Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a fat-like substance that the body needs, among other things, for cell walls and hormones. At the Kyborg Institute we consider the theme on two levels: an energetic-symbolic reading and a critical classification of the public cholesterol discussion. Both are expressly personal, worldview-based views – no medical assertions of fact.

How does the Kyborg Institute read cholesterol?

In our energetic reading, we understand deposits and a “stalling” flow in the body symbolically: as a possible expression of tension and holding fast – of wanting to have and hold something instead of letting it flow lightly and go again. Read this way, an elevated value is, for us, rather an impulse to inner relaxation than an isolated dietary error. That is a spiritual reading, no medical finding and no claim about causes.

Why do we see the fixation on the cholesterol value critically?

From our view, the role of cholesterol and dietary fat has for decades been presented too one-sidedly and too fear-laden in the public discussion. For me, that was for a long time above all a gut feeling. All the more attentively do I follow it when the topic is discussed more differentiatedly in public – for instance when mainstream science journalism has covered the history of the cholesterol recommendations.

The connection between cholesterol, diet and cardiovascular illnesses is not uniformly assessed in the professional world: some works question a simple cause-and-effect connection, others hold on to established risk models. We do not presume to decide this debate – we take it as an occasion to question the widespread fear of fat.

We observe critically that around health and diet much is worked with fear and strongly commercialised. That is a structural criticism of marketing and over-medicalisation – no blanket devaluation of doctors or of individual treatments. About your individual values and a possible treatment you please decide together with your doctor; please do not discontinue prescribed medication on your own initiative.

What does that mean for our view of fat?

Our personal attitude is: whoever fancies butter need not avoid it out of fear. The blanket equation “fat = ill” too we see sceptically; in many cultures, fullness is assessed quite differently. In our experience from accompanying people, precisely the fear of good food and one-sided abstinence can foster stress and tension. These are worldview-based observations, no diagnoses and no promise of healing or prevention.

What does that mean in practice?

• Listen to your body and eat, in measure, what you have an appetite for.
• Do not let yourself be put under pressure by advertising or fear messages.
• Expensive “premium” oils are not automatically better; good, simple oils often do it too.
• Whoever lives vegetarian should attend to enough plant protein – such as from pulses like peas, beans and lentils.

Note: This entry renders a personal, worldview-based view and is not medical advice. It replaces no medical diagnosis or treatment. For health questions please turn to a doctor or pharmacy; do not discontinue prescribed medication on your own initiative.

Autoren: D. Harald Alke, Tobias O. R. Alke