The advice I provide is not instead of consultation with a physician, does not substitute regular necessary health check-ups, and the responsibility for the client’s health and needs are entirely the client’s.
Cholesterol is one of the most important substances in our bodies. It builds cells, fights infections, and is the base of steroid hormones. Here are some places you can find cholesterol:
Mother’s milk – Contains a lot of cholesterol to help build the brain and other new cells for the growing infant.
Sex hormones – Testosterone, Estrogen, and Progesterone are all cholesterol-based.
The immune system – Cholesterol helps fight low-grade inflammation caused by sugars and stress.
Myelin layer – Cholesterol is a vital component of the fat layer that insulates nerve cells.
And lots more…
So you can see that too low a cholesterol level will affect lots of functions in our body.
The LCHF lifestyle will balance your cholesterol level according to your needs.
There is only one type of cholesterol. However, cholesterol cannot get around our body by itself so instead uses protein vessels to transport it around – HDL (high density lipoprotein) and LDL (low density lipoprotein).
The epithets “good” and “bad” refer to misconceptions from the early days of cholesterol research. At the time cholesterol was seen as buildups in the arteries and when the lipoproteins HDL and LDL were found, they got their nicknames according to their direction – transporting cholesterol to or from the liver. HDL transports cholesterol from different parts of our body to the liver, and LDL transports it from the liver to the rest of the body.
However, today we know that HDL and LDL are really just two sides of the same coin. We also know there are different types of LDL and they all have important roles in our body.
The only type of LDL we should avoid is the small oxidized LDL. LDL oxidizes for example when we eat sugars and starches, as well as when we are under stress. (There are more ways but these are among the most common nowadays.)
The LCHF lifestyle will raise your HDL level while reducing LDL oxidation.
The epithets “good” and “bad” refer to misconceptions from the early days of cholesterol research. At the time cholesterol was seen as buildups in the arteries and when the lipoproteins HDL and LDL were found, they got their nicknames according to their direction – transporting cholesterol to or from the liver. HDL transports cholesterol from different parts of our body to the liver, and LDL transports it from the liver to the rest of the body.
However, today we know that HDL and LDL are really just two sides of the same coin. We also know there are different types of LDL and they all have important roles in our body.
The only type of LDL we should avoid is the small oxidized LDL. LDL oxidizes for example when we eat sugars and starches, as well as when we are under stress. (There are more ways but these are among the most common nowadays.)
The LCHF lifestyle will raise your HDL level while reducing LDL oxidation.
There can of course be a real reason that you need to lower your cholesterol, however most doctors are not aware of the latest research and thus act on old beliefs. For example, your doctor might not know that high cholesterol on its own is not a marker for future heart problems.
You should of course discuss with your doctor the reason why she or he wants to prescribe cholesterol lowering drugs, to make sure this is what you really need. You might also want to ask your physician to look into how inflammation causes cardiovascular disease before prescribing a problematic drug.
The LCHF lifestyle is a way to balance your cholesterol level without drugs.
There are quite a few markers for being in the high risk zone for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Among them are diabetes, high blood pressure, overweight, high triglyceride level and low HDL, smoking, stress, and it also depends somewhat on family history. However, you usually need to have at least three of these markers to be in the high risk zone.
So if you have “high” cholesterol but none of the risk factors, you’re probably not at risk for CVD.
Check with your doctor if you are not sure how many risk factors you have.
The LCHF lifestyle eliminates or balances most of these risk factors.
Most cholesterol lowering drugs interfere with the cholesterol production in the liver by turning off the biochemical pathway at the cellular level.
However, the same biochemical pathway is also instrumental in producing other vital substances in the body (e.g. vitamins & CoQ10); inhibiting their production can result in undesired side effects. One of these side effects is the CoQ10 deficiency that can lead to muscle weakness, including the heart muscle.
Another side effect of shutting off the cholesterol synthesis pathway is cell death and impaired cell repair. Not recommended!
The LCHF lifestyle is a way to balance your cholesterol level without drugs.
Yes there is. All animal based foods contain cholesterol, with eggs and dairy products having the highest levels. This is a good thing, because our body needs cholesterol to build cells, to help the immune system, and as the basis for various hormones. It’s such an important substance that the body produces as much cholesterol as it needs, even if there isn’t any in the diet. What’s more, the body will eliminate any excess cholesterol that’s not needed. So the cholesterol in our food hardly affects the body’s cholesterol levels at all.
The LCHF lifestyle is a way to balance your cholesterol level without worrying about what you eat.
