Participants: George Guthrie, Tim Arnott
Series Code: WM
Program Code: WM000331
00:01 The following program presents principles
00:03 designed to promote good health 00:04 and is not intended to take the place of 00:06 personalized professional care. 00:08 The opinions, ideas expressed are those of the speaker. 00:12 Viewers are encouraged to draw their own conclusions 00:14 about the information presented. 00:37 Welcome to Wonderfully Made. 00:39 My name is Dr. George Guthrie, 00:41 I'm the Medical Director at Lifestyle Center of America. 00:45 I would like to discuss with you today about cholesterol. 00:49 Do you really need to take a drug 00:51 in order to lower your cholesterol? 00:54 With me to join in this discussion is Dr. Tim Arnott. 00:59 Thank you George, it's good to be with you again. 01:03 Well, Tim we are looking at cholesterol. 01:09 What is cholesterol? Well George, 01:11 its something very, very important in fact 01:14 if you don't have cholesterol in your body and 01:17 you're a lady you won't be able to make Progesterone 01:21 and of course if you don't have Progesterone you won't 01:24 be able to have children. In fact George reality 01:28 is that none of us would be here if wasn't for cholesterol 01:31 and we wouldn't be able to have men and women, 01:34 because of testosterone and estrogen are made 01:37 from cholesterol Cholesterol is an important part 01:40 of every cell in the body, in fact the membrane 01:45 or the valve that lines the cell that actually encloses 01:50 the cell has cholesterol in it and it actually has a very 01:54 important role at making sure that, that membrane 01:58 operates efficiently and has the full function that 02:02 it needs. So, cholesterol is important. 02:04 Well, here I thought cholesterol was bad. 02:06 Where did we get the idea that if cholesterol is so 02:09 good, where did we get the idea so, that it's bad? 02:12 Well it turns out George that when cholesterol 02:15 is damaged chemically by something called a free 02:20 radical which is simply a form of oxygen in the body 02:24 that's a toxic form and a dangerous form of oxygen. 02:28 When the cholesterol is damaged by that oxygen 02:31 it becomes oxidized. It becomes chemically injured, 02:36 becomes bruised if you will and then the white blood 02:39 cells sweep over and pick up that damaged cholesterol 02:43 and they quickly take it out of the blood and put it 02:47 into the nearest dump side and that just happens 02:50 to the valve of the coronary artery and so overtime 02:55 if you have high blood cholesterol and it becomes 02:59 chemically injured in this way. You can actually fill up 03:02 the valve of the artery full of this cholesterol 03:05 and that cholesterol is unstable and especially 03:09 if you have a lot of inflammation in the blood that 03:12 cholesterol can actually rupture out into the flowing 03:16 blood causing the blood clot to form and that can be 03:19 a heart attack or a stroke. 03:21 So, this is pretty serious business then? Absolutely 03:24 Doctors are now seemed to focus on the cholesterol 03:28 and they want to get the cholesterol down, 03:30 so we can decrease the risk of heart attack and strokes 03:33 and those types of things. There is a lot that we hear 03:38 in the advertisements and magazines and TV about 03:45 drugs to help lower cholesterol. 03:47 How do those drugs work and are they really 03:50 beneficial for us? Well, those drugs are a number 03:55 of different types, but the most popular type is called 03:58 a Statin. And these drugs actually interfere with the 04:03 enzyme that the body uses to make cholesterol and 04:08 so they are actually quite effective at lowering 04:12 the total cholesterol and they can lower the total 04:15 cholesterol anywhere from 25 to 30 percent and 04:19 these drugs are been shown to lower the risk of developing 04:23 a heart attack for example about the same about 25 04:26 to 30 percent, but what we wanna talk about on 04:30 this program is what is the underline cause of that 04:35 elevated cholesterol. What's the underline cause of 04:38 damaged cholesterol and what if anything 04:42 can we do about it? Yes, at Lifestyle Center 04:45 of America we have focused on treating the cause 04:49 of the disease rather than just the symptoms and I 04:53 suppose we could aim at just lowering the cholesterol, 04:56 but wouldn't it make more sense to focus on 04:59 decreasing or changing those things that made the 05:02 cholesterol go up. What can we do to help lower our 05:05 cholesterol or may be I should say to help us understand it? 05:08 What did we do to make our cholesterol go up in 05:10 the first place? Well, one of the things George 05:14 that we do without realizing it we are involved 05:18 in a society where we are quite sedentary. 