How to Diet Down NOW

We have heard many times from Dieticians and doctors that lowering cholesterol is extremely important. Cholesterol is a substance that is waxy and fatty like. This is produced by the liver. The interesting fact is that cholesterol has a purpose and is central to your overall body function and health. Every cell in the body has cholesterol forming in it; at appropriate levels it plays a life support role in many functions of the body.

When at the correct levels it actually repairs cells and is involved in the production of hormones such as estrogen and testosterone. Cholesterol also produces bile acids which aid in the digestion of fat. The problem arises when there is too much cholesterol in the body.

When there is too much cholesterol in the body it can lead to clogged arteries. The consequence of this is heart disease and stroke. How does this affect you? Bottom line cholesterol clogged arteries lead to heart attacks and stroke.

So what foods lead to high cholesterol? The common foods are dairy products such as eggs, and along with that is meat. The foods that do not contain cholesterol are fruits vegetables and grains. With this kind of a diet you can maintain good health resulting in low cholesterol. Cholesterol needs to be managed.

Like anything else, introduce balance in your diet. Learn about foods. Find out what you like and develop a menu from this. Do this in consultation with a dietician or physician. Visit your physician regularly. Remember you cannot turn the clock back. Live and learn to be healthy otherwise the consequences could be deadly.?

Paul Hegarty
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/how-cholesterol-affects-you-53367.html

Besides diet, other causes of high cholesterol are lifestyle, gender and the heritage of the individual.

Lifestyle issues and high cholesterol:

When we opt for convenience in eating over nutrition, we are setting ourselves up for problems. Eating fast foods and convenience foods results in eating too many fats and salts, which can raise our bad cholesterol levels. In addition, a more sedentary lifestyle also contributes to unhealthy levels of cholesterol. If you want to see a graphic representation of this, consider renting the documentary movie “Supersize Me”. This documentary details the attempts of one man to live on fast foods alone. The results on his cholesterol and body health in just 30 days are truly frightening.

A visit to a nutritionist or dietician can help us all better understand eating for the right reasons and for optimal health. It is never too late to start on this path.

Regular exercise will effectively lower cholesterol and will maintain your body strength to function best. Just 20 minutes of aerobic exercise, including walking, each day will lower cholesterol. Exercise does not have to be a large time or money commitment. Simple activities that get you moving and that you enjoy enough to repeat are almost always adequate.

Diet:

An important consideration in eating is choosing lower fat.

Buy cooking oils that are unsaturated. Use low fat cooking sprays to replace heavy oils whenever possible. Reduce your overall use of oils even further by using cooking techniques that require little or no oil.

Age and Gender:

Cholesterol levels increase with age. Women generally have a lower level than men from age 50 to 55. Once a woman starts menopause, the cholesterol level starts to increase.

While there is not much that you can do about your age, you can make sure that age does not threaten your heart health by sticking to a healthy lifestyle and Diet and by getting your cholesterol levels monitored.

Heritage:

Genetics play a key role in a person’s health and this includes the amount of cholesterol you might have.

Find out if your family battles with high levels of cholesterol and then bring this to your doctor’s attention right away. If you have a family history of heart disease and high cholesterol levels, work harder and start earlier in adopting a healthy lifestyle and eating plan.

The job of your arteries is to pump blood. The Dorsal Aorta or the main artery branches out into many smaller arteries. Each body system has arteries which are responsible for providing the oxygen rich blood that keeps us alive. Too much cholesterol in the blood - especially bad cholesterol - prevents arteries from working their best. High levels of bad cholesterol may even prevent arteries from functioning at all, since cholesterol can actually lead to blockages in your arteries.

Arteries are constructed of a tough exterior and a soft, smooth interior. Each artery has three specific layers:

The outer layer

The middle (muscular) layer

The inner layer.

Each are made up of epithelial cells. The middle layer is elastic and very strong. It helps pump the body’s blood. The inner layer is smooth and allows the blood to flow easily. As the heart beats, the arteries expand and are filled with blood. The heart relaxes and produces enough force to push the blood through. In a healthy person, this system works effectively and the blood can carry oxygen and other essentials throughout the body.

Disease fills the arteries with fatty deposits and this becomes a dangerous obstacle to good health. High cholesterol levels fill arteries with thick substances that prevent your body from working well. Your heart becomes starved of required blood. If this happens often enough you can suffer a heart attack or a stroke.

