Cholesterol, A Villain Or Healthy

For legal purposes, I have to say this, I am not a medical doctor, I can not tell you to go against your doctor's orders or what to do. You need to discus this with your doctor.
 In this post, I would like to dive further into cholesterol and give the you another side of cholesterol. I hope to arm you with information so you can make the decision for yourself, is cholesterol a villain or healthy.
Cholesterol is an absolutely vital competent to the human body, you have to have it. Everyone of your trillion cells has a lipid by-layer, this is what surrounds your cells to keep everything inside of them. This layer also helps to keep foreign things outside of your cells, such as bacteria and viruses. This lipid layer also allows the cell to be permeable, allowing molecules to pass through it with ease. To make new cells, you have to have cholesterol. Cholesterol is a basic component for bile acids, helps to create sex and adrenal hormones, along with other steroid hormones. Cholesterol is a precursor to fat soluble vitamins, such as A and D, both vitally important to mammals. With vitamin D, if you do not have enough cholesterol in your system, you can not make vitamin D from exposure to the sun, which is the best way to obtain your vitamin D. The brain and central nervous system us cholesterol to function properly. The electrical impulses go along the cholesterol rich membranes of the nerve cells, making the nervous system do it's thing. Are you beginning to understand the fast importance of cholesterol and how our bodies have to have it? This list is just some of the things cholesterol is used for in the body.
 What happens if your cholesterol is too low. Yes, I did say too low. We just learned cholesterol is needed by the brain and nervous system to function properly, would it surprise you then if you have low levels of cholesterol you are more at risk for depression or anxiety? Those with low cholesterol exhibit more tendency for mood disorders, mainly depression and anxiety. In severe cases, this can also lead to suicide. In people with low cholesterol, aggression is also seen. There is an increased rick for a stroke. And if all of that does not scare you or make you want to go and eat cholesterol, then maybe knowing you are at a greater risk for having cancer will. One way to prevent cancer is to make sure your cholesterol levels are adequate. What is too low? From the reading I have done, anything below 150. You are best to have your cholesterol about 200.
 Now that we have seen how cholesterol is used by the body and what happens if it is to low, lets look at some of the other uses of cholesterol. If you have eaten to much sugar from grains or other sources of sugar, you might remember from a previous post about grains and sugar, they can create cuts and divest in your artery walls. If you remember one of things your body had to have cholesterol for is building new cells. So, if there is a cut in the artery wall, your body is going to need to make cholesterol to heal this damage, it needs to make new cells, new cells means more cholesterol. What point am I trying to make? When there is damage in the body, there is an abundance of cholesterol because the body is trying to heal itself. Cholesterol is healing, just like a fever is healing. There for, when a mass, or plaque, from an artery is examined, it is found to have an abundance of cholesterol in it, healing cholesterol. The body is trying to heal the damage which has been caused by sugar or whatever the damage is from. Thus leading to the myth that cholesterol causes heart disease, because there is cholesterol in the plaque. We know better now though. All cholesterol is trying to do is heal the body, make new cells to repair the ones which have been damaged. Another component of a mass that would be found in the artery along with cholesterol is calcium. Have you ever heard this before? Do you hear horror stories about calcium? That you should be watching your intake of calcium because it can cause heart disease and build up in the arteries which can cause a heart attack? Nope. I am not saying calcium is bad for you, we need calcium, just like we need cholesterol. Do be careful with amount of calcium you are taking and be sure to take it with magnesium, they are complementary minerals. You see, cholesterol has been given a bad rap for being in the "right place" but at the wrong time.
 Another class of individuals who have higher levels of cholesterol are post menopausal woman. Recall cholesterol is needed to create sex hormones. After menopause woman are not making the amount of hormones they used too. Their bodies compensate for this lack of hormones by increasing cholesterol levels. Hormones are protective for women's hearts. If this protection is gone, it would stand to reason cholesterol would increase due to the lack of hormones and its protective nature as well. It has been found through research, woman who have gone though menopause live longer when they have higher levels of cholesterol. It really does not make much sense then to put these woman on dangerous cholesterol lowering medications does it?
 a picture is unfolding for you of the great importance of cholesterol for your body. Maybe, you are being to understand why I eat so much of the heart healthy stuff. If not, there is more to come.
In the love of Christ,