If you have read most of my other newsletters you will already know, lowering your cholesterol can be very dangerous and unhealthy for you. Your body and your brain NEEDS cholesterol to function. Every symptom is the body doing the right thing at the right time. Your liver is producing more cholesterol to help protect your brain and also to make every hormone in your body, and these are just some examples.
An article done years ago, entitled, "Statins for stroke prevention: disappointment and hope" had been published in the peer reviewed journal Circulationin 2004. In the article, the authors point out that "Epidemiological and observational studies have not shown a clear association between cholesterol levels and all causes of stroke." So they set out to discover if lowering cholesterol levels was an effective way to decrease the risk for strokes.
The researchers combined the data from nine different trials that studied the effect of statin drugs to reduce strokes. The trials included 70,070 men and women. The findings were worse than dismal for the drugs. Overall, statin drugs decreased the risk less than 1% of the time. The authors concluded, "Statins have not yet been shown to reduce stroke risk in the typical general population, nor have they been shown to prevent recurrent stroke in patients with prior stroke."
So - if its not cholesterol causing strokes, what is it then? It's not the cholesterol, its the INFLAMMATION of the cholesterol. If your cholesterol is low but that cholesterol inflames, it will thicken up, harden up, and it can create a stroke or heart attack.
The key to diminishing your chance of a stroke or a heart attack is STOPPING and REDUCING your inflammation.
Here are the steps to reducing inflammation.
1. Follow ML advanced plan eating. This diet keeps your sugars low, reduces your bad fats and increases your foods that bring down inflammation. (Recipes and step by step instructions of the diet are in our Maximized Living Nutrition book)
Increase supplements that reduce inflammation:
2. Balance your omega-6 to omega-3 ratio. Take ML Optimal Omega!
3. Curcumin/Turmeric is a scientifically proven inflammation buster. A 2004 study published in the journal Oncogene found that curcumin (found in turmeric) was found to be an effective alternative to allopathic drugs as an anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative agent against tumor cells. Be sure to buy the organic non-irradiated version of this healing spice.
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4. Like turmeric, ginger is also a powerful anti-inflammatory food. Ginger contains potent anti-inflammatory compounds called gingerols. The February 2005 issue of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine reported that ginger suppressed the main pro-inflammatory compounds cytokine and chemokine.
5. Fix your Gut. Probiotics are necessary to maintain a healthy flora balance between good and bad bacteria in your gut, enabling your immune system to function effectively. Probiotics also relieve intestinal inflammation. Your gut and the probiotic organisms who live there comprise 80% of your immune system. A study published in Pathogens, a publication of the Public Library of Science, demonstrated the anti-inflammatory and pathogen protection benefits of probiotics beyond the gastrointestinal tract. This is an amazing product to help heal the gut. Get Max GI!
