards to some of our normal natural functioning. For example producing steroid hormones in our body, vitamin D, etc., are all relying upon cholesterol in the system.

The goal is not to get our cholesterol levels down as low as possible because if our cholesterol levels are too low, that can also be a problem, can contribute to different issues – depression, anxiety, unwanted behaviors, and some other issues, if the cholesterol is too low. The goal is not to get it down as low as possible, but rather to keep it within a healthy range.

Again, we’re also speaking about HDL, or high density lipoproteins which are the so-called healthy cholesterols, as opposed to LDL or the low density lipoproteins which would be considered the unhealthy type of cholesterol. We want to take a look at the levels of HDL and also the levels in relationship to total cholesterol.

And so, if those are within healthy levels, awesome. That’s where we want to keep them. If they’re not, your medical doctor might have you on medications, statin drugs, for example, to counteract the high LDL cholesterol.

Some important things to keep in mind are that if you are on statins that are prescribed by a medical doctor, it would be a good idea for you to possibly speak to your medical doctor about also being on vitamin D, being on CoQ10 or ubiquinol, which is a specific form of CoQ10. The reason is that the statins have a mechanism which decreases and can potentially deplete CoQ10 in your system, and this can lead to other health issues that you don’t want to develop. This is an important question to bring up with your medical doctor.

Also, keep in mind that if you are taking some of the natural products that help to lower cholesterol levels, for example, red rice yeast or red yeast rice (it’s called both), actually has a similar mechanism as a statin. Again, you would want to be looking at CoQ10 as something to be taken along with that. Of course, it’s never a good idea to just go to the store and start randomly buying supplements and taking them, since they may be contraindicated with health issues you may have. It’s always good to consult your practitioner before starting to take anything over the counter.

What are some of the other things that you can do to keep healthy cholesterol levels? These are some of the things that are really contributing to overall good health: Number one – looking at exercise levels, and doing an appropriate amount and type of exercise for you. Again, that would be something that you should consult with your doctor or practitioner about.

Woodbridge Naturopath -Healthy Cholesterol

As for diet, try to incorporate more vegetables and raw vegetables into your diet, while trying to eliminate refined carbohydrates like sugars, pastas, rice, because they break down quickly into sugar in the system. Your body then has to deal with it, and that can also contribute to higher cholesterol levels. Try to avoid excess alcohol, smoking where possible, and make sure that you’re having good, high quality omega three fatty acids in your diet. That’s always important, and not just for this but also for the skin for the neurological system, for inflammation, and for many other health benefits, good high quality sources of omega threes.

Also, we always want to try to address what we perceive to be stress. It could be work stress, relationship, financial and/or emotional stress. You want to try to get your emotions in check. There are a number of different ways of working with emotions. I work with emotions quite a bit in my practice with some very, very simple techniques that can help you to get control of your emotional health.

So those are in a nutshell some of the things that you can do from your end to try to maintain healthy cholesterol levels as well as overall health.

Once again, I’m Linda Brown, Naturopathic Doctor, and if there’s any way that I can help you with any of these issues related to cholesterol, please give my office a call. You can also connect with me at LindaBrownND.com.

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