286: How The Plant Based Diet Lowers Cholesterol and Improves Health Naturally

Speaker 1: 0:58

If you or someone you love struggles with cholesterol, we get it. The struggle is real. You take medications thinking it's going to work and end up with problems upon problems All the while. There's a natural solution that could work for you, but nobody's talking about it. But we're going to change that today.

Speaker 1: 1:20

Hey sister, welcome to the Power on Plants podcast. Are you tired of staring into the fridge wondering what to eat so you can just feel better? Do you want to avoid spending hours in the kitchen making complicated meals in the name of health? Would you love to leave fatigue behind and finally have the energy to do all the things you want to do? Hi, we're Jared and Anita Roussel, christ followers, healthcare professionals, parents of four and big fans of great tasting food.

Speaker 1: 1:50

We, too, tried exercising more, eating natural and clean foods, but we still found ourselves struggling with what we thought were changes that come with age or bad genes, and we weren't finding answers the traditional route. So we dug into the research and created our secret nutritional weapon sustainable plant-based living. The truth is, you can eat more whole plant foods and it's not hard. You just need the way. That's realistic and delicious, so you never feel deprived If you're ready to enjoy your meals, no longer be held back by your health struggles and actively live your life, then you're in the right place. So grab your favorite plant-based cup of happy pop in those earbuds and let's get started. Hey there, sunshine. Welcome to the podcast. I almost said welcome to hanging out with us. I really did, because we love doing this with you.

Speaker 2: 2:39

They're synonymous.

Speaker 1: 2:40

Absolutely. Today we're discussing the natural way to lower cholesterol. Now maybe you're thinking I didn't even know there was a way to naturally lower cholesterol. Listen, there's probably a lot of things that you have never heard before, and I'm saying this in a loving way, because we've been there. We're healthcare professionals. Jared's a physician assistant who's gone back and gotten certified in lifestyle medicine to get his specialty to help you out with these things. I'm a nurse with my bachelor of science degree who's certified as an integrative nutrition health coach for the same reason, and we have created a free community where you can get your eyes open to so many of these things that you may be struggling with that you didn't even know there was an answer for.

Speaker 1: 3:24

Maybe you're dealing with weight struggles right now and you're thinking am I ever going to be able to lose this weight in a way that I can actually sustain for the rest of my life? Listen, dieting, counting calories, stepping on the scale, eating tiny portions that aren't even fit for a bird, eating foods you don't like in the name of health that is hogwash. You do not have to live that way. We're here to help you set up and live in the way that you are going to absolutely love because it's quick, it's simple, the food tastes great and therefore you're setting up a lifestyle, not just no longer a diet, switching to a lifestyle, but you're switching from just oh, I'm going to try to set up a lifestyle. No, I don't need to diet. No, you're setting up a sustainable lifestyle. That's what makes us at Power and Plants different. We are here to help you learn. How do I make the way that is proven time and time again in research eating whole plant foods sustainable so that it is enjoyable and simple and quick, so that it's sustainable, so that I like it. I have found my plant based joy. You need the community to be able to support you to do that. We were not created to be an island. I know you've heard that before and it is so true. You were not created to have to live and walk out life on your own and listen. Sometimes it's hard. You feel like you're on your own. You don't know what to do. You've got these health struggles you're dealing with on a regular basis and you're thinking I don't even know that there's an answer. I just thought I'd have to take medications forever.

Speaker 1: 4:56

Maybe you're struggling with type two diabetes, like some of our members have before that have reversed it completely, reversed it naturally, with us showing them what to do, walking them through this step by step and gaining the support they need. You cannot undervalue this support, so I want you to come right now into our free group. It is an absolute no brainer. It is the best thing you could ever do for yourself if you're trying to heal naturally from diseases like autoimmune diseases. We have a member who's just reversed Crohn's disease. We have another member who's reversed rheumatoid arthritis. These are not the rarity inside.

