High Cholesterol
Explore High Cholesterol Treatment without Medication
Have you been diagnosed with high cholesterol? Does your doctor want to put you on medication? If you’re looking for an alternative, you’ve come to the right place. We understand how the diagnosis can be scary. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We believe the first step in managing your cholesterol levels, or preventing high cholesterol, is understanding the science behind the numbers and the root cause behind yours.
What Is High Cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a fatty, waxy substance found in your blood. Your body needs a certain amount of cholesterol to make cell membranes, vitamin D, protects the brain from dementia and produces your sex hormones (estrogen progesterone and testosterone). The cholesterol in your body comes from what your liver produces, and the foods you eat. Your liver produces 80% of all the cholesterol found in your body.
High cholesterol (hyperlipidemia) is when the levels exceed what your body needs. When linked to a bad diet, will cause plaque buildup, or atherosclerosis. This leads to a narrowing of the arteries and can make it harder for your heart to pump blood, and if a clump of cholesterol breaks off, it can cause a heart attack or stroke.
What Causes High Cholesterol?
High cholesterol has many causes, most of which are lifestyle choices that you can control, and thereby reduce your risk of high cholesterol. Causes and risk factors include:
- Being overweight or obese
- Leading a sedentary lifestyle
- A diet high in saturated fats
- Drinking alcohol
- Smoking
Symptoms of High Cholesterol
High cholesterol does not cause symptoms. Unless you get regular physicals at your doctor’s office, you won’t know you have it.How Is High Cholesterol Diagnosed?
You cannot tell you have high cholesterol without a blood test. This blood test can be done at a lab where you give a sample of blood and the lab runs a fasting lipids test.
Your doctor may order routine blood tests that encompass more than your cholesterol levels as part of a yearly physical. They may also order a cholesterol screening if you have one or more of the risk factors associated with high cholesterol listed above.
What the Numbers Mean
Your cholesterol numbers are broken down into several categories, which we’ll explain below. Your cholesterol levels are measured in milligrams (mg) of cholesterol per deciliter (dL) of blood.
LDL Cholesterol
Unfortunately, the term used for LDL’s is “bad cholesterol”. There is no such thing as bad cholesterol
The purpose of LDL’s is to:
- Make all your sex hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone
- Heal damaged cell membranes-which can be damaged by bad diets, smoking, and drinking.
- These damage the inner walls of the arteries and LDL’s are called to help heal the artery walls. Over time plaque buildup starts eventually leading to clogged arteries.
- Produce bile to break down fats
- Produce sphingomyelin and myelin which protects the nerve cells and the brain
So, attempting to lower LDL’s may be dangerous if you do not understand why they may be high.
HDL Cholesterol
HDL stands for high-density lipoproteins. HDL is the cholesterol that absorbs cholesterol in your blood and carries it to your liver, which then flushes the cholesterol from your body.
Total Cholesterol
This number is just what it sounds like – the total of your LDL and HDL numbers. Ideally, you want your total cholesterol to be a low of 200-275 mg/dL
Triglycerides
Your lipid profile will also measure the number of triglycerides in your blood. Triglycerides are a type of fat. Your body needs a certain amount, but high levels can also contribute to atherosclerosis and other diseases. You want your triglycerides to be lower than 200 mg/dL.
You should get your cholesterol levels checked on a regular basis. Your doctor will keep you on the right schedule to help prevent any serious problems.
High Cholesterol FAQs
Q: What foods cause high cholesterol?
A: Before we get into details, just know that not all high-cholesterol foods are bad for you. It’s the ones that come with associated high levels of saturated fat that are the ones to avoid or eat in extreme moderation.
Those include:
- Processed meats such as lunch meat, and hot dogs
- Fried food such as fried chicken and French fries made with grease and vegetable oil
- Store bought Cookies, cakes, and doughnuts
- Chips
- Candy
It’s not that hard to select healthy substitutes for the above items, Choose lean meats, fish, and chicken, and oven roast or use an air fryer to get the crunch texture of fried foods. And opt for healthier desserts you make yourself.
