Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Omega 3 from Sage - Improve your Hdl Ldl Ratio!

You probably are aware that taking Omega 3 is a great way to help lower your LDL (bad cholesterol) and raise your HDL (good cholesterol), thereby improving your hdl ldl ratio. Omega 3 fats have wonderful properties which are so good for your health. Among them: They are good for your heart, they help your vascular system, they help prevent strokes (by acting as a natural blood thinner); they are good for depression and aid concentration.

Many people have been taking Omega 3 for years and many people want to give it to their kids as well. The problem is that the form that is largely used nowadays is Omega 3 from fish oil. This has lots of good benefits like those I mentioned above. But there are also disadvantages. For example, people who take blood thinners should not take fish oil. Diabetics shouldn't take fish oil. People who are allergic to iodine may under no circumstances take fish oil. Pregnant women need Omega 3 but should avoid fish oil because of the presence of mercury and other toxic metals. Same goes for children. Babies until age 2 MUST take omega 3 for the proper development of the brain (which is made up of 40% fat). Fish oil is not an option for them either.

Another problem with fish oil is the disgusting taste and the tendency to repeat on you. There is nothing worse than burping up (excuse me) fish oil a couple of hours after taking a capsule.

Today there is an alternative!!! Marvalous is an Israeli startup company which has a 20 year patent on the production of vegetarian Omega 3 from a plant which grows exclusively in Israel. This plant is called Salvia Sclarea and is a form of Sage, which is considered a safe food by the U.S. FDA. The Hebrew word for "sage" is "Marva", hence the name of the company - Marvalous.

Each capsule of Marvalous Omega 3 has 500 m"g of pure ALA, which is raw Omega 3. This is the "stuff" that is in the seaweed at the bottom of the ocean, which the fish eat in order to produce DHA and EPA (the ingredients present in the fish oil capsules). ALA is what is present in mother's milk all the while a mother is nursing her baby. Other than nursing mothers, no human being can produce ALA, yet we all need it to be healthy.

The Sage plant in Israel has seeds. These seeds are cold pressed (like olive oil) and not processed in any way. The oil is put into capsules and these capsules are sold by Marvalous. The capsules are tasteless at best. At worst, they taste a teeny bit like walnuts. Totally not offensive. They do not repeat on you!!! Pregnant women may (and should) take it. Children can take it. So can diabetics, people on blood thinners and vegetarians. Omega 3 from the sage plant is good for improving your hdl ldl ratio and your entire vascular system. It gives protection from inflammatory diseases as well.

Whew! That was a long lecture. If you are interested in more information on this unique and groundbreaking product, how you can use it to improve your health AND attain financial independence, you can pop over to my Marvalous blog !

Also, you can have a look at this video clip which I made about the Marvalous product and opportunity:

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Lower LDL: Can we Lower LDL without Drugs?

Let's talk a bit about lowering the "bad" cholesterol - LDL.
There are foods that are present in every (or most) kitchen that can help lower the LDL numbers in the blood. Here are some of them:

Oatmeal - Oatmeal and oat bran have soluble fiber, which has been found to be a factor in lowering LDL. It has been found that 5 - 10 grams of soluble fiber a day can reduce LDL. 1.5 cups of oatmeal have 4.5 grams of soluble fiber. Soluble fiber reduces the absorption of cholesterol in the intestines and causes it to be excreted from the body.

Other foods with soluble fiber are kidney beans, apples, pears, prunes and brussel (yuck) sprouts, sweet potatoes, carrots.

Almonds and walnuts have also been found to help lower LDL. Nuts are also very high in calories so just eat a handful every day. You can put them in your salad instead of croutons! Nuts are fatty and help keep blood vessels healthy and elastic.
EAT NUTS!!!!!

Blueberries - Recent research has found that not only are blueberries a powerful antioxidant, but that they also have the power to lower LDL. Go out and eat some blueberries and maybe some other berries as well.


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Monday, February 19, 2007

HDL and LDL

I'll bet you know that there are two different kinds of cholesterol.

LDL is the "low down", "bad" cholesterol which is purported to clog our arteries and cause heart disease. LDL stands for (boring) Low Density Lipoproteins. These lipoproteins are made up of mostly fat and a little protein.

