Myths & Truths about Cholesterol

Are you aware of the common myths surrounding cholesterol? Are you aware of the lifestyle and dietary changes that can help you manage cholesterol levels more effectively?

In this episode of me&my health up podcast, clinical nutritionist and lifestyle medicine specialist, Anthony Hartcher, unravels the complex world of cholesterol. He delves into its essential roles in our body, misconceptions about dietary cholesterol, the dangers of high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and most importantly, practical ways to manage it.

By addressing risk factors and endorsing healthier lifestyle choices, Anthony illuminates the path to a balanced life and improved heart health. Don't miss out on this in-depth exploration of cholesterol – knowledge that could be a game-changer for your wellbeing. Listen now to arm yourself with the right tools for a healthier future.

About me&my health up & Anthony Hartcher 

me&my health up seeks to enhance and enlighten the well-being of others. Host Anthony Hartcher is the CEO of me&my health up which provides holistic health solutions using food as medicine, combined with a holistic, balanced, lifestyle approach. Anthony holds three bachelor's degrees in Complementary Medicine; Nutrition and Dietetic Medicine; and Chemical Engineering. 

Podcast Disclaimer
Any information, advice, opinions or statements within it do not constitute medical, health care or other professional advice, and are provided for general information purposes only. All care is taken in the preparation of the information in this Podcast. [Connected Wellness Pty Ltd] operating under the brand of “me&my health up”..click here for more

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Transcript

Anthony Hartcher: 0:05

Welcome back to another episode of me&my health up. I'm the healthy man Anthony Hartcher, a clinical nutritionist and lifestyle medicine specialist. The purpose of this podcast is to enhance and enlighten your well being. And today, I'll be doing that just for you. I'm going to be talking about the truth and the myths of cholesterol. Yes, I've been seeing lots of clients recently that are concerned about their cholesterol levels. So I've been sharing with them an education around cholesterol, what it is, what it does, how it serves. And it's not all bad, after all. So I'm going to share with you some of the education I share with my clients so that you're empowered around the conversation of cholesterol, because, as you know, it can send alarm bells when you get a blood test that is elevated cholesterol. And yes, I'm one of those people that have on cusp of you know, being too high. I'm sort of a bit over a bit over the borderline of high cholesterol, so I can relate to those out there that may have that concerning cholesterol marker. So what can you do about it? What is it? What is cholesterol? How does it serve the body? Some of the myths I'm gonna bust today, I'm going to share some true some known facts and you're gonna get empowered around cholesterol. So let's start this episode with what is cholesterol? Cholesterol is a sterile, it's a lipid. So it's a fat, okay. And yes, it's contained within foods, but one of the biggest myths is foods, you know, foods that contain cholesterol, avoid, avoid, avoid its alarm bells, alarm bells, however, our body uses Acetyl-CoA, as a precursor to manufacture cholesterol, and you've probably thinking what's Acetyl-CoA , Acetyl-CoA where does it come from? What foods contain acetyl-CoA Well, essentially, it's part of the metabolism of foods that break down to Acetyl-CoA, so if we consume carbohydrates through a process of glycolysis, which is the breakdown of carbohydrates, it goes down to that precursor molecule Acetyl-CoA, same as fat fat form Acetyl-CoA, through a process called beta oxidation. So those that are on the Keto and immune from Acetyl Co-A, you'll produce Acetyl Co-A, from fat fats, and that we can derive energy from Acetyl-CoA. So that's not the enemy either. Okay. And again, it's, as a nutritionist, I don't like these labels, I really don't like labels around foods, labels around conditions, because it boxes us and there's a bigger picture behind the label. There's a human behind the label, and there's nutritional value behind a label on food and there's and there's, you can label it good or bad. However, it's got both okay. And same with medical labels. Again, there's a human and they aren't the condition. So let's get into this acetyl-CoA a and also we can when we break down protein, so those on a high protein diet will also form Acetyl-CoA via the Krebs cycle. Okay, so it's not a bad thing. Acetyl-CoA, our liver uses it as a precursor with some base redirect derivatives, nicotinamide to manufacture cholesterol, and cholesterol serves us in the body, our liver wouldn't be making it if it didn't serve us. So what is cholesterol use for?. In the body, it's used to produce hormones such as testosterone, sexual hormone binding globulin, which binds to our sex hormones. It also is used as a precursor to vitamin D, which you will all know about vitamin D, we synthesize that in the body too. And it's one of those factors that are required to synthesize vitamin D in the body is sunlight