It’s no secret that LDL cholesterol is bad, it forms plaques in the arteries, plaques interfere with blood circulation and can lead to a stroke or heart attack. Statins lower cholesterol, which is why it is prescribed. Cholesterol rises from stress, for example, and here’s why. We are created by nature that if you imagine a person in the distant past being attacked by a wild beast, the person runs and the blood from the central part of the body rushes to the periphery into the legs and into his arms if he fights.

The stress then passes quickly, the beast either caught the man or the man ran away or killed the beast. Stress has passed and blood circulation returns to normal, that is, there is no spasm of blood vessels any more time in the central part of the body.

The mechanism of circulatory response to stress through vasospasm has remained the same evolutionarily, but stress has become constant in many people. The connection between stress – spasm – disturbed blood circulation, can sometimes last for days and sometimes for years. For example, in the aorta, a large artery, a spasm occurs; blood can break the small vessels that make up the aortic wall itself. The body strengthens the wall of aorta with cholesterol reflexively as the blood vessel in the aorta wall can blow because of the spasm. The wall thickens, causing atherosclerosis.

Cholesterol is a building material in the body, the body produces it in the amount that it needs, so why take statins that lower cholesterol if you can try to remove stress?

This is of course a simplified description.

 Cholesterol also rises if there is inflammation in the body, even low grade.  The body needs to repair tissues which are destroyed by inflammation. It is just as important as reducing stress to do your best to get rid of low-grade inflammation.

 One more way to reduce cholesterol in a natural way is to improve the liver function. How do you think the body is throwing away the excess of this cholesterol? That’s right, the liver is doing it for us and if the bile flow is sluggish then the cholesterol could increase. 

Another reason for high cholesterol is hereditary, in this case, you will need to use statins.

Statins are valuable and profitable products of the pharmaceutical industry, after somebody started to use statins, he or she CANNOT stop them, it is a remedy for the rest of life. If you are not using statins and your LDL level is not very high, you can discuss it with your doctor and after this, you could try some natural alternatives.

 They do not have many side effects; they could work as natural mild statins.

Plant sterols reduce the amount of cholesterol produced by the body.

Red rice yeast – this is probably the best natural cholesterol-reducing supplement, it contains monacolin K – which works like a mild natural statin.

Also, bergamot and garlic. Garlic is obviously food. Eat garlic frequently with other food!

Certain foods increase cholesterol, so it’s better to limit fatty pork, junk food, food with palm oil, cheese etc. The good news is that some food reduces LDL cholesterol. These food deliver soluble fibre, which binds cholesterol and drags it through the digestion system and out of the body, so cholesterol does not get into bloodstream.

 This is oats, barley and other whole grains, also beans and nuts. Apples and citrus fruit have pectin which also reduce your cholesterol. Fatty fish like salmon has Omega 3, which is also beneficial.

 I am not against statins, my point is that you can reduce LDL cholesterol in a  natural way. Statins like all other drugs have side effects. The choice is yours.