The Ayurvedic Approach to Balancing Blood Cholesterol

FATS

UNSATURATED fats, which are liquid at room temperature, are considered beneficial fats because they can improve blood cholesterol levels, ease inflammation, stabilise heart rhythms, and play a number of other beneficial roles. Unsaturated fats are predominantly found in foods from plants, such as vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds.

There are two types of ‘good’ unsaturated fats, namely monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats.

MONOUNSATURATED fats are recommended, as they reduce total cholesterol levels and have the added advantage of raising HDL cholesterol. They are found in high concentrations in:

• Olive, peanut, and canola oils
• Avocados
• Nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts, and pecans
• Seeds such as pumpkin and sesame seeds

OLIVE OIL is a monounsaturated fat, which means that it actually lowers cholesterol and triglycerides. But it is important to choose first cold-pressed, extra-virgin olive oil, which means that the oil is pressed from the olives without heat or unnatural processing. This method of processing has been followed for thousands of years, and it doesn’t destroy the nutritional quality of the oil, unlike modern processing methods, which involve high heat and chemical additives.

It’s also important not to heat olive oil at high temperatures for cooking. Use it for salad dressings, and for low-heat sautéing of spices and vegetables. If you need to heat the oil at higher temperatures, it’s better to use ghee.

GHEE, or clarified butter, is made by boiling butter and separating out the milk solids. What is left is a clear, pure fat that can be heated to high temperatures without destroying its natural qualities. Ghee provides essential fatty acids (fats that cannot be produced by the body and must be obtained from food). It is the most easily digestible fat, and it contains Vitamins A and E and acts as an antioxidant. It is also a highly-intelligent type of fat, because it is a food that converts quickly into the master coordinator that integrates consciousness, mind and body, known as Ojas. Ojas is another word for nature’s intelligence in the body.

POLYUNSATURATED fats, found in nuts and in corn, safflower, sesame, and sunflower oils, also help to reduce total cholesterol levels, but because they also lower HDL cholesterol, they are not considered as healthy as monounsaturated oils. And they shouldn’t be heated. Buy cold-pressed polyunsaturated oils and use them raw in salad dressings instead. Polyunsaturated fats are found in high concentrations in:

• Sunflower, corn, soybean, and flaxseed oils
• Walnuts
• Flax seeds
• Fish
• Canola oil – though higher in monounsaturated fat, it’s also a good source of polyunsaturated fat.

OMEGA-3 fats are an important  type of polyunsaturated fat. The body can’t make these, so they must come from food. Higher blood omega-3 fats are associated with lower risk of premature death among older adults

• An excellent way to get omega-3 fats is by eating fish 2-3 times a week.
• Good plant sources of omega-3 fats include flax seeds, walnuts, and canola or soybean oil.

Most people don’t eat enough healthy unsaturated fats. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats eaten in place of carbohydrates, are good fats which can decrease levels of harmful LDL and increase protective HD, and there is evidence that eating more polyunsaturated fat—up to 15 percent of daily calories, in place of saturated fat, can lower the risk of heart disease. For some constituents, replacing a carbohydrate-rich diet with one rich in unsaturated fat, predominantly monounsaturated fats, lowers blood pressure, improves lipid levels, and reduces the estimated cardiovascular risk. 

MIX OF SPECIFIC TYPES OF FATS are generally found in all foods containing fat.  For instance, rice bran oil has a composition similar to that of peanut oil, with 38% monounsaturated, 37% polyunsaturated, and 25% saturated fatty acids.Even healthy foods like chicken and nuts have small amounts of saturated fat, though much less than the amounts found in beef, cheese, and ice cream. Saturated fat is mainly found in animal foods, but a few plant foods are also high in saturated fats, such as coconut, coconut oil, palm oil, and palm kernel oil.

Most SATURATEDfats, those which are solid at room temperature, come from animal products. They include lard, butter, hard cheeses, cream, ice cream, beef, pork, poultry with skin on it, palm oil, and coconut oil. Saturated fats are often used in fried foods and desserts such as cakes and biscuits. These too should be limited, because they can lead to imbalanced cholesterol production.

TRANS FATS are a modern invention, formed by adding hydrogen to liquid fats. These trans fats cannot be digested by the body and thus create endo-toxicity (ama).  They are considered to be far more harmful than saturated fats in disturbing the ratio of HDL to LDL cholesterol. Consuming a diet high in trans fats not only raises cholesterol levels it also increases the risk of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes. Hydrogenated vegetable oil, partially-hydrogenated vegetable oil, hydrolysed vegetable oil and partially-hydrolysed vegetable oil are all names for trans fats.