Q: How can I reduce high cholesterol?
A: We’re glad you asked. If you don’t want to go on medications for high cholesterol, we can help you.. Keep reading to learn how we can help you prevent high cholesterol in the future as well.
First what are your statins doing to you. Realize that this is a tradeoff.
- Destroying Your Sex Drive
- Erectile dysfunction
- Causes Liver Damage
- Causing Pancreatic Damage Diabetes
- Heart Disease
- Anemia
- Muscle Damage
- Memory Loss-Premature senility, dementia
- All Cells Membranes Are Damaged
How Cima Health Can Help
Cima Health provides restorative, lifelong solutions that target the root cause of your high cholesterol. Your care will start out with a comprehensive blood test and evaluation to assess your overall health. We will also ask questions about your diet, supplements you now take, work and home life, lifestyle, and habits before making recommendations for an integrative plan of care. Together, we come up with non-invasive and successful treatments. The goal is to help you reduce your high cholesterol to a normal level and keep it there. We want to inspire you to achieve whole-body wellness and live a long and healthy life.
Helping you reduce your cholesterol and possibly avoid taking medication involves several treatment modalities, all of which you can receive in one location. They include:
Let’s look at how each of these areas works together to help you reduce high cholesterol now and prevent it in the future.
Chiropractic Care
Did you know that chiropractic care may help reduce your high cholesterol? Studies show that chiropractic adjustments to reduce subluxations in the spine reduce inflammation and can help reduce high cholesterol levels and increase your level of HDL cholesterol. So, if you’re looking to reduce your high cholesterol without medication, a trained chiropractor can help.
And if back pain or joint pain is keeping you inactive, we can provide adjustments to relieve your pain and inspire you to increase your physical activity.
Our Palm Beach Gardens chiropractors are all highly trained professionals and include:
If your child has high cholesterol, you may want to book an appointment with Dr. Natalie, as one of her specialties is pediatric care.
Functional Medicine
Our functional medicine team will play an integral part in you or your child learning how to reduce high cholesterol and prevent your levels from creeping up again in the future. We’ll start with a blood chemistry analysis that can help identify the root cause of your high cholesterol. Testing will also show if you have sensitivities or nutrient deficiencies, and more. Based on the test results and our conversations with you, we’ll develop a plan that may include:
- Meal plans for reducing high cholesterol and preventing it
- Supplement suggestions
- Weight loss tips
- Stress reduction tips
- Calls for you to stop smoking if you currently smoke
Since being overweight or obese is a major risk factor for high cholesterol, if you’re overweight, we’ll start with a customized weight loss program. Eating a lower-calorie, nutrient-rich diet that keeps you feeling full longer can make it easier to lose weight. We don’t promote crash diets or quack weight loss pills. Our goal is to help you shed excess pounds in a healthy manner and learn new ways of thinking about food to so you maintain a healthy weight and keep your cholesterol levels in the normal range.
Physical Fitness
An integral part of any plan to reduce high cholesterol is getting plenty of exercise. Studies show that regular exercise can lower improve your cholesterol levels each by several points. The more calories you burn, the more you can improve your cholesterol levels.
Combined with a healthy diet, exercising more will help you lose weight faster and get your cholesterol levels under control. Our physical fitness team of personal trainers can help develop an exercise plan that works with your current capabilities and inspires you to meet or exceed your weekly goals.
As you gain strength and increase endurance, you can increase your aerobic exercise, increase strength training, and increase your reps. We’ll be with you every step of the way to keep you motivated and on track. You’ll feel more energized, sleep better, and feel better overall. And since our gym has 24/7 availability, you can exercise no matter what your schedule is.
The entire team at Cima Health works together to provide you with restorative, lifelong solutions.
See What Our Patients Have to Say
Book an Appointment
High cholesterol can be dangerous. If you’re ready to reduce your cholesterol levels naturally and prevent complications, book an appointment today. One of our chiropractors will do a comprehensive examination to get to the root cause of your high cholesterol and develop an integrative plan of care to help you improve your cholesterol levels for good, and inspire you to achieve whole-body wellness.
