02-27-2008, 11:10 PM
First line of defense: diet and exercise
Second line of defense: Supplements. The number one supplement for changing cholesterol is pharmaceutical grade fish oil. Go look up Dr. Dave's pharmaceutical grade fish oil and buy a few bottles. Also, understand that cholesterol causes heart disease when it oxidizes and adheres to your artery walls. You can prevent the oxidation by taking anti-oxidants. Get a good grape seed extract. Or better yet, get one of the anti-oxidants on Dr. Dave's website.
If your cholesterol is still high, then you want to get the supplement, Policosanol. This is at least as powerful as any stat in drug in lowering your cholesterol but is completely safe and has some benefits you don't get from stat in drugs (for example, it causes HDL levels to rise...no drug does that).
The key to managing something like cholesterol is monitoring what you are doing. You should ALWAYS pull a cholesterol panel, every time you institute something new to see that it is in fact doing something. This includes if you choose to take stat in drugs.
One test that you absolutely should have (but your doctor will rarely recommend) is an ultra fast CT of the heart. This nifty test will actually measure the amount of calcification in your coronary arteries and give you a robust measure of your risk. High risk individuals should definitely consider different treatment strategies than low risk individuals. Have the test done every few years to guard against developing atherosclerosis and to make sure you are on the right track. Most cardiologists will be happy to schedule this test for you and explain to you the many benefits of detecting and managing heart disease as early as possible.
Also, get a subscription to the Blaylock Wellness Report. It's like $50 a year but it is the best source I've found for what works vs what doesn't.
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