#73 Episode: The Truth About Statins: What Your Doctor Won't Tell You

What if everything you’ve been told about cholesterol is wrong? We’re breaking down the myths, the facts, and the surprising science behind statins and heart health. It’s time to take control of your wellness.

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Show Notes:

• What Statins Are: Understanding statins and their role in managing cholesterol levels.

• Benefits of Statins: How statins help lower LDL cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease.

• Potential Side Effects: Discussing common side effects such as muscle pain and liver damage.

• Who Should Take Statins: When and why statins are prescribed, including high cholesterol, heart disease, and diabetes.

• Alternatives to Statins: Lifestyle changes, natural supplements, and other medical treatments that can help manage cholesterol.

• Myths and Misconceptions: Addressing common misconceptions about statins and cholesterol management.

• Key Takeaways: How to approach statin use and find the right balance for your health.

Key Takeaways:

1. Statins are highly effective in lowering cholesterol and reducing heart disease risk, but they come with potential side effects.

2. Not everyone needs statins – it’s important to consult with your doctor to see if they’re right for you.

3. Alternatives to statins, like lifestyle changes, can be just as effective for managing cholesterol levels.

4. Managing cholesterol is not just about taking medication; diet, exercise, and stress management are key factors.

Transcript:

Welcome back to Better Than A Pill. And today I'm here with Amanda. You are a functional medicine practitioner and Shannon Davis, our registered dietitian, and both specialize in metabolic health, insulin resistance and chronic disease. And we're going to be talking about it. talking all about statins today.

But before I jump into that, I just want to give credit to God for this podcast. I just want to thank him because I wouldn't be here. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for him. So we are, I'm super grateful that we can be here today to get out truth into the world that the world needs to hear. So we're going to dive into this and we're going to talk all about this.

So Cardiovascular disease is on the rise, and I want you guys to speak a little bit more about that. I know you're aware of all the statistics.  Yes, absolutely. I'll go first. Yes, cardiovascular disease is still the number one cause of death as of today, right? Despite the medications, statins and but it's still listed as number one.

Okay. And other things that, other chronic health issues that are also on the rise, Alzheimer, cancer, obesity, type 2 diabetes, all these metabolic health dysfunctions are all on the rise, despite all the medications that are available to us. As a pharmacist, I've been dispensing these medications on a regular basis.

Statin is on the top of our most prescribed medications there. Statins, metformin and a list of blood pressure medications. What is a statin? I'm sorry. I'm going to go real. Some people may not understand that it's for cholesterol. We're talking about cholesterol, right? 

Correct. Correct. Go ahead, Shannon. I'll let you speak. I was going to say that heart disease is still the number one killer, but what we don't talk about is what is the number one cause of heart disease type two diabetes. And so the issue still stems back. To what we've talked about in some of your other podcasts, Carrie, is insulin resistance, just like what Amanda has behind her.

So the deal with heart disease is fat and plaque. And  blocked arteries have been blamed for heart disease, right? Eating animal fat has been blamed. LDL has been blamed for heart disease. And what we're finding out is no, LDL is not the bad guy. LDL isn't even cholesterol, Harry.

It's a lipoprotein. It's basically a taxicab. It's not even cholesterol. And the fact that people think You know, like when you set bacon on the counter and it solidifies, that's what people think happens inside your arteries when you eat animal fat.  But even if you, even if we say, okay, that could happen, what happens when you heat that animal fat?

It liquefies. What temperature is our body? 98. 6 degrees. So even  if that saturated fat was floating through our bloodstream, it would be liquid. It's not going to be solid and clog up like solid bacon fat. So  that's my two cents.  No, it's a, and so the stat, and so we're using them to treat. Is it primarily, am I correct in saying  cholesterol LDL, which is not even, it's not LDL doesn't determine cardiovascular risk.