Speaker 1: 5:36

Eating whole food, plant-based, the sustainable way. This is the normal for us. This is what we see time and again and it is so exciting. It lights us up. We want you to know the things that are possible to reverse naturally and how to do that, and one of the best ways to get started is get in the place where you're going to not only get the information but get the support that you need on this journey. So come and join us right now inside podcast insiders experience at power on plantscom forward slash pie. That's power on plantscom forward slash P I E.

Speaker 1: 6:12

So what is the natural way to reverse cholesterol? We are going to get to that, but, jared, and I feel like it's super important that you learn some things that you may not be hearing about from your health care provider, and that is what is cholesterol? Where does it come from? Why am I struggling with it? Maybe you think it's just your genes or your age. You know those are things we had come to believe about certain things we were dealing with and we just didn't know. But you know, you see it from your family side. You see, well, uncle Joe had to deal with it and Aunt Susie had to deal with it, and then my grandma had high cholesterol, and then my mother and my father both had it too. So obviously I'm going to have it right. Well, you know what else you probably shared with Uncle Joe, aunt Susie, your mom and dad and your grandma, your habits.

Speaker 1: 6:56

Your habits.

Speaker 2: 6:56

What you do, what you eat, how you prepared those foods.

Speaker 1: 7:00

The food that is on your fork, and JR brought up a great point there how you prepared the food. That's also super important. But what exactly is cholesterol?

Speaker 2: 7:12

That is an excellent question. I thought you'd say that.

Speaker 1: 7:16

I can always count on you to back me up.

Speaker 2: 7:18

Yes, and that's something that I like to talk about with my patients Anytime the conversation goes into cholesterol, because we've seen the advertising. There are medications, many medications, different classes of medications that are targeting cholesterol. So we think cholesterol must be bad, but really it isn't Cholesterol what?

Speaker 1: 7:39

Wait a minute. What Did you just say? Cholesterol isn't bad.

Speaker 2: 7:42

Cholesterol itself is not bad. It's actually very necessary, and our bodies would be in a heap of trouble without it.

Speaker 1: 7:51

Right, that's a big mindset shift for some of us because we think cholesterol equals bad and it's not. Your body actually needs it.

Speaker 2: 7:58

Every cell in your body has cholesterol. Now there's several different major functions that it does. It actually is part of the membrane around all of our cells. It also forms the basis for a lot of our hormones, like testosterone, progesterone, estrogen, cortisol, vitamin D yes, even vitamin D has a base structure of cholesterol. Now, they have different side chains and that's what gives them each their individuality and what function that they serve, but they're part of your hormones.

Speaker 1: 8:31

Yeah, that's really important. It's very important, it's super important.

Speaker 2: 8:35

Also, too, bile acids. These are things that our liver creates. We store them in our gallbladder and then we release them whenever we have fat in our meal. Now, not all fats are bad, because you have fats in things like avocado. I mean, even plants like lettuce has small amounts of fats within them, but you have to have these.

Speaker 1: 8:55

I'm going to drop a little golden nugget here myself. So when you're cooking without oil this is why you can cook a lot of whole plant foods and you think, oh, I'm going to have to saute with oil and we show you how to cook without oil. Why can you do that? Because the things like the onions and the bell peppers, they're going to release their natural fats into the pan. You're not going to miss that oil. You're not going to miss it. You won't miss 120 mostly empty pressed out calories per tablespoon.

Speaker 1: 9:23

Okay, and I'm not going to even talk about how that can inflame you and how it was keeping me stuck. Okay, maybe I am, so it really was a key for me. That was really a key for me is getting rid of those added oils.

Speaker 1: 9:39

Oh my goodness, I mean I was in so much pain daily in my joints and my elbows and my shoulders. I used to just have tears running down my face in the shower because it hurt so much just to wash my hair and I was sitting there thinking people don't even understand. I mean, they're able to regularly wash their hair and not even think about it.

