The truth about blood pressure and cholesterol
Everybody 鈥渒nows鈥� what causes heart attacks, right? High cholesterol, high blood pressure, fats and being overweight. Right? Well, perhaps not quite, according to many contemporary and prolific leaders in health research and promotion such as Dr. Jonny Bowden, and Dr. Mercola, Dr. Eric Berg and Dr. John Bergman, to name just a tiny handful of expert modern natural healing gurus.
These practitioners claim that the regular medical and drug industry has it all wrong in regard to heart disease, blood pressure and cholesterol.
There are a number of excellent sources on the topic. One such is the book entitled, 鈥淭he Great Cholesterol Myth鈥� by Dr. Stephen Sinatra, Jonny Bowden and Deirdre Rawlings.
Here is a direct quote right from the forward:
鈥淭he vast majority of laypeople have been bombarded with so much misinformation about cholesterol that most take it as a given that cholesterol is a bad thing and that the less they have the better. The reality is that nothing could be further from the truth.鈥�
Okay, well maybe its just because I鈥檓 a 鈥渉ealth nut,鈥� but that sort of a trailblazing statement makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Wow. That completely undermines pretty much every piece of medical advice that has been followed by generations of Americans since at least the 70鈥檚.
In addition, let鈥檚 take a glance at what Dr. John Bergman says regarding blood pressure:
鈥� 鈥� blood pressure reading is merely a snapshot in time of what your body is doing to regulate itself. So high or low blood pressure readings are not really important when taken in context 鈥� meaning that high blood pressure isn鈥檛 necessarily bad and low blood pressure or even 鈥渘ormal blood pressure鈥� (120/80) isn鈥檛 necessarily good. Even if blood pressure is taken properly such as several readings taken in one day throughout the day won鈥檛 be an accurate measurement of blood pressure because so many factors are involved in regulation.鈥�
Do either of the above statements lead you to agree that high BP or high cholesterol is best dealt with by taking drugs which 鈥渞egulate鈥� the readings without addressing the cause? Yes, you read that right鈥ithout addressing the cause. BP and cholesterol drugs only make the symptom, without doing anything to actually treat the cause.
According to Dr. John Bergman, high blood pressure is an attempt by the body to increase the flow of nutrients to the brain and other organs, because there is arterial damage somewhere: in the kidneys, in the brain, in the liver, etc. 鈥� This is in direct contradiction to the conventional medical view that it is high blood pressure that damages the organs. No, says Dr. Bergman, it is the damage that causes the BP to rise. He states that high BP in itself poses no danger; rather it is the causes of the high BP that must be repaired. High BP is indeed an alarm to heed, but the dynamics have been misunderstood for generations.
As with so many other health issues, it is diet and exercise which trigger or heal the body: Eat right, exercise regularly and avoid further toxic 鈥渇ood鈥� items. The body can heal itself if given proper nutrition, and if not further assaulted with toxins.
Dr. Bergman says that two of the biggest offenders which cause inflammation and circulatory and organ damage are refined sugar, and poor vegetable oils, especially when heated for frying. The liver does not know how to process at least half of what is in table sugar, which also raises the insulin response. The body handles the extra sugar by storing it in fat. This is why 鈥渓ow fat鈥� foods are a horribly dishonest hoax. Extra sugar, especially refined sugar (not bound to fiber as in nature) pretty directly turns to fat, so all those 鈥渓ow fat鈥� cereals and granola bars loaded with sugar are anything BUT low fat. They damage your arteries, your organs, and they make us fat: a trifecta! Woo Hoo 鈥� not.
A similar argument is made regarding the application of drugs to lower cholesterol. Cholesterol is an essential nutrient 鈥� repeat, essential. It is a major building block. In fact, our bodies make it when they are too low. Does this sound like the enemy it has been made out to be by the AMA and the AHA? Jonny Bowden and others point out that a much more relevant test of the status of your risk for heart disease is the C-reactive protein test. It is a measure of inflammation, which is the real culprit.
You can insist that your doctor run a C-reactive protein test along with the usual HLD, LDL, Tri-Glyceride levels. I personally experienced this in the past months. My total cholesterol was considered high, around 200, but my C-reactive protein was well under the acceptable range. 鈥淣ormal鈥� is below 3mg/dl. Mine was 1. Again 鈥oo Hoo.
One final thing to note is that, according to Dr. Bergman and others, studies have concluded that people who take BP and cholesterol drugs have a statistically higher rate of death compared to those who do not.
Let that sink in.
Furthermore, they assert that the drugs poison our liver, and are statistically associated with increased maladies of the brain such as Alzheimer鈥檚. The only true remedy is real food, and reasonable physical activity.
I will leave you with the words of Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine: 鈥淟et food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.鈥