There are more to LDL.  You can't like it. If you go see your doctor, if they see your LDL as elevated, like a hundred or over a hundred, automatically they want you to take a statin. So what statin does, it blocks an enzyme in the liver to reduce the production of LDL. what's considered the bad cholesterol, but that's not really the bad cholesterol.

The bad cholesterol is triglycerides, not even LDL. The oxidized part of LDL is what causes plaque formation, which is the triglycerides. So instead of looking at LDL, why don't we look at what truly is the cause of heart disease plaque formation, which is triglyceride. And you want to look at triglyceride over HDL ratio. 

That's a better  biomarker than just looking at LDL, which encompasses The part of the good cholesterol and the bad cholesterol, just because it's elevated. What if you have a high level of good cholesterol and what statin does, it actually inhibits the good part of cholesterol rather than the oxidized part of it.

And we need the good part of it for our brain function, for immune function, for hormone production, for you, just like Shannon said it's a transporter, right? It's a vehicle.  And what they're finding now the lower your cholesterol, the shorter your life, like the, you cholesterol, like the, your immune system is suppressed.

The lower we smash it. We see diabetes, type 2 diabetes, we see dementia and Alzheimer's, we see zero interest in sex, like you lose all sexual interest and able to do that, you lose your, you get muscle weakness, and you deplete your heart of CoQ10, you chronic kidney disease, all of these things are side effects of a statin, and Amanda can speak on this, but statins,  only give you three extra days to your life and  statins only lower your risk of a cardiac event by one percent.

Nobody talks about that. And then where's the side effects? It's you're like, like Shannon said, muscle. And it directly increases your HbA1c, your glucose levels, which put you at risk for type two diabetes. And we know that there is plenty of research and studies that link type two diabetes to cardiovascular disease.

And as we're talking about this, I know I've had clients in the past say to me, they've had other side effects from statins and I can't even recall, but some of them I think we're quite scary when they were taken off, and I'm in pain free movement. So I think had to do with something. Related to their body and pain or something.

So that, there's a lot of side effects for big surprises, a lot of side effects for taking a drug, a statin, but, and so they're really just, they're just serving you to keep a number low.  Yeah. Like they have a target. So keep a number in a certain range or below a certain level, but not really looking at the whole body systems.

So just recently I have a friend's dad who's LDL is 45. Total cholesterol was 146. He had a stroke and ended up in the hospital and he has Alzheimer's, dementia. So it looks, these numbers are perfect according to conventional markers but,  and yet my mother-in-Law who likes triglycerides, I was able to help her to reduce from 2 42 to 99.

And her LDL is above 100. Her total cholesterol is at 300. Doctor, her doctor wants to put her on statin. And she's fine. And she walks every day. She got off her wheelchair when her LDL was lower. Her total cholesterol was lower. She had cancer. She had type two diabetes. She was obese.

She was in flames. Her foot was not healing. She was wheelchair bound. Now. That her triglycerides lower her HDL is higher her LDL is lower her total cholesterol is higher. I mean her LDL is higher.  This, and she's not on Stan, and she's walking every day and she looks amazing. She has energy and her feet.

They're lowering the numbers, the goal rate for, the goal for cholesterol, it keeps getting lower. If we look back 20 years, 30 years before statins, it was in the upper 200s, close to 300 was a normal range for cholesterol. And then statins came on the market. So the lower you make the cholesterol range, the more people that need to take a statin.

And they're not good. And so let me ask you this. So will you, cause I know we've talked about this and although I know like a lot of people listening, it takes a lot of repetition sometimes for it to sink in. So I'm going to ask you guys again. I know that. So when we're looking at numbers, when we go to the doctors, what you're saying is look for triglycerides divided by HDL.

And then let me know what number we should be looking for? Because the doctor's not going to tell us this, right? Okay. So you let's get the truth out here today. What do we need to be looking for then?  Ideally you want a one-to-one ratio, that's ideal, right? But below 1.5 it's good. Ideally you want one-to-one.