on the skin. But we certainly use cholesterol in the liver in order to make the precursor to vitamin D. Okay, so you know vitamin D, well, we need cholesterol for that you know about your sex hormones, hormones, testosterone, progesterone. Estrogen, come from the backbone of cholesterol, okay. We also use cholesterol to repair patches in our arteries. Okay. That's the concern when you have too much LDL, which is low density lipoprotein low density, or it's sort of, you know, a derivative of cholesterol, when we have high levels of that too much go in to do the repair work and accumulate on that patch hence,that can block the artery. Okay, so there's an issue there that we know that is associated with inflammation that is causing damage to the arteries, or high blood pressure that's causing damage to the arteries. Hence, all this repair work needs to happen and this accumulation of LDL plaques build off. And that forms arteriosclerosis, which is a condition that you've probably heard about, which is part of heart disease. So it serves in the body, we need it. However, we don't need it in excessive quantities, and we want our body to be regulating it. Okay, so it serves a purpose. It's useful, we need to balance it and support the body to help balance the cholesterol levels. Okay, so that's really important. We need to do that. Now, you're probably thinking, do I need to be concerned about high cholesterol? Well, leading cardiologist Dr. Ross Walker says is a bit he's more concerned about the risk factors associated that coincide with high cholesterol, that that leads to heart disease. What are those risk factors? Okay, so the risk factors, he talks about excessive alcohol consumption, so more than that standard drink a night, and binge drinking and drinking for years upon years upon years, is something that you don't want to be doing a case that is a risk factor. So smoking is another risk factor. Okay, not exercising, living a sedentary lifestyle is another risk factor, drugs, another risk factor. And you can see there's some common elements around these risk factors. They all put a huge load on the liver to process these toxins, and the liver doesn't work well. Okay. It's so busy processing the toxins, it doesn't have much resources to do anything else, such as help manage and regulate the levels of cholesterol. Okay. And the other thing is that all those things that I mentioned, like if you're not doing if you're sedentary, you're you know, taking drugs or smoking or drinking these factors and a crappy diets, the other one, a crappy diet, so an inflammatory diet. So you've probably heard of the inflammatory diet, eating high amounts of processed foods, excessive consumption of foods, eating trans fats, like lots of fried foods, it's very inflammatory on the body, high amounts of sugar, okay, inflammatory, okay. And then the things that don't support, you know, I guess, regulate a blood pressure such as not having emotional regulation, okay, and being stressed out. So stress is another factor, another concern, another risk factor. So if you've got those risk factors, and coinciding with high levels of blood cholesterol, then you're at risk at heart of heart disease, okay? So you can manage those risk factors. And this is what I'm going to be talking about today is the management of those risk factors, what you can do about it around your diet, your lifestyle, to support a healthy heart, ultimately, and to help the body regulate cholesterol. It's an alternative to taking the drug statin so you've probably heard of all the statin drugs that are available that typically get prescribed by the GP, when you have elevated cholesterol. And I'm not against taking statins because if you not not wanting to give up the lifestyle in terms of all those risk factors I mentioned, then that is going to be supportive to you taking that statin so yes, statins serve a place in health and well being for those that aren't willing to take the action. The lifestyle changes, make the lifestyle changes, make the dietary changes, get emotional support, get back in control of your emotions, those sorts of things. If you're not willing to do that, and you have elevated cholesterol, then your risk of heart disease, okay, and I don't want that. So certainly if you're not willing to change any of those risk factors that I mentioned, such as eating crappy foods, highly processed foods, highly fatty foods, highly sugary foods, drinking copious amounts of alcohol, binge drinking, smoking, drug taking, sedentary counts type lifestyle, if you're not willing to give up them and change and you have high cholesterol wrong, absolutely statin serve their place in someone's health and well being. So take your doctor's advice. What I'm sharing today is the alternative. If you're willing to make the changes, willing make the lifestyle changes and willing to make the nutritional changes and willing to support your emotions. Okay, so that's what I'm sharing with you today. And also the myths around such as food with cholesterol is bad. Okay, so that like so I've heard people say, I can't eat prawns. They've got high in cholesterol, I've got cholesterol issues. that's foods that the major source of cholesterol, as I said, the precursor to