Speaker 2: 9:57

Not even think twice.

Speaker 1: 9:58

And I'm hurting so badly. Just my arms, my shoulders trying to push on my scalp, just that little bit of pressure to wash my hair and a lot of that inflammation that I had came from the oil. Yes, the animal products also played a huge part in it. Okay, I know I trailed this a little bit off topic there, but I like to share these practical tips with you.

Speaker 2: 10:16

I want you to understand all plant foods and share our experience with you.

Speaker 1: 10:19

Yeah, it's like Jared said all plant foods have fats and we need these bile acids to help to deal with that.

Speaker 2: 10:25

They help to break them down into small particles that we can absorb, but that also includes the fat-soluble vitamins. So, again, these are very important things.

Speaker 2: 10:32

Also too your liver makes cholesterol. Pretty much most of the cells in your body make cholesterol, and even something that I learned after PA school make cholesterol. And even something that I learned after PA school that cholesterol is an important nutrient for our nerve cells. In our brain, the cells that support our nerves actually make cholesterol for the nerve cells. So all this to say is that it's an important nutrient within the body, but we see it demonized. And why is that? Because we have too much. I mean too much of a good thing is still too much. It's not a good thing.

Speaker 1: 11:06

And it becomes a problem. Too much of a good thing is not a good thing.

Speaker 2: 11:08

It becomes a problem, and then now we have to have a solution for the problem, and that solution, regretfully, has become medications in too many instances. We're not against medication, but there are many times when we may not need it, whenever there are other things like lifestyle choices. We know that 80 to 85% of what we typically see in a regular practice is lifestyle choice related.

Speaker 1: 11:32

And look, I'm just gonna address the elephant in the room If you knew there were things you could do, that would naturally lower your cholesterol and you wouldn't have to take medications, wouldn't have to deal with the side effects, the pain, the things that a lot of people have with that, how would that change things for you? How would your life be different? And that's what you've got to look at is how is what you're doing affecting your life and how is what you don't know affecting you? And we bring these things to you because we feel that it's super important for you to understand them so that you have the power back. You don't have to just sit down in an office and have somebody tell you what you have to do. You can understand. There is another way. We have clients, even podcast listeners, who have just come to us and said look, my doctor said my cholesterol is this high. They told me to just take a pill and they thought you know, I think Janina might have something that I could try. First Might be on to something.

Speaker 1: 12:26

And they just told the doctors you know what, I'm going to try this first and they made that decision. They took the power back in their health Because a doctor, a health care provider like Jared and I, we are meant to come alongside you to assist you in your care. We're not the be all, end all. We're not to be the ones who decide, who make the ultimate decision, but yet a lot of times in our society, our power is handed over. It's like the great white coat comes in or the great stethoscope comes in and all of a sudden we just bow down and we're like whatever you say and really you need to be informed for your own health, because if you don't do this for yourself, who's going to? And that's in every area of life, no matter what you're struggling with in your health, become informed, find out. Is there something natural that I could do that would help? We're not saying come off your meds. If you're on meds, absolutely not.

Speaker 2: 13:18

We're not saying ignore providers. No, but we're saying that you make the decision Because it is your health.

Speaker 1: 13:24

It is your health, this is your body and it's ultimately the most important thing is your future.

Speaker 2: 13:29

And, as health care providers, we're consultants. We have to give you information, the best information that we know, and I believe that most providers are well intentioned, but many of them are not taught these things. Absolutely we're seeing people that are medical providers that are coming and saying, hey, I want to learn more about plant-based because I was not taught this.

Speaker 1: 13:50

We love that because we were in the same exact place. We get it gives me goosebumps.

Speaker 2: 13:54

I love seeing that because this really is going to be a grassroots movement. Likely we won't see as much movement from the top down. As far as spreading the word, it will be from provider to provider, patient to patient, provider to patient family member. Yes, and I love seeing that.

