Ways To Lower Cholesterol – Coconut Oil?
Coconut Oil Raises HDL Cholesterol – Lowers Cholesterol Ratio
Too much “bad” low density cholesterol (LDL) is harmful to our health, as it will deposit cholesterol into the walls of arteries, cause plaque buildup, and can lead to heart disease. Luckily it is possible to lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels in the body naturally.
The body produces its own cholesterol, so it doesn’t need to get it from the diet. We often eat foods saturated in cholesterol and fat and this will often raise our LDL cholesterol levels to undesirable and unhealthy levels. Eating more plant based life while reducing or removing meat and processed foods will lower cholesterol levels.
A Vegan Plant Based Diet Lowers Cholesterol
Eating a plant based diet or even eating diet that contains a high amount of plant based foods and less meat and processed foods will lower cholesterol levels. My vegan plant based diet has positively effected my cholesterol levels. The snippets below are from my most recent blood work which shows that my LDL cholesterol level is on the low side of the acceptable range for LDL cholesterol. According to a Harvard publication that would put me in the cholesterol range of my healthy hunter gatherer ancestors.
A plant based diet lowers cholesterol because it doesn’t contain cholesterol. But if you wanted to lower your cholesterol without adopting a plant based diet there are plant based foods and actions you can take in combination with each other to help reduce your cholesterol.
Coconut Oil To Raise Good HDL Cholesterol And Lower Cholesterol Ratio
There is a bad rap on saturated fats any maybe that is warranted and maybe not. Heart disease actually started to rise as people started to use more hydrogenated vegetable oils in place of saturated fats.
Even in saying this, all saturated fats are not the same and one stands out as champion of saturated fats and all oils, coconut oil. Coconut oil is a wonder oil and I feel that it is the oil to use out of all vegetable oils.
Coconut oil is shown in tests to increase HDL (good) levels and lower LDL/ HDL ratio, which is good. In many cases the total cholesterol levels are lowered while eating coconut oil, and in some cases total cholesterol levels do increase and this is not necessarily a bad thing. The LDL levels increase in those cases which lowers the cholesterol ratio. There is growing consensus that cholesterol ratio should be used to determine good cholesterol levels and not total cholesterol levels.
Coconut oil is primarily made up of medium chain triglycerides which are quickly used by the body to make energy. They don’t stay in the body and are not stored in fat cells like long chain triglycerides (most vegetable oils) often do. Coconut oil’s medium chain triglycerides, lauric acid, are an antiviral substance which supports the immune system. I drink teaspoons of coconut oil and you can see my cholesterol levels are very low.
I drink tablespoons of coconut oil for quick energy, especially when I go on my 50 mile cycling rides. I also drink it for its antiviral properties to keep my immune system strong. I eat mostly raw now, but when I used to cook foods I would use coconut oil, plus I love the taste of coconut oil.
Ways to Lower Cholesterol — 234
Tags: Cholesterol, immune system, lower cholesterol, nutrition, ratio