cholesterol is acetyl-CoA, and we get that through the metabolism of foods. Okay. So it's, it's not necessarily the foods that have high cholesterol that are really the enemy. In saying that, I must say that eating excessive amounts of fatty foods, such as if you're doing the Keto, or eating a high fat diet, for whatever reason, then, yes, you may notice that you have increasing levels, and I've seen clients that are on the keto diet, that eating excessive amounts of fat, have elevated levels of cholesterol. So yes, there is, you know, if you over consume fatty foods, you will most likely have elevated cholesterol, particularly if you're not eating much fiber, because fiber is one of the ways in which we get cholesterol out of the body. And one of the other things I didn't mention earlier is one of the benefits of cholesterol service to the body. And its purpose is it makes up bile. So we we create bile in the liver, using cholesterol. Okay, so that's one of the uses of cholesterol in the body is to make bile. And what's bile use for? It's used for fat absorption. Okay, so it's how we metabolize or how we get fats into our body to be processed. And yes, fats aren't all bad, okay? There's, we need fats. Also, cholesterol is used in the cell membrane, every cell membrane has cholesterol. And it's used to keep the cell membrane fluid. Okay, so, and that fluidity of the cell membrane allows nutrients in and out. So it allows food into the cell. And it allows waste products out of the cell. If we don't have cholesterol, we have a rigid membrane, cellular membrane, and we don't get that nourishment uptake, and the cell gets quite toxic. So we need that nice fluidity of the cell membrane. Also, did you know that 20% of our brain 20 to 25%, depending on where you get your research from, of cholesterol within the body is in the brain. And you believe that we all want to be smart and intelligent, or 20 to 25% of your cholesterol is in the brain? So he's probably thinking, what is the brain? The cholesterol? Yes, our neurons synthesize cholesterol. Okay. So they manufacture cholesterol. Why do they do that? Why does the brain need cholesterol? Well, the majority of the cholesterol 70 to 80% of the cholesterol within the brain is used to synthesize or manufacture myelin sheath, myelin sheath, sheaths. so they're, like an insulation to the axon and the axon conducts the impulse. Okay. So when you're thinking you have thoughts, impulses are firing across, you know, to neurons into neurons through axons, okay. So when we move when I'm moving, when I'm talking all this, I'm firing that he's, I'm sending these electrical pulses along these axons, which are insulated by myelin sheath, and that's those myelin sheath are cholesterol. Okay, so we need cholesterol in our brain as well. It serves a purpose in our brain. So it's not all bad. Okay. Yes, the cholesterol that we, we sort of get concerned about is excessive amounts of LDL, which I mentioned is low density lipoprotein. Okay. And that's the one that we want to make sure that it's not too elevated, or excessively elevated, because if there's inflammation again, it needs to coincide with inflammation, where or elevated blood pressure, which is putting huge amounts of stress on the arteries, which could and may cause damage to the arteries. which will then the patch work, which we use LDL for to patch up the arteries. But again, if there's lots of LDL, it floods to that site that's been damaged, and it starts stacking up, stacking up, stacking up stacking up, and then it starts clogging the artery, which we know is atherosclerosis. And that clogging of the arteries not good. Because the blood, the oxygen, struggles to get through that space, and we can have a heart attack. So that's what we don't want. And certainly, you're probably thinking, What can I do about it? If I have elevated cholesterol? Again, you want to be also thinking about what are the have you got any of the risk factors, what can you do about the risk factors, because you can work on them, they're things you can do, if you want to make change, they're the areas that you can change. Again, there's genetic factors that lead to that can derive in I have a family history of elevated cholesterol. So yes, it's in my family history, but I don't have any of the risk factors. So I manage my elevated cholesterol, through a healthy lifestyle, eating well. And we're gonna get into what you can do in terms of a healthy lifestyle and eating well, and how you can manage elevated cholesterol. But again, this is not taking you away from the advice that the doctor has given you. It complements. So even if the doctor says, take a statin, I'm not saying don't take the statin, I'm saying well reduce the RIF risk factors and and further lower the risk of heart disease. And these, and what I'm sharing with, you will also help with the management of blood pressure. So again, it all we will work together, this is all working together with you and the doctor meet in the medical system, we work together, it's a teamwork, it's teamwork approach for ultimately improving your health and well being. So let's start talking about what you can do around the risk factors. So alcohol, have you thought about why you drink alcohol? Is