You want triglyceride to HDL to be one-to-one, ideally, but many people are away above 1.5. So you know, if you can get it to be below 1.5, that is good. That's considered good. Yeah. But, okay, triglycerides below a hundred. And HDL is as high as possible. Okay, that's helpful. So what I've heard just to repeat for everybody listening is that the ratio should be one to one or lower than 1.

5 triglycerides, lower than a hundred and HDL as high as we can, which makes sense because that's the good stuff. Okay. Okay. That makes sense to me. Okay. Now I am catching on a little bit and I think a lot of our listeners may be too. So there's some underlying causes going on here and I'm going to guess that  insulin sensitivity may be linked to some of the things going on in our body.

So let's talk about. Like that. And then like how, what can we do for not going to take a stat? And that, the product that I am now using in my body that I'm a fan of for so many reasons has a lot of different metabolic and chronic disease, positive effects for those things.

And so that also includes our stat and health. So let's dive into all of that. Sorry, guys, I'm getting it all out at once here. No, it's perfect. Perfect. I'll talk a little bit about lifestyle modifications. I'll let Amanda hit the feel-great system. So really again, we go back to that factor insulin resistance.

So if we can target that, not only will cholesterol improve, but all of these other parameters. So you're really like killing 10 birds with one stone hypertension, PCOS, erectile dysfunction skin tags. Fatty liver, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, all of these diabetes, obesity are all an insulin problem.

So time restricted eating, otherwise known as intermittent fasting, is a great tool. And Carrie, a lot of people are afraid of that. I'm not talking about a one day, two day, three day fast. I'm talking about 12 to 16 hours. Yes. And I love when you say this. And I think this is really important for people to hear that can really even mean three meals a day.

No snacking to start three meals a day. No snacking. Yep. Yep. Even if you start there with the goal of, and this is super important, Carrie, it's really If you want to eat three meals a day, if you can compress them into a smaller eating window, that's the goal, right? It's just eating less frequently and then focusing on real whole foods, fiber, protein, and healthy fats, eliminating the boxes, the bags, the barcodes, the highly processed, ultra  processed foods, the sugars and the carbohydrates, and focusing on plants like vegetables that are above the ground.

Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, those types of things focusing on foods high in protein, chicken, fish, beef, pork, eggs, without fearing the fat that comes in that. Don't get rid of that yolk. That's good fat. Don't worry about the fat that's in that beef. It's good fat. And then we always encourage utilizing tools when making those changes are hard.

And that's what Amanda's going to talk about. We. are big fans of something called the feel great system. All right. So the great system makes intermittent fasting easy for some people. Intermittent fasting can be very hard because I have been practicing intermittent fasting in the past and it was a challenge.

And for my husband, he wasn't able to do it because hunger always wins. He always needs to snack. So this is when This tea here, this is a concentrated Yerba Mate tea, it, this helps to shut off the, helps to shut off the food noise so that you can practice intermittent fasting so that you don't think about the food. 

It's very simple. It's a simple protocol: you wake up in the morning, and you pretty much just mix one of these packages into about 30 ounces 20 to 30 ounces of water. Warm or cold and you just sip that throughout the morning and that'll be your breakfast and if you feel really hungry when you first start it you can break your fast maybe just try to push your breakfast back a few hours when you start with the goal to try to reach your goal.

16 hours 16 8 or 18 6, meaning that you want to have your eating window within 6 hours or 8 hours. That doesn't mean some people say, Oh, Amanda, I'm going to eat all day during those 6 to 8 hours. I'm just going to snack throughout those times. No, it does not mean that. It means you can fit 2 meals into that time slot, or like Shannon said, you can put 3 meals into that time slot.

slot that eating window. And then for me, I wake up in the morning, I drink one packet mid morning, I drink another packet, I break my fast around one o'clock. And then before your biggest meal, you mix this fiber, this is a fiber matrix, mix it with cold water and drink it right away. So the fiber you want to drink is right away.

prior to eating. And this will help, it forms bulk. Not only that, it feeds your gut microbiome. So this is a prebiotic. It's soluble and insoluble fiber feeds the gut microbiome. And if it helps to make you, it forms a bulk. So it makes you feel Fuller faster, and it keeps you fuller longer. And not only that, it slows down the absorptions of carbs and glucose, so it prevents that post meal glucose spike.

