 Christmas can be a painful time of year for many people - a time when grief, loneliness, health struggles, depression, anxiety, lack of money, or family trauma can be that much more prominent. And what adds to the pain for many of us, is the loud, deeply contrasting message that this is a happy, merry, joyous time. A time of togetherness, of fun, of treats. A time of spending lots of money and receiving lots of gifts. A time of family. These societal messages can be like salt in our wounds. Yet this common human experience isn’t often talked about. In a spirit of acknowledging our human struggles and sharing ways to care for yourself through tough times, I’ve put together these mental health first aid tips for the holidays. There are tips for those who are: -feeling exhausted emotionally and physically -feeling suicidal -grieving -impacted by toxic family, and -for those who are struggling to sleep. In part one of this series, we’ve looked at cholesterol being a natural substance produced in the human body every day, and one vital for health. Now, let’s talk about LDL cholesterol: how it can become elevated in your blood and what you can do about it. We’ll also look at the difference between LDL (so-called bad cholesterol) and HDL (so-called good cholesterol).
Given cholesterol is indeed a health-supporting substance in the human body, a key reason LDL cholesterol can become elevated in your blood is because your liver is producing more of it to do its job – repair and support. When inflammation (the body’s response to tissue injury) and free radical damage (unstable atoms causing cellular damage that leads to disease) take hold in the human body, LDL cholesterol is sent to all our body’s tissues to help keep our cells and organs healthy. So.…what causes inflammation and free radical damage?  For around 40 or so years, we’ve been told that if we eat cholesterol-containing foods like eggs and saturated fats (butter, cream, meats, coconut oil, cream and milk), we’ll raise our cholesterol and our risk of cardiovascular diseases, like heart attack, stroke and arterial plaques.
Recently, I’ve had many people asking me how many eggs they can safely eat per week, because their doctors have told them they have high cholesterol and therefore need to avoid eggs. And I’ve had several people express surprise that I recommend adding a raw free-range egg and coconut cream to a morning smoothie, to make it more nourishing and satiating. So, in a series of two articles, I’m going to help you learn more about cholesterol – what it is, what a high LDL cholesterol blood test result really means, and why you don’t need to fear saturated fats or eggs (truly). |