Speaker 1: 14:11

It's incredible and, honestly, when you learn these things, how is God going to use it to help other people as well, too? We love seeing that.

Speaker 1: 14:19

I mean we have people in our groups, even inside our free group, inside Pi, that have shared this with their family. Their family kind of thought well, that's kind of different, and they maybe weren't even accepting of it at first, some of them. But yet at the same time, when they hit a wall in their health, guess who they came to and guess who now is getting results. Guess who now is getting free. Praise God, you know you have the opportunity, when you learn, to share the things that you learn. And with cholesterol, one of the things you've just learned is it is natural, it is normal, and the ultimate outcome of you having excess cholesterol doesn't always have to do with your genes or your age. A lot of times it is lifestyle related. How do we know that? A lot of times it's lifestyle-related Because when people change their lifestyle, the numbers come down, even when they're not taking medications, and most times way more than what the medications themselves would have brought their numbers down. So if your body needs cholesterol, don't you need to eat some?

Speaker 2: 15:55

Another excellent question. Another excellent question. You in fact do not, because your body makes all that it needs, so any that you get from any dietary sources would be extra. Now wait a minute. What are the dietary sources? Only animals make cholesterol. So animal products like beef, chicken, fish, anything that is muscle that is living, it's making cholesterol.

Speaker 1: 16:22

And not only that, other animal products, like eggs, are filled with it.

Speaker 2: 16:27

Actually eggs are the highest source of cholesterol when you look at just per volume, which makes sense because it's got to make a whole baby bird from whatever is in that cell. So it needs to have a lot of cholesterol because it's making a ton of cells. Every cell in its membrane has cholesterol as a component of that membrane, so it must have a lot. So for people to say oh, you can eat a few eggs a day. Oh, it's just a little cholesterol Like no, there's a ton of cholesterol in that.

Speaker 1: 16:55

And again it makes sense because of what it needs to do. And then you've got dairy. You've got milk, yogurt, cheese, now with dairy, what does dairy?

Speaker 2: 17:02

do. It feeds a baby cow, so it's growing, its nerves are developing all of that, so it's going to need that from the mother until it starts weaning off of that eating grass, gets to the point where it can make all the stuff that it needs itself.

Speaker 1: 17:18

But the terrible thing is, the marketing has convinced us that we need these foods for our health. Marketing.

Speaker 2: 17:26

Yes.

Speaker 1: 17:26

So then we used to when we grew up. What do we hear? What do we hear about milk?

Speaker 2: 17:32

It does a body good.

Speaker 1: 17:34

Do you hear that anymore?

Speaker 2: 17:35

You do not.

Speaker 1: 17:36

Why don't you hear that anymore?

Speaker 2: 17:38

Because they got sued. The dairy industry got sued because they could not prove that it was a quote unquote health food. It's not a health food Right, so they had to change their marketing to got milk. They don't make any health claims.

Speaker 1: 17:55

They can't, but it sounds clever. I mean, it sounds good, hey got milk. So they cannot make health claims, they cannot tell you that milk or dairy products are healthy, so they have to ask you if you've got milk.

Speaker 2: 18:07

Beef. It's what's for dinner.

Speaker 1: 18:10

Again, no health claims, no health claims. Why not? Because they're not allowed to make health claims? Why is that? Because it's not healthy? Ok, I want you to think about this for a minute. Why are they not allowed to do these things anymore? This is important for us to ask these questions, but the advertising has been there to convince us that we need these foods. And then the marketing ideas. It's not just in their slogans, it's where are you going to get your protein? All the questions that they throw out there.

Speaker 1: 18:38

You need protein protein protein, protein, protein protein bars, protein shakes. If you're on, if you're vegan, you got to have extra protein, but all plant foods have protein. Okay, so let's talk about I want to go back to, because we're not going to sidetrack on protein here. We could do that, but we have episodes on that and we'll be talking about it more in the future, never fear. And if you, if you want to know about it, get inside Podcast Insider's Experience, we can talk about it. Ask your questions there. Okay, but right now I want to get back to the fact of cholesterol being in all these animal products. Meat, dairy eggs, animal products all have cholesterol. So when you eat the cholesterol in these products and your body already makes cholesterol plenty, all that it needs, then what is going to happen to your cholesterol levels?