HDL, on the other hand, is made up of mostly protein and just a little fat. HDL actually prevents the cholesterol from building up along the walls of the arteries by escorting it to the liver which filters it out of the body. HDL is usually called the "good cholesterol".

According to the medical journals and cardiologists the preferred numbers of cholesterol in the blood are as follows:
LDL: less than 100mg/dL.
HDL: 60 mg/dL or higher.

Many people are confused by the numbers. It is good for the total number of cholesterol to be under 200 but the total number of cholesterol in the body is not as important as the ratio between LDL and HDL. What is desirable is a high level of HDL and a lov level of LDL. The higher the ratio - the better off you are.

The doctors usually are anxious to get us to lower our LDL but, raising the HDL in the blood can prove just as effective (assuming the LDL numbers aren't sky high).

There are ways to raise the HDL.

One way is to increase consumption of Omega 3 oils. These oils are present in oily fish like salmon, tuna, mackerel and herring. If you don't like fish you can go for the capsules which have omega oils in them. It's important to be careful, though, to choose a brand which is know for processing the oils well and removing the poisons (which are rampant in the ocean, believe it or not).

Another way to increase HDL is by exercising 3 - 5 times a week. An average of 1/2 hour of aerobic exercise has been found to raise HDL levels.

Cutting out the trans fatty acids in the diet can also help raise HDL. These are the bad fats that are present in almost every commercially baked product on the market.

Alcohol - Believe it or not, one or two alcoholic drinks a day have been found to increase HDL.

Quit Smoking - Here the smokers have an "advantage". They can raise their HDL just by quitting!

Add two servings of soluble fiber to your daily diet. Soluble fiber can be found in oatmeal, apples, strawberries, carrotes, brown rice and legumes. This wonder-fiber both reduces LDL and raises HDL.

Weight loss also helps raise HDL but I would imagine that the weight loss will be a side product of adding the above, healthy foods into the diet.

I'm the kind of person who would rather concentrate on the "positive" than on the "negative" and all the so called "forbidden" foods. When you forbid me to eat something, I just want to go right out and eat it!!! That's why what works for me is trying to think in terms of nurturing my body and increasing consumption of tasty foods that will help me to become healthier. Hey, the more healthy food I eat, the less junk food I will consume. AND THAT'S A FACT!!!

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Monday, January 15, 2007

Lower Your Cholesterol

Do you have high cholesterol?

I do.

Noone likes to hear the verdict from the doctor that their lipids (blood fats) are high. It is known that high cholesterol increases the risk of heart attacks and cardiovascular disease.

Usually the doctor sends you to the dietician first to get a new, cholesterol-lowering diet plan. If that doesn't work for you (and it is often hard to stick to a very restrictive food plan), the doctor will very often prescribe Statins.

Statins are drugs that reduce the amount of cholesterol in the blood. Unforutunately, they do some other things as well.

Here are some of the conditions that have been connected with statins:

brain damage, muscle damage, kidney damage, memory loss, decreased sexual interest or ability, heartburn, diziness, headaches, diarrhea and more.

My medical research on the internet has led me to believe that statins must be avoided at all costs!

I found a product called The 60 Day Prescription Free Cholesterol Cure.
This e-book was written by a health researcher named Frank Mangano, who came up with a natural method of reducing cholesterol because his mother did not want to take prescription drugs. She succeeded in lowering her cholesterol by 40 points using his method alone!!! Mangano spent many, many hours researching the topic and probably knows more about cholesterol than many doctors who just keep writing out those prescriptions.

If you check out the sales page for this 100+ page electronic manual you will see genuine testimonials written by people who bought the book.

What's especially impressive is that there is a 60 day money-back-guarantee.
He actually tells you that if you have not managed to lower your cholesterol to where you want it to be within 8 weeks of purchasing the book he will give a COMPLETE REFUND.

I will admit that I don't totally agree with everything he writes in the book and I also think that he made the book a bit longer than necessary. He could have spaced it differently and had less pages, but all in all it's got good, information. I feel that it's worth a read, though because he explores many diet/supplement/exercise related aspects of cholesterol. Although I am a very well read person when it comes to health, I did learn new information from this book.

If you are interested here is the link:

The 60 Day Prescription Free Cholesterol Cure.

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