05:22 No exercise? No exercise, where we are sitting like 05:24 you and I are sitting here we gonna get some exercise 05:28 after this. We are also eating foods that are very 05:32 calorie dense. They are not 80 percent water like 05:36 the beans, whole grains, the fruits and vegetables 05:39 that's cook beans and cook whole gains of course, 05:41 but these foods are, they were eating a very dense 05:44 in calories, it's not lot of water or fiber in them and 05:48 so its very easy overtimes for over wait to creep 05:51 upward and what some people may not know is that 05:55 if your weight creeps up your body becomes more 05:58 resistant to insulin and so your pancreas has to make 06:02 more insulin to actually overcome the insulin 06:06 resistance and so your insulin blood levels go up 06:10 and what its important to realize is that insulin 06:14 actually stimulates the enzyme that the body uses 06:18 to make cholesterol. So, as your insulin level goes up, 06:21 so does your cholesterol level go up. 06:24 So, body weight is something that's very important. 06:28 You know as I have tried it to explain this to people 06:31 in the past one of the things, I have, I have looked 06:33 at is cholesterol as a soap. You know cholesterol 06:37 is part of what unable the body to move oil, 06:41 fat and greace around in a water system not only 06:46 are the beans 80 percent water, but we are pretty close 06:49 to that as well, where in the 60 to 70 percent range 06:52 and so in water systems oil and fat don't move around 06:55 and the body has to make this extra cholesterol to in 06:59 order or soap, detergent in order to move the fats 07:03 surrounded the body. So, high fat diet has something 07:06 to do it as well especially a fat called saturated fat. 07:08 Saturated fat or some people call it animal fat. 07:14 These are fats that are, are actually solid at room 07:19 temperature in fact these are fats were, 07:21 were designed to be in organisms that have a body 07:25 temperature of in the 90s, 98.6 these are important fats, 07:32 because if you are going to have a fat be fluid 07:35 in this kind of a creature you need a fat that has more 07:38 solidity to it and, but when you put these fats in 07:41 the diet they actually raise the blood cholesterol in 07:46 fact saturated fat such you would find in butter 07:51 or in red meat for example. These fats are two 07:56 or three times more powerful and raising the total 07:59 cholesterol level then if you are to sit down and eat 08:02 cholesterol itself. So, certainly George moving away 08:07 from the saturated fats that are found in the meats 08:10 especially the red meats and also in the dairy products 08:15 especially the full fat dairy products and probably the 08:19 most important source the number one source of 08:22 saturated fat is cheese, especially the higher fat 08:26 cheeses. So, moving away from these sources 08:30 of saturated fat can drop the total cholesterol 08:34 quite significant. And so we get to our 08:36 question we say do I have to take a drug to lower 08:40 my cholesterol or can I change my lifestyle to get our 08:44 focus can we can I actually change what I am doing 08:48 in such a way to lower my cholesterol 08:51 so I don't need to take a drug? 08:53 Well, that's what we want to share on this program we 08:56 wanna share with you some actually results from real 08:59 people who actually did embark on a lifestyle change 09:03 program and some interesting and dramatic changes took 09:07 place in their cholesterol levels. In fact, 09:10 what this individuals did for 19 days they came into a 09:14 inpatient program, they went on a total plant diet 09:18 that means they ate only beans, whole grains, fruits, 09:23 vegetables nuts and seeds, no animal products no dairy 09:27 products and not even fish for 19 day period. 