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Here's to Your Health:  cholesterol...  |
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prairie_princess
True Blue Farmgirl
613 Posts
Elizabeth
Carpenter
WY
USA
613 Posts |
 Posted - Sep 22 2008 : 07:43:51 AM
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for awhile now, i'd say about 6 months, my husband and i have been researching information concerning cholesterol. my grandpa has been an avid researcher for years, believing there is another side to the cholesterol myth. yes, i said myth.
my husband and i aren't overlly convinced high cholesterol is something to worry about. as some of you have mentioned, our ancestors have eaten diets high in fat and have lived to old ages. the difference between their diets and most of the diets people eat today is they were full of homegrown food. today, we buy alot of processed foods and our meat is full of hormones, our veggies full of unhealthy chemicals.
my grandpa believed the real culprit of some of our problems had to do with "homocysteine". here's an excellent article about it:
http://archive.theargus.co.uk/2003/8/19/128534.html
some of the most interesting data we've found simply concerns our history, the history of eating. the rate of heart attacks went up when the market started pushing vegetable based products, such as margarine and various vegatable oils, as being healthy. when we began consuming these processed products, our bodies didn't know how to react to them. our bodies don't know how to break them down like they've been breaking down natural foods, such as butter. and that's kind of when the cholesterol craze started kicking in, too.
there have even been studies showing how higher cholesterol could actually be healthy for you. here's an article for that:
http://www.westonaprice.org/moderndiseases/benefits_cholest.html
when doing research for college english papers, i came across research concerning weight, which is tied to cholesterol. it stated it has not been proven that carrying a little extra weight (not obese; many confuse the two) is harmful. some studies show a little weight actually helps you, protects your body.
since doing this research i've also found that coconut oil is better for you than all these veggie oils, even a little better than olive oil. i would even go so far as to say i've lost some weight after first using it. a study conducted stated this:
when the veggie oil craze began, farmers thought it would be a good idea to start feeding their cows veggie oil products since everyone said it was so good. so they did and found it fattened their cows right up and the cows became more lazy. well, that's good for cows when you want alot of fatty meat to sell. another group fed their cows coconut oil products. the result? the cows became more lean and it increased their energy level.
could it be possible the introduction of processed foods and veggie based products (with chemical processes) could be the culprit of our heart problems rather than high cholesterol levels? before doing this research, i never knew that as humans, cholesterol is naturally made in the body and is vital to our health. some people have naturally high levels of cholesterol. that's where that pesky genetic thing comes in where doctors tell you "you need to lower your cholesterol" even though you lead a healthy lifestyle. that's my problem... a doctor had the gall to tell me "well, you know you can't just eat whatever you want" without even asking me first what my lifestyle was. he just assumed i lived unhealthy. the reality was, while my husband ate eggs and bacon every day and didn't excercise, i ate high grain cereal and did excercise almost every day. i was given a sheet telling me what foods to replace other foods. "but, these replacement foods are what i eat, not the other stuff." so i assumed my high cholesterol is cause by genetics... as i found out later from my mom.
the body finds the level of cholesterol it feels is right for your body and levels out at that number. to me, i feel the body knows what it's doing. it knows what's best for you. it's not going to produce something that's going to kill you prematurely, right? i personally feel the pills doctors tell you to take to lower this naturally occuring cholesterol has worse effects and is a risk i'm not willing to take. here's an interesting article detailing how we may have been conned into beleiving cholesterol is bad:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-430682/Have-conned-cholesterol.html?
so i wanted you ladies' opinions on this theory of mine... i think there is alot of money to be made in the medical industries. i'm not so sure the medical industries are always so concerned about our well-being as we'd like to think. could it be possible we could live a life not worrying about our cholesterol levels? as farmers, havn't we been raised on hearty meals grown from the earth, naturally and seen our families before us live healthy, happy lives?
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prairie_princess
True Blue Farmgirl
613 Posts
Elizabeth
Carpenter
WY
USA
613 Posts |
Posted - Sep 22 2008 : 07:46:40 AM
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i also forgot to mention something i read mary jane herself say in one of her articles... that the medical industries change their minds almost every day about studies they come out with. the diets and fads come and go. one day those studies say to ensure we live long lives, do this. the next day that study is debunked.
also, here's an excellent site for any of you who may be interested in the cholesterol myth:
http://www.thincs.org/ |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Sep 22 2008 : 07:52:12 AM
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Very interesting!! I agree that you can't go wrong with sticking with basic homegrown food. There is no way that packaged food can be better. No way.
