SUPER FOODS FOR IMMUNE: “GOOD” AND “BAD” ITEMS
Cholesterol: Leave It to Nature
Cholesterol is a “good/bad” item: good because it’s essential for life, bad because it’s associated with clogged arteries and heart disease.
Here’s the general rule I explain to my patients: Your body is very good at making all the cholesterol it needs. You don’t have to help it out by eating a lot more. In fact, you really don’t have to eat any cholesterol at all.
But eat it we do, in large amounts. Working hand in hand with fat, cholesterol plugs up arteries, especially the tiny arteries that supply the heart muscle and brain. When those arteries close up, some or all of your heart or brain will die.
The Pick-Me-Up That Lets You Down
Caffeine is another food item you can do without. Many studies have linked caffeine to irregular heart rhythms, increased blood pressure, heart disease, anxiety, the heartburn of gastritis and esophogitis, peptic ulcers, digestive problems and cancer. Ironically, the caffeine we drink to give us a lift eventually does the opposite. Caffeine gets your heart beating faster and increases your blood sugar. That’s what gives you the lift. Your body then reacts to the sudden energy surge by gathering up all the blood sugar it can and stuffing it into your cells. Too much sugar, however, is often gathered up. Now your blood sugar is low; you feel fatigued and want another cup of coffee. For many of my patients, every day is a cruel cycle of fatigue, coffee, brief lift, fatigue, coffee, brief lift, fatigue.
That’s why I call caffeine the pick-me-up that really lets us down, overstimulating our heart and muscles at the same time. It just makes trouble for our “doctor within.”
*30\80\8*
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