Are you one of the millions of individuals with high cholesterol? Have you been under the impression that fat is bad? Elevated cholesterol is not a sign you’re eating too much fat or cholesterol, it’s a sign that you’re having a problem metabolizing it! Cholesterol is biochemical gold, and what a waste if we’re not able to utilize it and it’s just pooling in our blood. Everything from managing the metabolic pathways of hormone production, immunity, inflammation, blood sugar, and blood pressure are all related to how we utilize cholesterol. When you’re not metabolizing fats as you should, your body will start talking by sending you signals related to hormone imbalances, memory issues, depression, diabetes, and coronary heart disease. If your body is talking, you need a prescription. You need a Food Rx to get to the root cause and heal your cholesterol metabolism.

At least 50% of my clients come to me with a cholesterol metabolism problem and many of them are currently on (or have been suggested to start taking), statins or cholesterol-lowering drugs. But the drugs don’t fix the problem and research shows lowering that number with medication alone might not even reduce the risk of heart disease and mortality. It all comes back to my health equation, E + M = H. You need to address the environment (the foods you eat) and the metabolic pathways to get to health and homeostasis. What we need to realize is that cholesterol is nutrient dependent and we can use a food prescription, a Food Rx, to truly heal the metabolic pathways that utilize cholesterol.

5 Guidelines For Your Lipid Metabolism Rx

Our goal to repair your lipid metabolism is to help your body manufacture and absorb cholesterol, be able to efficiently remove excess cholesterol, and to balance the metabolic pathways that convert cholesterol into hormones. We’re going to start with these 5 guidelines to repair and heal your cholesterol metabolism.

1. Eat your medicine. You’ll take your prescription (food), six times every day. This means eating three meals and three snacks every day.
2. Have a meal map strategy. I’ve provided a 7-day meal map in Fast Metabolism Food Rx to help you strategically place specific foods for healthy cholesterol metabolism. Here is what your week will look like:
   • You’ll eat lots of raw vegetables like spinach, carrots, and green beans to help stimulate digestive enzymes to support your body’s ability to break down the cholesterol.
   • You’ll also be eating a steady supply of fruit like oranges and pears in the first half of the day to keep blood sugar stable.
   • You’re going to be eating tons of high fiber foods which help to pull out excess cholesterol. This will help to support fat metabolism and regulate salt and water balance.
   • Healthy fats will be paired with high fiber fruits and vegetables in your meals and snacks to support fat metabolism and to stabilize blood sugar.
   • Proteins rich in the amino acids taurine and glycine are included in this food prescription to help support bile production for cholesterol metabolism and also to boost cognitive development and brain function.
3. Include Top Power Foods. You’ll want to add lots of my Power Foods for Cholesterol Metabolism Repair (in addition to the Foundational Foods provided in your Food Rx), in as many meals and snacks as possible. You’ll be enjoying many of these foods in the meal maps and delicious recipes I’ve provided for you in the Food Rx book.
4. Confuse it to lose it. When it comes to exercise, you’ll want to rotate your style of activity and mix it up with cardio, strength training, and relaxation. Aim for no more than 4 days a week of exercise. On your days off, focus on rest and restoration, which is necessary for cholesterol repair. For example, you could try cardio on Monday and Friday, strength training on Wednesday, and a Yoga class or relaxing walk on the weekend.
5. Build your Dream Team. Discuss your nutrition plan with your doctor and request some additional labs to understand the root cause behind your current metabolic condition. Your doctor has probably run lipid panels already, but it’s helpful to suggest additional tests like C-reactive protein, Vitamin D, a hormone panel, and some blood sugar tests. I outline what specific labs to ask for in my book, and how you can work with your doctor to use these as part of your health plan.

Using Fast Metabolism Food Rx, we’re going to start fixing your metabolic pathways, and start fixing you. Let’s stop talking about the high cholesterol and start addressing the root cause, the why.

We’re going to use Self-Discovery Quizzes and Whole-Body Diagnosis Quizzes to understand your current condition. We’re going to use meal maps that include delicious recipes like Pulled Pork in Collard Wraps and a Spinach Steak Salad found in your Food Rx book. We’re going to tell you what labs to get, how to ask for them, and how to use them for building a successful plan with your doctor. I want you to become an advocate for your health, and I want you to use this book as your ultimate game plan where you are the captain of your team. We’re going to get to a place where this biochemical gold, this incredible nutrient is finally working for you! Let’s start to eat to treat and get to the solution.