Heart Health - Part 3
Heart Imbalances
In this section, I’m going to take you through some of the more common heart imbalances.
In this part we’re looking at:
Cholesterol
Triglycerides
Atherosclerosis
Syndrome X (high blood sugar, high cholesterol, higher risk of heart disease)
Coronary Artery Disease
Let’s start with the most common one:
Cholesterol
Cholesterol is a waxy substance in your blood and it’s a necessary component of healthy cells. It makes cell membranes, hormones, and helps to synthesize Vitamin D. Our body needs it to function properly!
(it seems that many health professionals forget to mention that it’s essential and isn’t just an evil little gremlin in the blood).
Your liver makes most to all of the cholesterol your body needs. If your blood cholesterol levels are higher than your doctor would like, it’s usually the liver-made cholesterol that’s a problem, not dietary cholesterol. Your overall diet can affect your blood cholesterol levels, but it’s not usually due to the cholesterol you’re eating in foods like eggs and meat. We’ll get into more of that in a bit :).
Cholesterol has four vital functions in the body:
It’s the lipid (fat) component of all cell membranes (cell walls)
It’s a key part of bile (helps with fat digestion and detoxification)
Is a precursor for many steroid hormones (including estrogen and androgens) and vitamin D
Helps to “waterproof” the skin
When you have your cholesterol tested, they usually look at LDL and HDL.
LDL cholesterol: Low-density lipoproteins which deliver cholesterol to tissues. Sometimes this can become arterial plaque, which is why it’s been named “bad” cholesterol. The keyword is “sometimes”.
HDL cholesterol: High-density lipoproteins which move cholesterol away from the tissues to be stored in the liver or removed through bile. It doesn’t become arterial plaque, so it’s been dubbed “good” cholesterol.
Usually, your doctor will look at your total cholesterol and the ratio between these two types.
For some people, high cholesterol is a genetic issue, their body is just very good at clotting. This was an important part of survival back when we were hunters and there weren’t any hospitals. Being a good clotter could mean life or death if injured back then…but today it can increase your risk of atherosclerosis.
Age, smoking, alcohol use, inflammatory diet, and other lifestyle issues can increase your cholesterol levels and many foods can help your body find balance.
And…in a very large study that looked at 130,000 heart attacks, they found that 75% of people had normal cholesterol levels, and 50% had normal LDL levels. But, 90% had low HDL levels, so raising HDL might be the number to focus on. Low HDL levels are connected to insulin resistance and high blood sugar.
Triglycerides
Triglycerides are a fatty substance carried by your blood by very-low-density-lipoproteins (VLDL). Think of triglycerides as a way for your body to move & store energy.
If you’ve eaten more energy/glucose than your body needs, your body quickly converts that extra energy into a triglyceride and stores it into a fat cell for later. In the past, this stored energy would be used anytime food is low and, like with cholesterol, this could mean life or death.
Today, the problem is that we tend to eat more than necessary often and so our body spends a lot of time shoving extra energy/triglycerides into fat cells…but not a lot of time liberating it for use. It’s a balance problem.
High blood sugar and/or insulin resistance can increase triglyceride levels because it’s high blood sugar (too much energy) that triggers the production of triglycerides.
In a nutshell, look at your triglyceride levels as a sign that you’re storing lots of energy and that could mean your cells might be a tad resistant to insulin. (check your glucose and Hgba1c levels to see if you’re insulin resistant, more in Part 4).
There’s a link between high triglyceride levels, chronic inflammation, atherosclerosis, and obesity, a common cluster of symptoms (see more later in “Syndrome X”). If you fit into this cluster, your doctor may have told you that you need to lose weight to fix all of these issues. I disagree entirely – weight gain is a result of high triglycerides and chronic inflammation, not the cause of it. By lowering your inflammation, insulin levels, and triglycerides, your body will start to drop the extra stored energy, woo! (also, more in Part 4)
High triglyceride levels can increase your risk of heart attack and stroke as well, possibly due to the chronic inflammation that is usually clustered with high blood fats (cholesterol and triglycerides are “blood fats”). It’s a good thing to keep an eye on :)
Atherosclerosis
a.k.a. hardening of the artery walls, and the cause of most cardiovascular problems
Our modern life is taking a toll on our cardiovascular system, it’s true. But, that doesn’t mean all is lost, we can remedy the problems once we know what’s going on :).
When plaque builds up in our arteries it reduces the blood supply to all of our cells, which deprives them of oxygen. This can be happening for years or decades without any symptoms, it’s only when there’s a 90% blockage that you might feel the narrowing.
Smaller blockages can be found in testing and I’ve heard from many people that they didn’t realize how tired they were until the blockage was fixed and they felt the difference. Having their tissues properly oxygenated always feels so much better.
The heart, brain, and legs are the most common spots for these blockages to occur.
Main Causes of Atherosclerosis:
High sugar intake, high blood sugar levels, diabetes
Oxidative stress (free radicals) – from processed food, refined oils (margarine), additives, chemicals, smoking
Stress
Environmental toxic exposure – pollution, pesticides, etc
Chronic high blood pressure
Not enough exercise – helps with oxygenating the cells and improving circulation
High cholesterol and high triglycerides are also connected to the building up of plaque in the arteries, but it seems that they’re symptoms of the same problem, not one causing the other.
Nutritional imbalances that can increase arterial plaque:
Low antioxidants in diet – they help to reverse oxidative stress
Low vitamin E – it’s an antioxidant and protects against free radicals
Low vitamin C – helps to strengthen the arteries, lessens platelet “clumping”
Low omega-3s – your body struggles to clean up inflammation when omega-3s are low
Low magnesium – Helps with energy production in the cells, dilates arteries, and helps the heart beat properly
Syndrome X
I don’t hear this diagnosis very often anymore, although I think it’s more prevalent than it seems.
It’s the combination of blood sugar instability (insulin resistance or Type II Diabetes), high cholesterol/triglycerides, high blood pressure, and obesity.
…which is pretty common in our stressed out, processed-food-is-everywhere world.
While I don’t see the “Syndrome X” diagnosis often, I see this combination of symptoms and blood work often. Sadly and frustratingly, doctors tend to say “it’s because you’re overweight”, when weight is a result of high blood sugar and high triglycerides, NOT the cause of them.
Many of my clients are being told to focus on the wrong thing, we need to look at the cause, not the result.
Syndrome X combines high blood sugar, inflammation, and high stress, and this creates the smattering of symptoms called “Syndrome X”.
If you fit into this category, don’t worry. You’re not alone, it’s becoming more and more prevalent each year. And, everything we talk about in the Finding Balance section will help reduce your symptoms.
Please, don’t go on a low-calorie diet just to lose weight and hope that your other symptoms come into balance. If they do, it’ll only be temporary and weight loss is very difficult if we don’t deal with the originating symptoms first. Plus, you’ll start to lose weight automatically as we get your symptoms back into balance :).
Please reach out if you’re feeling frustrated and you’re not sure what to do, especially if you’re getting pressured to just lose weight. I’m always here to help.
Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)
Atherosclerosis and Syndrome X may lead to CAD. It’s not guaranteed, but it’s down the road from these symptoms.
CAD is diagnosed when there are one or more blockages in one of the arteries that leads to the heart. Angina and heart attacks (myocardial infarction) are a result of CAD.
In Part 4, we’re going to talk about the ways to support your heart and help with all of these issues and conditions. Head over there now!
Got any questions or comments? Comment below, jump to our private Facebook Group, or the Ask Lisa page :).