Now there's a new study that shows that low levels of cholesterol can actually reduce muscle gained from exercising.
The study looked at 55 healthy men and women in their 60s. Overall, the study concluded those with the higher cholesterol intakeir.gif ¬ had the most muscle strength gain. What's more, the test subjects who were taking cholesterol-lowering drugs showed lower muscle gain than those who were not.
"Needless to say, these findings caught us totally off guard," said lead researcher Steven Reichman, a professor of health at Texas A&M University.
If you think you're doing yourself a favor by taking statins or cutting out burgers and eggs, well, think again. The latest studies show that increasing your saturated fat intake is the healthy way to go. But that's another whole article for later.
Big Pharma wants you to think that you have bad cholesterol. They recently cut the bad cholesterol numbers a few years ago from 250 down to 200 to get more money from statin sales. Remember when a cholesterol level of 240-260 was considered ok?
More and more alternative health doctors these days consider a cholesterol level between 200 and 300 to be within the normal range. Once it's above 300, the elevated levels are simply a sign that protective measures must be looked into to fix whatever is getting ready to break.
HDL is the good cholesterol, and is needed for your body to function properly. It helps keep the bad cholesterol, LDL, from sticking in your arteries and causing blockages. In fact, recent studies show that no matter what your LDL is, as long as your HDL is in the proper range, your cholesterol will not stick to your arteries. Still, it's best to keep your LDL as low as possible.
I remember a few years ago, my doctor put me on a statin because my cholesterol was 203. Within 2 months it had dropped to 144 and he took me off the statins right away: my numbers were now too low, he said. Nowadays, my numbers are hovering around 203-206 and he still wants me on a statin, but I refuse to take one, now that I know what's really going on
In all actuality, the total cholesterol number is not nearly as important as the actual HDL and LDL numbers. An HDL cholesterol between 40 and 60 mg/dL or higher and an LDL cholesterol of 150 mg/dL or lower is considered good.
The hardest thing to do, it seems, for many people is to raise the good HDL. There are, however, quite a few ways to do this:
1) Aerobic Exercise - any exercise that raises your heart rate for 20-30 minutes helps raise HDL. For example, walking, jogging or bike riding. You should exercise at least 3-5 times a week. Not only does this help your HDL levels, but it also keeps your joints lubricated and keeps you moving freely and without pain. If you ever have to struggle to get up in the morning or even to get out of a chair, you need more aerobic exercise.
2) Lose Weight - Excess weight raises your bad LDL cholesterol. Losing the weight will automatically raise your good HDL.
3) Stop Smoking - this will also raise your good HDL levels.
4) Cut out trans fatty acids. Notice I didn't say cut out saturated fats. Saturated fats don't hurt your HDL levels, but trans fats do. Any food label that says it contains "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil" should be avoided. Trans fatty acids not only raise the bad LDL, but also lower the good HDL.
5) Increase monounsaturated fats - Monounsaturated fats such as canola oil, avocado oil, or olive oil and in the fats found in peanut butter can increase HDL cholesterol levels without increasing the total cholesterol.
6) Add fiber to your diet - both soluble and non-soluble fibers as in fruits, vegetables and oats can both raise your good HDL and lower your bad LDL.
7) Also, cranberry juice, fish and other foods containing omega 3 oils, have been shown to raise your good HDL levels.
So get out there and increase your cholesterol levels and your muscle strength.
by. Rommel John Alavazo, BSN, LVN
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