FACT SHEETS

ELEVATED BLOOD CHOLESTEROL

One of the risk factors associated with heart disease is elevated blood cholesterol levels, which, when it's all boiled down is a symptom of a body under stress and an under-stimulated elimination system. If the body can't get rid of the cholesterol that is excess to it's requirements, then the level builds up and may be deposited within the arteries of the heart.

Cholesterol is a white waxy substance. 70% of the cholesterol in our bodies is produced in the liver from what ever food we eat, carbohydrates as well as fats. The other 30% is taken into the digestive system, principally in foods containing saturated fat.

The body needs it in optimal amounts for the efficient operation of cell membranes. However, if there is too much in the system and the body can't get rid of it is deposited on the walls of heart arteries. The build up reduces the efficiency of the ability of the heart to pump blood around your body and increases blood pressure.

The level of cholesterol in your body depends on a range of factors, among them:

your exercise habits
your stress level
your diet, particularly a diet too high in fat and starch and too low in fibre
your elimination system
your weight
insufficient vitamin C

To simply focus on the intake side of the equation is to miss the point.

To take a statin to lower it also misses the point. Elevated levels of cholesterol are not due to a lack of statins. Taking them is just another example of medical-pharmaceutical hoax that thinks its a smart idea to mask the symptoms of a body system dysfunction with a pill, instead of encouraging people to make the lifestyle changes needed to restore the cholesterol management system to good function.

Cholesterol is one of several categories of blood lipids and is transported in the blood stream by other blood lipids of which there are three principal types:

•    low density lipoprotein (LDL) and
•    high density lipoprotein (HDL)
•    triglycerides (more about them later)

The LDL carries cholesterol into cells. When there is a high concentration (over 4mmol/l) of LDL in the blood (bad), there is a greater chance that cholesterol will be added to the heart artery wall.

The HDL carries cholesterol away from cells. HDL acts as a cholesterol acceptor, removing cholesterol from the arteries and transporting it back to the liver. From the liver the cholesterol is eliminated through the bile duct and then the bowel. With a low fibre diet, the cholesterol is re-absorbed by the bowel and returns to the liver. With a high in fibre diet there is a greater likelihood that the cholesterol will be eliminated from the body.

Atheriosclerosis occurs when there is insufficient HDL to remove the cholesterol deposited in the arterial wall by the LDL.

CHOLESTEROL SCREENING

A blood analysis of cholesterol level is usually a screening of the blood for both HDL and LDL. A score over 5.5mmol/l is usually an indication that the concentration of the LDL (bad) is too high. A pathology sample can then be done to determine whether this is the case. In some cases it is a higher than normal concentration of HDL (good) which has elevated the total cholesterol result, in which case you're OK.

THE USUAL TREATMENT

The most common treatment in Australia is to take a tablet which masks the symptoms. In fact cholesterol and triglyceride lowering tablets have reached the top of the pharmaceutical benefits list. It is a strange situation of a government to subsidize a treatment in view of the fact that Nathan Pritikin lowered his from 7.7mm/l to 2.5mm/l through diet and exercise!

But it's not the only move, because taking the tablet does not treat the causes of the dysfunction. You know that, because an elevated level of cholesterol is not caused by a lack of Lipitor!

And, of course one must also keep in mind Lao Tzu's dictum that big problems could have been solved easily when they were small problems. If your cholesterol is mildly elevated, start doing things now to stop it getting more elevated in the future.

If you have to keep on with the tablet you can be pretty sure your lifestyle hasn't changed sufficiently to clean up the bad health habits that started the dysfunction off in the first place.

LOWERING CHOLESTEROL

To lower the level of LDL in your blood stream (and your body) stimulate the elimination system:

•	Eat a high fibre diet. I recommend a high fibre supplement composed of psyllium husk and raw oat bran.

•	Get plenty of regular and systematic aerobic exercise — 5–7 times a week, for at least 40 minutes, with your heart rate over 130 BPM. People who do this usually have low cholesterol levels.

•	Manage stress better. We tend to produce more cholesterol when we're stressed.

•	Eat from the top of the hourglass. Most of the cholesterol in the body is made by your own liver. By cutting back on starches and fats you produce less cholesterol.

	Increase your intake of vitamin C

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Stimulate the elimination system with exercise

Develop a high density exercise routine.

Exercise has a two-fold benefit for people with high cholesterol levels. It stimulates the elimination system and as an effective de-stressing agent.