Consider: Heart disease is one of the leading killers in North America. Lowering your cholesterol levels through a heart-healthy diet and exercise regimen is one of the best ways to prevent heart disease. Why wouldn’t you want to take the simple steps necessary to lower your cholesterol and enjoy a better and possibly longer life?

Jimmy Cox
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/factors-contributing-to-high-cholesterol-and-its-consequences-119800.html

While there is a plethora of drugs on the market that promise to lower your bad cholesterol and raise your good cholesterol, taking medication is not always the best option. There are several nasty side effects associated with cholesterol medications such as liver damage or muscle pain and weakness. Before deciding to pop a pill, remember, there are better ways to reach and maintain a normal cholesterol level. These can include lifestyle changes, changes in the types of foods you eat and changes in where you eat.

First, it should make sense that if you want to maintain a normal cholesterol level, you need to exercise. In order to lower cholesterol and prevent cholesterol build up in your arteries, you should get at least 20-30 minutes of aerobic exercise three times weekly. If you have any bad habits, such as cigarette smoking, you should quit in order to decrease your risk of heart disease. You should also limit your alcohol and sugar intake. These increase your cholesterol level by increasing the body’s weight.

Another way to maintain a normal cholesterol level is to eat fish at least three times weekly. This is because certain deep sea fishes contain Omega-3 fatty acid which can lower cholesterol. The best fish to choose include mackerel, salmon and albacore tuna. When choosing other meats, pay attention to the grading of the meat. Prime cuts of meat have the greatest fat content. If possible, read labels and choose only meats with a fat content of less than three grams per ounce.

Fiber is also an important part of your diet when trying to maintain a normal cholesterol level. Ideally you should consume 20-30 grams of fiber daily. Good sources of fiber include strawberries, apples, legumes, brown rice and oats. If you are unsure if you get enough fiber in your diet, you may want to use a fiber supplement to get the ideal amount.

When trying to eat a lower cholesterol diet, it is also important to be careful where you eat. Fast food should be avoided if you want to maintain a normal cholesterol level. Although these foods are quick and easy, they are also usually high in fat and sodium. Restaurants of this type are now offering menu choices with lower fat or cholesterol. But be sure you are aware of how these foods are prepared and their ingredients before you indulge.

A final note in your attempt to maintain a normal cholesterol level, avoid foods with a high sodium content. This suggestion is mentioned because most people with a high cholesterol level also have high blood pressure. By limiting your sodium intake, you can keep your blood pressure within normal limits.

In your attempt to reach and maintain a normal cholesterol level, there are several lifestyle changes you can make to help meet this goal. Choose your foods carefully, exercise and stop smoking. Although it may seem that taking a prescription to lower your cholesterol would be easiest, it is not best for your body. By lowering your cholesterol through exercise and Diet, you improve the health of your whole body.

Riley Hendersen
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/nonmedical-ways-to-maintain-a-normal-cholesterol-level-118756.html

Statistics have extremely worrying results: about one quarter of the American adult population has a high blood pressure and need immediate help, to prevent the risk of kidney failure, stroke or heart attack.

Against the risk of hypertension and the complications derived from it, a healthy alimentation represents one of the most powerful weapons, because the attack of hypertension is annihilated and the blood pressure lowers.

The recommended diet is based on the increase of the amount of vegetables, fruits and aliments without fat or with low fat content and the decrease of the amount of salt, states the American Heart Association (AHA). This recommendation is the first one made by Nutrition Committee of AHA that associates the fruit with vegetables and low-fat aliments to the reduction of salt in the Diet for hypertensives.

Further, the importance of potassium, magnesium, calcium and low-fat foods in emphasized by the Nutrition Committee, that also advises to avoid the consume of sodium, products that increase cholesterol and fats.

A diet based on all these recommendation lowers blood pressure and neutralizes the effect of high blood pressure on other organs.

More room should be made in a hypertensive diet to dietary products, fruits and vegetables that have a rich content of vitamins, electrolytes and minerals, says dr.Kotchen, the one that made the report. Potassium is another vital element in controlling hypertension, which can be found in potassium, bananas, raisins and dates and it is proved by the studies to lower blood pressure.

The result of the Nutrition Committee’s study indicates a decrease by 15 % of the risk of stroke and by 6 % of that of heart attack, in case diastolic blood pressure is reduced by 2 units.

The most important of the above recommendations, the one that should be absolutely followed, is the one referring to the decreasing of the salt amount in a hypertensive’s alimentation.

In addition, weight should be kept strictly under control, and the alcohol consumption avoided or dramatically reduced, as the Nutrition Committee recommends.

