We’ve been told for years that high cholesterol causes heart attacks, fat, particularly saturated fat, is the enemy so we should eat a low or no fat diet and that salt raises blood pressure.
What did we do? We cut nutritious eggs completely out of our diets; stopped using heart-healthy saturated fats like organic, pasture butter, coconut oil, ghee, grass-fed meat and organic, full fat dairy and replaced them with fake fats like margarine and unhealthy, man-made oils; and eliminated unprocessed, natural salt and replaced them with “low fat” packaged, processed diet foods loaded with sugar and preservatives.
So are these really lies? Well, see what you think:
1. Here is an article from the Journal of the American Medical Association itself that concludes:
“Our findings do not support the hypothesis that hypercholesterolemia or low HDL-C are important risk factors for all-cause mortality, coronary heart disease mortality, or hospitalization for myocardial infarction or unstable angina in this cohort of persons older than 70 years.”
Hmmm, makes you wonder why doctors are still pushing statins and telling us all to lower our cholesterol. What we really should pay attention to is what actually causes cholesterol to build up in our arteries and that is inflammation.
What about saturated fat and heart disease? This study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concludes:
“A meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studies showed that there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD or CVD.”
So what’s the problem with oils like canola, corn and vegetable oils? These are polyunsaturated fats which are highly unstable and oxidize easily in the body (if they haven’t already oxidized during processing or by light exposure while sitting on the grocery store shelf). These oxidized fats cause inflammation and mutation in cells. They are not stable for cooking as saturated fats are.
Should we swap out sugary breakfast cereal for eggs cooked in butter or coconut oil? Well even WebMd says that eggs are no longer a nutritional no-no!
Finally, we’ve been told forever that salt raises blood pressure, which increases the risk of heart problems. Well if it’s common, processed, white table salt, there may be some truth to that as it is sodium chloride and anti-caking chemicals. And if you eat a lot of processed, packaged foods which are loaded with sodium, that’s definitely true. However, natural, unprocessed salts contain a full complement of minerals we need for health that balance out the sodium-potassium ratio. And recent studies also reveal that it’s too much sugar that raises blood pressure, as well as triglycerides and cholesterol, not salt!
One last thing that most of us are not aware of. According to research the real cause of heart problems is an imbalance between the sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (healing, replenishing) nervous system and something as basic as chiropractic care can be an extremely beneficial tool for nurturing, balancing and protecting the parasympathetic system.
So how many of these lies are compromising your good health?
About the author:
Ann Musico is a holistic health coach and wholeness advocate who works with women of all ages to empower them to exemplify lives of vibrant health and wholeness – spirit, soul and body – in a way that is simple and effective, in order to be a positive influence in their world. Her focus is on nutrition, detox and healthy, long term weight loss because she believes those areas are most often the root cause of so many other problems. And she addresses them not only from the physical but also the spirit and soul as well, which are often overlooked. Learn more at Three Dimensional Vitality. And be sure to follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest for daily inspiration and motivation!
Sources for this article include:
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=381733
http://www.sott.net/article/242516-Heart-surgeon-speaks-out-on-what-really-causes-heart-disease
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/early/2010/01/13/ajcn.2009.27725.abstract
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131111122105.htm
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/good-eggs-for-nutrition-theyre-hard-to-beat
http://www.clinicaltrialsmagazine.com/sugar-and-hypertension/
http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/real-salt-celtic-salt-and-himalayan-salt
http://www.sott.net/article/290219-The-real-cause-of-heart-disease-parasympathetic-nervous-system-deficiency
The 2nd edition of her book, Today's the Day Seven Week Fitness Plan is now available. Learn more about Ann, her coaching, and the many free resources she offers at her website: http://www.threedimensionalvitality.com
