on VCO, LDL/HDL and weight loss

VCO is absolutely fabulous for your face. Women with money to burn spend mega-bucks for wrinkle creams and whatnot with organic acids (alphahydroxy acid, betahydroxy acid) to exfoliate their skin - they ARE nice, and it's like a mini-chemical peel every time you use them. But VCO's fatty acid content - it's half lauric acid! - means you get the same benefit when you use it on your face! The fats seal in moisture and the lauric acid helps exfoliate. So you end up with shining, glowing skin. I just can't get over how wonderful VCO is. I use it right before bed.

According to the most recent research, VCO should not affect your total cholesterol count in a negative way. One thing I want to point out, though, is if you are losing weight (and people do lose weight using VCO) your *lipid profile* will change WHILE you are burning fat, so that you have more LDL. That's because the stored fat is moving from the fat cells through your bloodstream to where your body can burn it, and the LDL is the fat transporting system of your blood. So if your weight is going down, DON'T WORRY about your HDL/LDL ratios. They will be temporarily skewed so they look bad with a one-time blood test, but overall you are getting healthier and doing the best thing for your body. When your weight stabilizes again, your HDL/LDL should look better than ever.

I only mention this because my 70 year old father recently lost a huge amount of weight and freaked out his Dr's by having his LDL jump up and developing a 90% blocked heart artery. *Losing weight quickly is hard on the body.* His arteries did temporarily clog up, BUT the thing is, that happened because he was moving large amounts of his body fat through his blood. Fat cells don't burn fat, they just store it. The liver converts fat to a form your muscles can burn... so if you lose 100 pounds, that means 100 pounds of fat has to move from your butt, thighs and hips through your bloodstream to your liver. For my dad, when his weight stabilized again, his HDL then came along and scavenged up the arterial deposits and cleaned up the problem. He had a stress test at an awful time -- right after the LDL had peaked and before the HDL had cleaned up the mess -- and ended up with open heart surgery for a bypass. Now, if he had changed things more gradually, he might not have had such a radical and hard time of it.

I hope this doesn't make things muddier instead of clearer.

I'm so glad you think of me! Whee! Hee hee.


Tweet