Fiona
Cholesterol – one number to indicate health – maybe not…..
There is one number apparently more than others which appears to be treated as most important when measuring our level of health – our cholesterol number. I often hear comments like “I am healthy because I have no or low cholesterol”. I find it is often used as an excuse to avoid changing unhealthy habits. People making these comments are often quite overweight or have other health problems but think they are healthy because of their cholesterol number!
- I am healthy – the Doctor told me I don’t have cholesterol!
I recently saw a BBC documentary where a woman who was morbidly obese (over 150kg) said “I’m OK, my health has not been affected by my weight – my cholesterol is normal”. Therefore, according to her, she didn’t need to do anything! This rang alarm bells for me – how many people believe it?
Cholesterol is essential in the body, it makes hormones, insulates neurons, is part of the structure of every cell in the body, produces bile to digest fats, helps metabolise important fat soluble vitamins such as Vitamin D. (Read my previous posts about cholesterol for more information).
There are two main types of cholesterol that can cause you problems, oxidised cholesterol and certain types of LDLs.
Your weight, waist size, diet, blood sugar levels and levels of inflammation all play a big factor in whether or not you have these types of damaging cholesterol. What also matters is how you feel, are you energised, happy or tired, grumpy and “not quite right”? Don’t let a number stop you from listening to your body!
Diets high in carbohydrates (confectionary, refined foods and grains eg. sweets, crackers, bread, pasta) lead to inflammation. It is important to eat a diet with adequate protein, fat and lots of colourful vegetables for good health. Don’t avoid fat and don’t avoid eggs!
For more information or personalised advice on a healthy diet contact us on (02) 47 222 111 at the Informed Health Nutritional Wellbeing Centre or www.informedhealth.com.au.
Weight loss – is it simply about will power?
Weight loss is not simply about energy in/energy out, this works for some people but not for the vast majority who either don’t achieve their weight loss goals or put it all back on plus more.
Did you know that your food can be causing you to gain weight or stopping you from losing weight, even if you have a healthy diet and do not overeat? You might often feel tired or moody after a meal or be suffering tummy troubles but not sure what the culprit is.
It may be food intolerances otherwise known as food allergies! Over time; food intolerances damage your digestive system causing inflammation and an inability to absorb essential vitamins and minerals leading to weight gain, fatigue, depression, anxiety, stress, hormonal issues, more allergies, thyroid problems and much more.
It also can lead to a reduction the hormones and neurotransmitters in your brain such as serotonin, dopamine and melatonin. These are required to make you happy, motivated and help you to sleep well. If you are low in any of these, it will make it very tough for you to lose weight. It is not your fault, you are not lazy, and it is not about “will power”!
If you are eating right foods for you in the right balance and you have a healthy functioning digestive system. Your body will easily able to make these important hormones and neurotransmitters so that you are naturally energised, motivated and happy! If you are having trouble losing weight, investigate intolerances; as identifying these; will lead you on the path to long term successful weight loss and good health, rather than just jumping back on the will power merry go round!
For help with food allergies/intolerances – give us a call at the Informed Health Nutritional Wellbeing Centre on (02) 47 222 111 or go here for more information or to book online.
Earth Angels
Last week I was fascinated and touched by the story of “The Angel of the Gap”, Don Ritchie. He passed away at 85 years old, after many years of living near the Gap, a beautiful cliff top place in Watsons Bay in Sydney that is unfortunately also a place where people go at their darkest moment to end their lives. It is reported that he saved hundreds of people by holding out a hand of help, inviting them back to his home for a cuppa. What an inspiring story, was it an accident that he lived there? I don’t think so.
Sometimes in life we get so caught up in our “stuff”, that we don’t notice the angels who are walking amongst us. Some of these people are well known figures in history such as Mother Theresa but many are overlooked. It is the school kid at the checkout in the supermarket telling you excitedly about his plans for the future, the lady sitting next to you at the bus stop who tells you her inspiring story, the guy at the pub who gives you some hope, the person who looked at you and smiled on the street, the song that just started playing on the radio and touched your heart or the colleague who listens to you when you are having a bad day.
