Years ago I had gone to see my doctor and I had sky high cholesterol levels.
No one knew why, as I was vegan and nearly emaciated as I was at the worst of my worst with my eating disorder. My doctor looked at me and said “Maybe you should cut the fat”
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Reality check my friends: High cholesterol is rarely due to eating cholesterol related foods and that doctor had no idea what she was talking about.
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As I quote Dr.Ray Peat “The constant turnover of cholesterol in the tissues tends to lower the proportion of the toxic oxidized degradation products of cholesterol, but in hypothyroidism, the use of cholesterol is slowed, allowing the toxic forms to accumulate”
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Wait-whaaa? Let’s look into this.
Most of your cholesterol is made in the liver, and about 20% comes from food. That cholesterol is not directly sent to your arteries, but rather is used to make steroid hormones, aka vit D, pregnenolone, stress hormones, etc. In order for this process to occur, prior to cholesterol being converted into steroid hormones, it needs ACTIVE thyroid hormone (T3) AND vitamin A (not beta carotene, but retinol)
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Why?
Because your cells that MAKE cholesterol have mitochondria that run off of T3, copper, magnesium and retinol! Remember, your metabolism is the rate in which cells convert and utilize energy, aka “doing things”.
In order for this process to occur, we also need to make sure out liver is excreting excess LDL out of the blood, which is directly influenced by adequate levels of T3!
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So it wasn’t at all the fact that I was eating “high cholesterol” or my weight, but rather the STRESS my body was under was elevating my LDL levels, as it accumulated due to poor liver function, and I wasn’t converting cholesterol successfully.
What does this mean? Cholesterol is actually PROTECTIVE, and high levels is a symptom of a deeper problem.
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DO YOU HAVE HIGH CHOLESTEROL BUT DON’T KNOW WHY?
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First, download my FREE CHOLESTEROL GUIDE I made with @abbyhiggins.fntp HERE and then book a free consult with me by clicking HERE!