This Diet to Lower Cholesterol
Just May Be The Answer.
If you enjoy fat the Mediterranean Diet to
lower cholesterol is a very tasty way to go.
We've heard
it for years. "Eat a
low fat diet for good heart health." The
old USDA food guide pyramid warned us to use oils 'sparingly'. But
we know now that we don't get nearly enough of the essential fatty acids
included in fish
oil, flax oil and borage oil.
Dr. Dun
Gifford, a renowned cardiologist at the Oldways Preservation & Exchange
Trust, jointly with the
Harvard School of Public Health developed the
Mediterranean Diet Pyramid in the early 90's.
Dr. Dun
Gifford, who researched the Mediterranean Diet, explains why his opinion
has changed on the subject of carbohydrates and why he supports the
Mediterranean diet for lowering cholesterol.
"I've
done a complete 180 on the subject of carbohydrates. Like many
cardiologists, I used to recommend that my patients follow the American
Heart Association's guidelines for a low-fat, high-carbohydrate
diet.
This
strategy made sense at first because we in the medical establishment
believed that less fat down the hatch directly correlated with less fat
in the heart and body.
What we
found instead was that, by encouraging people to eat very little fat
while indulging in carbohydrates, their bodies were secreting excess
amounts of the hormone insulin, causing them to store surplus carbs as
fat.
When chronically high levels of insulin are
circulating throughout your body, the cells eventually become insulin
resistant, which can lead to diabetes. Once a person is insulin
resistant, they also become prone to high cholesterol, high blood
pressure, weight gain, and even premature heart disease."
Understanding the "Mediterranean diet" for lowering
cholesterol is not easy because there
are several countries that border the Mediterranean Sea, but it
basically includes the countries of Greece and Southern Italy.
So how does this diet to lower cholesterol
work?
The
Mediterranean approach emphasizes low-glycemic whole grains, beans,
nuts, and seeds. You'll find plenty of fresh fruits
and vegetables on your plate, including generous use of garlic and
onions.
Unlike many
other diets to lower cholesterol, you'll also find lots of fresh fish, eggs, and small amounts of
meat (primarily for flavoring sauces) and dairy, as well as a fair
amount of "healthy fats," especially olive oil. As a
monounsaturated fatty acid,
olive oil does not increase
cholesterol
and is also a good
source of antioxidants. Notice that
they enjoy the "good stuff" in this diet for lowering cholesterol.
The
traditional Mediterranean diet to lower cholesterol delivers as much as 40% of total daily
calories from fat, yet the incidence of heart disease is significantly
below that in the United States.
The Mediterranean diet to
lower cholesterol is also naturally rich in
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) and
the minerals potassium, calcium and
magnesium, all proven to enhance heart health.
You need fish oil in your
diet to lower cholesterol!
Eating fish a few times per week, something
that we Americans don't get enough of, is a key to this diet to lower
cholesterol.
The evidence is
overwhelming that omega-3 fatty acids or, more specifically,
eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), the
main components of fish oils, are highly effective in preventing
sudden cardiac death, death from heart disease, and certain
arrhythmias.
Fish Oil
Cold-water fish, including salmon, sardines, halibut, bluefish, tuna,
and mackerel are plentiful in this diet to lower cholesterol. They have the highest levels of omega 3 oils. The American
Heart Association recommends that people eat tuna or salmon at least
twice a week.
Be sure to choose
pharmaceutical grade fish oil.
It's important to get
your fish oil from a source that has been molecularly distilled to
remove dangerous heavy metals and contaminants. I personally reject
the idea of consuming a dose of toxic waste materials that an
environmental polluter dumps into the ocean
Bernie and I use and recommend the Ultimate Omega Complex by
Vital Life Nutritionals. The fish oil comes from fish
harvested off the cold clean waters of Northern Norway and
processed in a GMP pharmaceutical facility. Borage and flax
seed oils are organic and cold pressed. I'm convinced that
Ultimate Omega is the best
omega 3 oil complex on the market.
There are some good reasons why I use and
recommend Vital Life Nutritionals
omega 3 oils. Here are a few of them:
-
Vital Life
Nutritionals are manufactured by Vitamer Labs, a
pharmaceutically registered facility that has been a leader in the
manufacturing of natural supplements since the early 1970’s.
-
These all-natural supplements meet
stringent FDA regulations. This is noteworthy as the FDA does not
regulate nutritional supplements and there are a lot of shysters in
the vitamin business.
-
All Vital
Life Nutritional products have received the highest
rating in the GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) program and the GMP
seal is displayed on the label.
-
All supplements are tested to
insure proper dissolution and absorption. You can rest assured that
Vital Life Nutritionals won’t end up in your urine.
-
You are guaranteed that what you see on
the label is inside the bottle.
Here are some links you may want to check
out that will help you with your diet to lower cholesterol.
Gene
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