it that you're not coping, maybe you can seek some support, okay, maybe you might need some help in that area, if you're not coping, and alcohol is a coping mechanism. So, as I said, in previous podcasts, if we're not living a life aligned to our values, and we're living by other people's values, by allowing them to dictate what our life should be, and us not living a life that we want, that submissive sort of subordinate, sort of to someone else a superior, then that can cause stress within the body that can cause anger and resentment in the body, that anger and resentment can result in elevated blood pressure. And anger affects the ability for our liver to function. So the Chinese medicine, will they, you know, Chinese medicine teaches that teaches that in terms of anger is associated with, you know, I guess not optimal liver function. So, again, if you're having problems expressing yourself, or you've got a lot of resentment, a lot of anger, then liver function may be impeded. And again, on top of that, if you're using alcohol as a coping mechanism, because you're dissatisfied with life, life is not meaningful to you, then that is extra load on the liver. Because the livers processing the alcohol, and it's not performing well. Overall, it's spending too much energy on getting toxins out of the body, and it doesn't do the other work it needs to do such as use cholesterol, to synthesize hormones to manufacture hormones to manufacture bile. So it doesn't do that well, when it's really focused, preoccupied on trying to get toxins out of the body. So we're getting help with your emotions, you are essentially supporting your liver. Again, acupuncture can be really helpful to optimizing liver function, supporting your liver. There's other practices that we can do, such as eating well to support the liver function. So eating lots of vegetables, a wide variety of vegetables, lots of colors, colors of the rainbow, making sure you're getting whole grains into your diet, making sure vitamin C is there. So in order to metabolize cholesterol, we need vitamin B6, we need vitamin C, and zinc are some of the key cofactors as well as vitamin D3 In order to metabolize cholesterol. So if you're not eating much fruit in your diet, for example, which is a significant source of vitamin C, then you might be lacking in vitamin C, and the body might not have the cofactor there to metabolize cholesterol. If you're not consuming much protein, and zinc is bound to protein, then again, you might, or you might have a really stressed out lifestyle, which is a risk factor to atherosclerosis, or heart disease or coinciding with high cholesterol, a risk factor. So if you've got that, then again, it's going to really affect you. So making sure that you're eating a wide variety of foods that are going to cover those micronutrients. And again, it's moderation. It's not excessive consumption of any particular food group, it's not just diving into eating fats, and neglecting carbohydrates, carbohydrates are a great source of fiber, okay, that's where we get our fiber from is carbohydrates. And fiber helps lower cholesterol. So what happens is that the bile binds to the fiber, and we pull out, we pull out the, I guess, the bile, essentially, because it's it gets stuck with the fiber. So eating high fiber, as you know, having good fiber in your diet. And, you know, not just eating fats, having fiber in your diet helps lower cholesterol, again, excessive amount of fats, it's going to result in elevated levels of cholesterol, you're also reducing fiber, or having elevated fat. Okay, so I'm hoping you're getting that picture that having a really broad dye is going to cover the cofactors that we need to manufacture or break down cholesterol. And by not having excessive consumption of any particular food group is also beneficial. So like when we eat too much of anything, it's going to put like, so for example, coffee consumption. So coffee consumption contains caffeine. How do we break down caffeine, we break it down through our liver. So if our liver is busy breaking down alcohol and caffeine, so caffeine during the day to stimulate you, and then alcohol at night to knock you out to calm you down, because you've had too much coffee during the day, then that's putting a burden on the liver. Okay, so and then we also need to complement this with good sleep, in order to allow the liver to regenerate, to rejuvenate to allow the regeneration of cells so that cells are operating well so that the organs are operating well systems are operating well. So that we can manage elevated levels of cholesterol. If our systems aren't working well, and we're not supporting our systems through our good health, then it's going to have a trouble and difficulty getting rid of or secreting cholesterol. Okay, so we really want to make sure we're eating a wide variety of foods. Lots of colors in the vegetables support good liver function, lots, you know, and that also contains fiber, which helps with taking out bile. And as you know, cholesterol makes up bile. So if we take out bile through our bowels, then the body is going to make more or use cholesterol to make more bile. Okay, one way in which we can encourage our body to better regulate cholesterol levels