Statin: The cholesterol scam

Nowadays, it’s almost impossible NOT to see a commercial or an ad about some kind of cholesterol lowering drug.  Not surprising considering statin (a cholesterol lowering drug) is a 20 billion dollar industry.  With pockets that deep, they have enormous influence over the public.

Unfortunately, when it involves Big Pharma, influence is rarely a good thing.  And statin is no exception.

Even though numerous independent studies have concluded that cholesterol has no association with increased risk of heart disease, the propaganda machine still pumps out blatantly false information in name of profit.

Is “bad” cholesterol really to blame?

As you probably already know, there’s good cholesterol (HDL) and bad cholesterol (LDL).  Bad cholesterol (LDL) is what causes arterial sclerosis, which leads to heart disease…at least that’s what we’ve been told by the “experts”.

Well, here’s the thing…these so called experts aren’t telling you the whole truth.

You see, LDL also has a good version and a bad version.  The good LDL is really no concern to us since it doesn’t effect us negatively, but the bad LDL is what we need to watch out for.

So here’s the problem: when your LDL is high, it doesn’t take into account which LDL is high.  And if you’re on a high protein, high fat, low carb diet (which I recommend), chances are both your HDL and LDL may be elevated, but if you looked at the numbers closely, you’ll find that the ratio of good LDL to bad LDL is very small.  So, just because your LDL is high, it doesn’t mean that you’re at risk.  You need to take a look at the numbers more closely.

And here’s the kicker…recent studies show statin drugs do NOT lower bad LDL - at least not enough to make any real difference.  Hmmm???  BUT it does provide you with a slew of harmful potentially lethal side effects…nice.

I know, it makes me want to tear my hair out every time see a statin commercial, but that would literally make me bald in a day…so I refrain.  (If you’re not in the U.S, yes, Big Pharma runs television commercials to promote their drugs).

Here’s another interesting fact:  Back in 2008, a “new and improved” cholesterol lowering drug called Vytorin came on the market.  It lowered cholesterol even better than the existing statin drug on the market, which you would think would be great news for the drug company, right?

But there was one problem.  The people that took Vytorin lowered their cholesterol more but experienced TWICE the amount of arterial thickening.  That means the drug increased the likelihood of getting heart disease by two folds…while lowering cholesterol!

So let’s recap.  It’s been proven that high cholesterol does not cause heart disease, but statin is still the number one drug prescribed for people with high cholesterol to prevent heart disease…and it’s been shown that statin, in fact, does NOT lower bad LDL, which is the only real bad cholesterol.

The story is becoming very clear.  Green is mightier than thou.

If cholesterol isn’t t blame, what is?

Triglycerides.

Triglycerides are basically fat that travel in your bloodstream to various parts of your body.  And NO, eating (good) fat does not increase your triglycerides.  BUT, guess what does?

CARBS.

That’s right, a high carb diet significantly increases your triglyceride levels which almost always results in insulin resistance and systemic inflammation.  And in relation to cholesterol, high triglycerides are almost always associated with low HDL cholesterols.

High triglycerides levels are a much better indicator of heart disease than LDL cholesterol.

So now that I’ve turned your world upside down, let’s get to the bottom line here…

Cholesterol isn’t the bad guy.  In fact, cholesterol is absolutely essential to a healthy body.  Your body needs cholesterol, so don’t make the mistake of cutting out cholesterol from your diet, like saturated fat from grass fed meat and egg yolks.
Instead of focusing on cholesterol levels, shift your focus on triglycerides.

Lowering your triglyceride levels through proper diet and exercises is the best prevention of heart disease.

Here’s a list of recommendations:

1. Eliminate all refined carbs such as bread, pasta and rice - as well as other grains, legumes and sugar.  Bombarding your body with refined carbs will increase your susceptibility to become insulin resistant and increase your triglycerides while decreasing your HDL cholesterol.

2. Consume enough quality protein such as grass fed red meat, cold water fish, shell fish, poultry and whole eggs.  Eating a diet rich in protein and fat while keeping your carb intake low will significantly lower your triglycerides and increase your HDL.

3. Consume plenty of anti-inflammatory foods such as cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage) celery, onions, spinach.  Herbs and spices such as tumeric, capsaicin (chili peppers), ginger and rosemary all great for reducing inflammation.

4. Consuming good fats such as saturated fat from grass fed meat, ghee, fish oil, coconut oil, avocado and macadamia nuts all help achieve proper balance of omega 3 fatty acids to omega 6 fatty acids which significantly lowers your inflammatory process and decrease triglycerides.

5. Exercise with high intensity (relative to your fitness level).  Your body responds to high intensity exercises by producing high amounts of HDL cholesterol

I’ve listed the sources of these studies below for your reference.  This is undoubtedly a controversial topic, but the facts don’t lie.  There are a lot gullible people out there and you don’t have to be one of them.  Arm yourself with the facts and always question authority.