Hi Everyone,
This week we’ll talk a little more about cholesterol. First, since a lot of your area coaches I should point you to my blog. Currently I’m blogging about 90X and am trying to cover most topics that come up regularly as I go through a round of the program. You can check it out here:
http://steve-edwards.blogspot.com/Now let’s get to some questions. Here’s a link to the article we’re referencing:
http://www.beachbody.com/product/newsletters/301.do================================
"Eat less dairy—or at least less fat from dairy. You need a lot of fat in your diet but almost none of this should come from meat and dairy sources as they're loaded with cholesterol and saturated fat."
I have to take issue with what I have bolded above from your article. I just was at a health lecture and saw an illustrative PowerPoint presentation on how fat winds up in your body, and arteries, as just that - fat, and plaques. Yes we need some fat, but a lot??? Where does that advice come from? Even oil is simple liquid fat, and winds up in the same places. The medical doctor lecturing cited numerous recent scientific studies.
Regards,
Margie Campaigne
====================================
Good point, Margie, as this depends on what is considered “a lot”. I came at it from, perhaps, the wrong perspective because one of the more common things I have to tell people to do is add fat into their diets because people trying to lose weight often cut it out almost completely.
Your diet should consist of 20 to 35% fat, depending on what you are doing. Keep in mind that eating 30% of your calories from fat does not mean that you’ll become 30% fat. You only have carbohydrates, proteins, and fats to choose from, basically, and they should make up close to 100% of the calories you consume. Fat is vital for many functions of the body and those who don’t get enough suffer from a myriad of illnesses, just the same way that those who eat too much can.
The doctor was not mistaken either. Many people eat too much fat, especially the wrong kind—from junk foods and animals. Almost all of your fat should come from plant sources, like nuts, olives, seeds, avocados, etc. Hardly any should come from animal sources and what does most should be from fish. The fats from red meat and dairy are particularly harmful. These are where we find a lot of cholesterol, and we’ll have more on this below.
======================================
Hi,
I am a pre-med student at UNE and understand that coffee is not the best drink for you (of course water is), but I have to study, work and have kids and I am sooo tired sometimes and need a little help. I exercise at least 6 days a week. Any advice?
Dawn
=====================================
Coffee—caffeine, really—is a debated topic but not really in weight loss circles. It’s a diuretic and helps with brain function for most people so if you like it there should not be a problem. It does negatively affect some people. If it makes you jittery or inhibits sleep then re-consider. While it is debated, there have been over 20,000 modern studies on caffeine and by far the majority show it to be a performance-enhancing substance. But there are dissenting studies. One recently linked it with “non-fatal” heart attacks and another with high cholesterol. None of this is proven but it’s probably enough to at least consider not abusing caffeine.
====================================
On this topic, I have high cholesterol it is hereditary in my family Last year it was 249. I am not overweight and have always exercised. I watch what I eat but I do eat all sorts of meat, bacon, a few cocktails etc. 4 months ago I started drinking a smoothie with progreens, multi vitamins, and some fruit and yogurt and my cholesterol went down to 199 without any meds. It can be done!
Michael Katz
====================================
As we’ll see below there are more factors involved, most importantly chronic inflammation, which a diet of alkaline foods, like those above, can have great effect on.
==================================
Hello and thanks for being such a good source of valuable information, I have two questions:
1-If I'm concerned about my cholesterol level, which kind of protein should I take after working out, whey or soy protein? And which one works better, if my main goal is muscle growth?
2-Is it true that, bee pollen is a good natural source of energy? If not, could you guys name a few for me?
Thanks a lot,
Caonabo Castillo (Dominican Republic)
========================================
The main thing to help with both energy levels and cholesterol is to eat more alkaline foods, which mainly come from plant sources, but also things like fish. More on this in a minute but let’s answer the rest of your question.
Post workout protein is not the best option. Exercise is the one time where high glycemic foods are helpful because you’re burning up your blood glycogen and the quicker you replenish it the more efficiently your body will recover. Most modern science agrees that a mixture of 4 parts carbohydrate to 1 part protein and very little fat is best to consume during or after a hard workout to aid recovery. Protein supplementing is fine at any other time (except before a workout when it will still undigested and interfere with your workout). Soy and whey are each better and different things. The simple answer is the soy is better for endurance exercise recovery and whey is better for strength training. However, the entirety of your diet must also be considered.
======================================
To whom it may concern:
I actually just got back from my doctor this morning when I had
my next blood test checking my cholesterol level. During the
appointment I asked him about all the press that the drug (Vytorin)he
had prescribed to me was getting. His response was that the research
that was done has been blown way out of proportion by the media. He
said that the test results were from a study that was done with
people with a bad cholesterol level that was extremely high...
something over 300. He said there was no placebo group done in the
study to compare the results to... and that two years after the study
was begun the candidates were checked and there was no evidence found
that Vytorin did anything to prevent heart disease. However.....
those candidates were in such bad shape... with a bad cholesterol
level over 300...and that's not the overall level... that's just the
bad level... that had they not been taking anything... they probably
would have been dead!! And, that the reason that there was no
placebo done is probably for that reason... He said that Vytorin
does lower the cholesterol level... and lowering that does lower the
chance of heart attacks... So, just because the research done on
extreme cases with no placebo group doesn't show evidence that it
prevents heart disease doesn't mean that it won't save your life by
lowering your cholesterol and saving you from a possible heart attack
one day..
