Is A High Sugar Diet Linked to Cholesterol?
If you have high cholesterol have you asked yourself the question, “is a high sugar diet linked to cholesterol”? Or have you been told or led to believe it’s just the fatty foods in your diet?
Unfortunately, too many us of are under the assumption it’s the fat or cholesterol content we consume, however, that’s not necessarily true. Our body makes cholesterol too and it makes much of it from sugary foods and/or simple carbohydrates.
How Does Our Body Turn Sugars Into Cholesterol?
Our body processes foods in various ways, but as we are focusing on sugar this is what happens:
” We eat a sugary treat. This is a simple carbohydrate.
” Our body releases the hormone insulin.
” Insulin stores sugar for our energy reserves and also stores excess blood sugars as fat.
” The raised insulin levels, which has triggered the body to go into storage mode, now creates LDL (the bad, when in excess amounts) cholesterol.
” The body also has to remove the excess sugars in the blood. To do this the body begins to locate and store the excess as triglycerides. This is the one you don’t want to raise, but you will if you eat too many sugars or simple carbohydrates!
What About Sugars In Whole Foods?
Again, we are learning that sugars are found in healthy foods too, such as in fruit. So if you eat lots of fruit is this going to raise your cholesterol levels? The answer is no, not if you eat fresh whole fruits. Fruit juices and dried fruits are a different story.
However, let’s look at why fresh fruit won’t hurt your cholesterol levels, the same way a cake or biscuit will. The difference is, your body won’t release insulin the same way. A piece of fruit is digested by the body and releases the glucose in a regular and sustained pattern.
It doesn’t have to release large levels of insulin to respond and store in a panic or as if it is protecting your system, which is the response to ingestion of sugar-spiking simple carbs.
The insulin is released slowly and therefore your insulin levels and cholesterol levels remain at a healthy level. Plus, your good HDL cholesterol won’t be depleted. The reason being, if your insulin levels rise, your HDL levels decline.
This is another reason why a high sugar diet is linked to having high cholesterol levels. Your poor HDL cholesterol doesn’t have a chance.
The Bottom Line – The Big Link Between Sugar and Cholesterol
The most interesting point in all of this is that we have been led to believe that fat is the major cause of high cholesterol, when in fact it’s sugary, simple carb foods.
Yes, there are fats that are not good for us, but sugar is the biggest culprit and the main reason for the increase in cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, stroke and high cholesterol.
It makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? There was no such thing as statins not too long ago, because people ate whole foods more than fast, processed foods. Fast foods were expensive! Now they’re considered cheap. Their easy availability has caused a worldwide cholesterol problem.
It’s almost like the obesity epidemic. Hmmm… could there be a link between sugar, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity… yes, there probably is.
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