Articles - Misc.
Myths About Heart Health, Cholesterol and Exercise
by Brian Copeland
Your heart could explode at any moment! Or could it?
I’m writing this to help you become an informed consumer when it comes to your cholesterol level, drugs, exercise and your risk for heart attacks. There is a lot of misinformation out there and unfortunately many well-meaning folks in the medical community are at the heart of the problem... pun intended.
Speaks Dr. Al Sears, M.D. Director of the Center for Health and Wellness in Florida. Dr. Sears, author of The Doctors Heart Cure has successfully reversed heart disease in over 15,000 patients and knows what he is talking about.
Dr. Sears recommends regular intense interval-style exercise and a low starch diet high in healthy fats.
Says the American Journal of Cardiovascular Drugs. They released a report with over 900 clinical studies proving that statins not only increase your risk for heart attacks but cause neurological damage, muscle and bone loss, loss of equilibrium and balance and cognitive and memory loss. 
Statin drugs do indeed eliminate cholesterol from the body... but guess what your brain and nerves are made of? ... that's right, cholesterol. In fact your brain is a huge hunk of cholesterol. Nerves are wrapped in a sheeth called myelin which acts as insulation for nerve fibers. Myelin is cholesterol. The more myelin, the faster nerve impulses travel, the less myelin the slower they travel.
Now think about the impact on your brain power! You want more myelin.
When Einstein died they disected his brain hoping to find the answers to his genius... guess what they found... lots and lots of myelin a.k.a. cholesterol.
The last thing you want to do is decrease cholesterol.
As cholesterol levels drop your body's ability to repair and rebuild nerves decreases as well. This is why peripheral neropathy is a common symptom of people on statins. Peripheral neuropathy is a condition where your nerves die, usually starting in the feet and hands and working their way closer to the core. This is what happens in extreme cases of diabetes.
Bottom line, protect your cholesterol don't destroy it!
In 2008, The American Society of Bariatric Physicians in conjunction with the Metabolism Society presented an entire two day conference in Arizona entitled: "Saturated Fat and Heart Disease: What's the Evidence"? Some of the smartest researchers investigating this issue participated, and I can sum up their answer to the question "What's the evidence?" for you in two words: “Not much.” In fact in numerous studies countries that had the highest fat intakes had the lowest rates for heart disease. Even the American Heart Association recommends that 33% of your diet comes from fat. This is a conservative number and most people would actually do better eating more fat, especially omega 3s.
The myth of a low fat diet stems from some really bad research done by a man named Ancel Keyes in 1953. Mr. Keys created a chart with 6 countries on it that compared the death rate from heart disease to a high fat diet. That seemed pretty convincing until you realize that Mr. Keys had access to data from 22 countries and only used 6. Why? Because if he used all 22 it would show that high fat diets not only have no correlation to heart disease but the highest fat consuming nations have the lowest rates of heart disease!!! WHOOPS-A-DAISY!
The Masai in Kenya eat meat and drink raw milk as their main source of food.
You can see the consequences of a high fat diet here.
Lean and mean!
Now compare that to the high carbohydrate diet of more developed societies.
And before you call it genetics, Vanderbuilt University did a study on the Masai who left the tribe and went to live in Nairobi. When the Masai switched to the westernized diet of the city Nairobi which is lower in meat and higher in carbs they too gained fat and look like most Americans.
It is true, unless you have a stellar doctor they pretty much hang up their learning cap after college, which was eons ago! Don't forget that medical schools receive tremendous funding from the big pharmacuetical companies... tell me that there is no bias towards medications and away from natural methods of medicine.
The only source of information they get is from Pharmaceutical Sales Reps who make big money to educate doctors on the wonders of “their” drug. This should scare the hell out of you! Talk about a bias.
60% of the US population is on antidepressants. A slightly lower amount are on statin drugs, drugs for ADD, ADHD and a whole slew of medical conditions which may or may not even exist. 
We are a nation of drug addicts! And I hate to say it but our Doctors need to take responsibility for prescribing so many drugs that mask symptoms instead of providing real treatments.
In the mean-time you need to take control of your health and question the validity of any medications you are on.
Blood thinners, cholesterol lowering drugs and the like, which by the way ALL have fine print that says, "has not been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease..." make these pharmacuetical corporations TONS of money... You need to ask yourself a serious question. When billions of dollars are at stake, is it possible that the FDA was bribed to pass a medication that did not show any benefits and actually has serious health risks?
Before you answer that question... go read bullets 1 and 2 again. Cholesterol has not been proven to cause heart disease and research proves that statin cholesterol drugs increase your risk for heart disease.
Steroids are illegal. Cocain is illegal. Heroin is illegal. Statins are legal...? REALLY?!?!
As far as genetics go, you can’t choose your parents so just focus on eliminating stress.
Emotional, dietary, sleep, work, relationship, environmental, etc. All of these things can be stressful. Ask a pro like Brian how to make small improvements in lowering stress one at a time.
Oh and by the way... can we effect genetics? Well the research says "yes we can!"
The emerging field of epigenetics shows that we can influence gene expression by our actions. So if you have a family history of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, obesity, etc. Does that mean you have to develop those by destiny?
Well no, you don't. You can influence the way genes express themselves via nutrition, exercise, stress, etc.
So, once again, take control of your lives and live longer and most importantly... healthier!
This is common knowledge by now but did you know that according to the Mayo Clinic the only sources of Omega 3s that have been proven to help fight heart disease are EPA and DHA from fish sources? Plant sources of Omega 3s (ALA) do not contain EPA and DHA so find a high quality fish oil that is mercury-free such as Nutrilite Heart Health Omega 3, which is what Brian takes daily.
Numerous studies have shown that long aerobic exercise for longer than 20 minutes weakens the heart while intense anaerobic cardio strengthens the heart and allows it to handle large volumes of blood and oxygen, which is what happens when someone has a heart attack.
3 runners died of heart attacks in the 2009 Detroit half-marathon. This type of event is not rare. Long distance athletes die of heart attacks all the time.
We all know that exercise breaks down muscle and then muscle rebuilds. Well what is your heart made of? Muscle. Too much cardio tears down cardiac muscle which leads to chronic inflammation which leads to more muscle loss.
While I'm not suggesting that someone does not run or do cardio, I am suggesting that they keep it to 20 minutes max 3 times per week. No one needs more cardio than that unless they actually are a long distance athlete. Even a boxer will get sufficient cardio from this and their normal boxing training.
The effects of too much cardio on your skeletal muscle. I'd hate to see what it did to this poor fellow's heart!
Ask yourself what your reasons for cardio are... Is it for fat loss, athletic performance, do you enjoy it?
Fat Loss = High intensity anaerobic cardio intervals for 20 minutes have been proven to be the most effective.
Athletic Performance = Vitrually ALL sports except marathon running, long distance cycling and triathlons are short burst anaerobic cardio zone sports. Once again train in those zones.
You enjoy marathon running or compete in it = well then train in it of course. So to mitigate the effects of the chronic inflammation make sure to take plenty of rest and Omega 3 fatty acids EPA and DHA.
At the end of the day no one is responsible for your health but you. Never give up that control. Remember, a Doctor is someone who studied something that someone else tells them is right. Science changes constantly. When seeking a Doctor, ask them if they read. You want a Doc who stays up to date on the latest research and applies it.
 
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