My Experience at Lowering my LDL Cholesterol

About 2 years ago, I found out my LDL or bad cholesterol went up to a high score. At that point, my doctor wanted me to start up with cholesterol medicine to lower it. I am middle aged.

Years ago, I had elevated triglycerides. I went on to statins, but I told myself, I will become healthier and get off of this drug. And so, I did. I basically followed the same regiment as I talk about here.

From reading research on statins, statin drugs do lower your bad cholesterol and can give some benefit. Some people will need to be on statins due to their heart health.  But I had read there is no significant change in lowering your chances of having a heart event even though your bad cholesterol has been lowered. Wow!

Years ago, I bought a series of books on women’s health written by Christiane Northrup, M.D. (1)

She talked about statins, their ability to lower bad cholesterol, side effects and research on how taking the statin did not have a big effect on stopping any heart events even though it lowered the LDL cholesterol.   Side effects such as muscle weakness, pain, fatigue, brain and nervous system damage, liver damage, psychiatric problems, diabetes, cancer, and more. (2)

For myself, I try to live a life with little to no prescription drugs added to it. My body is highly sensitive to many things, including prescription drugs resulting in side effects.

I try to find more natural ways to heal and not just bandage up the problem.

I learned to cope and heal pain by giving myself. I have used Reiki for extreme pain in myself resulting in about 75% of the pain being released. I used it during an extremely painful in-office medical procedure where I was not offered anything for the pain.

But this paper is not about Reiki. I wanted to share How I lowered my bad (LDL) cholesterol without statins.

 

A quick review on how our bodies work with cholesterol.

 When our physical bodies have inflammation in them, caused by the foods we eat, stress, or even having food intolerance, our bodies are asking for your attention to change something.

When inflammation is created in the physical body, our bodies will try to stop the inflammation by creating cholesterol.

The cholesterol acts like a fire engine truck and the inflammation in the body is like a huge fire that needs to be contained and put out before any more damage happens. (3)

If the inflammation continues on, damage occurs resulting in more physical issues happening.

So, you see cholesterol our bodies make is not the “bad” guy here.

The issue is, how do we remove inflammation from our physical bodies, so our bodies do not need to make this excessive cholesterol anymore? Remember, foods we eat can also contain cholesterol. But for me, I felt it was more important to deal with the inflammation aspect.

And some of you will say, “It’s all genetics! I can’t do anything about my high cholesterol.”

This isn’t quite true. Yep, we are delt with our families’ genetics in life, but we also have “choice” on our side to change habits. Habits that may trigger high cholesterol problems.

First of all, what is causing the inflammation in our bodies?

From a lot of reading, I learned that our foods can be the source that causes our bodies to become inflamed.

Top candidates here are processed sugar and artificial trans fats.

Any amount of artificial trans fats, even the tiniest amount will create around 52 days of inflammation in your body. (3) This manmade fat is still found in food products sold in grocery stores and restaurants in the USA. Checkout processed gravies, flour tortillas, breads, artificial whipping cream, and other processed food products. (Natural trans fats are found in animal products. But the worse of the worse is artificial trans fats, which are made from vegetable and coconut oils.) (4)

Sugar is found in just about all processed foods. Sugar is used as a flavor enhancer. If the food is not high in salt, it is high in sugar! (Or maybe even both.)

 

O.K., so the way I removed LDL cholesterol was to change my diet and habits.

I started by taking a quality Fish oil supplement every day. I used Carlson’s Norwegian the Very Finest Fish Oil sold in a glass bottle. (I am Not affiliated with any company here.)

Fish oil and it’s Omega Fatty Acid 3 helps to reduce inflammation in the body. (5) (Many other benefits as well. Do not use a cheap quality Fish oil. The benefits may not be there as well as introducing heavy metals to your body.)

 Note, I also added 1 tablespoon, on most days, freshly ground brown Flax seeds. Flax seeds also have some Omega Fatty Acid 3’s. (Note, the flax must be freshly ground each time you use it for the benefits.) I also began to take Flax due to its estrogenic effects. Women going through Pre-Menopause maybe helped by the little extra estrogen Flax can give you. Less physical body reactions to the changing estrogen in our bodies. (Plant-based estrogen)

Taking these products needs to be coupled with getting rid of most sugar in your diet! Ouch, hard to do, especially if you feel a little addicted or love sugar too much- sweet tooth!”

Instead of eating that dessert that is laced with huge amounts of sugar, try topping your meal off with:

-1-2 Prunes.

-1 large date.

-fruit.

-1/2 teaspoon of local honey.

 

Besides stopping inflammation, you will also find you will start to lose weight! An added bonus.

 

You will also need to religiously read your food labels before buying processed foods. Look in the ingredients list for any artificial trans fats, and/or shortening, partially hydrogenated oils, and margarines. (4)

If the food has it, do not buy it. You do this out of love for yourself and your body! This is also called “Selfcare.”

Find a replacement for the product. I know I have taken numerous recipes and I have changed out the shortening to Olive oil or at times, real butter.

 

If you have any sensitivities to foods, such as intolerances and allergies, omit these foods also.