Jenny in Utah
Proud Farmgirl sister #24
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
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Tina Michelle
True Blue Farmgirl
6948 Posts
Tina
sunshine state
FL
USA
6948 Posts |
Posted - Sep 22 2008 : 08:00:37 AM
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one thing you might find interesting and in line with your "our bodies produce a certain amount of cholesterol to be healthy" is..back when I was pregnant with one of my children I had blood work done and it showed a higher level of cholestrol..when I asked the dr. about it he said "oh..don't you worry about that..as during pregnancy a womans cholestrerol is supposed to go up because the baby draws from that to create a healthy baby..it helps the baby's fat stores."
just thought I'd toss that out there for you .
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~Seize the Day! Live, Love, Laugh~
visit me at:
http://gardengoose.blogspot.com/
and at www.stliving.net
you can also check out my etsy shops at:http://GardenGooseGifts.etsy.com |
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prairie_princess
True Blue Farmgirl
613 Posts
Elizabeth
Carpenter
WY
USA
613 Posts |
Posted - Sep 22 2008 : 08:05:24 AM
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wow, that's interesting! thanks for sharing!
"Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy."
-Guillaume Apollinaire |
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Homespun Livin
True Blue Farmgirl
409 Posts
Brenda
Louisiana
USA
409 Posts |
Posted - Sep 23 2008 : 06:14:57 AM
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Elizabeth,
All I have to say is: AMEN! AMEN! and AMEN!! I do believe that you have hit the nail smack dab on the head and then some!! You have just written what I have secretly believed was going on all along!
A few years ago, my mom had a wellness check up. They told her that her cholesterol was too high and gave her Lipator. My mom, being the wise woman she is, did not take it. However, my dad was put on the same med. and he is have some problems with his kidney's and liver and has to constantly be monitored with blood work. At her next appt. her cholesterol numbers had come down and the doctors assumed it was due to the Lipator. She never told them she hadn't taken it. However, she did mention to the nurse her theory (same as yours) about what is put in food being the culprit. And the nurse said to her, " you are more right than you know." WOW!!!
Thank you for doing the research on this. Most people have no idea. My mother-in-law's doctor once told her this: "Verline,we don't have all of the answers. That is why it is called practicing medicine."
You are on the right track. God made our bodies perfect in everyway, He didn't create us to self destruct! I am saving your post and those articles to give my mom. :)
"Love one another." |
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prairie_princess
True Blue Farmgirl
613 Posts
Elizabeth
Carpenter
WY
USA
613 Posts |
Posted - Sep 23 2008 : 3:26:46 PM
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brenda-
wow! i'm so glad someone out there feels as i do... sometimes i think my hubby and i are the only ones, and then we're looked at as kinda crazy by others. just because we take the time to question what the media, society, doctors, scientists, the list goes on tell us. i don't believe that the "popular" belief is necessarily the right answer. especially when it comes to medicine. and i think it goes for all medicines. my mom told me a story i never knew the last time i saw her. when her grandma started having problems, normal everyday getting old problems, the doctors gave her a slew of medicines for everything under the sun. they thought something in that pile of pills would help my great grandma. it didn't. it made her worse. she was sick all the time. so, she stopped taking them. and she got better and lived to a ripe old age.
my husband has a theory that back in the 50's, when all this research started and all the veggie oils started coming about, doctors did the research on this cholesterol theory. we've found some flaws in their studies, such as they did the research on rabbits. rabbits have different cholesterol levels, uses, etc. than humans, so it's not a perfect study. my hubby thinks that doctors know they may be wrong about cholesterol, but "it's too late to take it back." the damage is already done, society believes what we've been told, so of course doctors don't want to change everything we've grown to know. they can't admit they may have been wrong. my hubby asked someone what they were taught in medical school regarding cholesterol. "they kinda skipped over it... just skimmmed through it." hmmm.
"Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy."
-Guillaume Apollinaire |
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Here's to Your Health: cholesterol... |
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cholesterol...
