Healthy cholesterol?  Isn’t cholesterol bad?  Not at all! 

In fact, cholesterol plays a very important role in every cell in your body.  Without cholesterol, cell membranes cease to function, and vitamin D and hormone production comes screeching to a halt.

So cholesterol is actually a good thing … as long as it’s where it’s supposed to be and isn’t where it’s not supposed to be.  Like so many things, it’s a matter of balance.

Cholesterol, you see, doesn’t just float around in the bloodstream by itself.  It gets packaged inside a carrier molecule known as lipoprotein.  While there are many different types of lipoprotein, the two primary ones are known as LDL and HDL.  LDL carries cholesterol throughout the body, taking it where it’s needed.  HDL molecules transport excess or unused cholesterol back to the liver, where it’s broken down to be recycled. 

As designed, the process works well.  When, however, something (poor diet choices, genetic predisposition, sedentary lifestyle) disrupts the proper LDL-HDL equilibrium, bad things happen.  Cholesterol starts accumulating where it shouldn’t.  The result?  Inflammation and premature aging.  Blocked blood vessels.  Strokes.  Heart attacks.  Bad stuff.  Very bad stuff.

So, then, how do we maintain the balance … naturally?  What’s the Functional Medicine (a.k.a. Anti-Aging Medicine or Alternative Medicine) approach to lowering LDL and increasing HDL? 

Answer:

1. First, a diet low in processed carbohydrates, saturated fats and high in soy, extra-virgin olive oil, tree nuts, beans, and garlic.
2. The big gun supplemets:  Niacin & Co-Enzyme Q10
3. Other worthy weapons:   Omega 3 Fish Oil, Probiotics, Policosanol, Rutin, Red Yeast Rice, Tocotrienols (a form of vitamin E), green tea, rutin, hesperidin, pantethine (a part of vitamin B5), phytosterol esters.