Expert Contributor
WELL-KNOWN FACT - Cardiovascular Disease Kills One Woman Every 80 Seconds LITTLE-KNOWN FACT - That it’s Preventable 80% of the Time! By Dr. Brandy Zachary, DC, AFMCP with Body Love Cafe
Cholesterol is not the enemy. It seems like it would be since cholesterol is a component of atherosclerosis - plaquing that lines the arterial walls leading to coronary artery disease, heart attacks and stroke events. When there is damage to the artery, your body grabs cholesterol, white blood cells, and calcium and lays down a layer of plaque. Like a handyman applying spackling to a wall. The key is to stop or prevent the damage - cholesterol is just part of the “patch up” spackling.
in our body. It’s a precursor to Vitamin D, needed for healthy bones, nervous system function and essential to the formation of bile salts which help us digest fat from our diet. It’s also essential to the production of serotonin, our “feel-good” hormone for our brain. Low levels of cholesterol are linked to depression and aggression. Having too little cholesterol or a diet void of fat can be a problem! We teach this in detail at our free Heart Health class on March 4th at 6:30 pm, plus the range of solutions from medical to holistic. Learn more at www.BodyLoveCafe and click the “Classes” tab.
If the reason for the damage (ex. elevated blood sugar) is not solved, then this will occur again and again, leading to increased plaquing and a narrowing of the artery. Two of the major contributors to this issue of arterial damage are largely unknown: excess carbohydrates (not fat) elevating the blood sugar, and there’s also a viral component. Yes, you read that correctly - we teach in detail how your immune health directly contributes (or protects) against coronary artery disease. Understanding what does cause heart disease is just as important as understanding what does NOT cause it. Those of us (especially women) that survived the 80’s and the “low fat” craze have been paying for that nutritional propaganda for years. Had that been accurate, we wouldn’t be seeing the incredible numbers of women dying from heart disease - it’s our number one killer! Not only is cholesterol NOT the cause of heart disease, but consider this quote from the Framingham study, the longest running research on heart disease in America. After 40 years, the director of this study had to admit: “In Framingham, Mass., the more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the more calories one ate, the lower the person’s serum cholesterol. . . we found that the people who ate the most cholesterol, ate the most saturated fat, ate the most calories, weighed the least and were the most physically active.” Cholesterol is also the precursor to vital steroid hormones including cortisol and estrogen, progesterone and testosterone along with providing stability to the outer membrane of every cell membrane 16
FEBRUARY 2020