09:31 They engaged in exercise. They were walking, 09:33 they were rowing, they were swimming, 09:36 they went out for walks in the sunshine, 09:39 they were drinking water, even carrying 09:40 their water bottles, so just like you and I are. 09:43 And they were avoiding coffee and, and the caffeine 09:48 and alcohol and tobacco. They were resting and they 09:52 were learning how to spend time with their creator. 09:55 So, they were following the creator's program of 09:58 healing these eight natural doctors if you will and what 10:02 we wanna share in our first light is what took place 10:06 to their cholesterol level a side affect if you will by 10:10 following the creator's program and what we see here 10:14 is that the total cholesterol level dropped 10:18 significantly in those who are using a Statin. 10:22 Now, as you can it dropped George about 31 points 10:26 the total cholesterol in those taking a Statin, 10:29 by the way George what is a Statin? What, 10:32 what exactly if, if somebody was on one and how 10:36 would they know? I mean what? 10:37 A Statin is a medication which blocks the body's 10:40 formation of cholesterol and that's kind of science 10:44 is modern sciences way of dealing with the cholesterol 10:46 problem rather than getting to the source of the problem. 10:50 Well, it stop their body from making the stuff 10:52 and you know, I suppose that makes sense we know that 10:56 it decreases heart attacks when we take the medications. 10:59 We know that it decreases information in the body, 11:03 so there is benefit, but isn't it a bit foolish to just 11:06 focus on blocking the formation of cholesterol 11:10 without getting to the thing that made the body tried 11:13 to make cholesterol in the first place. 11:15 Now, someone at this point may be asking the question. 11:17 Well, that's fine for those people who are on a medicine 11:20 just taking one of these Statin medicines, 11:23 but what if I am not taking a Statin medicine. 11:27 Well, we actually had some patients who are not 11:30 taking one of these Statin cholesterol-lowering medicines 11:34 and our next graphic will actually show what happen 11:37 to those individuals. And as you can see these 11:40 individuals had also dramatic decrease in their total 11:44 cholesterol level. In fact, George you can see it went 11:48 from an average of 192 to right down into the 150 range 11:54 and what we tell patients at the Lifestyle Centre 11:57 of America is if you can get your total cholesterol below 12:00 150 that's probably the safest total cholesterol level 12:05 and you can see from the little P value on this slide 12:09 that this result was highly statistically significant, 12:13 so probably not just a result of chance there was real 12:18 drops in cholesterol for those who are not even 12:20 taking a medicine in just 19 days. 12:24 Tim I noticed on those slides a word Vegan 12:28 isn't that a religion people like they don't wear leather 12:33 shoes or leather belts. I mean it kind of brings up 12:37 around some of these thoughts I saw that word 12:40 Vegan on the slide may be you can clarify 12:44 for it that for us. Well, certainly there are some 12:47 individuals who are Vegans and its part of a, 12:51 a broader health focus and you might say even a religious 12:56 focus and that's not what we were talking about here. 13:00 Vegan is simply a word a, a tool to actually share that 13:06 these individuals that had these dramatic cholesterol 13:10 reductions were eating only plants and you could also 13:14 use terms like a total plant based diet or a 100 percent 13:19 vegetarian diet its just a tool to share that in order 13:24 to get these results the individuals were eating 13:27 nothing, but beans and whole grains, fruits, vegetable, 13:30 nuts and seeds, no animal products what so ever 13:34 and so that's why we use the term frankly 13:36 we didn't have much space on the slide and that was 13:40 a powerful word to get the point across without 13:43 being too worried. Well, thank you for clarifying 13:47 that. Well, what other changes do you see? 13:51 Well, you know George the American Heart Association 13:54 has just come out with some interesting data, 13:58 showing that the LDL cholesterol which some 14:03 people call it the bad cholesterol and LDL is stands 14:07 for low density lipoprotein. 14:11 I have a different word that I sometimes use to yes 14:14 get easier, yes sure, share that, because people get 14:16 lost in these acronyms of letters. LDL in my vernacular 14:22 stands for little devil lipoproteins. 