by Amanda Box [1]
Cholesterol has become a word that is synonymous with unhealthy. It is described as a sticky, oily substance that clogs our arteries and causes heart disease. We have been led to believe that our cholesterol needs to be as low as possible and even extremely low cholesterol numbers have been suggested for “high risk” individuals.
However, these insanely low numbers could never be achieved without the use of prescription drugs. These cholesterol lowering medications have some of the worst side effects in the pharmaceutical world, including heart attacks and stroke!
Low fat diets have been suggested to keep cholesterol under control. Saturated fats like butter and animal fat have been replaced by refined oils and hydrogenated fats like margarine. All this is happening while obesity and heart disease rates continue to rise. Something is seriously wrong here and I truly don’t believe it’s cholesterol’s fault.
We Need Cholesterol
First of all, cholesterol is not our enemy. It is a very useful substance and it has many important jobs in our body. Some of the many benefits of cholesterol include:
- It helps to produce cell membranes.
- Acts as a precursor to the manufacturing of hormones.
- Is a precursor to the formation of vitamin D.
- It helps to formulate bile acids to digest fat.
- It is needed for proper function of serotonin receptors in the brain.
- It helps form memories in the brain.
- It is important in maintaining the health of the intestinal wall.
Read the full article here: http://www.bartonpublishing.com/blog/is-cholesterol-a-myth-part-1/ [1]