Homeopathy & healthy cholesterol

You are taking good care of your heart health. That’s great. You are avoiding saturated fats and keeping your blood cholesterol levels low. You are happy and so is everyone in the family — because, this is the key to good health and combating heart disease.

You also don’t eat eggs, you’ve kept the meat off your menu, and you are eating low-fat food and keeping dairy products at a distance. If you are taking prescription cholesterol-lowering drugs, you’d sure be feeling on top of the world — put simply, you are taking good care of your health.

You could be wrong. Because, you would be amazed to learn that your key factors, or healthy pointers, to good health are mistaken beliefs.

A growing number of medical researchers are of the view today that the cholesterol-heart disease premise is one of the biggest deceptions in the history of medical science. In other words, the idea that high cholesterol levels are fundamental risk factors in heart disease is nothing short of blunderbuss, or nonsense.

The fact is: saturated fats and cholesterol are, in point of fact, essential for good health and maintaining a strong immune defence.

Put simply, there is no solid evidence that high cholesterol plays a role in heart disease. However, while it is agreed that a consistently high level of ‘bad’ [LDL] cholesterol in the blood is suggestive of an underlying health problem, what needs to be emphasised is that one should always address the ‘root cause’ of any given or not given illness, as homeopathy suggests, instead of keeping your blood cholesterol levels low. What triggers high cholesterol levels is job stress, or workplace pressures, depression, anxiety, suppressed anger, chronic pain, inflammation, acid stomach, or sleeplessness.

As a matter of fact, cholesterol levels in the blood are not constant; it is dynamic, or subject to fluctuation, like all bodily functions. It varies at different times of the day and also seasons. One tends to have higher levels of cholesterol in winter than in summer. Cholesterol also rises alarmingly after surgical and dental procedures. It, of course, shoots up during stress; it reduces when you are relaxed, or cheerful. Cholesterol is a healing tool, no less. When the body has some healing job to be done, it produces cholesterol and despatches it to the location where it is needed.

Low cholesterol levels compromise one’s immune defences — when this happens, one is open or prone to infections. Research suggests that a diet rich in cholesterol enhances our ability to recover from infections more quickly. Picture this. Cod liver oil, a prized source of cholesterol, has, for ages, been everyone’s favourite remedy to boost, or augment, immune function.

We are all exposed to pollutants, chemicals, viruses, bacteria and free radicals on a daily basis. When these dangerous elements reach our bloodstream, the liver receives a message to despatch cholesterol to the location of harm in the form of ‘bad’ cholesterol.  Once healing takes place, ‘bad’ cholesterol returns to the liver in the form of ‘good’ cholesterol [HDL]. However this may be, it must be emphasised that in chronic disease, one’s blood cholesterol is constantly high.

Homeopathy is mind/body, holistic medicine. It has the therapeutic capability to heal deep emotional issues as well as ‘purge’ chronic physical illnesses. It aims to address and treat underlying stressors. Besides, it ‘stimulates’ our body systems to regulate and maintain healthy levels of blood cholesterol.    

Self-help

• Avoid, or reduce, animal fats, especially eggs, full-fat cheese, milk, ice-cream and butter
• Increase your fibre intake — e.g., bran, leafy greens, flaxseed
• Increase your intake of brown rice and pulses — in other words, complex carbohydrates.
• If you are overweight, shed those ‘bulges’
• Make time for a 25-30 minute exercise, or walk for 30 minutes, 4-5 times a week
• Stop smoking; avoid alcohol.