is through eating fiber. Okay, so eat more fiber in your diet. Eat a wide variety, lots of colors, fruit and vegetables. As I said, fruits contain vitamin C, in particular kiwi fruits, oranges, citrus fruits. Berries contain vitamin C. Kale contains vitamin C. So you know making sure that you have wide variety of sources, you're getting your vitamin C in and you're supporting good liver function because vegetables and also contain a lot of nutrients or micronutrients that are cofactors in helping the liver to process toxins. And we need protein also to help the metabolism or the breakdown of toxins in our liver. So making sure your diets not too low in protein. Some people aren't eating enough protein, so making sure you're eating a wide variety of protein sources. Another way in which you can reduce cholesterol is through having fish, oily fish in particular, like say, those fish having more fish as a protein source in your diet is is another way in which you can help regulate cholesterol. In terms of other dietary factors, definitely recommend water consumption, because water helps flush out toxins out of our body. Okay, so we don't want toxins building up. If toxins build up in our body, it results in inflammation. As I said, inflammation is one of the things that coincides with excessive amounts of LDL. And that's required to do the repair work that were that result in those plaques forming in the arteries, which we don't want. So we don't want we want to manage inflammation. And so it's really important that you help the body excrete toxins in order to manage inflammation. What else can we do? So I've talked a fair bit about diet, other so the foods that are recommended around diet, oats, barley, what else is there, there's soy, there's Okra which is a vegetable, there's eggplant, these are really, really helped with the excretion of, I guess, binding to bile and helping it. So having like a porridge for breakfast is really good way to start the day. And then having a mixture of vegetables and having fruit throughout the day really helpful. And then having regular amounts of protein. So protein with each meal is really supportive. And eating less processed foods, as I mentioned at the start of the episode, hands, less fried foods, we don't want the fried foods. Okay, so that's pretty much covered the dietary aspects of what you can do to manage cholesterol. Let's talk about what you can do around a sedentary lifestyle, exercise any particular type of exercise? Well, it's there's research that shows that high intensity interval training, so hit training is really helpful. Our resistance trainings really helpful. And then just moving the body is really helpful because moving the body helps is a way in which we eliminate toxins. As I said, we don't want toxins building up creates inflammation puts a load on the liver, it puts us at risk if we have elevated cholesterol. So moving the body by just walking. Again, walking can really help with particularly walking with a friend can help manage your motions doing exercises mindfulness exercises such as yoga, tai chi, chi gong, all ways in which we can add exercise plus mindfulness, mindfulness is really helpful for my for that emotional control, as I said, emotions will elevate our blood pressure, which can cause artery damaged for prolonged period of blood pressure's elevated for a prolonged period of time. Also, our emotions, you know, particularly if it's sort of that anger and resentment and frustrated effect the liver affect the liver function, which the liver is the processing center for utilizing cholesterol, and manufacturing cholesterol. But you know, it's the manufacturing center to actually make the hormones from cholesterol to make the precursor to vitamin D in the liver we use from cholesterol. And so we need to support good liver function, the liver also produces the bile. So Manufacturing Center, we need to look after our manufacturing center, because it's the way in which we're going to help, you know, get cholesterol regulated. Again, it's not about eliminating cholesterol. It's not about that the cholesterol is not bad, it serves us it's about managing the levels of cholesterol. So I've spoken about diet and exercise. I've spoken a bit about emotional control. But really important that as I said, need to get if you need support, reach out, get support, start living by what's important to you start living a life aligned to your values. And that will help with emotional regulations. Starting to look for a balanced perspective as opposed to a one sided perspective, as I've mentioned in previous episodes, so if you're seeing things as negative, ask yourself, what is the benefits of that event that you're perceiving as negative, so balance your perspectives, then you will calm the amygdala or the emotional center down. So that's another way of doing it. So asking yourself in times that you're perceiving negativity, what is the benefits? How is it serving me and what I value? Or if it's a past event that you still haven't got over? How is the past event from that point up until now? served me and my values and in the areas of my life, ask yourself that question and keep asking yourself the question until the emotion calms down. So that's