What About High Cholesterol and Coconut Oils?

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Sweet Ray Ban Meta Glasses available at Ray Ban stores and other authorized retailers. What about High Cholesterol and Coconut Oils? This is JJ Virgin, four time New York Times bestselling author, celebrity nutrition expert and Fitness hall of Famer. I've been on a lifelong quest for answers to the toughest health questions, and now I'm sharing what I found with you. Welcome to Ask the health expert. Joanna Vick, 12, from Instagram, asks, what about high cholesterol and coconut oils? Hey, it's JJ and I'm looking forward to retiring this urban legend for good. I'll be right back with the answer.

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All right, well, first of all, when we talk high cholesterol, we've really got to look at more than just total cholesterol, right? So there's total cholesterol, and then within that, we look at the different fractions. The most common are HDL and ldl. Used to be that we thought HDL was the good guys and LDL were the bad guys. And now we know there's even more to it than that. That's really the size, the particle size that makes the difference. As usual, size matters. And so with this, the small dense particles are the ones that really create the problem. They can pit your endothelium lining and cause plaque buildup that causes those big problems like narrowing the arteries and reduced BL flow and heart attacks. So let's not have that happen here. So what do you need to do? Well, first of all, you want to really look at all of your numbers. You want to know all your numbers here. Now, in the lab test, that would be going way beyond total cholesterol or total cholesterol, HDL and ldl. It's really knowing the size, particle size and number of both HDL and ldl. Big fluffies being good in either category and small dents being bad and lots of those being even worse. You also want to look at a number lp. This is the most atherogenic problematic lipoprotein there is. Along with those, you also want to look at your fasting blood sugar and insulin and hemoglobin A1c, because if you've got elevated blood sugar, if you've got elevated insulin, you will have inflammation. And that's going to create problems with heart disease, with your heart as well. And I'm imagining that you're looking at all this because you want to avoid heart problems. You also are going to want to look at homocysteine and fibrinogen, how sticky your blood is, and ferritin, how much iron you have. So really make sure. And also, by the way, another thing that can elevate cholesterol that doesn't get talked about enough is hypothyroidism. So make sure that if you are getting diagnosed with elevated cholesterol, that you first of all know those particle numbers and sizes. Because if you've got a lot of big fluffies, even if it's high, probably fine. And then you also want to know what's going on with your thyroid, because if you're hypothyroid, that drives up bad cholesterol, that drives up the small, dense particle sizes. So you need to know that as well. What else can make your cholesterol high? Because for years it was like, oh my gosh, avoid coconut oil. It's interesting because coconut oil actually has some pretty interesting compounds, mct, which makes it an easy fat to burn. But also its antibacterial and antiviral compounds like monolaurin that they found in some of the tropical islands reduce the risk of a second heart attack because of some of the viral components of heart attacks. So the problem with fats is when fats have been artificially saturated, like the partially hydrogenated oils, or they've become oxidized, like a lot of these vegetable oils you'll see sitting in big plastic bottles in the store, they've had all the goodness taken out of them, all the vitamins, minerals, and they're just sitting there now, exposed to light and oxidizing. So you want to avoid damaged fats, you want to avoid manipulated fats, and you want to make sure that the fats you are eating are as close to nature as possible. Right. If they have been turned into oils that is cold pressed and clean. So like an extra virgin olive oil and extra virgin avocado oil. But ideally you're eating nuts and seeds and not nuts that have been roasted in bad oils. Right? So I like to get raw nuts, soak them in some pure spring water with a little sea salt and then low roast them at about 20 degrees, 200 degrees for a couple hours or dehydrate them. So nuts and seeds, avocado, wild fish, ghee, grass fed ghee are some of the best fats that you can do. And for fat, it's all about that balance between omega 3s, omega 6s, omega 9s, making sure you're getting monos, polys and sat fats. It's all about the balance. Okay, so there's fat. What else can elevate cholesterol? Well, sugar. And that's why I say also look at blood sugar, insulin and hemoglobin A1C. But if you're eating a processed food diet, lots of carbs that are easily turned into sugar, lots of sugar. Guess what? That is going to be a problem too. So follow the sugar impact diet. That's a shameless plug for that. But that's why it was written, to find out where all the sugars are sneaking into your diet and how you can taper off of them and get rid of your sweet tooth for good. And then the other thing that I think is not thought about enough here and is really interesting is stress. We know stress can raise your blood sugar and it's really interesting. I first started to see this phenomenon. I was like, okay, I knew my clients were eating healthy and they were exercising and they were getting good sleep, but they were stressed out. And just stress alone will elevate blood sugar and then can elevate insulin because of that and can break down muscle. So stress can create a major problem here too. So make sure that you are adding into life, daily life. I think of my girlfriend, Radha Agrawal. She's created Dose that daily dose of joy. Do something every day for you. Meditate, some restorative yoga, hanging out with your dog, taking a nice walk, going and doing some grounding something. And don't do it with guilt either. Have fun while you do it. All right, so there's the answer to that. So enjoy that little bit of coconut oil or coconut milk in your virgin diet smoothie and let me know how that goes. And if you've got questions, I've got answers. Just go to Instagram and DM me JJ Virgin and leave your question there. And if you haven't subscribed yet, you don't want to miss your daily dose, so go to subscribetojay.com See you next time. This is JJ with Ask the Health Expert. I do this five times a week, so make sure you never miss a show by going to subscribetojay.com.

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