Speaker 2: 19:30

Was that a question for me?

Speaker 1: 19:32

It's just a question for anybody, but I don't think anybody else is going to answer me.

Speaker 2: 19:36

Jared, that's a good point, if somebody else answers me.

Speaker 1: 19:39

We got a problem here.

Speaker 2: 19:42

So if your body already makes all that it needs, but yet you're eating it, in the foods that you take in, you're going to absorb that extra cholesterol, and then it's just that it's extra cholesterol. So now it's in your body, it's in your bloodstream. What happens? Well, if you're eating the standard typical American diet with foods that cause inflammation within the lining of your blood vessels, there's damage there. Now you've got a place for that excess cholesterol to stick. And what does it do? It sticks, and then it builds up, and then over time it can clog your arteries and then you've got that whole cascade of events where it could even lead to something like a heart attack or stroke.

Speaker 1: 20:19

It can lead to a blockage, it can lead to a vessel rupturing. It's not good. It's not good, and so that's why the doctors are all concerned about cholesterol. What we want you to understand is there are things you can do about it. Number one stop eating the source. If you stop eating the source, you're not going to be putting cholesterol into your body. Okay, stop eating the source, you're not going to be putting cholesterol into your body. Okay, so animal products are full of cholesterol.

Speaker 1: 20:45

Guess what plants don't have any of Cholesterol. Okay, so there's no cholesterol in plant foods. So right there, by doing that one thing of not eating animal products, you're going to stop getting the cholesterol. That is raising your cholesterol, right? That's going to be huge for you.

Speaker 2: 21:01

And I promise you will get more than enough protein, because I know if you've been listening to the marketing when you think about no more animal products. But where am I?

Speaker 1: 21:12

going to get my protein.

Speaker 2: 21:13

You will get more than enough. Listen, we promise, get it in Promise.

Speaker 1: 21:17

Listen. This is what you need to do. If that crossed your mind, if that crossed your mind. If that crossed your mind, I want you to, and I know I sound like a broken record, but this is the most important thing you could do for yourself get inside podcast insiders experience. You can search every single episode that we've ever done on protein. All you got to do is come into podcast insiders experience.

Speaker 1: 21:35

When I welcome you up in the welcome space of the post that I'm going to make, just for you to welcome you in, you're going to see a link of how to search every single episode and I walk you through it step by step on my computer screen, showing you how simple it is to press a little magnifying glass icon and type in the exact topic you're looking for. And you're going to be looking for protein, right? So you're just going to click the magnifying glass and type in protein. It will pull up every single time. It's going to be a lot, but I'm just telling you, if you want the answers you're looking for about protein, you're going to find them there, and it is so easy. Go to poweronplantscom forward slash pie that's forward slash P-I-E and you'll get those answers about protein. So we're not going to go into protein here, because we'd be here for a long time, but I just want you to be aware that is not a concern.

Speaker 2: 22:26

So do away with the animal products.

Speaker 1: 22:28

You'll get plenty of protein.

Speaker 2: 22:29

eating plants Plenty of protein and you'll get rid of that extra cholesterol.

Speaker 1: 22:33

Yes.

Speaker 2: 22:34

But what are you going to eat in its place? Plants.

Speaker 1: 22:37

Yes, and why is this going to magnify your beautiful results you're going to get? It's not just that now you're not eating in the source of cholesterol, it's that you're going to be getting some amazing nutrients that are going to help you lower your cholesterol as well, and actually in a number of different ways.

Speaker 2: 22:57

But what I would like to just say, too, is the fiber.