I recently saw a post on facebook, someone who was annoyed at being “matched up” by people to help her find a partner because God was going to arrange this for her, she didn’t need man to butt in. I wonder how many people are out there waiting for their perfect match to arrive gift wrapped as part of a lighting bolt! I think we need to remember to “get out of our own heads” occasionally, look up, get a breath of fresh air and see what is right in front of you. Opportunities for “magic” are happening all the time, you just need to look for them.
Regardless of your religious beliefs or lack thereof, if you look for it in this life, there is much beauty. Don’t just look for proof that the world is all bad, if that is what you look for that is exactly what you will find; and unfortunately bad news sells so it is what you will see from most media outlets, most of the time. In the famous words of Mahatma Gandhi “you must be the change you want to see in the world“. You may never see the results of what you do as clearly as talking someone down from a cliff, it doesn’t mean that you cannot profoundly change somebody’s life for the better, just by being present with them in some small way!
Stress Less Seminar
Overwhelmed, exhausted and tired???
Living on energy drinks or coffee?
Why is it important to Stress Less and why is it so difficult to just relax????
What is stress doing to your health? You will be surprised!!
What can you do about it? Come and find out at our:
FREE STRESS LESS SEMINAR
Presented by: Informed Health Nutritional Wellbeing Centre
Everyone is welcome!
Book Now: (02) 4722 2111
Details:
When: Tuesday, 8 May 2012, 7.30pm
Where: Connect Fitness (Building L) Studio 1 (Group Fitness Room), UWS Kingswood Campus, Second Ave, Kingswood NSW 2747
What gets in the way of healing?
Sitting here on a Sunday afternoon watching and listening to a storm come over my house, glad to be inside and safe. I find myself reflecting on my experience of listening to many clients and hearing their stories and how vastly different but still somehow similar these stories are. It is such a brave thing, to go and tell your story and reach out for help. This takes courage, apparently the word courage came from the word cor which means heart. In its original definition, courage is defined as “to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart”.
In this world where everyone is striving for perfection, where we have to have the best job, the best marriage, fantastically well adjusted kids, a beautiful home, a perfect body, the list goes on…………. It is really hard to admit that you don’t “have it all together”.
I have observed that one of the main things that gets in the way of healing, is shame. The feelings of I am not worthy of this, I am not good enough. It is so common to see the belief that I will be worthy when I fit into that size 10 dress or when I get married or when I have this or that job. I will go and join in on life when I and perfect, until then I will stay on the sidelines and not take any risks!
Well guess what? You will never be perfect, I will never be perfect – this “outside” perfection that we are seeking does not exist. This is not a dress rehearsal – this is your life! You are worthy of love and connection now, regardless of what you have or haven’t done. Worthiness has NO pre-requisitves.
When you feel shame, you think you are not worthy and tend to spend time pleasing, perfecting and performing which often means saying yes when you mean no, this is so exhausting that you also end up saying no when you want to say yes and missing out on the things in life that you want to do. This also leads to feeling resentful and angry towards the people around you.
I have recently discovered the work of Brene Brown who has studied the dark emotions that get in the way of leading a fuller life. In her studies she has found that the people who have a strong sense of love and belonging and connection in their lives believe they are worthy of it.
These are not people who are perfect or people who make no mistakes, these people are connected as a result of being willing to let go of who they thought they should or who the world thought they should be in order to be who they are. These people are willing to share themselves, they fully embrace vulnerability and believe that what makes you vulnerable makes you beautiful.
When you go to take a forward step in your life towards healing, towards doing something new, shame is the gremlin that says, “no, you can’t do this you are not good enough”. Shame drives two trains of thought: never good enough and who do you think you are? Brene explains that shame is not guilt, shame is a focus on self guilt is a focus on behaviour. Shame is I am bad, guilt is I did something bad.
