The Biggest Lie in Medicine: The Cholesterol Conspiracy

reply to post by FissionSurplus


Thanks for sharing.

I was put on Statins eight years ago.
I'd been diagnosed type one diabetic and was told it was to keep my cholesterol low.
Six months in and I started to get a type of arthritic pain in my hands.
Over the next year the pain had moved up my arms and down both legs.

I spent eight months unable to lift my arms above stomach height and ended up in a wheelchair for three months as I couldn't stand for more than twenty seconds. The pain was unbearable.

After reading a piece in " The Lancet " from a doctor who said statins caused nerve and muscle damage, I told my GP that I was coming off them because of my problems.
He wasn't too happy and told me I'd have to go for regular checks on my cholesterol.

That was eighteen months ago.
My cholesterol is fine.
Unfortunately I have constant pain right through my body, which they've said will never.
I can walk a short distance but the damage is done so I'll never get better.

I'd steer clear of statins !

We (ATS readers) should be a very healthy lot.
we get a lot of information about heath.

I spent a lot of money of a very good water filter.
stops not just the fluoride but All the poisons and toxic's in all water.
I use a powerful UV light to sterilize it to. kills all germs.
I take other stuff to.

crazy thing is I dont care if I live or die?
and you have me looking after my heath now?!?!

To me, High cholesterol is a symptom of something gone wrong in the body if it is happening constantly without certain conditions observed.. It can have many causes. There are foods that help to lower cholesterol levels. The choices of the foods are genetic specific, only testing on oneself can work properly.

Moderate levels of exercise also a must. Too strenuous of exercises can actually temporarily increase levels. If a person is out of shape and does something strenuous it can cause a lot of cholesterol to be released to repair damaged cells, this overload can cause problems sometimes. It is better to get moderate exercise every day and try to bring it down with diet changes. Saturated fats many times can not be absorbed well while vegetable fats can more easily be absorbed. In the diet of our ancestors, the meat was leaner but they ate the fat in moderation and made soaps and lard out of it. Where was their source of vegetable fats? They had none, they did eat limited amounts that are in the various veggies. We have increased our use of vegetable fats ten fold. Our bodies cannot evolve to it that quick. I like butter a lot better than margarine, it tastes right. We can be conditioned to like something in a single generation but it takes many generations of sickness to get completely used to it.

Our diet has changed so much in the last fifty years that I can't figure how we are alive. This too much change too fast is the main study I have, it ties everything together including how remote controls make us sick. It isn't the energy field, it is that we don't get up and switch the channel. Microwaves make us fat because we lose touch with our food. How many less calories do we burn because of microwave food. Getting out a pot and steaming or boiling a vegetable is better because we are doing more. Fresh green beans are better than frozen because we have to do something to prepare them. We can't get coordination from an x-box or remote control, we need to do things all the time. Everything ties together. get out of the chair you are in and get some coffee. don't combine trips here, you need to do things to help keep your cholesterol down. If you are a construction worker, relax, you had lots of exercise already. If you are a waitress, I think you have walked enough. If you are an office worker, you need the walking.

There is a lot more to health than most people know. Navy Doc knows quite a bit about cholesterol truth I sense. People that work hard have elevated cholesterol because repairs to the body are occurring constantly. Muscles break down and need to be patched. I bet the soldiers in training have high cholesterol. High Cholesterol is a symptom which needs a lot of thinking to interpret. Just because the levels are elevated doesn't mean you are at risk some times. But as Navy Doc says, constant elevated levels can take their tolls. Lots of guys died of heart problems in the past, lots of them seemingly very healthy.

reply to post by nixie_nox


You bring up an excellent point, Nixie. I also believe that a person's ethnicity has a great deal to do with how they handle what they eat. It is not a "one size fits all" deal with people.

Anything I eat that has too many carbs will cause me to have a spike in insulin levels, and then a precipitous drop a few hours afterwards, leaving me shaky, tired, and confused. The less carbs I eat, the better I feel.

The old saying, if you eat Chinese food, you'll be hungry in an hour, is very true for me. I think I can thank my 100% European heritage for that.

This is definitely the right thread to ask the following question:

What foods should one avoid if inflammation is a problem (spinal cord specifically)?
What foods or supplements are good for reducing it?

This has been my main issue for 5 years now and has resulted in chronic pain and neuropathy. Of course my doctors have no solutions, only drugs. Having no surgical options diet is really the only thing within my control. I'll hit everyone up about brain tumors later, just take one problem at a time here.