14:25 Alright that your sounds man, little devils a little 14:27 devils and they are little they can be little devils. 14:30 Well, of course as only if they get too high 14:34 and if they become chemically damaged as we talked 14:37 about earlier and so the LDL is a cholesterol level 14:42 that we actually its actually a packet of cholesterol 14:47 it's a cholesterol particle like a little suitcase 14:50 that carries cholesterol in the blood stream and 14:54 this is the particular cholesterol package 14:57 if you will that's can end up inside the artery valve 15:01 forming these cholesterol plaques that can rapture 15:04 and cause and heart attack and the stroke. 15:06 So, this number is even more important than the total 15:10 cholesterol number. Yes, yeah it can be 15:12 in fact and what we want to share also is that 15:16 this recent recommendation from the 15:19 American Heart Association is telling us for example 15:23 if you are at the highest risk of a heart attack. 15:25 In other words if you have type 2 diabetes and 15:28 you've already had some kind of a heart event 15:31 may be you had a bypass surgery or heart attack. 15:33 Then they are telling us you need to get that LDL 15:36 or that bad cholesterol or that little devil lipoprotein 15:40 level down less than 70 and so that's it the piece 15:45 of new information most cardiologists, most heart 15:49 specialists would like your LDL level to be less than 100 15:52 and so that's the kind of ranges that we would wanna 15:58 have if you've one of the lower risk of a heart attack 16:00 and probably the lowest risk of a stroke, 16:02 but the exciting thing George is that patients on this 16:06 Lifestyle program were seeing changes also 16:09 and LDL cholesterol. 16:11 Yes, lets look at the next slide and see what 16:13 it looks like. When we go to the next slide 16:16 what you can see is that in those individuals 16:19 who were taking a Statin drug in this case they were 16:23 actually able to lower their LDL or their bad 16:26 cholesterol level from 74 down to 54 as you can see 16:33 that's below 70. Yes So, and these individuals 16:36 did not necessarily have the highest risk of disease 16:41 they were had type 2 diabetes, 16:43 but certainly did not all have heart disease, 16:45 but you can see that they got their cholesterol 16:48 level their LDL below 70 even into the 50s. 16:53 Now, you can also see that not only did those 16:57 who were taking a Statin have a significant 20 point 17:00 reduction in their LDL or bad cholesterol level on a 17:04 total plant diet, but those who were not using Statins 17:08 those who are not using one of these powerful 17:10 medicines to lower cholesterol they also on a total 17:14 plant diet lowered their LDL or bad cholesterol 17:18 almost 30 points 27 points and as you can see there 17:22 its highly statistically significant. So, 17:24 both those who use these medicines is powerful 17:28 cholesterol lowering medicines and those who don't were 17:31 able with a plant diet has significant further 17:34 reductions that even into the accepted optimal 17:38 range for those at highest risk of a heart attack. 17:40 That's interesting Tim but that those are numbers 17:45 from Lifestyle Centre of America is anybody else 17:48 been able to demonstrate these changes. 17:51 Well, actually Dr Jenkins at the University 17:54 of Toronto in Canada did something very interesting. 17:58 He wanted to show or he wanted to actually 18:00 to find out if a plant based diet could lower total 18:05 cholesterol or LDL cholesterol in this case as much 18:09 as a Statin drug one of these most important 18:11 and most popular cholesterol-lowering 18:13 medicines and so he took a largely a vegetarian 18:16 diet like he was total, it was a vegetarian diet 18:18 was a total plant diet and there were some dairy 18:21 products and he added to it some important 18:24 cholesterol lowering plant's ingredients such as 18:29 almonds and soy protein and a margarine made out 18:33 of a plant substance like cholesterol called Fitosterol, 18:38 which actually blocks cholesterol absorption 18:41 and so you can remove more cholesterol from your 18:43 body and, and also solvable fiber which can help 18:47 to reduce the amount of cholesterol that's again 18:50 absorbed back up into the blood stream and send 18:54 more of it out of your body, so he added these 18:57 special plant ingredients to these vegetarian diet 19:00 and he showed that in a several weeks of being 19:05 on one program or the other that the Statin drug 19:08 and the vegetarian or plant based diet had an quick 19:12 a equal ability to lower the LDL cholesterol. 