The Great Cholesterol Myth, Revised and Expanded: Why Lowering Your Cholesterol Won't Prevent Heart Disease--and the Statin-Free Plan that Will - National Bestseller

I've been struggling with high cholesterol for years and the doctor always wanted to pump me full of statins, but I refused because of my Uncle's serious side effects from them.I tried just making some modest lower fat changes to my diet before, had no effect.Tried watching calories, didn't really work for me.I tried Atkins and while I did lose some weight, it didn't really improve my cholesterol and seemed impossible to stay on because if you go off of it for one day, you start a whole new 7-14 day cycle before you even start seeing improvements again.I tried serious 18 hour intermittent fasting, lost 15 lbs. and then plateaued for 6 months with no additional progress, but cholesterol went up.13 months ago I had another blood test, Total Cholesterol was 388, LDL was 286, and HDL was 69.I bought this book toward the end of last August and just changed what I was eating based on the excellent guidelines in this book... So I started the diet about a year ago.It took me a few months to sort out which foods met the criteria and to find equally satisfying alternatives/replacements/recipes, etc. Once I figured it out though, it just became habit and I love all the food I eat and I eat plenty of it! I'm never hungry and always have multiple options to enjoy and satisfy cravings.I mainly changed my eating habits (I don't consider it a diet because it doesn't feel like a diet) to lower my cholesterol, having given up on losing significant weight years ago, but I was absolutely amazed that losing weight was an incredible side effect of the changes to my eating habits.I've consistently lost 4 lbs. a month for the last year. I'm down just over 50 lbs. over the last year. My HDL is down by 140 pts. LDL is down by 137 pts. HDL is up by 22 pts. My A1C went from 6.1 to 5.5. My BP is down 20 pts from 130/79 to 110/61 and I feel great!Had to buy a bunch of new clothes, went from the largest hole on a 34-36 Medium belt to the fourth hole on a small 30-32 belt.The best thing about my new eating habits is it has become a lifestyle that I prefer and I don't have to worry about an occasional variance from my new normal eating habits.For example, I took a trip to visit my brother in Vegas on 6/21. I weighed 163.4 on 6/20. Ate an airplane 3 cheese omelet on the flight out, had a huge ribeye steak, baked potato with sour cream that night, next day ate a mess of Cane's Chicken fingers with sauce & some fries, and Caprese Salad and Chicken Alfredo at the Italian restaurant they took us to for dinner. I think I had some airplane food on the flight back too. None of that food is in my usual eating habits now. I weighed myself when we got back on the red-eye the next day, and sure enough, I gained 2 lbs. But, unlike when I was on Atkins, six days after my return, I weighed 161.7, 1.7 lbs. less than I weighed nine days earlier the day before we left.Same thing happened the next month. A good friend of ours had their huge annual cookout and had us bring my mom's signature authentic warm German Potato Salad. That salad is about the worst thing you can eat for my diet. For 5 lbs. of potatoes, there is 2 lbs. of bacon, the fat drippings from which form the base of the dressing along with a cup of sugar and some vinegar. At the cookout, I had a cheeseburger, hot dog, and a huge helping of the potato salad. I do have to say, I didn't feel well after eating that...like my blood sugar was off or something. We kept a few servings of the salad at home and I had two controlled portion sizes (like 200 grams) each day for the next 2 days. Those didn't effect how I felt. I did however go from 159.6 to 162.3 after 3 days of not eating my normal diet. The salad was gone and I continued my new normal habits and by 5 days later I set a new low of 159.2. That was July 20th.This morning (9/3), I weighed 153 on the dot. I haven't weighed that in at least 25 years. I haven't really done any material additional exercise other than maybe 1000 more steps a day than during the pandemic, and still about 1000 steps fewer than average and in the bottom half for my age group.Friends tell me I look great and I should be proud of what I accomplished with the weight loss. I don't because it was really easy to do...nothing to be proud of. The authors and researchers that did the work are the ones that should be proud!No statins, no Ozempic or Wegovy and none of their side effects!It did take some time to read ingredients and nutrition information and sort out what I should be eating that I'd enjoy. But I have so many delicious options and recipes I've figured out, I literally do not feel like I'm missing a thing. And I know, now that it is habit, I will never get overweight again.It may not work for everyone because we are all different. I'm just glad it works for me!!!Thanks Dr. Bowden & Sinatra!

Worth reading! Great REAL ANALYSIS OF CHOLESTEROL!