Speaker 1: 23:00

That's the main thing I want to talk about here. There are a lot of things we can talk about.

Speaker 2: 23:03

There are other things that contribute to it, but today you're getting what You're getting fiber. Animal products have no fiber whatsoever.

Speaker 1: 23:11

So stop and think about that for a minute. Every animal product you eat has no fiber in it at all no fiber. I won't even talk about all the problems that causes. It causes a lot of problems. So if you find a way that is enjoyable and sustainable for you to stop eating those animal products and you can start replacing them with whole plant foods, you're not only going to stop eating the source of cholesterol that's causing your cholesterol to be high. You're going to be adding in things, especially fiber. There's many more things that will help you when you eat all plant foods, but you're adding in the fiber that is going to lower your cholesterol naturally. So now you've got this double benefit. It's like this double treasure chest.

Speaker 2: 23:57

You're tilting the scale in your favor.

Speaker 1: 24:00

In a huge way. In a huge way. This is life-changing stuff. It's absolutely going to change your life.

Speaker 2: 24:08

So the fiber will bind to those bile acids I was mentioning earlier and hold on to them. So then you eliminate them and I want to go more.

Speaker 1: 24:16

I just want to make that point one more time because you said it very quickly. So, when you eat plants, you're getting fiber. But you got to understand. But you've got to understand that, while animal products have cholesterol and plants have no cholesterol, plants are full of fiber and animal products have no fiber. Zero, zilch, nada, none.

Speaker 2: 24:36

So if you eat a lot of animal products, as some of these diets that are out there are suggesting you do, they come in with a lot of cholesterol, but then any cholesterol that you dump into your digestive tract, like in the form of bile acids, you're reabsorbing, so they just stay in that feedback loop, whereas with fiber they'll bind to those bile acids and then you eliminate them.

Speaker 2: 25:00

So, you've got this natural way to continuously eliminate that cholesterol, but then your body will make whatever it then needs that cholesterol, but then your body will make whatever it then needs. So you have this net effect of where you're not constantly adding more but you're actually getting rid of some. So then there's that proper balance where your level stays in the normal good range and doesn't go up. I mean, it stays exactly where it needs to be, how God made it to be.

Speaker 1: 25:25

Right, and there are other things that you can do to lower your cholesterol naturally Simple things. We've already talked about it on the podcast. If you want to know where those are again, you're going to find them inside our free group, Podcast Insider's Experience. Get in there right now. You're going to find them. When you search, search cholesterol, you'll find all the other episodes we've ever made and the beautiful thing is it's not just going to pull up the titles that we've included the word cholesterol in. It's going to pull up every time in every podcast episode we've ever said cholesterol, and you can click directly to those sentences and it will start you at that place. That is mind-blowing.

Speaker 2: 26:03

And I keep having to say this because I think this every time you're describing it it takes you to the exact moment of the podcast and plays it from that exact moment. That is mind blowing, that is huge and it's all for you. Free, free of charge, just for being part of the family. You're part of the power on plants family, so it's all for you.

Speaker 1: 26:25

Today you've learned that there are two very natural and simple ways for you to lower your cholesterol, and we share more strategic ways to do that on the previous podcast episode.

Speaker 1: 26:36

So join us inside Podcast Insider's Experience at poweronplantscom. Forward slash P-I-E that slash pie at the end of poweronplantscom and there you'll find all the other episodes where we've gone into other specific tactics. But the most important thing is for you to get the right nutrients on a regular basis into your life and get the wrong ones out, the ones that are keeping you stuck. We want you to be able to feel good so you can fully enjoy this beautiful life that you've been given, and that's what we're here to help you do. We cannot wait to get to know you more. We have loved having you hang out with us here to learn more of these truths that are going to set you free. Remember, take one simple action on what you've learned today and watch as everything starts to change in amazing ways for you. Sunshine, we are so excited to be a part of your plant-based journey. You are loved, you are prayed for and we are here for you.