Cholesterol Rant

Let me first start out by saying that I don't believe all the Cholesterol Hoopla in America today.  All the people that live to be over 100 years old have cholesterol levels over 300.  Cholesterol is important to our survival.  It forms the coating around every cell in our bodies, and makes up the myelin sheath around each of our nerves.  It is essential to our digestion of fats (and absorption of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K.)  Our bodies use it to make hormones (estrogen, testosterone, and cortizone) and synthesize Vitamin D.  You'd think we should be taking supplements of the stuff!

However, someone along the way discovered that the plaque build up in arteries in patients with hypertension or who have had a stroke has cholesterol in it.  Duh.  It's like the scab over an injury in the artery wall.  So, rather than getting rid of whatever causes the injury in the arterial wall, they want to get rid of the stuff that makes the scab.  Makes sense, right?  It's like saying, "Don't put up the knives so you won't cut yourself, just get rid of the blood in your body and we'll solve that bleeding problem."  Right.  So patients who take statin drugs are experiencing all sorts of nerve and brain issues because their bodies are losing the myelin sheath that protects their nerves.  That sounds like a good trade-off, right?  (I don't use it much, but this is sarcasm).

This doesn't even get into the large particle size LDLs that act like HDLs in the body and how the widespread practice of not measuring lipoprotein particle sizes really skews the results, but I digress...

Okay, I know there are people who really do benefit from cholesterol medications, but I have to believe that the number is far lower than the number of people who actually take them.  I think the Cholesterol Hoopla is one of the biggest scams in American Medicine.  (I could name more, but that might launch me into a tirade or two I don't have time right now to tackle!)  It is such a huge money maker for the Pharmaceutical Industry, that while there is plenty of evidence to support taking people off statins, it won't be done.  Follow the money trail. 

So, while I don't believe any of this, I was hoping that now that I've lost a bunch of weight (down to 126 this morning--just a pound more than the day I was married!) that my cholesterol would be under 200 (like 199) just to be able to fly under the radar.

And why would I think this is possible?  Here's why:  When I weighed 157 pounds (I never had it checked at a higher weight) my cholesterol was 265.  When I followed a pretty close to vegan diet and got down to 137 pounds (still overweight by a pound on the height/weight charts), my cholesterol got down to 201--the lowest it has ever been.  So now that I'm down even more (did I mention, 126 this morning? :) I expected my cholesterol to be down even more.  Not so.  It was 245.  What?

Well, this proves to me that what you eat has a lot to do with it, and it's not all related to the number on the scale, which I thought previously.  However, after I got the test of 201, I went and had massive amounts of cheesy, meat-filled lasagna and couldn't wait to eat "real food" again.  I gained back all the weight I lost and then some.  That's healthy, right?  I was tired of feeling deprived and still being "overweight".  I was tired of having to sleep 12 hours a day because I didn't have energy.

This time I approached losing weight from a different perspective.  Instead of fear over my cholesterol levels and a desire to get it down, I decided that I wanted to eat healthy, and in a way that was sustainable for me.  I'm tired of the yo-yo.  Since age 16, I've been to the extremes of 98 pounds when at the peak of my anorexic career, to 199 pounds the day I gave birth to Shiloh.  Of course, having 4 babies means there will be weight fluctuations, but I've battled weight ever since I knew it was something to battle.  Always fluctuating between binging and either starving or exercising 4 or more hours a day (which is really a selfish way to spend your time, when you think about it).  This time, I decided I wanted to look at it like a budget.  Something I can be a good steward over and not a slave to. 

My doctor said that if regular exercise is not part of the equation, then the number of calories I could have would be my target weight multiplied by 10.  So, 120 pounds means 1200 calories.  More if I exercise.  That was something I could work with.  You know, if you get paid $5000 a month, you budget to pay all your bills with less than that $5000.  If you go over, you have to indebt yourself.  So, if I only get 1200 calories a day, I have to make my food fall within that number, and if I go over, I will weigh more.  Simple enough! (Which makes me think about lots of correlates regarding the American Obesity Epidemic and the American Debt Epidemic, if you want to call them that.)

1200 calories is not a lot, especially if you're accustomed to eating, oh, maybe 6000 in a day!  But I didn't want to lose the weight, only to go back to my then-current habits and gain it all back, again.  So, I made sure to choose foods that would fill me up long term.  Our farm eggs, raw goat's milk, home made cheese, nuts, moderate amounts of meat, fruit, and lots of veggies.  I am now 126 pounds (did I say that already?) and the scale is still moving down.  I don't feel deprived.  I have energy.  I enjoy the food I eat and feel like I get plenty of it, even with my low calorie intake.  When I get on the scale and the number is lower than before, I'm surprised because I expect it to stop moving--I expected it to stop 14 pounds ago.  This is something I can keep doing. 

So, what's better?  Overweight, feeling deprived, no energy, and low cholesterol?  Or at a good weight, feeling full, energetic, and higher cholesterol?  I think the answer is clear.  And if I want to live to be a centenarian, perhaps my cholesterol is still too low.  So there.  (Yes, I feel better now!)

I will  show restraint for now, but I expect that I'll have another spout off about Mammography when they tell me I'm finally old enough to need it.  Fair warning, just so you know.