And studies have shown that this also decreases your triglycerides. And I know Shannon and I personally have reduced our triglycerides tremendously. Oh, yeah, that's what I was going to say. I got on the product and my triglycerides were 250 and my HDL was 53 in eight weeks. My HDL went up to 122 from 53 and my triglycerides went from 250 to 50. 

Wow. Crazy. Wonderful. Nothing else, Carrie, except added these wonderful supplements. Yeah.  That's amazing. So what I love is that because the supplements have so many benefits, that I personally, again, I'm going to get my, my, my ratio and everything checked next time I'm at the doctor, but I personally don't struggle with the cholesterol that I'm aware of right now.

So I'm using them for different reasons, but this is so eye opening because there's just. So many benefits. And that's a huge, those numbers we're talking about statins today. And look, if you could take something that is. Better than a pill. Would just get that out there.

Everybody has a choice. Everybody has a choice. We all have choices to make and, I'm just, we want to get information out there into the world about this stuff. That's to me, that's very powerful right there. And from me and just my experience.  And I'm definitely, I've been taking it since July.

I love it and many, and again, another episode we can get into carrying stuff. I love the ability to wait, how it helps me with my mental clarity and energy levels so that I can start my day with a drink. I'm, and I don't feel I can see how that all plays in. But what my point is that we're taking this, the supplement is also providing our body with nutrients.

And that's a big thing here that I talk about. And I believe that we're using it as we feel. a sense of peace, taking something that's going to nourish my body and give it many other benefits. So it's not just a little drink, a sugar free drink or something like that, where we're just trying to not get hungry, right?

It's way more powerful. And so With this topic of statins. This is eye opening. I know for a lot of people listening, there are natural ways to do this. So I don't know, this has been awesome information. Before we wrap it up, do you guys have anything else you want to share?

Yes. I just want to close with this, that statin does not target triglyceride. Statin has no effect on triglyceride. Triglyceride  is the oxidized LDL triglyceride is the harmful lipoprotein and statin does not affect triglyceride.  So I just want to say that. And  wow that's powerful. And this does naturally.

And that's why doctors don't talk about triglycerides because there's no medication. Really? There's very few and it's terrible. Yeah, there's one or two, but they're not very effective. So I rarely dispense them anymore. Whereas statins, I dispense them every single day. And for every statin that I dispense, there's a blood pressure medication that goes with it and a diabetes medication that goes with it.

Oftentimes those three go together. Yes. Amanda knows because she's a functional medicine practitioner undercover as a pharmacist. And so you're seeing all this firsthand and on a daily basis. And thank you. And for those of you that are listening and can't see what they're referring to as the product.

So the Unimate and the balance system. And I want to say that those links will be included in the description here for the feel great system. So you can take a look at it yourself and if you are. You got the place in your life where you're, you're ready to make a change for the better and you want to get off the train.

I highly encourage you to pursue that today. Also if you're listening and you're struggling with back pain or muscle pain or stiffness, I'm ready to connect with you. If you're ready to live pain free and start enjoying the things you love, I'm here. So I have, you guys know, 26 years of experience.

I know I'm getting old to help improve health and alleviate pain. Back pain whatever it is, other discomforts  and  I can give you personalized insights strategies so that you can say goodbye to the fear of injury and hello to a life with less pain. So you can schedule your consultation today by clicking the link in the episode as well.

Or reach out to support a movement craft. com. And because you guys are listeners of the better than a pill podcast, you get an exclusive 50 percent savings. Just let us know you're a listener. So anyway, guys, We're going to wrap it up and thank Amanda, thanking Shannon. This great conversation is as usual, and we release new episodes every other week on Wednesday.

And I look forward to having you join us then.