I know when I found out I had an intolerance to some tomato products, specifically processed ones, I omitted most tomatoes. And so, in place of tomatoes for chili, I use tomatillos. Instead of tomato sauce for pizza, I will use Pesto. You can find a replacement that works just as well. Just takes a bit of getting used to.

For those of you that heavily consume alcoholic drinks, this also causes bodily inflammation. (7)

Smoking and illegal drug use will also cause bodily inflammation. (8 )

 

O.K., the biggest inflammatory hitters delt with!

 

Now, it’s time to dump LDL cholesterol that is stored up in your body.

I have found one of the easiest ways to dump cholesterol is to add more Soluble fiber to my diet!

The less processed foods, the better. Of course, make sure you’re getting insoluble fiber as well. (6)

My regiment:

a. I ate 1 serving of hot Oat Bran (Straight-up Oat bran. Nothing added from the store.) with a cut-up apple for my breakfast every day. The Oat Bran has significantly a higher amount of soluble fiber in it compared to oatmeal. (4)  Plus, I liked the texture better. The apple also has soluble fiber in it. Remember the saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away!”

-I added 15 grams (1 tablespoon) of Organic Psyllium Husk powder each day in water as well. This is equivalent to having 3 glasses of water, each containing 1 teaspoon of Organic Psyllium Husk powder. I used only straight-up psyllium-no added dyes, sugars, or flavorings. If you need flavoring, I had added a teaspoon of runny Black Currant jam to my water. I mixed it all up and Bon Appetit! I added psyllium husk powder to my diet because it also is a soluble fiber.

I used organic psyllium due to reading how psyllium is laced with a lot of pesticides.

-I had been already exercising 5 days a week, each about 30-40 minutes a day. Exercise so you sweat! If you do not sweat, you may need to push yourself a bit more.

-Be aware of your stomach when you eat. When you are just starting to feel a bit full, stop eating. Pay attention to your serving sizes. I use a luncheon plate filled with food, but not heaping!  A luncheon plate is about the same size as your stomach. Overeating continually can also cause issues.

-Make sure you are drinking the right amount of water for yourself. Maybe around 8-10 cups/day?

-And eat 60% vegetables and fruits and the rest will be protein and carbohydrates. (I try to push even more veggies then stated here.) Just make sure you eat a whole diet with most the food coming from fresh or frozen.)

 

By following this, I was able to dump 65 points of LDL (Bad) cholesterol out of my body in 2-2.5 weeks. My HDL is high due to me cooking and baking 99.9% of my food in Olive oil. HDL cholesterol is there to also help protect you.

Imagine if you stayed on this regiment for life! A possibility of never having to go on statins. A possibility of keeping your blood pressure down as well!  If your blood pressure goes up, your LDL will also be high.

If you have the start of high LDL cholesterol, I dare you to try to solve it by making better choices for yourself in life. Take the next year and follow some of these tips. You’ll feel healthier, and you will feel good. You will be saving money due to not paying a fortune on prescription medications. And you may not need to be one of those people who are on 10 or more prescriptions in their old age.

*** If you are on statin medications, please talk with your medical doctor before following my regime and or quitting the statin drug.

My regime may not be beneficial to some people. But I wanted to share it because it sure helped me.

By Cynthia Bergsbaken

July 3, 2023.

 

(1) The Wisdom of Menopause by Christiane Northrup, M.D.  

 

(2) Pros and Cons of Statins  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6019636/

(3) “Drugless Guide to Balancing Female Hormones by Dr. Robert DeMaria

(4) Facts about Trans Fats https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000786.htm#:~:text=Trans%20fats%20are%20made%20when,from%20adding%20PHOs%20to%20foods.

(5) Fish oil and inflammation

 https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/do-fish-oil-supplements-reduce-inflammation

 

(6) fiber in diets

https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002136.htm#:~:text=Soluble%20fiber%20is%20found%20in,lower%20risk%20of%20heart%20disease.

(7) Heavy Consumption of alcohol

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2842521/#:~:text=Heavy%20alcohol%20consumption%20contributes%20to,gut%20microbiota%20and%20its%20products.

(8) Smoking and inflammation

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1160597/

Disclaimer by Reiki in the Prairie LLC and Cynthia Bergsbaken copyright 2015

I am not a psychologist, psychiatrist, or medical doctor.  These articles I have written, are from reading and experiencing them.  Many of these articles are my own experiences with my own inventions to heal as well.

If you have a medical condition-physically/mentally/emotionally, please see a qualified medical doctor.  Do not substitute my articles for proper medical care.  You are too important to the world.

I have used all procedures I have written about and have found them to be helpful as tools to help myself become a better person.   I am sharing them with you because used as a tool, they are helpful in Shadow working on ourselves.  (Shadow working is healing our inner shadows that are unconscious or subconscious.  Inner shadows are our belief systems, our thoughts, our behaviors, our life experiences.)

I created this blog for my Reiki clients originally.  Combining these tools with Reiki creates a happy, healthy person.  These tools, when used alone are also beneficial!

  ***All original content is copyrighted by Cynthia Bergsbaken, Perceptive Blogger & Reiki in the Prairie LLC.

Reiki in the Prairie LLC is a legal Entity under law, 2015.

This includes, but is not limited to all photos, writings, products, designs, pages and posts, advertisements, social media posts, etcetera.

April 11, 2020

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