Cholesterol, what does this word conjure up?
Heart attacks?
Atherosclerosis
Angina
Clogged up arteries
Death even?
Shall we change the narrative, so that you can truly understand cholesterol? When you grow up with a deep embedded message, that not only is cholesterol bad, but it must be 'suppressed' and with a medication that may deplete a nutrient (CoQ10) that is vital for heart health, is something not a tad 'odd'? We believe this 'truth', we embed it into our subconscious, so much so that some people’s fridges are stocked up with a yoghourt drink that is supposed to reduce cholesterol but it contains skimmed milk and artificial sweeteners? Are these not an assault on our microbiome? As well as being nutrient poor food 'products'.
A key and vital part of our curriculum is teaching the correct SCIENCE. These untruths about cholesterol have been around for about 3 decades are not science based , yet they are avidly adhered to.
Cholesterol is a HEALING AGENT. But when you are raised in a culture that has portrayed the opposite message it takes some time to actually start to shift those old beliefs and embed new healthy ones that are solid in science.
As 21st century practitioners, we find ourselves coaching, educating, empowering our clients so they can form belief systems that are more 'healing', more 'nourishing' for themselves. Since when did eating an ‘egg’ become unhealthy? Of course, an egg from a chicken that has not seen day light, is injected with antibiotics, that is another story and we cover the ‘why’s’ in the two year integrated nutrition diploma course.
Its about the environment
Here is some food for thought or some nutrients for the neuronal cells, even your neuronal cells rely on cholesterol for their 'cover' known as the myelin sheath.
Cholesterol, has been taught as good and bad,. Have you ever asked WHY? How does one become good and one become bad? Is there such a thing? Is this real science?
Cholesterol is VITAL, it has several roles in the body and one of them is to HEAL damaged blood vessel walls, yes it is true. It does not go and damage the blood vessel walls, it heals them.
Think about this for a moment…why would the innate wisdom of your body, produce cholesterol that is harming you? By the way your body makes way more cholesterol than you get in a fry up. Your body does not make cholesterol to harm you.
The good and the bad cholesterol..really?
LDL is labelled as he 'bad' cholesterol and HDL is labelled at the 'good' cholesterol. The difference between them is the DENSITY. LDL is not the ‘naughty kid’ that got caught and HDL is equally not the ‘good kid’ that behaves all the time.
Is there such as thing as a 'good' kid and 'bad' kid? What makes one a 'good or bad' kid? Is it not the environment? Is it not the lack of nurture? Is it not neglect?
Well it is pretty much the same with LDL and HDL.
HDL is High Density Lipoprotein
LDL is Low Density Lipoprotein
Basically one is more dense than the other, both are escorts. One escorts the cholesterol away from the liver (LDL) and one escorts cholesterol back to the liver (HDL).
If the cholesterol is being taken back to the liver where it is then ‘held’ then surely that is good. Really? This is what most believe. Therefore, if cholesterol is being taken out of the liver to go to various body parts, that must be bad, as cholesterol is damaging, it needs to be ‘controlled’ and kept ‘captive’ in the liver.
….do you see how we already have set up these belief systems, LDL cholesterol is bad…therefore x, y and z.
What is cholesterol?
Where does it come from?
What does it do?
When is it high?
When is it low?
What does it mean when it is high?
What does it mean when it is low?
What about tests that look at the WHOLE?
When the blood vessel inner lining (known as the endothelium) gets damaged, such as due to high blood pressure, or toxic chemicals such as pesticides, or high blood sugar levels etc the liver will send out LDL. LDL is the escort that takes cholesterol to the sight of INJURY, this cholesterol is then used to heal the ‘hole/damage’ in the endothelium. Once it has done it’s job, the HDL ‘gets the glory’ as it escorts the remaining cholesterol back to the liver.
So this is how the story of the 'good and bad' cholesterol was invented.
The back drop is important, just as your own back drop in your life is important. The environment is important, just as your environment is important in how you feel, how you are nurtured , how you react etc.
We have different types of LDL? We have all these fancy names for LDL nowadays from the large fluffy type to the more smaller not so fluffy type. Why is this? LDL adapts according to it's environment.
Will HDL always be ‘good’, will it always have the glory? No, as it depends on it’s environment. Did you know having too high HDL is also not a good sign?
Let’s get back to the science.
At the new school of nutritional medicine we believe it is important to ask questions, to seek the answers, not to just be 'told', as science has gotten a bit 'blurry' it is important that we remain critically 'open minded'.
In our coaching modules we will be diving into behavioural patterns, how our behavioural patterns can impact what we believe and what we question, what we do, how we live etc. Do you have a fridge full of cholesterol reducing yoghourt drink? If so why.... what was the thought process? What made you purchase that product? What/who influenced you?
How does it feel to uncover that we have been operating our lives based on a belief system that may not be true? We hope you find these questions empowering, and to ask these questions in various aspects of your life, not just when you go food shopping.
Training 21st century practitioners means we look back at our own story, how did we 'invent' who we are today? Who are we BEING today? Are we the ‘good’ are we ‘bad’, does that even exist? Are we trying to be something we are not? How is our environment impacting us?
Do you want to train as an integrated nutritional therapist? We are blending in life coaching skills with nutritional medicine, the first 'alternative' training institute to do this and we are including rapid relief homeopathy into our informative and exciting curriculum.
Fancy joining? This is a part time 2 year course, one weekend a month, based in London in the beautiful grounds of Regent's University. It is in person for those within a 75 miles radius from London. We understand due to world changes and current financial changes we are offering the course online LIVE participation if not attending in person.
To WHOLEness!
From the team at The New School Of Nutritional Medicine
Learn about the Founder & Principal of the New School of Nutritional Medicine, Dr Khush Mark PhD HERE.