Actually nobody really knows. Cholesterol research started on people who already had heart and cardiovascular problems, and there was no prior research that checked healthy people to determine what “normal” levels are. (However, today we do know through research that a too low cholesterol level is dangerous for us.)
We humans are different in so many ways so it’s probably safe to assume that we also thrive on different cholesterol levels. Also, “normal” levels probably differ for the same person over the course their lifetime.
The LCHF lifestyle optimizes your cholesterol level for your personal needs.
No, triglycerides are not cholesterol. However, they count as a blood fat and have been shown to be markers for cardiovascular disease and fatty liver, and hence are included in the “lipid profile” on your blood test.
Triglycerides are built of three fatty acids attached to a glycerol backbone. They are produced by the liver from excess sugar and are transported in our body by the blood to various energy stores (fat tissues).
Any excess sugars coming to the liver will be used; that means all of the fructose and also a lot of the glucose we eat gets there.
Some of the triglycerides are stored in the liver and can cause non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD,) whereas others are transported in our blood vessels and can also contribute to the buildup of plaque.
Eating according to LCHF reduces amounts of triglycerides.
Diabetes is a metabolic disorder characterized by high concentration of glucose in the blood and urine. It is caused either by the body’s inability to produce insulin or the cells insensitivity to insulin (insulin resistance). Diabetes leads to other health problems, the most common being cardio-vascular diseases.
There are at least four types of diabetes: juvenile diabetes (Type 1), gestational diabetes, adult diabetes (Type 2), which is the most common diabetes today. In addition, recent studies have linked diabetes to different types of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s Disease (Type 3).
Each type of diabetes has its own cause, but they all have one thing in common – problems related to the insulin hormone: the inability of the pancreas to produce insulin, as well as the inability of the cells to sense the insulin.
Eating according to LCHF allows you to control the diabetes and prevent its deterioration, and even prevent its onset.
Insulin is a naturally occurring hormone in the body that has many functions, including balancing blood sugar levels, and controlling ”fuel” sources such as blood sugar and, indirectly, fat. (Insulin affects other hormones, including one that “frees” fat stored in the body cells.)
Insulin is very important with regard to diabetes, as performance failure or insufficient secretion of insulin may cause serious side effects to our health: too low blood sugar levels and we can lose consciousness/faint and die; too high blood sugar levels can cause long-term damage to the body.
The LCHF method contributes to balancing insulin levels in the blood, thereby improving its performance.
Juvenile diabetes (Type 1) is actually an autoimmune disease, and it occurs when the pancreas, the organ responsible for insulin production in the body, stops producing the hormone. The cause can be genetic, but mostly it’s environmental factors (such as diet, geographic location, socioeconomic status, hygiene), and various viral infections that attack the pancreas.
Although the disease is called “juvenile diabetes”, you can get it at any age, and its treatment requires receiving insulin from an external source, both for maintaining normal blood glucose levels and for proper functioning of other insulin dependent processes in the body, as well as lifestyle changes (diet and exercise).
Adult diabetes (Type 2) is an insulin resistance syndrome. It is a condition in which the body’s cells do not respond effectively to insulin and “resist” its work. That is, a condition in which the body’s cells become resistant to insulin activity and do not allow it to efficiently put the glucose into the cells. As a result, and in order to overcome the cells’ resistance, the pancreas churns out more and more insulin, leading to elevated insulin levels in the blood. For this reason, Type 2 diabetes, when not properly treated, can cause diabetes Type 1!
Diverging from the normal blood sugar range can be dangerous to us: too low a level can cause immediate damage and too high can cause long-term damage.
In the past, Type 2 diabetes was typically a disease of the elderly, but in the last decade even children have been getting it. Type 2 diabetes is the most common and is the main incidence of diabetes in the world.
Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, which are often called Type 3 diabetes, are, in fact, insulin resistance in the brain.
The LCHF method contributes to balancing insulin levels in the blood, reversing insulin resistance, and “refreshing” the cells giving them the ability to respond to insulin again.
LCHF makes it easier for Type 1 diabetics to calculate insulin doses needed to treat the disease.
Conventional medicine often talks about “proper diet and exercise”, but recommends alongside this various drugs, from pills to insulin injections. All these drugs have side effects over time, of course, that contribute the disease’s “natural process”.
LCHF is a “diet” where you eat real food to satiety and without counting calories, while reducing, or even eliminating, the need for medication.
The “natural process” is a euphemism for the deterioration of diabetics with the appearance of cardio-vascular disease, blindness, and gangrene toes as typical consequences. Since medication does not treat the source of the problem, but only its symptoms, patients become less sensitive to the medications over time, so that dosages need to be increased to keep the disease under control. Of course, increased dosages result in increased side effects.