Thanks if anyone can help.

reply to post by FissionSurplus


My wife is an MA. She says her doctors prescribe statins to patients that actually need it. Then they tell her in private that they would never presribe statins to a family member unless it was the, and I quote, "last resort."

Doctors get a lot of praise, but I haven't met one outside of the Army that has any courage to do what's right. You know why? Because money talks and patients don't know any better.

Are there good doctors out there? Probably. Are more doctors going to prescribe drugs over a nutritional diet? Looking at what they learn in school, most likely.

Yet, another reason to start this revolution: education. Ready when you guys are.

Lima-1, out.

Originally posted by antonia
reply to post by NavyDoc

 

I tend to think you have a better grip on this than most of us. The problem with statin use is very simple: It doesn't address what caused the problem in this first place (diet and inactivity). Blaming statins for heart attacks is silly when most people don't change their diet. This idea that american's aren't eating enough fat is ridiculous. Amercian's eat more meat than almost anyone else on the planet. They get enough fat and protein, that's not even an issue.

But I understand what is going on here, it's called confirmation bias. You can find data to twist and back up whatever it is you believe. I used to be a cholesterol denialist myself, so I do understand it. I did the reading myself and figured out I was being a a freaking idiot.

edit on 4-12-2012 by antonia because: added a thought

Very good point. One problems Americans have, is that they want and expect everything to be cured by a pill. They take a pill, get their numbers to a certain point, and then think they can still have the same atrocious diet they did before.

reply to post by violet


As far as I'm concerned, statins are bad. Too many nasty side effects.

As I mentioned earlier, my mother couldn't take them either, so her doctor put her on niacin (B vitamin). Same desired result, no horrific side effects.

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
This is definitely the right thread to ask the following question:

What foods should one avoid if inflammation is a problem (spinal cord specifically)?
What foods or supplements are good for reducing it?

This has been my main issue for 5 years now and has resulted in chronic pain and neuropathy. Of course my doctors have no solutions, only drugs. Having no surgical options diet is really the only thing within my control. I'll hit everyone up about brain tumors later, just take one problem at a time here.

Thanks if anyone can help.

You want to avoid processed foods, certainly. Avoid meats with high nitrites (the cured ones usually: bacon, salami, and so forth). Consider eliminating processed flour and stick with whole grains or even consider eliminating gluten alltogether. Increase foods that are high in anti-oxidants: fresh fruit and veg, grape juice, pomagranite, akai, and so forth.

reply to post by rickymouse


Regarding vegetable fats in paleo diets nuts (acorns, walnuts, hickory milk etc) were a good source.
Winter months probably a full third of their diet was constituted of nut flours made in to soups, stews, gruel, etc.

Originally posted by FissionSurplus
reply to post by violet

 

As far as I'm concerned, statins are bad. Too many nasty side effects.

As I mentioned earlier, my mother couldn't take them either, so her doctor put her on niacin (B vitamin). Same desired result, no horrific side effects.

Niacin is a great alternative. The flushing goes away the more you use it.

Originally posted by NavyDoc
You want to avoid processed foods, certainly. Avoid meats with high nitrites (the cured ones usually: bacon, salami, and so forth). Consider eliminating processed flour and stick with whole grains or even consider eliminating gluten alltogether. Increase foods that are high in anti-oxidants: fresh fruit and veg, grape juice, pomagranite, akai, and so forth.

Wow, that was quick and thank you very much. I do love sausage and bacon but rarely indulge. I also love pasta and that is looking to be one of my worst offenders in terms of sugars. I will try getting a juicer and go for the fresh fruits and veggies that way as I really don't care for most vegetables as they are - they usually require lots of butter, salt, cinnamon, brown sugar etc to make them palatable. With juice I can just hold my nose and say "bottoms up".
Are you really a navy doc?
Your advice is very much appreciated, thank you.

Whole grains?

NO.

Eliminate grains. Even those so called "hearthealthywholegrains". They are NOT hearthealthy. Modern grains cause inflammation, along with omega 6 oils like margarine and vegitable oils.

It will be hard. Wheat has some of the same addictive properties as heroine.

www.thefoodcoach.com.au...

Oh, and neurologically speaking, eliminate asparame and all other artificial sweeteners. Aspartame is an exitotoxin. Nasty for the brain.