Years ago, as new young nurse, I remember working on the cardiology floor at in Manchester Memorial Hosptal in Connecticut. There, Dr Sinatra was beloved and deeply respected. The older nurses who were training me called him the "wonderkid doc", like "Here comes the wonderkid doc to make his rounds". I asked why they called him that. They replied, "Because almost all his patients get better!" And that, let me assure you, did not normally happen on the cardiology floor. He was the nicest guy, but more importantly, he was the cardiologist, despite his baby face, that you wanted your beloved grandpa with heart disease to be a patient of. Well, now it's decades later, and I no longer work in that field or even live in that region. Frankly, I'd long ago forgotten about hospital nursing and Dr. Sinatra. But researching my own seemingly alarming lab results, I stumbled onto this book. I wanted to make informed decisions about what my current doctor was reccomending (Statins), but had these vague memories from my work in Connecticut at that hospital that were giving me pause on the whole accepted notions regarding cholesterol and its role in heart disease. Seeing the name of Dr. Sinatra as the author obviously rang a bell, so I looked him up, and sure enough, he was that same smiling, warmhearted cardiologist from the 1990's, just not so baby faced anymore. Knowing that he was way beyond smart, caring and deeply respected way back there in my Connecticut hospital days, I bought this book without hesitation, and am so grateful for the education it provided. It has changed my understanding of cholesterol, heart disease and its causes, and enabled me to actually feel able to prevent heart disease. This will not be via statins or by worrying about eating too much grass fed beef or cheese, but by controlling sugar/"bad" carb intake, which leads to insulin resistance, which leads to pre-diabetes, which is what really leads to heart disease. These conditons create the environment that damages the sub-type of cholesterol that is an issue, to allow it to become deformed into a dangerous shape, and to insert itself where it shouldn't, in the walls of arteries. He argues very convincingly that the amount cholesterol is not the problem for most of us-it is found at the scene of the accident, but it is not the root cause of the accident . He has a way of explaining complicated scientific concepts in a way even kids can grasp, which is a rare gift. For those who feels he and his co-author ignored research or studies and are re-writing accepted medical facts, I strongly disagree. I did the work of looking up many of the studies cited in the bibliography and many more studies released since this book was published in pubmed. His explanation of how modern medicine got here by believing the cherry picked data from the JUPITER ('Justification for use of statins preventatively, or something like that name....') study, was quite a revelation to me, since only data from a few countries out of the 18 countries collected from was actually used to promote the authors preconceived conclusion. Countries with traditionally low "bad" carb intakes had data that completely contradicted the 'high cholesterol causes heart disease so you need statins to lower it' conclusions, so the majority of the countries studied had their data simply omitted. I found this book reliable, thorough, comprehensible, and despite being a few years old, in agreement with more current published studies. The majority of people will read on their favorite news site, "studies say such and such causes such and such ....." , and they will believe the interpretation of the author without looking up and reading the study for themselves, finding out if it had 50,000 or only five participants, etc. They will not be aware if the author(s) of the study has a bias, or if the study itself was free of financial conflicts of interests, or if it was sponsored by a pharmecutical corporation. These authors have looked at the original studies, who did the, the data they show regarding heart disease, cholesterol, diebetes, etc, and have come to starkly different conclusions than many others. I believe they have done a huge service for many of us searching for accurate information free from financially motivated bias. This book will help many of us to make educated decisions and to take care of ourselves and our loved ones as best we can and prevent heart disease and its leading causes. TLDR: 1. Your triglycerides to HDL ratio matters the most. The higher it is, the higher your risk. It should be a low ratio, 1:1 is best. If your HDL is 80 and your triglyceides are 80, Dr. Sinatra believes you can throw away the book because your risk is so low. 2. Don't eat much sugar or (bad) carbs because they are literally giving us heart disease. 3. Statins are antiinflammatory and may benefit men under age 69 years old who have already had a coronary event or are at a very high risk. But they also do a lot of other things that might not be so good, especially for women and for everyone age 70 or older.So maybe read the book, get a CT score scan and some more detailed bloodwork, talk to your doc about the findings, and make more thoroughly educated decisions.

This was a good overview of cholesterol, how it impacts the body, and when levels might be problematic. There is discussion of research regarding statin use and why it may not be the magic pill your doctor has been telling you. The authors delve into what they call "the real cause of heart disease," which I found compelling. While I appreciated the discussion of diet and supplements, it was cursory and a little overwhelming. The appendix includes explanations of additional tests your doctor may order to help evaluate heart health. As with any book regarding health and wellness, I wouldn't limit yourself to just this one resource, but it is a good manual to read and refer to in your quest for knowledge and understanding.