19:16 Well, that's good news, so we can actually make 19:18 changes in our lives dealing with the cause the 19:23 underlying causes of the cholesterol elevation 19:26 and see the same change as we occurred 19:29 from taking a drug. Absolutely in fact one 19:31 of the other changes it wasn't just LDL 19:34 that dropped about the same on a plant based diet as 19:38 what you would see with a medicine, 19:39 but something else call the C-reactive protein which 19:44 measures the amount of inflammation in your blood 19:47 stream and basically what that is measuring 19:50 the amount of activity of the white blood cells 19:54 and this is important because the cholesterol inside 19:58 the artery valve and it actually white blood cells 20:01 are mixed with that cholesterol and if there is a 20:05 lot inflammation in the body these white blood cells 20:09 are more active that makes the cholesterol plaque 20:11 more active its more likely to rapture a clock to form 20:14 in a heart attack and this plant base diet lower 20:17 the amount of inflammation is measured by CRP 20:20 ro C-reactive protein as much as a Statin drug. 20:23 This is really earth shattering news. 20:26 Oh, it's good news for those of us who understand 20:28 the importance of a plant based diet. Especially 20:33 note that the Statin drugs do more than just lower 20:36 the cholesterol. They actually lower the inflammation 20:41 as well and so when we talk about a lifestyle treatment 20:46 to lower cholesterol you need to under that it 20:49 not only lowers cholesterol, but it also lowers the 20:53 inflammation as measured by the CRP or C-reactive 20:58 protein. Well, that's good news Tim a lifestyle change 21:01 than could take a place of a medication and that's 21:06 really good news. Now, there is some other 21:09 cholesterol packages that sometimes are changed 21:14 and need to be fixed tell us about those? 21:17 Well, that's true George and you know lot of people 21:20 who are looking at treatments or tools to help bring 21:24 down the blood cholesterol when someone mentions 21:27 a plant based diet which is rich in carbohydrates 21:31 and again we are not talking about a diet that's rich 21:35 and white flour, white bread and white pasta 21:38 and refined sugars. But what we talking about and 21:42 when we talk about high carbohydrate diet is 21:45 whole grains, beans, vegetables, 21:48 fruits, nuts and seeds. When we talk about this 21:51 kind of a program we are actually talking about a, 21:55 an approach to cholesterol reduction that is a little 21:58 bit different. It is a it is beyond just simply using 22:03 a medicine and some people think well, that approach 22:08 will lower the good cholesterol, it will actually 22:10 cause more harm than good, because we need the 22:13 good cholesterol to get cholesterol out of the body. 22:16 Now, that good cholesterol is called HDL which 22:21 confuses people all over the place got another name 22:23 that sometimes works for that. Share that with us? 22:26 Heavenly darlings those are the good once. 22:28 Heavenly darlings so you know if you have difficulty 22:32 remembering HDL just remember heavenly darlings 22:36 and really they are heavenly George, 22:38 because there are people who have very high total 22:42 cholesterol, very high LDL or bad cholesterol, 22:45 but their good cholesterol is also very high and those 22:49 individuals are largely protected from heart attacks, 22:53 but what was seem in this study at the Lifestyle 22:57 centre where these patients on a total plant diet 23:00 was that HDL did something surprising and if we can see 23:04 that graphic now George tell us what we saw or perhaps 23:10 didn't see with the good cholesterol levels 23:13 in these patients? The good news is that on 23:15 this slide it's demonstrated that the HDL did not 23:18 changed during the program at Lifestyle Centre 23:23 of America using the plant based diet. 23:26 Now, let me explain this to try to make it clear for you. 23:29 You see the literature reports the