Working With God
To 'Keep Your Healing'

One of the biggest health problems facing those in western societies is high blood cholesterol and heart problems. Much of these problems are diet induced. So if we pray for someone to be healed of high cholesterol and heart problems, we also need to educate them on how to eat so that they don't cause the problems to recur. For instance, hardening of the arteries is one of the things that causes high blood pressure. Your arteries become clogged with cholesterol deposits in a similar manner to how rust can close the flow of water in pipes. Then your heart has to work harder to pump the blood through your system.

God can miraculously heal people from hardening of the arteries and related heart problems. He can remove the build-up of low density lipoprotein (e.g, bad cholesterol) that lines the arteries. This is something that doctors and chemists can measure and verify -- they can sample levels of cholesterol and LDL in your blood stream. We can document a supernatural healing in this area.

But, in order to "keep our healing," we need to change the bad habits that gave us the condition in the first place. If we don't change our eating habits, the LDL will begin to build up in our arteries again and we will once again have the same condition. We need to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in our healing by being good stewards of our bodies, the temple of the Holy Spirit.

This lesson examines how our eating choices effect the body's cholesterol levels and cause related circulatory and heart problems. It offers some suggestions for how to take better care of our bodies in this area. If you pray for someone who is healed of high cholesterol, hardening of the arteries or heart problems, you should do post-prayer counseling to advise them to change their eating habits so they don't get the same problem again a few years later down the road.

Fats, Oils and Cholesterol

Our bodies naturally produce cholesterol because our body needs it to survive -- in the right quantities. We need cholesterol to make the male and female hormones (estrogen and testosterone), as well as bile (which we need to digest food). However, we ingest cholesterol from our foods (animal and fatty products) in addition to what our bodies produce. In other words, animals produce cholesterol just like we do. And when we eat them, we get their cholesterol as well as the stuff our own body makes. The following foods all have noticeable levels of cholesterol in them: egg yolks, organ meats, fatty meats and full fat dairy products. And we tend to introduce a lot of fats into our baked goods and chocolate candies as well.

If we get too much cholesterol, it can cause heart disease. When the level of cholesterol in the blood is too high, cholesterol and other fats can stick to the artery walls and restrict the flow of blood through our system, making the heart work harder to circulate the nutrients and oxygen to the various parts of our body that need it.

Cholesterol is waxy and cannot dissolve in water. So it is carried through the blood in packages called lipoproteins. High density lipoprotein (HDL) is a "good" package for cholesterol. HDL cholesterol gathers up excess cholesterol in the blood and carries it to the liver. The liver reprocesses or excretes it. HDL may also help remove some of the cholesterol deposited on the artery walls.

Low density lipoprotein (LDL) is a "bad" package for cholesterol. Excess LDL cholesterol can increase the risk of heart disease because it is LDL cholesterol that builds up on the artery walls.

The type of fats and oils we eat helps control LDL levels. There are 4 different types of fats and oils:

• Monounsaturated Fatty Acids are found mainly in vegetable oils such as canola, olive, and peanut oils. Eating foods high in monounsaturated fatty acids may help lower LDL cholesterol levels and decrease risk of heart disease. These are the best type of fats to consume.

• Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids are found mainly in vegetable oils such as safflower, sunflower, corn, flaxseed, and canola oils. Polyunsaturated fats are also the main fats found in seafood. They are liquid or soft at room temperature. Specific polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as linoleic acid and alpha-linoleic acid, are called essential fatty acids. They are necessary for cell structure and making hormones.

  Eating polyunsaturated fats in place of saturated fats decreases LDL cholesterol levels. It is not quiet as good as monounsaturated fats, but it is more readily available, and may taste better to some people. It is definitely healthier to substitute foods with polyunsaturated fatty acids for those that contain saturated fatty acids.

• Saturated Fatty Acids are found chiefly in animal sources such as meat and poultry, whole or reduced-fat milk, and butter. Some vegetable oils like coconut, palm kernel oil, and palm oil are saturated. Saturated fats are usually solid at room temperature, like a can of Crisco.

  Eating too many foods high in saturated fat may increase blood levels of LDL and total cholesterol. High blood levels of LDL and total cholesterol are risk factors for heart disease. This is the most important type of fatty products to reduce in your diet to lower your "bad" cholesterol.

• Trans Fatty Acids are formed when vegetable oils are processed into margarine or shortening. Sources of trans fats in the diet include snack foods and baked goods made with "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil" or "vegetable shortening." Trans fatty acids also occur naturally in some animal products such as dairy products.

  Trans fatty acids act like saturated fats and raise LDL cholesterol levels. They may also lower HDL cholesterol in the blood. This is a very bad thing to ingest for your blood cholesterol levels. Unfortunately, this type of cholesterol is widely spread in most of the food products that you purchase from a regular grocery store. If you read the labels of your favorite products -- including breads, crackers and diet products, you will probably find they contain partially hydrogenated oils. Start reading the labels and when you have a choice between a brand that contains partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and ones that do not, get the ones that do not contain it.

  I recently heard a nutrition expert speak on "healthy eating," and I asked him what the most important thing we can do nutrition-wise to stay healthy. His answer was to reduce the levels of fats and oils we intake, and particularly to try to reduce our intake of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.

The American Dietary Association (ADA) recommends that we consume no more than 30 percent of total calories from fat. The "30 percent" guideline means: 7-10 percent of total calories from saturated fats, about 10 - 15 percent of total calories from monounsaturated fats, and about 10 percent from polyunsaturated fats.

If you are a calorie counter, then realize that each gram of fat contains 9 calories, while each gram of carbohydrates or protein contains only 4 calories. So if you intake 1500 calories a day, you are to consume no more than 450 calories from fats, which is 50 grams of fat per day max. That leaves you with about 262 grams of protein and carbohydrates a day. Some people might think that a ratio of 30% fat means that 1/3 of what we can consume per day can be fat. But that is not the case because fat has more than twice as many calories per gram than other foods. Your total fat intake is to be only 16% of your total food intake. And that includes the fats in baked products such as breads and cakes as well as the fat in dairy products. So be very moderate with your free fat intake ... butters and spreads, sour creams, salad dressings, etc. Try to find low-fat and non-fat substitutes when possible.

The ADA recommends you eat 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Base your meals on whole grains, beans, and legumes, or a 4-ounce portion of lean meat or poultry without the skin, and 2-3 servings of low-fat or fat-free dairy products each day. Limit your intake of sweets, and other high-fat foods -- and choose the type of fats and oils you eat carefully.