when I was a kid we raised our own beef, Grandad, always had the butchers cut it, so that there was a ring of fat around the steaks,.. delicious.
Not disagreeing but you're talking about subcutaneous fat. Best-tasting ones have intramuscular fat - called marbling.
Okay, I’ve been wanting to respond, but haven’t had a chance. As you may know, I’m a pediatrician. I don’t treat high cholesterol much, but have a lot of knowledge about vaccines. I can offer some medical tenets, but it is not meant to be specifics to your personal situation. You’ve gotta piece together the information and make decisions that are right for you individually. 1.) biology, specifically human physiology, is dynamic, not static. That means things change based on age, underlying habits, intake, exposures, etc, etc. This is an important consideration and tenet, whether discussing cholesterol, vaccines or sinus infections. 2) vaccines rarely cause harm. The pros of vaccines far, far outweigh any negatives. I’ve given ~30-50 vaccines everyday for the past 20+ years, and I’ve never seen any serious harm. By giving those vaccines, countless cases of meningitis, polio, and even cancer are being prevented. Ask yourself, if you fear vaccine side effects, what’s worse than meningitis, or cancer, that a vaccine could possibly cause? More importantly, how likely? The worst side effect of any vaccine is Guillian-Barre’ syndrome, which is extremely uncommon. In 20+ years of giving numerous vaccines everyday, I’ve not had one known case of that. That’s the reality. Bottom line, SEs are rare and benefits are real. 3.). Vaccines don’t cause disease unless you are immune-compromised. Even “live” vaccines are attenuated, which means weakened. They stimulate your own immune system’s response without causing actual disease. While a vaccine is “injected”, the response gained is very natural, protective, and usually protracted (sometimes boosters are needed to promote protracted memory). A fear of getting the illness from the vaccine is just a typical speculative fear, but not reality. People swear they get flu from a flu vaccine, but they don’t. What they get is a brief immune response that lasts about 48-72 hours then fades. They don’t get pneumonia or death like the real influenza causes. Each year that response lessens. 65-85% of people who get hospitalized or die from influenza did not get their flu vaccine that year. That’s the science over a decades time period. My advice is to get the vaccine and lessen your chance of getting the illness, whether it be shingles or flu! I do, every chance I can! I get flu vaccine twice a year (I have more exposures than most), and I’m getting my shingles vaccine when availability allows (I’m 51 and need it). Why would I, someone “in the know” do that if they caused harm? Most vaccines are not live, but the shingles vaccine is a live, attenuated one. While I encourage everyone to be active, and eat healthy, you should still get any other protection you can whether it’s a MVI or a vaccine. Regarding chicken pox, I don’t recall having it as a child, and like @shane0911 , I swore I didn’t. Then, in residency, I had titters drawn, and low and behold, I had titers to varicella, which meant that I had CPox. Sure enough, in my late thirties, I had shingles- a miserable, painful eruption on my right chest that lasted weeks to months. At that age, that was the worst of it, but the older you are the worse it is. You can’t get shingles if you don’t have preceding CPox. 95% of humans get COox, thus most of us are vulnerable to shingles. Some viruses our human immune systems have a tough time with and can’t clear fully. Pox viruses are that way, so varicella, a Pox virus, and EBV (the Mono virus), both of which 95% of humans get, never leave our bodies. Varicella goes dormant in nerve roots, then later expresses itself as Shingles later in life. EBV goes dormant in our lymph tissue, and usually doesn’t cause harm, but certain strains can induce Burkitts Lymphoma (more common in African strains) later in life. 4.). Diet and exercise matter! A lot. People who exercise sleep better, are happier, have better relationships, feel better physically and emotionally, and overall health is better. As @tirk eludes to, most science points to less sugar and processed foods being much more important than fatty foods intake. Eating bacon a few times a month is fine, but cheeseburgers, fries and especially sodas go straight to storage = fat, especially the bun, fries, and the soda. Processed and sugary foods overwhelm the insulin system and go straight to storage. Have you ever thought about a bear eating honey, then hibernating and coming out of that huge and fat? Simple sugar without balance/competition gets converted quickly to fat. Honey, sodas, sweet teas, Gatorade, CapriSuns, etc, etc all go straight to your fat stores or insulation. I.e. the more you drink these, the fatter you get. 5.). My last tenet is to shop in the edges of a grocery store, and keep the isles for staples like spices and garbage bags. If you shop in the periphery and buy fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy and grains, you’ll be fine no matter what your cholesterol level is. Avoid the snack isle and soda isle. Make water your beverage of choice- it’s free and healthier. A good rule of thumb per day is the 5-4-3-2-1-almost none rule: 5 servings of fruits or vegetables (I.e. every time you eat, think to include a fruit or vegetable), 4 cups of water, 3 structured meals (non fast food), 2 hours or less of screen time (screen time is assoc with increased caloric intake), 1 hour of strenuous exercise, and “almost none” sugary drinks.” Do this, and you’ll stay healthy. You do not need to be perfect with this rule, just use it as a guide and you’ll eat and live healthier. Regarding cholesterol, the science is mixed. First of all, cholesterol itself does not clog arteries. It is part of the inflammatory response to a micro tear in an arterial wall, but it’s not like a Saturday Night Live skit where Mike Ditka eats a sausage and it goes straight to his coronary artery, lol. There is an “association” of high cholesterol and heart disease, and there a certain subset of individuals with multiple risk factors in whom cholesterol matters more. Over the past 30 (not 50) years, pharmaceutical companies have dictated the science on this issue and have influenced the decision making to their favor. That is changing...slowly. Again, I am not an adult doctor, but I do have insight. My personal opinion is that statins are over prescribed and the benefits do not outweigh the negatives, but individually there may be risk factors that sway that the other direction. If you have a good rapport and trust your doctor, go with his/her recommendation. That’s what I do!
Carbs are the devil. Carbs turn to sugar/fat. Sugar turns to fat. Too much grease isn’t great either, eat lots of veggies.
Good synopsis. Statins block the cholesterol which your brain needs for fuel. Also may be a lead cause of Parkinsons/alzheimers. So be wary of that. I'd advise against them in general. Cholesterol isn't really a problem. Keep your triglycerides down.