Shame, not surprisingly, is highly correlated with addiction, depression, violence, aggression, bullying, suicide, eating disorders and much more.
Brene explains the differences in men and women. Shame feels the same for men and women but is organised differently. Women aim to do it all do it perfectly and never let them see you sweat, this is controlled by a web of unobtainable competing confliciting expectations of what we should be. In men the main aim is to not ever be perceived as weak. The underlying fear is is we are “found out” we will lose connection.
Shame is supported by secrecy, silcence and judgement. The antidote to shame is empathy, the two most powerful words are “me too”. Yes the thing we all have in common is that we all experience fear and shame.
Although often perceived as weak, vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.
Vulnerability is our most accurate measurement of courage. To be vulnerable to let ourselves be seen to be honest. Vulnerability is out path back to each other as human beings.
I have learned from Brene’s talks and book that:
Men and women with high levels of resilience have these things in common:
- Physical Awareness: they recognise a physical awareness that they are feeling shame and what triggered it.
- Critical Awareness: they question how realistic are the expectations and messages that others put on us or we put on ourselves.
- Reach out: they are willing to breathe through it and talk about it.
- Speak shame: shame cannot hold on when you name it (using the word and talking about the emotion). The opposite of experiencing shame is experiencing emphathy. Shame cannot survive empathy.
Show some emphathy for yourselves and others, embrace your imperfections and tell the story of who you are with your whole heart. Shameful silence is what gets in the way of healing. Knowing that we are all flawed, and we all experience these emotions is what brings us together and what brings us healing.
I highly recommend you read Brene Brown’s book The Gifts of Imperfection. I also recommend that you watch these online talks by Brene:
Brené Brown, The Power of Vulnerability, TED Talk
Cholesterol, what you need to know – Part 5
Fats and Oils
Many people in their attempts to eat a low fat diet are not eating enough essential oils. Every cell in your body requires essential oils (omega 3), especially your brain. These omega 3s are also anti-inflammatory – all disease processes are inflammatory so it is very important to consume anti-inflammatory foods. They are called essential fatty acids because the body cannot make them – you must include them in your diet!
Ways to include healthy fats in the diet
The main essential fat you need in the diet is omega 3 fatty acids - available in fresh fish (eg mackerel, salmon, herring), cold pressed extra virgin olive oil, raw unsalted nuts and seeds (walnuts, pecans, pepitas etc), tahini and avocado. Add extra virgin cold pressed olive oil to your salads and vegetables (it makes a lovely salad dressing – you can also add fresh lemon or tahini and basil).
For cooking use cold pressed extra virgin olive oil; don’t heat it up just coat the food with it before you place the food into pan. Be careful, olive oil has a low burning point and will flame easily at high temperatures. Coconut oil is also better for cooking at high temperatures (food will taste like coconut). Butter is excellent for cooking too (real unsalted block butter).
Plant sterols can lower cholesterol levels
They are found naturally in plant foods including nuts, seeds, legumes (peas, beans, lentils), fruit and vegetables. Some margarine has concentrated plant sterols added. Margarines enriched with plant sterols may help lower LDL cholesterol but do not treat the cause of the elevated cholesterol. They also often contain trans fats and other unnatural chemicals that can cause inflammation so are not a good long term solution. These sterol margarines only affect cholesterol absorption from the diet; they have no effect on the cholesterol your body makes. Remember it is not the cholesterol number that matters, it is the oxidised cholesterol – anything that increases inflammation will cause oxidation.
Eggs
Eggs are very nutritious and should be part of a healthy balanced diet. They contain good quality protein and omega-3, plus 10 vitamins and minerals. Boiled or poached is best, always cook eggs at a low temperature. The dietary cholesterol in eggs has no effect on blood cholesterol.
Are you taking cholesterol lowering medication?