really important. Also, when you have an inflated ego, or a inflated sense of self, or perception of self, and you're looking down on others, you might want to quieten that super ego, by asking yourself, what are the drawbacks? What are the drawbacks? How is this not serving me, when we're afraid and think we're on top of the world, we stop doing what made us successful. And we stopped, essentially, doing the, yes, we're doing the things that made us successful. But also, we stopped learning that way. Because we think we know it all. When we're so good, we're just crash or don't, you know, don't need to keep learning, I'm a master. And I'm the best and so our growth is stunted. And when we say our growth is stunted, we start to rotten. You know, once we think we're right, we're rotten. So we want we want to stay green, stay thirsty for hunger and new knowledge, and for new opportunities, and for ways to grow and ways to serve. You know, how, how else can you better serve people and better serve humanity. So looking at that higher self, and looking at that level of service that you're giving, so really, supporting your emotional health that way, so not getting, you know, not subordinating to others or being recessive to others, but also not looking down on others. Seeing people as equal, okay, is really important. And having a balanced perspective. You know, if it's too negative, then ask yourself, What's good about it? How is it serving you? If it's too positive? What am I missing? What am I, what am I not seeing? What do I need to investigate or find out more about this, something I'm not seeing if I just see it as all positive, I'm not seeing the cons. And again, that's a one sided decision making process. If you just think it's all positive, that you'll jump into it. And you might jump in too early. And realize in time that you can, that there wasn't such a great thing to jump into. And we see this time and time again, with investments that people make with cryptocurrency. So really making thoughtful decisions, which is looking at both sides, a thoughtful decision is both sides, it's objectively looking at it objectively, as opposed to subjective thinking, which is just one side of thinking, only looking at one side of person, to just see if you see someone is all negative, again, you're going to start resenting that person. But if you ask yourself, when have I done what that person has done, because it's deflective part of you. And we want reflective, we want a reflective view of the world we want to see in ourselves. And when we see that in others, and we realize that we're all equal, whereas if we are designing parts of us and deflecting it onto others, and to, to, I guess, too proud to admit that we have it also in us, and just see that they have it and we have one side of perspective for them. And we're not seeing the balance, then that can be that can result in resentful and then that may result in anger, which causes liver implications. And as I said, the liver implications isn't good. We want an optimal liver function in order to process cholesterol. So that's the emotional side of things I've shared that shared the alcohol. I shared or haven't really spoken about drugs, but drugs and alcohol, we generally go to drugs and alcohol when we're feeling unfulfilled. When we're looking for an outlet, we're looking for an escape. And what I've just shared around doing what's important to you living a life aligned to your values, you're living an inspired life from within, and you don't need that escape, because you're so inspired and enthusiastic, and certain and confident from within. So you're not looking for that escape that drug, that alcohol, to escape your reality, because you're feeling unfulfilled, you look for alcohol or drugs to get fulfillment, whereas you can get fulfilled from within by living by what's important to you, and living by your own values. And that's you being authentic. And then when you're being authentic. You don't need to be anyone else. You don't need to put on masks or personas. You can just be comfortable and in your own skin and know that you're you're serving a purpose by living out your values and that's the best value you can deliver to the human race is by living who you are. Because there's no one else like you You are unique and special. So by living out who You are, you're adding value to the world, you're not trying to copy and emulate someone else. So that, you know the drugs and alcohol, there's something behind that generally. So getting some help around that, so that you can really break the addiction to help your body better manage cholesterol, and reduce the factors related to heart disease, the risk factors. I spoke about the exercises again, just moving your body and moving your body every day, just doing a little bit every day, like 30 minutes is not much to dedicate to movement every day. And you can break the 30 minutes up into 10 minute bite sized chunks breakfast, lunch and dinner, you're just doing 10 minutes. And it's just moving your body get out and walk simple. Or get off at a bus stop, you know, a couple early before your actual stuff, and you gotta walk to the destination. So just finding ways in which you can move your body