So, my question to you is..... Do you really know what this
research is that has you printing an article that may have people
stop taking a medication that may save their lives? Now... I didn't
do any research and I don't know for sure... I just had a talk with
my Dr... but, he doesn't make anything from prescribing Vytorin for
me versus any of the other cholesterol medications so I don't think
he'd have made up what he said unless he's just misinformed... So..
I ask you to be sure to check out the research that was done... and
see if it's really significant for the general public/your
readers...... or, has this all been blown way out of proportion and
may some well meaning people now have heart attacks because they
listened to articles such as this one and stopped taking medication
that they really needed?
Understand. I know doing things the natural way is best... I
would be careful about telling people not to take something when it
may be a drug that saves or at least extends their lives.
Any additional info about the actual research that was done that
you have would be greatly appreciated!!
Sincerely,
Mark Teears
=====================================
I did look at a lot of research for this article. So much so that I couldn’t reference it in the space allowed so “more references on request” was supposed to go below it. I did look at the studies in question and will have to disagree with your doctor. There was a control group. I don’t see any evidence that they all had cholesterol over 300. It’s pretty easy to do your own research. Here are 28 studies on Vytorin to begin with:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrezAnd while I’m not saying that you should stop taking your medication I would absolutely be looking for an alternative way to get my vital signs a bit healthier.
================================
Hi – I am a little concerned at your latest article as it is factually incorrect.
Frequent exercise has NOTHING to do with Cholesterol - There is no direct correlation between the two things.
The build up of cholesterol is medically proven to be related strictly to only two things 1) Diet and 2) Genetics
The statement you make in your newsletter “Frequent exercise fights the buildup of cholesterol in the blood and plaque on the arteries” is flat out wrong.
Exercise has been proven to have absolutely NO impact on the build up of cholesterol whatsoever. Whilst it is possible to infer a consequential impact because exercise may reduce the amount of fat retained in the system, the impact into Cholesterol is secondary in nature and not, as your newsletter states, controlled by exercise.
This is quite a fundamental statement you make in your newsletter and I would encourage you to correct it asap since it is quite wrong.
Kelvin Morton
=================================
This is a societal misconception. It’s is one of those “piece of the puzzle” things. Some people say exercise can’t help with cholesterol levels because there is no direct link to exercise and cholesterol usage by the body. But when you look at the overall picture you’ll see that to say that exercise can’t help with this is akin to saying that weight lifting couldn’t possibly help a person hit home runs.
The actual problem here may have come from marketing cholesterol meds. Advertisers like neat little packages in order to effectively sell things without going into a lot of science. It’s probably safe to accuse some doctors of falling into the same trap because it takes too long to explain all the factors to their patients as well, or maybe even to research all the angles to begin with.
Trying to summarize what’s exactly wrong in the puzzle is difficult because it’s fairly complicated. In short, “high cholesterol” is a summation of a condition where too much cholesterol is being oxidized in arteries. Many other factors contribute to this and many argue that cholesterol isn’t a problem at all but that chronic inflammation is. Chronic inflammation is caused by many factors that are diet related. One of which is something called glycation, which is damage from—basically—eating too much sugar. Glycation, among other things, all cause the reaction that lead to excess cholesterol being “built up” in the arteries. One of the simplest cures for eating too much sugar is exercise because the more you exercise that harder it is to have insulin problems because you want to quickly replace glycogen that is burnt during exercise (so the actual insulin spike is then a good thing). Therefore, the more you exercise the less likely you are to have insulin resistance, which means it’s less likely you’ll develop chronic inflammation, which calls on more cholesterol in order to heal broken down cells, which causes excess cholesterol to perhaps become oxidized in your arteries.
Furthermore, statins, the group of “effective” drugs for treating high cholesterol reduce chronic inflammation, which leads to less cholesterol being called upon to heal cells. Exercise and proper diet can eliminate chronic inflammation, further showing how exercise can help reduce cholesterol build up.
Sorry if that is sloppy but I’m trying to be short. Here is a much better explanation of the process.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2005...olesterol-heart.aspx====================================
That’s it for this week. After all this gloom about cholesterol you’re probably in need of a laugh and what could be funnier than someone spending their life trying to break the Donkey Kong world record? I guess two people would be funnier. This was the first movie my wife recommended to me. I fell instantly in love. It’s called King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. As Lisa said, “it’s perfectly cast,” which is funny because it’s a documentary. It’s also absolutely true. Enjoy.
Until next time, don’t just train hard, train smart,
Steve
====================================
Mailbag Archives:
http://forums.milliondollarbody.com/eve/forums/a/frm/f/8082987037 
Answer