Sebastian Bunten
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/hypertension-and-lowering-blood-pressure-diet-113834.html

Excess cholesterol deposition in the body often turns out to be a facilitator of a host of maladies and complications such as coronary artery diseases. Although normal level of cholesterol is essential for hormonal functions, nerve protection and cell formation, its excess could affect the body adversely. Therefore cholesterol control seems mandatory for folks who are already having a high level of cholesterol or who are expected to possess high deposition of cholesterol. Normally obese or over weight people suffer from excess cholesterol deposition and they require to shed their extra body weight to normalize the levels of cholesterol.

All efforts to cholesterol control are aimed at bringing down the level of LDL cholesterol. LDL or low density cholesterol paves the way for narrowed arteries resulting in cardiovascular diseases. The other cholesterol HDL is not at all harmful.

There could be host of measures to curb excess deposition of LDL. From medication to exercises all contribute to the quest for lowering cholesterol. Although medication could give quick result, long term solution lies in a regulated diet along with daily workouts.

Dietary measures primarily focus on checking fat content. If you happen to be one suffering from this problem you should immediately stop consuming red meat and egg. If you can’t live without meat, you need to be contended with only poultry meat. Beef is particularly dangerous for folks with high levels of LDL. You should also avoid intake of milk products, although skimmed milk could be consumed.

In order to meet your calorie requirement you can increase consumption of fruits (particularly grape fruits), vegetables and other fiber products in absence of meet, milk products and egg. Vitamin E and C contribute in bringing down LDL cholesterol level, so products rich in these vitamins should be consumed in plenty.

Garlic and bean intake could be increased. Garlic is considered as one of the natural medicines for cholesterol control. You can consume few cloves of garlic everyday to reduce LDL. Different types of beans are rich in pectin that happens to be an effective cholesterol reducing agent.

Oat meal, omega 3 oils and olive oil are suggested to be used for folks afflicted with excess cholesterol. These dietary measures must be complimented with physical workouts in order to get desired level of slump in LDL cholesterol.

If you happen to be under stress you are likely to have excess LDL cholesterol because of high adrenalin secretion. So you are also needed to be stress free in order to reduce cholesterol.

These are some cholesterol controlling measures that could be easily adopted to curb the surge in LDL level. However for an alarming level of LDL deposition doctors recommend medication for quick results.

Ashish Jain
http://www.articlesbase.com/advice-articles/tips-to-control-cholesterol-with-Diet-74059.html

Almonds, soya beans and fish are all good sources of the essential fatty acids that our bodies need to keep cholesterol levels in our blood at acceptable levels. Even though cholesterol has been given a bad name in the press and the medical profession, you actually need a certain amount of cholesterol in you body as it is essential to many important bodily functions. Like free radicals, which are also needed in the body, it is the over production of cholesterol which can cause problems.

The new cholesterol lowering drugs, the statins, do prevent cardiovascular disease, but this is due to other mechanisms than cholesterol lowering. Unfortunately, they also stimulate cancer in rodents, disturb the functions of the muscles, the heart and the brain and pregnant women taking statins may give birth to children with malformations more severe than those seen after thalidomide.

Your body produces three to four times more cholesterol than you eat. The production of cholesterol increases when you eat little cholesterol and decreases when you eat much. This explains why the prudent diet cannot lower cholesterol more than on average a few per cent.

Cholesterol is a type of fat (lipid) that is found in your blood. It is important because high levels of cholesterol in your blood increase your risk of developing coronary heart disease (CHD one of the most common causes of death and disability in Europe, North America and Australia.

In the UK, about a quarter of deaths in men and one in five deaths in women under the age of 75 years are now caused by CHD, with another 13 to 14 per cent resulting from other related conditions affecting the heart and blood vessels. High rates of CHD occur particularly in the developed world, where lifestyle and dietary factors play important contributory roles. Within Europe, the incidence of CHD is higher in northern than in Mediterranean countries, and this difference is thought to be the result of dietary factors. The incidence of CHD rose after the Second World War, but is now falling in the UK. However, rates are now rising in developing countries, such as Singapore, Malaysia and eastern Europe.

Excesses of cholesterol in some people is actually a genetic disposition and not due to diet. But whether the excess is due to a diet of high cholesterols and saturated fats or a genetic factor, essential fatty acids in the form of omega 3

Julian Hall
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/Diet-better-than-drugs-for-cholesterol-54814.html