Exercise with vigor, continuously for 40 minutes each day. Start running, or swimming get on the stepper or climber, get a good sweat up. Your pulse rate should be over 130 for most of the time you are exercising. Ambling around the block, or walking around your office for ten minutes three times a day won't have much effect.

The vigorous physical activity will burn off the chemicals that over-stimulate the sympathetic nervous system. This will help to de-stress your body.

Use Herbs as a way of measuring the time and intensity of your aerobic workouts. You'll need a copy of our aerobic activity diary to know what we're talking about. You'll need 1,000 or more herbs a week to keep yourself in great shape.

Stimulate the elimination system with a high fibre diet

Eat a high fibre diet. The excess cholesterol which enters the stomach through the bile duct combines with the fibre and goes down the drain. I recommend a high fibre supplement. That means adding psyllium husk and/or raw oat bran to your diet. It means plenty of vegetables and fruit.

White bread, pasta and rice are not high enough in fibre to do the trick.

The best way I've found to introduce the high fibre supplement into my diet is putting it in with the thickshake from heaven.

Eat foods which stimulate the liver back into normal function, particularly celery, carrot and parsley.

Here is the recipe for the thick shake from heaven:

•	place into your blender a selection of fresh fruit and vegetables - carrot, parsley, celery, cucumber, broccoli, pear, apple, orange …

•	add some Fit And Healthy High Fibre Supplement (psyllium husk, raw oat bran, lecithin and flaxseed) to get yourself moving quicker on the inside and help lower your cholesterol level

•	add a couple of heaped table spoons of whey protein from dairy or soy sources.

•	add water or fresh juice.

If you use these as meals (and I can guarantee that each one is a decent meal when you take into account the amount of fruit and vegetable), you'll soon find yourself losing weight. You're cholesterol level will decline.

Read Sandra Cabot's books on liver cleansing — The Liver Cleansing Diet and The Healthy Liver and Bowel Book.

Meditate

Meditate on a daily basis to de-stress your body by stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system. When you do this muscles relax and blood vessels dilate to the very core of your body. Blood pressure comes down. Adrenal cortex activity is reduced. Cholesterol production is reduced.

Attain and maintain your ideal weight.

Eat from the top of the Hourglass Eating Program (coming soon). You'll become thinner. Being fat, of course, is a symptom of an under-stimulated elimination system.

Eat the right food at the right time.

Eat a decent diet comprised of low density carbohydrates, ie vegetables and fruit, (particularly those you don't have to cook to eat) and lean protein, especially fish. If you eat this way the fat will look after itself. You need to have a high fibre supplement to keep things moving on the inside.

Eat the right amount of food.

For instance half a dozen slices of bread each day can add and extra 1000 calories to your food intake. Far from doing you good, too much of some of the foods you've been told to eat more of are making you fatter. The same goes for pasta. Your fat guts may well be a starch guts.

Stop eating the wrong food and the wrong time.

Take your focus away from the foods at the bottom of the hourglass. If you eat from the bottom of the Hourglass you'll become fatter.

Avoid:

•	the high density carbohydrates — especially white flour-based products (bread, pasta and breakfast cereals) white rice, potato ... The great tendency is to eat too much of these starches. Once they enter the body they are quickly converted into sugar. Sooner or later, and if you eat too much, they turn into fat.

•	sugar — soft drinks, licorice, lollies

•	Fat and starch — pizza, chips, pasta (when it's labelled carbonara) dry biscuits, bead and butter (and peanut butter

•	Fat and sugar — ice cream, chocolate, fudge

•	sugar and starch — most of the popular packaged breakfast cereals (which can contain over 40% raw sugar)

•	fat, sugar and starch — biscuits, cake, pastries ...

Take a holiday that involves at least 21 days away from home

10.

Use up all your accrued annual leave and long service leave and dedicate the time to getting fit.

11.

Undertake a course of personal development and counseling to get your mind back focused on your Self and your health

TRIGLYCERIDES

The triglycerides are another form of lipoprotein. High triglyceride levels tend to go with low HDL levels and as such pose a risk to cardio-vascular dysfunction. Triglyceride levels provide an indication of how well the body's fat storage mechanism is working. High levels are symptomatic of a dysfunctional elimination system, a liver that's not working properly. It is stimulated by genetic predisposition, thyroid dysfunction, a high fat (particularly trans-fatty acid) diet, obesity, diabetes, alcohol and lack of vigorous physical activity.

A good score would be less than 4.0 (mmol/l).

To reduce your triglyceride levels, eat according to the Hourglass eating program.

Miller Health

7 Salvado Place, Stirling (Canberra) ACT 2611 Australia

(02) 6288 7703