With LCHF you treat the source of the problem while reducing, and even preventing, the need for medication and the deterioration of the disease.
First and above all else consult with a physician. Then, as soon as possible, contact an LCHF nutritionist to help you work tailor an optimal diet that works for you to control or cure the disease.
With LCHF you can see positive results within a few days. Contact us as soon as possible!
For details and to schedule an appointment: Dina David 052-3947218
Most common diets are based on counting calories in the food, with little or no regard for nutritional value – which can lead to nutritional deficiencies in the body. When restricting calories without qualitative differentiation, the body goes into “starvation” and lowers its metabolic rate. Then, when ending the “diet” and returning to the previous standard way of eating, the body responds by storing the extra energy to protect itself from future hunger. That is why on most diets you first lose a little weight, then stop for a period, and then gain back the weight, often with some extra.
LCHF provides the body with the nutrition it needs, sufficient for its normal operation, so there is no reason to count calories. The body can regulate energy expenditure according to its needs, and the weight is balanced automatically.
Why is weighing myself not recommended? How will I know if I lost weight or gained?
When we weigh ourselves we see a number, and do not realize that it is the sum of a number of factors: the weight of our bones, our muscle weight, fat weight, the weight of the water in the body, and so on. Our weight is all of these elements together. So you can lose fat mass and gain weight at the same time, for example by increasing muscle mass.
The number on the scale is a bad measure for your general health. Far better is measuring your circumference or noticing changes in your clothing size, your energy levels, and so on.
With LCHF you feel good and look good at any weight!
The human body is built for physical activity and many people enjoy some level of activities. However, clinical studies have shown that physical activity only has a minimal impact on weight loss. It is also important to remember that the number on the scale does not tell the whole story: muscle is denser than fat so you can actually shape your body and look thinner, even if the number on the scale goes up!
LCHF lets you balance your weight without exercise. However, most people who live the LCHF lifestyle are full of energy and feel it is fun to be active, even if they have not done so in the past.
A ‘calorie’ is just a unit of energy. It does not tell us anything about the nutritional composition of the food, nor will we know how it will be used by the body. Since we live in a time with no shortage of high energy foods, it is more important to make sure that the food we eat is rich in nutrients. When the body gets the nutrition it needs, it naturally regulates the energy burning and storage metabolism and therefore we do not need to “count calories”.
With LCHF you eat well, to satiety, while maintaining a balanced weight.
The LCHF method is not a “weight loss diet” but a lifestyle that allows you to maintain long-term optimal health. When you get to your goals, ask yourself why you would want to go back eating foods that led you to ill health and abnormal weight in the first place.
With LCHF you eat well while maintaining your health and keeping your weight balanced.
The LCHF method advocates reducing carbohydrates and adding fat to my menu. How can I lose weight if I eat a lot of fat?
Clinical studies have shown time and again that fat is not fattening. Fat, including saturated fats, is very important for our bodies as it helps, among other things, to build stable cell membranes in our organs. Also, about 60% of the brain is made of fat.
The body likes to use fat as energy source, but it is easier to burn carbohydrates. So, if you eat the carbohydrates together with fat, the body will start with burning the sugars and save the fat for future use (which will probably never occur, if we continue to feed the body with carb energy).
With LCHF the amount of carbohydrates in the food is reduced so the body can burn fat instead.
Our weight is only a symptom of our overall health situation. It reflects, among other things, our overall wellness, and is affected by drugs we take, our hormonal balance, and the level of stress in our lives. So there are times when our weight won’t balance even if we eat right.
As mentioned above, the weight is a symptom, so we may first have to deal with other health problems, and only then will we see an impact on our weight. The LCHF lifestyle provides the body with its essential nutritional needs, thus helping improve our overall health and enabling reduction of medication needed. LCHF improves the hormonal balance and lowers internal stress levels in the body, caused by wrongful eating.
LCHF helps the body address health issues and reach optimal health, and thus, in a natural way, also an optimal weight.
How can LCHF help you achieve balanced weight?
The LCHF lifestyle brings the body’s weight to a balanced state: whether it is gaining or losing weight, each according to the body’s needs and to its genetics. It is important to remember that our weight is affected by all kinds of factors that need to be considered, and abnormal weight is often merely a symptom of other health problems. The goal is primarily to bring the body to optimal health and then the weight will balance automatically.
LCHF treats conditions of poor health, and thus balances the weight.