The lowdown on cholesterol
Author: Maharishi Ayurveda Date Posted:12 September 2016
If you have a family history of heart disease, diabetes or a tendency for being overweight, then healthy cholesterol formation is important for your wellbeing. Cholesterol is produced by your body as a part of normal and healthy fat tissue formation. It is essential for the body to function properly as it is used to build cell membranes, vitamin D, hormones and bile acids.
Your body uses cholesterol to lubricate and support milllions of differenct channels that carry nutirents to the cells and waste away from cells. These channels are dry by nature and over time can become brittle, especially when we are older.
Cholesterol helps these channels retain flexibility, elasticity and to function smoothly. This is especially true of the channels that lead to the brain. Drying out of these delicate channels can mean that the brain doesn’t get enough oxygen, which can lead to lack of focus, fatigue and even dementia. This type of cholesterol is what is generally referred to as “good” cholesterol or high density lipoprotein (HDL)
- Low density lipoprotein (LDL) is referred to as “bad” cholesterol which can contribute towards plaque developing in the artery walls. Maharishi Ayurveda understands this harmful cholesterol to be a result of toxins or improperly digested substances in the physiology. Ama refers to anything that has not been properly processed in the physiology and is a result of poor digestion or eating the wrong types of food. Ama can clog up the channels in the body, such as the arteries. Stuck in the blood stream, cholesterol can oxidize and create damage to the body.
- Eating the wrong types of fat can also cause high cholesterol. Fats that are hard to digest include saturated fats found in meat, butter and vegetable oil. Transfats or hydrogenated vegetable oils are even harder for the body to process and are found in almost all packaged, processed and fast foods. Overheating fats can also cause them to be damaging due to oxidization. Most vegetable oils are processed with too much heat therefore destroying their nutritional value. Polyunsaturated oils such as corn, safflower and sunflower create free radicals and contribute to oxidized lipids that cause LDL cholesterol in the body.
Tips for healthy cholesterol levels
Ayurveda explains that it is the strength of your digestion along with the balance of Kapha dosha determines the health of your fat tissue and thereby your cholesterol levels.
When Kapha dosha disturbs your digestion it slows or cools your digestion down, particularly in the liver - much like a fire that has been dampened down. Food is not digested fully resulting in a fatty liver where impurities or toxins and fats clog your liver. When these impurities mixes with fat tissue the quality of cholesterol becomes unhealthy rather than healthy. This mixing of impurities with fat tissue Ayurveda explains is the main cause of imbalanced cholesterol.
What causes a fatty liver?
This toxic overload of the liver is typically due to mental pressure, along with dietary and lifestyle choices.
- Mind pressure can arise from too much mental activity, overwork or emotional imbalance (such as anger, worry, sorrow and greed)
- Eating too much, too little or eating impure foods
- Eating before the previous meal is digested, irregular eating patterns, suppressing natural urges, constipation or weight loss
- Eating the wrong foods for the climate or season or eating foods polluted with toxins.
3 Steps to Cholesterol Protection
Step 1 Herbal Support
Support your digesiton, liver and fat tissue formation with Cholesterol Protection and Digest Tone. Optional: For cardiovascular support take BP Balance.
Cholesterol Protection
Take one tablet twice daily with light meals for 15 days. Then increase up to 2 tablets twice daily. Monitor blood cholesterol levels after 30 days. For maximum results, take 1-2 tablets of Digest Tone at bedtime.
Cholesterol Protection enhances digestion, strengthens liver function, bile production and supports building of plasma, blood, muscle and healthy fat tissue. It helps break down fatty foods so they can be converted to healthy fat tissue and supports the flushing of cholesterol from the elimination tract.
Digest Tone
Take 2 tablets just prior the evening meal and 2 tablets at bedtime.
Digest Tone supports digestion, easy elimination and enhances nutrient uptake and is a high quality antioxidant with a wide range of benefits. Digest Tone supports healthy cholesterol levels, improves circulation, helps to protect the cardiovascular system and aids balanced blood pressure balance. It supports liver function and enhances immune response to viruses.
Optional - BP Balance
Take 1 tablet with a little warm water 15-30 minutes prior meals 3 times a day along with Cholesterol Protection.
BP Balance completes the powerful trio helping to cleanse and nourish the circulatory system and supporting resistance to stress. Strengthening stress resilience and helping to keep the arteries and circulatory system healthy is an important preventive measure for anyone who is concerned about their cholesterol levels and heart health.
Step 2 Eat your main meal of the day at Lunchtime
This is super important when wanting to restore healthy cholesterol formation.
Your digestion goes through a daily rhythm of rising and falling in step with nature around us.
When in balance you will be slightly hungry in the morning, very hungry at noon and moderately hungry in the early evening. In between these times digestion shuts down your appetite so the food you have eaten can be digested. If this cycle becomes confused then both appetite and digestion start to overlap causing incomplete digestion, with impurities leading to cholesterol imbalance.
Step 3 Favour Kapha pacifying food choices
Favour Kapha balancing foods Choose fresh in-season foods from your local area and where you can, have certified organic foods that are free from genetically modified ingredients. Make the foods on the favour list part of your everyday choices and minimise or avoid the foods on the avoid list.
Step 4 Rise early and have an early morning walk
This is the best time of the day to be up and about. The body is sensitively attuned to the delicate messages of nature at sunrise, alert to the slightest influence, silent and poised in a delicate balance. It is a time of renewal for the start of a new day. Taking a morning walk also greatly benefits your energy, weight, mood, digestion, metabolism and fat tissue formation.
Step 5 Sip Kapha Tea, ginger tea or sip hot water regularly.
Sipping hot water with a Kapha Tea bag or slices of ginger root, helps to melt the accumulated impurities from sluggish digestion. Over time, this even helps to melt impurities from deeper tissue levels, helping to restore healthy fat tissue formation.
Wishing you the bliss of balance.
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Linda Sinden has been a practising Maharishi Ayurveda Consultant since 1990 and is a regular contributor to our weekly Insights. She has a practice in Auckland, New Zealand and also provides phone or Skype sessions for those who need assistance, but don’t have a consultant in their vicinity. Email: lindasinden@orbislife.co.nz Skype: Linda.Sinden |
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