Want to Prevent Flu and Health Problems? Eat more Fat and Cholesterol!

November 6, 2009 · Filed under General Information

Besides all the warnings we constantly hear about eating low-fat, low cholesterol diets for heart and cardiovascular health, we are also receiving many reports about the flu and colds and how dangerous this particular season will be for the majority population’s health.

Typically, we are told to get flu vaccines, wash our hands, and stay away from others who are visibly ill and carry symptoms. But did you know that one of the best ways to keep your cardiovascular system healthy and ward off flus and colds is by maintaining a healthy lifestyle and eating real, healthy foods that are nutrient dense – and in particular – replete with fat and cholesterol? It’s true! Don’t be fooled by what so-called experts say about “prevention methods”.

Listen to this informative interview from Underground Wellness about the distortions we’ve been taught by the medical, health, and food industries regarding the effects of cholesterol on our health:

One of your best weapons against disease and illness is and always will be a healthy lifestyle – which is usually headed up by a healthy diet. Contrary to popular opinion, saturated fats and cholesterol are two of your main allies against becoming sick.

For decades, so-called health experts have warned against the dangers of consuming too much fat and cholesterol. People now live in fear of receiving the diagnoses of high cholesterol by their physicians. Sally Fallon Morell, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation states that in fact, the opposite is true: “Having adequate cholesterol levels in the body is key to good health. The notion that cholesterol is a villain in the diet is a myth, based on flimsy evidence and opposed by many honest scientists, including prominent lipids researcher, Dr. Mary Enig.” This untruth about fats and cholesterol has in fact been perpetuated by two parties – the industrial food industry to sell unhealthy, processed vegetable oils and the pharmaceutical industry to promote the sale and use of drugs to counteract the effects of consuming industrial food. It’s an ingenious, money-making system, and one that has all the health communities fooled.

Despite the way the food system has been constructed, having proper levels of cholesterol is essential to good health.  Cholesterol remains an important fundamental component of cell structure and provides integrity to the cell membrane to render it waterproof. “Without adequate cholesterol in the cell membrane, our cells become ‘leaky’ and cannot function properly,” says Sally Fallon Morell. A variety of critical body substances are composed of cholesterol such as the reproductive hormones estrogen, testosterone, stress hormones like cortisol, and bile salts produced by the liver and used in the gallbladder to digest fats and Vitamin D.

So what foods cause health issues? The very substances which cause the cell membrane to weaken are the foods we are told to eat by mainstream health experts, such as the following:

• polyunsaturated oils, such as canola, soy, and cottonseed, which break down the integrity of the cell wall structure, causing it to become permeable and soft
• artificial trans fats in vegetable shortening, margarine, artificial “butters” and other partially hydrogenated oils – found in a wide range of processed foods – which alter the structure of the cell wall
• commercially produced meats and dairy from factory farm environments – including many low-fat, non-fat, or skim products

In simple terms, these foods are bad for our health because the nutritional structure of the foods has been altered to something that the digestive process and human body does not recognize. Natural fats and cholesterol from real food can be absorbed and used by the body as nature intended, to provide support for all bodily functions.

Not only does cholesterol play an important role in hormonal and digestive processes, but it also ensures the success of neurological processes and regulates many proper functions like the formation of memory and hormone uptake in the brain that uses chemicals such as seratonin – the chemical responsible for a sense of well-being in the body. When cholesterol levels are not optimal, seratonin receptors fail to fire. This is one leading cause of depression and mood disorders.

If you know about someone taking medication for a mood disorder, the problem could very well be linked to a deficit in cholesterol in the body. The brain is mostly composed of fat and cholesterol, and the lack of this important nutrient can lead to a myriad of health issues.

The best way to supply your body with necessary cholesterol and fats is to eat real, whole foods from organically and sustainable produced sources. Here is a list of some of those foods:

• Grass-fed meats
• Pasture-raised poultry and eggs from pasture-raised hens
• Cod liver oil
• Dairy products from grass-fed animals – milk, butter, cream, cheese, sour cream, and yogurt
• Healthy organic oils and fats like extra virgin olive, coconut, and palm, cold-pressed flaxseed, grapeseed, and pumpkin seed
• Raw, sprouted nuts and seeds like almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, hazelnuts, cashews, and Brazil Nuts

For more information on cholesterol and its role in health, visit the web site of Chris Masterjohn, author of various publications and knowledgeable researcher on the subject. Chris is completing his PhD in Nutritional Science with an emphasis on Biochemical and Molecular Nutrition at the University of Connecticut.

Also visit the non-profit web site, Weston A. Price to learn more about the intensive research conducted by doctors and scientists into the importance of these critical nutrients.

This article is part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays Carnival. Please visit this site and read all the other real food articles linked there.