Most cholesterol lowering medications affect only the cholesterol you make and therefore have no effect on the cholesterol that you eat. It is important to note that high cholesterol is not caused by a deficiency in statin drugs! They do not address the cause of the inflammation which is the real concern in cardiovascular disease.
Did you know that some commonly prescribed cholesterol medications may cause depletion of co-enzyme Q10 in the body? Co-enzyme Q10 is essential to cardiovascular health, it is a very important antioxidant for the heart (remember you need antioxidants to stop your body from making oxidised HDL’s LDL’s (the dangerous cholesterol). The highest concentrations are found in the heart where its action is vital to healthy functioning heart muscle tissues. Taking a co-enzyme Q10 supplement can:
- Help maintain the body’s co-enzyme Q10 levels
- Promote cardiovascular health
- Maintain energy levels
- Reduce muscle pain & weakness (common side-effect of statins due to depletion of co-enzyme Q10).
Go back to part 1
Go back to part 2
Go back to part 3
Go back to part 4
For more information or personalised advice on a healthy diet contact Fiona or Rachel on (02) 47 222 111 or www.informedhealth.com.au
References:
Eddey Stephen. Cardiovascular Disease: The best treatment options, 2011. Health Schools Australia, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
Many references and studies are available at : http://www.dietdoctor.com/science
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242516-Heart-Surgeon-Speaks-Out-On-What-Really-Causes-Heart-Disease
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/saturated-fat-healthy/#axzz24cabyjEN
Cholesterol, what you need to know – Part 4
More recommendations for Diet and Lifestyle:
- Include foods in your diet that are rich in soluble fibre, such as low starch salad type vegetables (eg raw beetroot, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini), raw unsalted nuts and seeds (eg walnuts, almonds, pecans, pepitas, sunflower seeds). Note: always increase water consumption with increased fibre.
- Cease alcohol consumption or reduce your alcohol intake to no more than one drink per day, ensuring you have 2 or 3 alcohol free days each week. Avoid binge drinking.
- Don’t smoke, it increases inflammation and artery damage causing more cholesterol to be produced by the body to act as a “bandaid”.
- Exercise regularly (for example, at least 30 minutes of brisk walking daily – you must get puffed)! If you don’t know what exercise you should be doing talk to a qualified Personal Trainer to get the right advice for you.
- Avoid fried foods, especially deep fried foods, battered food, pies, sausage rolls, hot dogs, spring rolls etc.
- Avoid sugar (confectionary, lollies, cakes, muffins, pastries, chocolate, sweets, sweet drinks etc).
- Avoid consumption trans-fatty acids/hydrogenated oils (including margarine and other processed foods) and confectionary (sometimes listed as hydrogenated oil/fat on the label).
- Reduce salt (labelled as sodium in packaged foods). Foods are considered to be low in sodium if they contain 120mg or less per 100g. Foods with more than 500mg per 100g of sodium are considered to be high in salt.
- Reduce caffeinated and sugary drinks: coffee, tea, soft drinks, milk drinks and energy drinks.
- Drink dandelion coffee/tea (it is liver friendly) and other herbal teas such as chamomile.
- Drink green tea an antioxidant (no milk or sugar) in moderation (it still contains caffeine).
- Eat a serving of berries each day 1/3 to 1/2 cup depending on the size of the berry (bilberry, blueberries, cranberry, strawberries etc) – high in bioflavonoids and antioxidants. Antioxidants are extremely important because they stop the LDLs from become oxidised and therefore damaging to your body.
- Add fresh garlic to meals.
- Do not skip meals, eat regular meals. Compared to a regular meal pattern an irregular meal pattern has been shown cause blood sugar and blood cholesterol problems.
- Drink plenty of water.
- Relax: relaxation has been shown to reduce cardiovascular risk factors.
- Any food allergies/intolerances or other gut problems such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome must be identified and managed properly. These allergies and gut problems cause inflammation and over stimulate the immune system which will ultimately lead toward chronic diseases like heart disease. It is best to enlist the support of health professionals who specialise in this area (this is one of our specialties at the Informed Health Nutritional Wellbeing Centre).
