It is relatively easy to create a healthy heart…why doesn’t everyone do it? Of course, there are many reasons, one being this: For years we’ve had so much flat-out wrong advice from the food industry, magazines, the government, and well-intentioned doctors that it is no wonder people are confused. I’m here to clear all that up. Wish me luck!
Here’s some of the “gold” right up front. The demonized “Saturated Fats” are what nature WANTS us to consume, and what the vegetable oil industry has been touting as “heart-healthy vegetable oils” are exactly the most damaging to our health, particularly when used in cooking, and most especially in deep fat fryers.
In fact, one of the most dangerous jobs in the world is standing over a deep-fat fryer, breathing in the toxic oil vapor. It’s called 4-HNE, and a team of 50+ scientists in Europe have made it their mission to stop the use of these vegetable oils (mostly soy and canola oil) so commonly used, and reused, and reused, becoming more and more toxic each time! They call themselves the “4-HNE Club”, named after the toxic chemical itself. It directly causes plaque buildup in arteries.
Don’t get me wrong, a true, virgin, cold-pressed olive oil is a GREAT thing for lowering your LDL “bad” Cholesterol. Just don’t cook with it. It’s not a saturated fat, and that means it changes its chemical structure under heat. The soy, canola and other veggie oils commonly used are much, much worse. All vegetable oils have an inherent weakness when used in cooking. They “take on” free radicals into their chemical structure because it has “empty seats on the bus”. Saturated fat doesn’t have any open seats. Ah, and here’s the important thing about THAT….stay with me here…
How a primary form of heart disease happens:
- How the Damage is Done: We eat such things as bad veggie oils, which in their worst have been used in cooking (at home, at the restaurant or the factory where the oil was made) or used in making a processed, packaged food. Once ingested, the rancid, toxic oils unleash FREE RADICALS which damage the arterial walls, creating weakness or (BTW, eating inflammatory proteins from GMO’s, gluten, processed foods, and too much meat raised in less-then-healthy conditions in standard commercial “Confined Animal Feeding Operations” can do the same thing).
- The Body sends a Band Aid: Cholesterol and White Blood Cells go to the scene of the arterial damage. Cholesterol comes to bandage the boo-boo in the artery and Macrophages begin to gobble up the excess fats floating around in the area. Ooops….the fats are toxic and kill the macrophages, and they turn into crystalized balls that build up in and block the artery! This is known as arterial plaque, and it’s happening all over the body.
SOME RECOMMENDATIONS TO PREVENT AND REVERSE ARTERIOSCLEROSIS
People have been preached to about the power of pharmaceuticals and surgery, and they may not believe in their own bodies’ healing capabilities. Question that almost unconscious belief! Acupuncture is designed to help the body access and rebalance its OWN healing abilities. And, with your new-found knowledge that the “heart healthy” veggie oils are actually NOT “heart healthy” as claimed for the last 30 years, you must be wondering WHAT should I eat? Here are a few foods and facts to consider:
- Dairy & eggs contain and create cholesterol needed to synthesize all other hormones, including testosterone and estrogen. Your brain is composed of 60% cholesterol. So, eat eggs, organic please. You need the good cholesterol. Also, for many reasons, goat and sheep dairy are considerably healthier than cows. For one, cows are big animals, and they are kept pregnant making even organic milk contain too much estrodiol (a form of estrogen) for human consumption.
- Other cholesterol sources are Red Meat and Processed Chocolates which have longer-chained, more complex-difficult-to-digest molecules (Palmitic C16:0 and Stearic C18:0 which becomes Oleic (C18:1). You CAN get too much of the “bad” kind from the red meat. We recommend organic and smaller portions than most people consume. More benefits of organic: Contains more nutrition, and grass-fed cows have HIGHER saturated stearic acid (does not cause arterial damage) content than non-grass-fed.
- RAW Chocolate: 25% Stearic Acid (a Saturated fat). Buy raw cocao nibs …or Xocai Healthy Chocolate (which we carry at the clinic).
- A recent study of men who consumed 19 grams/day stearic acid for 4 weeks showed cholesterol-lowering effects.
- One of the longest-lived people known, 121-yr old Jeanne Calment from France, ate 2 pounds of chocolate per week.
- A 2011 Harvard study researched previous studies and drew significant conclusions about the positive effects of raw cacao. Conclusions included that raw cacao lowers LDL (bad cholesterol), raises HDL (good cholesterol), lowers blood pressure, and improves the body’s own insulin usage.
- Lower Cholesterol and clear arterial plaque by eating coconut, raw cacao, eggplant, okra, avocado and olive oil. Cook exclusively with a fully-saturated oil such as Coconut or butter. (Ghee is great!) Check out this rabbit study showing the cholesterol lowering effects of eggplant.
- LDL, the “Bad” Cholesterol
- Recent clinical trials show LDL levels to be poor predictors of heart attack risk. Measurement of the C-Reactive Protein (heart inflammatory marker) is a better predictor. Because the conventional diagnosis for several decades thought cholesterol was a good predictor, millions of people are on steroidal meds to lower that number. It’s simply an out-moded idea.
- Eat to lower C-Reactive Protein: A small handful of macadamia nuts; sea buckthorn; dairy (goat or sheep is best), fish and animal fat, recommend grass fed if eating cows.
What will YOU do differently, now that you know about Fats and the effects on your Heart? We hope you’ll avoid the French fries and other toxic-laden vegetable oils. We hope you’ll begin eating more coconut oil, goat and sheep dairy, and avocados, eggplants, okra and raw cacao. Take at least one or two ideas from this article and put them into practice. You’ll have a healthier heart for it!
With Warm Hearts,
Dr. David and Deb Martin
And all the Providers at Lotus Blossom Clinic
239-277-1399
Serving the Greater Fort Myers area with Chinese Medicine, Food Healing Science, Multiple modalities of Massage, Energy Work, Natural Esthetics/Facials, Emotional & Breakthrough Coaching.