Controlling Cholesterol With Diet Cholesterol plays many important roles in our body, but when it's levels are too high, it can contribute to the development of heart disease or cause a heart attack by way of cholesterol deposits made on the walls of blood vessels. When someone presents with high cholesterol levels, physicians often prescribe a statin drug and/or a high carbohydrate, low cholesterol diet. Both are effective ways to reduce the overall total cholesterol levels, but it fails to ensure deposits are no longer being made in blood vessels. A high carbohydrate diet precipitates a surge of insulin into the blood stream to trigger nutrient uptake into cells. Much of the excess glucose that is not being used immediately for energy is transformed by the liver into triglycerides and stored in fat cells. As the fat cell membrane expands to accommodate triglycerides, this triggers the body to make more cholesterol as it's an important part of the cell membrane. Levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the "good" cholesterol, decrease on a high carb, low cholesterol diet which is an undesirable side effect as it is an essential component of keeping cholesterol from building up in blood vessels. Is there a better way to reduce cholesterol levels without sacrificing HDL? Research consistently shows that a diet low in carbohydrates and higher in protein and fat can reduce total cholesterol levels, such as low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the "bad" cholesterol, and increase levels of the "good" cholesterol. On a low carbohydrate diet, the hormone glucagon is dominant. Glucagon halts production of insulin and triggers the release of glycogen to be made into glucose. It also causes triglycerides to be released from fat cells to be used as energy. Do you or someone you know have high cholesterol levels? Attend our FREE workshop to learn more about the benefits of a low-carb diet and it's positive effects on total cholesterol levels! Wednesday, 8/17 at 7:30pm Thursday, 8/25 at 7:30pm Thursday, 9/8 at 7:30pm Thursday, 9/15 at 7:30pm Call or email today to reserve your seat! Click here to read a few of our Ideal protein success stories! References: Spence, Jt, et al.. "Role of Protein Synthesis in the Carbohydrate-Induced Changes in the Activities of Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase and Hydroxymethyl-glutaryl-CoA Reductase in Cultured Rat Hepatocytes." Biochem J. Vol. 227 No. 3 (May 1, 1985): 939-47 Hayek T, et al.. "Dietary Fat Increases High ensity Lipoprotein (HDL) Levels Both by Increasing the Transport Rates and Decreasing the Fractional Catabolic Rates of HDL-cholesterol ester and apolipoprotein (Apo) A-1. Presentation of a New Animal Model and Mechanistic Studies in Human Apo A-1 Transgenic and Control Mice." J Clin Invest. 91 (4) (1993): 1665-1671
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