It all boils down to Real Food. Pretty much if you can't pick it or kill it, don't eat it.

reply to post by Raxoxane


As another poster said, you could be "peri-menopausal", meaning that you're going through menopause. I had the same issue approximately 4 years ago. Chest pains, heart going bananas, fluttering like crazy. It is a very disconcerting feeling!

I went through the whole stress test thing, and they said my heart was fine.

It is important to have the heart checked out when you're feeling weird symptoms like that, but upping your nutritional game wouldn't hurt.

reply to post by Tardacus


Bingo, Tardacus! These numbers are rather random, and they seem to get lower all the time, pulling more people into the "danger zone" area, when previously they would have been considered to be fine.

Health officials in the United States urge everyone over the age of 20 to have their cholesterol tested once every five years. Part of this test is your total cholesterol, or the sum of your blood's cholesterol content, including HDL, LDLs, and VLDL..

The American Heart Association recommends that your total cholesterol is less than 200 mg/dL, but what they do not tell you is that total cholesterol level is just about worthless in determining your risk for heart disease, unless it is above 300.

In addition, the AHA updated their guidelines in 2004, lowering the recommended level of LDL cholesterol from 130 to LDL to less than 100, or even less than 70 for patients at very high risk.

In order to achieve these outrageous and dangerously low targets, you typically need to take multiple cholesterol-lowering drugs. So the guidelines instantly increased the market for these dangerous drugs. Now, with testing children's cholesterol levels, they're increasing their market even more.
.

articles.mercola.com...

So, not only do they increase their consumer base by lowering these numbers, but they are making people dangerously ill, because cholesterol levels that low cannot be accomplished in the vast majority of patients without drugs.

reply to post by Lucas73


Thanks for the link, Lucas. I will watch the Fathead video this afternoon when I have time, it looks very interesting!

reply to post by mrjoones


Processed foods, and the garbage that is in them (including trans-fats such as partially hydrogenated oils, sugars, excessive sodium, preservatives, dyes, etc) have become way too common in everybody's diet. Most working parents rely on them. Most young working adults tend to use them because they are easy and quick. Kids come home from school to an empty house and want things they can scarf down quickly, such as packaged junk foods and frozen stuff like hot pockets and pizza rolls that they can microwave.

I think it is insane that, in a land of plenty, we are eating ourselves into an early grave. What a coincidence that, as people try to keep themselves healthy by growing their own gardens in their front yards, and drinking raw milk, the authorities are clamping down on them and punishing their efforts.

Adds more fodder to the conspiracy of it all. You can eat all the processed garbage you want, but God forbid you try to take away the profits of the multinational food corporations!

reply to post by LadyGreenEyes


Certain meds do help, I won't lie. However, it really is all about the money. Why did they suddenly make it legal for drug companies to advertise on TV and in magazines and on the web? Why should laypeople see all these ads for drugs, when it is the doctor that is supposed to make the determination based on your condition? Could it be that they know that people will go see their doc and demand the drug they just saw on television....and that the doctor will go ahead and write up the prescription, not only to shut the patient up, but also because they get nice little perks from the drug companies for each script they write?

I have a family member who works as a drug rep for Pfizer. What a dirty business it is...wining and dining these docs, promising them Hawaiian vacations and lobster dinners. I think that should be illegal, as the doctors are choosing the financial rewards over the actual health interests of their patients.

The entire system is jacked up.

reply to post by Starchildren


Have you noticed that too? I don't remember very many fat people at all when I was a kid in the 60s. Fat children were very rare. HFCS is processed differently than sugar, and it shows. Plus, that garbage is in so many processed, packaged foods, it's disgusting.

They made an attempt to change the name of it last year to "corn sugar", because people were learning to read labels and were avoiding HFCS like the plague.

A pile of poop by any other name will stink just as badly. Needless to say, I wrote a nasty-gram to the corn refiner's association. Due to T & Cs, I cannot reprint it here.

reply to post by johnwilkesbooth


Linky? I would love to read your post on it.

I worked with a lady who, at the time, was in her mid 50s. She had never been fat, she was always worried about eating "fatty foods" and kept herself trim. However, she did like to make desserts, and sugar was a staple in her diet.

She started feeling ill at work, always saying she was sick to her stomach, and she had a backache (pain between the shoulder blades). This went on for a week or so, and then one day she didn't come in. She had a heart attack.

When she came back, after having a stent placed in an artery, she said that she was floored by it, because her cholesterol had always been on the low side.

Go figure.