Cholesterol - You Can't Live Without it

If cholesterol is so bad for you then why does your body make 80% of the cholesterol it contains. (Cholesterol is made primarily by the liver and secondarily by the brain.)

The fact is that cholesterol is a vital substance, essential for good health. It is integral to both structure and function within the body in myriad ways.

So why then have we so demonized cholesterol? The reason is simple: a lot of money - billions, if not trillions - has been invested over the past 40 years to convince (scare) people that cholesterol is harmful and will kill them.

One of the more obvious such bets are the statin drugs which are intended to lower cholesterol. Lipitor, for example, is Pfizer's best selling drug, representing about 15% of the company's sales.

The problem with statins is, beyond lowering cholesterol which the body depends and thrives on, they create a number of nasty side effects such as liver damage, neuropathy, muscle wasting, and cognitive impairment.

This is a tragedy. If you eat high quality saturated fat you will stimulate the production of high quality cholesterol in your body, which, far from killing you, will keep you healthy.

It's All in the Gut - the Seat of Good Health

"All diseases begin in the gut." That's what Hippocrates said some 2500 years ago. Doctors take the Hippocratic oath, but how many doctors ever tell their patients what Hippocrates advised...?

A great majority of modern day health problems stem from ingesting the wrong foods, which diminishes the body's internal bacteria community, which then disrupts the body's digestive, immune, nervous, and endocrine systems.

Aside from bad food, other degraders of the gut include: oral contraceptives, vaccines, antibiotics, pharmaceuticals, and poor pre-natal and post-natal care.

But just as bad food can weaken the gut and sicken the organism good food can just as surely rebuild the gut and restore the body to health.

It's that simple and that direct. The only problem is that doctors, generally speaking, are nutritional illiterates. Moreover, they make all their money not curing humans but managing disease by prescribing modern medicine's high-margin, low maintenance goods and services.

If you're suffering from a chronic ailment just remember that it more than likely started in your gut because harmful industrial foods are hard to avoid. But it's also in the gut where you can stop what ails you.

All you need is the willingness to embrace the right diet -and eschew the wrong "professional" advice.

The Healthcare System is Broken - Run the Other Way

America's healthcare system is broken because it manages disease rather than promotes healing.

Over the past couple of years I have unhooked myself from this system which victimizes people by taking a lot of money out of their pockets while making them dependent on its varying treatments which do little to cure the underlying conditions.

For me, short of an outright emergency, it's no more doctors, dentists, drugs, or anything else that smacks of mainstream medicine. These days I see to my healthcare needs via the following: a proper diet, sound emotional health, fresh air and sunshine, intellectual curiosity, satisfying relationships, and exercise.

If I need a professional I'll call on my chiropractor, osteopath, or yoga instructor. They know and understand the whole me.

If I get run over by a bus then I hope someone will pick me up and drop me off at the ER. Otherwise, I'll let my body do its own healing and get out of the way.