Go back to part 1
Go back to part 2
Go back to part 3
Go to part 5
For more information or personalised advice on a healthy diet contact Fiona or Rachel on (02) 47 222 111 or www.informedhealth.com.au
References:
Eddey Stephen. Cardiovascular Disease: The best treatment options, 2011. Health Schools Australia, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
Many references and studies are available at : http://www.dietdoctor.com/science
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242516-Heart-Surgeon-Speaks-Out-On-What-Really-Causes-Heart-Disease
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/saturated-fat-healthy/#axzz24cabyjEN
Cholesterol, what you need to know – Part 3
Recommendations for Diet and Lifestyle:
The most important thing you can do to prevent atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease is to maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle, with the goal of reducing your weight, reducing your triglycerides, reducing inflammation and balancing blood sugar levels. It is very important to lose any excess body fat, especially visceral (abdominal) fat around the organs, it contributes to raised blood triglycerides and oxidised cholesterol.
Suggestions include:
- Increase the amount and variety vegetables you have each day, especially leafy greens. Eat vegetables of all colours to ensure you are eating plenty of antioxidants. Antioxidants are essential to stop the LDL and HDL cholesterol from oxidising.
- Avoid fruit juice completely. Eat small amounts of in season fruit, no more than one serving per day. Ideally only a couple of times a week.
- Remove highly processed carbohydrates (sugar, flour) and all of the products made from them, bread, pasta, cakes, muffins, crackers, biscuits, crisps, chocolate, confectionary etc from your diet completely. If you do have grains at all, it is best to avoid gluten containing grains (wheat, rye, barley and oats). Have a small amount of rice or quinoa. In the western world our overconsumption of grains as a whole is causing a huge amount of inflammation and disease and is a big contributer to diabetes and heart disease.
- Choose grass fed/finished beef. Avoid grain fed meat, grain is fed to cows to fatten them up, it create fatty plaques (essentially to create heart disease – the same effect that eating grains has for us)! These fatty plaques make the meat soft and tasty but also very unhealthy to eat.
- Limit poor quality deli meats that include lots of questionable ingredients, including sausages and salami, and choose meats like free range turkey, chicken, or meat carved off a whole roast such as ham off the bone or roast lamb, roast pork where you know exactly what you are eating.
- Have fresh fish at least twice a week, eat the skin and the fat under it – these are good fats.
Use real butter (unsalted block butter). You can also use coconut oil. avocado and cold pressed extra virgin olive oil. Avoid margarine or other soft butter mixes. The best oils for cooking are coconut oil or butter.
Go back to part 1
Go back to part 2
Go to part 4 for more diet and lifestyle tips
For more information or personalised advice on a healthy diet contact Fiona or Rachel on (02) 47 222 111 or www.informedhealth.com.au
References:
Eddey Stephen. Cardiovascular Disease: The best treatment options, 2011. Health Schools Australia, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
Many references and studies are available at : http://www.dietdoctor.com/science
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242516-Heart-Surgeon-Speaks-Out-On-What-Really-Causes-Heart-Disease
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/saturated-fat-healthy/#axzz24cabyjEN
Cholesterol, what you need to know – Part 2
I previously discussed saturated fat under a separate post but think it is important to repeat here:
Saturated fat – finally the truth!
There are three main kinds of saturated fats. Short chain (eg butter) – which is healthy, butter actually breaks down to butyric acid in the body and this is colon protective. (The soluble fibre in an apple also breaks down in to butyric acid, which is also why apples are colon protective). Medium chain (eg coconut oil) – this is also healthy. It is long chain saturated fats that are damaging to the body. The main foods that cause heart disease are refined sugars including grains. These foods, especially if combined with a low fat diet will be stored as long chain saturated fatty acids in the body, this is what will clog up your arteries and cause atherosclerosis.