Margarine and vegetable shortening are trans fats, so you would want to stop using them. Because most packaged foods and restaurant fried foods contain trans fats, the easiest way to avoid these harmful fats is to stop buying packaged foods such as doughnuts, cakes, pies, pastries, pizza dough, crackers, biscuits, and fried foods. Also, avoid eating fried food in restaurants, especially fast food restaurants, as trans fats are commonly used for frying chips, French fries and other foods. Trans fats should be avoided altogether. 

IS A LOW FAT DIET BENEFICIAL FOR BALANCED CHOLESTEROL?

From the Ayurvedic perspective, the body needs a healthy amount of fat tissue (meda) for supporting and lubricating the body’s channels, known as srotas. Millions of micro-channels (micro-srotas) carry nutrients to the cells, and waste away from the cells. Larger srotas, such as the arteries and veins, carry blood to and from the heart. All of these channels, srotas, whether large or small, are made from the building block of the space element, akasha, because they are basically hollow spaces. The element of air, Vayu, is responsible for moving blood, air, nutritive fluid or waste through these channels.

Because both air and space (vayu and akasha) are dry in nature, the channels (srotas) can become dry and brittle over time. This is especially true in the time of life, from age 60 onwards, (the Vata time of life), when the dry, quick-moving Vata dosha predominates. To keep the channels (srotas) flexible, elastic and functional, they must be constantly lubricated with fat tissue. 

Of special importance are the delicate channels carrying life energy, prana vata, and oxygen (the pranavaha srotas) that lead to the brain. If they dry out, the brain doesn’t receive enough oxygen, creating symptoms such as fatigue, lack of focus, high blood pressure, dementia and Alzheimer’s. 

The channels that carry hot fluids such as blood are also prone to drying out, which can cause a narrowing and even obstruction of the arteries (atherosclerosis). So this is another reason why your body needs a certain amount of fat tissue: (meda dhatu) to keep the body and its channels unctuous, healthy and vital. The amount of fat that is healthy for a person depends on their body type and their health needs. So, the requirements are different for different people.

GUIDELINES FOR HEALTHY FAT INTAKE 

How much ghee and olive oil should you consume?

Not everyone is made the same. Each person has a different body type, and for some people, even one teaspoon of ghee used in cooking twice a day may be too much. So, if you have a Kapha imbalance or are predominantly Kapha, you probably require less fat, and too much fat, even the good kind of fat, could lead to imbalances such as obesity and high cholesterol. On the other hand, a person with a Vata imbalance, needs more healthy oils and fats to stay healthy and to maintain a normal body weight. 

However, to digest fat, even good fats such as ghee and olive oil, a person needs to have a strong digestive fire or Agni. Remember that there are actually 13 agnis, or metabolic processes, that participate in digestion. If fat metabolism or any of the first nine agnis (namely. jathar-agni, the five bhuta-agnis, together with rasa dhatu agni, rakta dhatu agni, and mamsa dhatu agni) that support meda dhatu agni in the sequence of digestion is weak, then that person is not going to be able to digest as much fat as someone who has strong fat metabolism.

Weak fat metabolism is one problem, but another problem is caused when the digestion is too high, or sharp. This is known as tikshna agni (literally, sharp agni), and is actually one cause of the reactive type of ama, namely amavisha.

A cautionary reminder

However, cutting back on saturated fat will likely have no benefit, if you replace saturated fat with refined carbohydrates. Eating refined carbohydrates in place of saturated fat does lower “bad” LDL cholesterol, but it also lowers the “good” HDL cholesterol and increases triglycerides. The net effect is as bad for the heart as eating too much saturated fat.

The overarching message 

Cutting back on saturated fat can be good for health if people replace saturated fat with good fats, especially polyunsaturated fats, eg., sunflower, safflower, canola oil, tahini (sesame seeds), linseeds, flaxseed, chia seeds, pine nuts, walnuts and Brazil nuts and for those on a non-vegetarian diet, fish? Eating good fats in place of saturated fat lowers the ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol, and it improves the ratio of total cholesterol to ‘good’ HDL cholesterol, lowering the risk of heart disease. Eating good fats in place of saturated fat can also help prevent insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes. So while saturated fat may not be as harmful as once thought, evidence clearly shows that unsaturated fat remains the healthiest type of fat.