Cholesterol – friend or foe at menopause?

Are you worried about cholesterol?

Have you been told that your cholesterol is too high and you’re at risk for cardiovascular [heart] disease?

Have you cut down on the amount of fat you eat or even worse cut it out completely?

Every day I speak to women who are fearful of fat and believe that it will make them fat and damage their heart.

It’s time to stop this nonsense and start understanding that eating fat and cholesterol in particular is vital for life.

Did you know that all of your sex hormones [eg oestrogen, progesterone, testosterone] are made from cholesterol?

In fact cholesterol is so vital for life that your body makes up to 80% of the cholesterol you need to be healthy and is intelligent enough to adjust this amount when you eat foods containing cholesterol.

Your brain in particular needs fat and cholesterol [up to 60% of it is fat] so many of your menopause symptoms especially brain fog could be affected by avoiding fat.

Most of my clients discover that the main culprit in both their weight gain and high cholesterol levels is too many starchy and sugary carbs. These spike blood sugar levels and cause Insulin to be created – which is also known as the fat storage hormone.

Reducing sugars and starches can help you to both lose weight and lower your cholesterol.

Of course there are some fats that are unhealthy and need to be avoided such as trans fats found in a lot of processed foods and seed oils such as sunflower & rapeseed oil.

Plus, most of us are not eating anywhere near enough as many health fats such as the omega-3 essential fatty acids found in oily fish.

And the myth that cholesterol increases your risk of heart disease – it's just that a myth. There is no evidence for this and this has been known for decades!

Surprised? I’d love to know your thoughts on this topic!