more, taking the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator. Again, really important, really important ways to get incidental exercise. Doing like walk and talk meetings is another way to be productive. As well as getting in some exercise, I do a lot of walking talk meetings, I find it really elevates my steps, I get my body moving, which as I said it really helps with eliminating toxins from the body. And it really helps with the getting that LDL LDL and HDL ratios so that the high density lipoprotein HDL is the one that carries the LDL back to the liver for processing. So the liver can make things from the LDL. That's why we like the sort of ratio of having a sort of higher LDL, HDL and the lower LDL, because the high HDL takes the LDL back to the liver for processing. And so exercise can help that research shows that that is the case, just wanted to touch on statins. So Statins have, you know, you know, really well researched, yes, there are side effects to statins. And but in terms of the overall literature, it it is supportive, you know, even taking statins long term, it's showing that it reduces the cases of heart disease. And as I said, particularly for those that aren't willing to make the changes in other areas of their life that aren't willing to reduce the risk factors, it really helps them in terms of lowering the risk of heart disease. The other myth that I didn't mention earlier was that men are more prone to whim than women in relation to high cholesterol. That is a myth. Okay, so high cholesterol also plagues women. And there's no, you know, sixth sort of thing that, you know, men have to suffer more or an insane with heart disease. I mean, equally, heart disease affects women as well. So it's certainly not a man thing. And you know, women also, probably men are more at risk, because generally speaking, women look after their health better and reduce have lower risk factors that coincide with maybe elevated cholesterol, whereas men may have more of the risk factors. And if they've got elevated cholesterol, more at risk of heart disease. So that's pretty much it for this episode. I really want to thank you for tuning in each week and listening. I would like to take the opportunity to invite feedback. So give me feedback on the podcast. Is there any particular guests or any particular subject matter that you want to hear about? Do you want me to find this specific guest? Or do you want me to speak on a specific subject, please let me know what that is. Because I'd love you know, I'm here to serve you. This is this is my mission is to enhance and enlighten your well being. So by providing me feedback. And again, you can go into the podcast, you'll find my email address, it's info@meandmy wellness.com.au,info@meandmywellness.com.au it will be in the show notes. So reach out to me. Connect with me, tell me what you like about the show how it can improve. I'm all about improving this show. I've been running it for over two years now. And I've done over 160 episode, I've had well over 80 guests. Well over 80 guests on the show and it's a holistic podcast are really want to grow it so please, if you've really enjoyed listening to the podcast, please leave a review in the app that you listen to the podcasts on. That really helps me reach more people. So leave me a review. tell others about it. If you're good if you're benefiting then others could also benefits so please share it with others. And if you'd like further support and further get into health and well being then join them EMI helps up club I've started the main my health app club, and I share exclusive information to the me&my health up club members. And it's a great community of like minded people, where I'm sharing education, their sharing experience, I'm helping guide them as a wealthy as the healthy man and we live and strive for happier, healthier lives. So if you're wanting a happier, healthier life, and constantly lift your, I guess your wellness fee, or your wellness growth or your wellness quotients then join the me&my health up club. I'd love you to be a member and for essentially a coffee a week or maybe a coffee and a half or a month actually, it's a coffee and a half a month is what it costs you. It's cheap, okay, so it's no big investment. It's really affordable. So please join me in my health club. The link is in the show notes. Jumping. It's right at the bottom of the show notes jumping into that link. You'll find out more about the me&my health up club by clicking on the link I love you to join and please share your feedback. Have a wonderful week, year and just signing off as Anthony the healthy man and continue to enhance and enlighten your well being. Podcast disclaimer, this podcast and any information advice opinions or statements within it do not constitute medical healthcare or professional advice and are provided for general information purposes only. All care is taken in the preparation of the information in this podcast connected wellness Proprietary Limited operating under the branch me&my health up does not make any representations or give any warranties about his accuracy, reliability, completeness or suitability for any particular purpose. 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