scientific literature 23:33 reports that when you move to a high carbohydrate 23:37 diet the HDL tense to drop rather than go up and 23:44 so in the literature what they are focusing on is much 23:47 more a refined carbohydrates when we deal with 23:51 100 percent plant based diet, the fiber and other 23:54 things apparently keeps the insulin levels low and makes 23:59 the situation such that the HDL does not have to 24:03 go down. The heavenly darlings don't decrease 24:07 they stay up a high and that is good news. 24:10 This is very good news its very important that the 24:13 HDL the good cholesterol stays high, because that's 24:17 the cholesterol package that they are sending 24:21 cholesterol out of the body and if your able to send 24:26 cholesterol out of the body with a lot of this good 24:29 cholesterol as HDL then it doesn't build up in the artery 24:33 valve nearly as much. Now, that was in, that was dated 24:37 for those who are taking a Statin drug a cholesterol 24:40 lowering drug, but we can go to the next slide George 24:43 tell us what happened in into the HDL or good cholesterol 24:47 and those who are not taking a Statin drug which 24:50 is going to be of course more valuable for many people 24:53 in the audience who went on one of these medicines. 24:56 Well, the results were the same a plant based diet 24:59 did not make the heavenly darlings go down 25:02 and that is good news. It is good news, 25:06 and also George I think its important to understand 25:10 that one of the reasons that people are getting 25:12 more and more heart disease in America is that they 25:16 are becoming more insulin resistant or weight is going 25:21 up or middle is going out or we are gaining more 25:25 weight in the mid section and that often will raise 25:28 the insulin level which drives the good cholesterol 25:32 down and the triglycerides are the fat in the blood up 25:36 and that can dramatically increase or accelerate the 25:40 heart disease the hardening of the arteries the 25:43 Atherosclerosis process. So, when we see a program 25:46 that keeps the good cholesterol stable while bad 25:51 cholesterol drops that's what you want and that's what 25:54 you get when you do the creators methods a total 25:57 plant diet and exercise program and all of 26:00 his other remedies. So, we are back to the 26:03 beginning Tim. Do I really have to take a drug? 26:08 Well, you know there are some people who may have 26:11 to take a drug to lower their cholesterol level, 26:15 but I think what we are pointing out George 26:17 in this program is that perhaps if you have had 26:22 difficulty brining down your total cholesterol your LDL 26:26 or bad cholesterol in the past, perhaps what you wanna 26:29 do is take one more step and that step is to move 26:33 to a total plant diet and an exercise program and 26:37 particularly exercise out in the air fresh and in the sun 26:41 light and you will not only see your bad cholesterol 26:44 level go down, you will see those Triglyceride 26:46 levels tend downward as well. 26:49 And I suppose the good news is also that the lifestyle 26:52 change works as well for those who are taking 26:56 the drug as those who are not, so there is actually 26:59 some added benefit, added benefit absolutely. 27:03 So, in the time remaining is there anything 27:06 else that should be emphasized? 27:08 George there is something that we do need to share 27:11 and that is there may be people out there 27:14 who have tried to get their cholesterol level down 27:17 and they have not succeeded in fact they may 27:20 have even tried to plant based diet and not succeeded 27:24 and there is such a thing is heredity, 27:26 genes if you will and some people have elevated 27:29 cholesterol, but what we want to emphasize is protect 27:32 the cholesterol even if its too high protected 27:35 from damage by using anti-oxidants not pills, 27:40 but whole foods and factored the beacon nut is one 27:44 of the most powerful anti-oxidant nuts. 27:46 The blueberry is a very rich in anti-oxidants and 27:50 so whole plant foods beans are rich in anti-oxidants, 27:53 greens you want to shield your cholesterol, 27:56 so its not damaged by the oxygen free radical 28:01 and so in summary we just want to encourage you 28:04 to follow the creators lead and you will 28:07 discover how wonderfully we are made. |
Revised 2014-12-17