Highly refined carbohydrates (sugar, flour and all of the products made from them) over stimulate the immune system and cause inflammation.
Dr Dwight Lundell, a heart surgeon and author of The Cure for Heart Disease and The Great Cholesterol Lie explains how this happens:
“Imagine spilling syrup on your keyboard and you have a visual of what occurs inside the cell. When we consume refined carbohydrates such as sugar, blood sugar rises rapidly. In response, your pancreas secretes insulin whose primary purpose is to drive sugar into each cell where it is stored for energy. If the cell is full and does not need glucose, it is rejected to avoid extra sugar gumming up the works. When your full cells reject the extra glucose, blood sugar rises producing more insulin and the glucose converts to stored fat.”
This is usually visceral fat which is the dangerous fat that covers your abdominal organs and leads to a fatty liver.
What does all this have to do with inflammation?
Dr Lundell explains “blood sugar is controlled in a very narrow range. Extra sugar molecules attach to a variety of proteins that in turn injure the blood vessel wall. This repeated injury to the blood vessel wall sets off inflammation. When you spike your blood sugar level several times a day, every day, it is exactly like taking sandpaper to the inside of your delicate blood vessels.
To make matters worse, the excess weight you are carrying from eating these foods creates overloaded fat cells that pour out large quantities of pro-inflammatory chemicals that add to the injury caused by having high blood sugar.
Simply stated, without inflammation being present in the body, there is no way that cholesterol would accumulate in the wall of the blood vessel and cause heart disease and strokes. Without inflammation, cholesterol would move freely throughout the body as nature intended. It is inflammation that causes cholesterol to become trapped.”
The other issue is excess consumption of omega-6 vegetable oils such as soybean, corn and sunflower that are found in many processed foods. Omega 6 are also important for the functioning of the body but most people over consume omega 6 and under consume omega 3 fats which puts everything out of balance in the body and contributes to inflammation.
Other causes of inflammation can be food allergies/intolerances, parasites, bacteria, stress, viruses, exposure to chemicals including what you put on your skin.
Go back to part 1
Go to part 3
For more information or personalised advice on a healthy diet contact Fiona or Rachel on (02) 47 222 111 or www.informedhealth.com.au
References:
Eddey Stephen. Cardiovascular Disease: The best treatment options, 2011. Health Schools Australia, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
Many references and studies are available at : http://www.dietdoctor.com/science
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242516-Heart-Surgeon-Speaks-Out-On-What-Really-Causes-Heart-Disease
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/saturated-fat-healthy/#axzz24cabyjEN
Saturated fat – good or bad?
Saturated fat – finally the truth!
There are three main kinds of saturated fats:
- Short chain saturated fats (eg butter) – which is healthy, butter actually breaks down to butyric acid in the body and this is colon protective. (The soluble fibre in an apple also breaks down in to butyric acid, which is also why apples are colon protective).
- Medium chain saturated fats (eg coconut oil) – this is also healthy.
- Long chain saturated fats ARE damaging to the body.
The main foods that cause heart disease are refined sugars including grains. These foods, especially if combined with a low fat diet will break down into long chain saturated fatty acids in the body, this is what will clog up your arteries and cause atherosclerosis.
In summary
- Butter is good (unsalted block butter), stay away from soft mixed butters and margarine.
- Coconut and coconut oil is good.
- Grains and other refined carbohydrate foods create long chain saturated fats, this is the kind that causes heart disease so these foods should be avoided!
For more information or personalised advice on a healthy diet contact Fiona or Rachel on (02) 47 222 111 or www.informedhealth.com.au
Learn more about cholesterol
References:
Eddey Stephen. Cardiovascular Disease: The best treatment options, 2011. Health Schools Australia, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
Many references and studies are available at : http://www.dietdoctor.com/science
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242516-Heart-Surgeon-Speaks-Out-On-What-Really-Causes-Heart-Disease
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/saturated-fat-healthy/#axzz24cabyjEN
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