Cholesterol Is Not Really a Bad Thing

I read a great article on the Jamaica Gleaner today called  “Cholesterol Craze.”   The articles advice was timely as my doctor recently cautioned me to lower my cholesterol.   But according to the American Heart Association, cholesterol itself is not bad.   In fact cholesterol is naturally produced by your body and used to keep us healthy.   You can also get cholesterol from the food you eat. 

There are two types of cholesterol, good and bad and the trick to staying healthy is balancing both.  Too much of one and not enough of the other is not healthy and can cause coronary heart disease, heart attack and stroke. 

Controlling your cholesterol levels can be as easy as changing your  diet, exercising more often, and taking a good nutritional supplement.  Many of the medicines on the market today are scary.  You see those commercials on television advertising medicines to lower your cholesterol but the side effects are really bone chilling. 

Too often we jump to medicine to solve our problems instantaneously rather than taking the healthy root of diet, proper nutrition and exercise.  Once on the medication its almost impossible to get off them and you find yourself at risk of developing other health problems as is evident from the disclaimers in the commercials.

I would caution everyone to consider the risks of taking medication.  Getting enough antioxidants in your body will help to balance your body allowing you to experience improvede health.  Eating more fruits and vegetables or juicing your fruits and vegetables is an excellent way to get more antioxidants in your diet.

I am curious to find out what you think on this topic.  So please leave me a comment on medicine vs natural alternatives.

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Raising Your Good Cholesterol

By Health.Tips.Net
Raising Your Good Cholesterol!
If you go see your physician, he may hand you a read out of your cholesterol levels and encourage you to raise your good cholesterol. Interpreting your cholesterol levels, even with the help of your doctor, can be confusing and make it difficult for you to follow the doctor's orders and raise your good cholesterol. A basic understanding of what cholesterol is can greatly benefit you. Raising Your Good Cholesterol!

Cholesterol is a type of lipid, or fat, that is found throughout your body. Cholesterol is necessary for the body to survive and for your cells to function properly. There are two major types of cholesterol found in your body. The one that helps you function properly is called a high-density lipoprotein, or HDL. HDL helps remove build-up of cholesterol on your arteries. LDL, or low-density lipoprotein, is "bad" cholesterol that adds cholesterol to your arteries. Raising Your Good Cholesterol!

With an appreciation of the two types of cholesterol, it is easier to distinguish between just lowering cholesterol levels and raising good cholesterol. Despite the fact that lowering cholesterol is beneficial, it is more important that you do it in conjunction with raising good cholesterol. High good cholesterol levels will help fend off heart disease and other illnesses. Raising Your Good Cholesterol!

How do you raise good cholesterol levels? Your doctor may suggest medicinal options, or you may choose to lower it through simple dietary and lifestyle changes. Medicines available to you include Lipitor, antioxidants or niacin supplements. Although Lipitor requires a prescription, antioxidants and niacin do not. Antioxidants and niacin can be found in pill form as supplements on your local grocer's shelves. Raising Your Good Cholesterol!

Dietary changes may be supplemental or primary in your efforts to raise good cholesterol. As discussed above, antioxidants and niacin raise HDL levels; both antioxidants and niacin can be found in food sources. Niacin is found most commonly in breads and cereals. Antioxidants can be found in strawberries and even dark chocolate. Beyond dietary changes, you should consider other lifestyle changes that can help raise HDL levels. Smoking cessation, weight loss, and regular exercise will also help. Raising Your Good Cholesterol!

http://health.tips.net/Pages/T003622_Raising_Your_Good_Cholesterol.html

The fear of Cholesterol

By Health Tips & Technics

Warnings about cholesterol has become often these days!!!!!!

Once you hear the word ‘Cholesteral’ the first thing that comes to our minds is the clogged arteries and the ‘open heart surgeries’ and the ‘angiograms’. But cholesterol isn’t always bad!!!! It is responsible for certain vital activities in the human body like producing hormones for immunization and building cells.

The more weight you add on results in production of more cholesterol, so watch your weight!!!!!. Eat a fat free healthy diet that helps you maintain your cholesterol levels and also retains the stamina in your body. Eat at regular intervals do not skip or overload your intake. Include polyunsaturated oils like olive oil in your meal. Add fresh fruits and beans rich in protein in your diet.

Include Garlic in your diet in any form, this keeps a check on your cholesterol levels. Smoking is a don’t for the cholesterol watchers as ‘HDL’ (high density lipoprotein ) goes low.

Carrots also help in reducing the cholesterol levels in the human body. Avoid fatty substances like hydrogenated oils, cheese, butter, cream, meat from your diet and include high protein healthy diet to stay way from the cholesterol menace!!!!

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=700453865047635851

Heart Care and Cholesterol Control

By Health Tips & Technics

AN INDULGENT LIFESTYLE AND AN INADEQUATE DIET ARE TWO MAJOR CAUSES OF HEART DISEASE. TO STAY FIT HERE ARE A FEW MEASURES OF CARE AND CONTROL

Heart Diseases and Hypertension which lead to heart or other organ failures has been on the rise for the past 2 decades. People above the age of 40 have been suffering from such problems due to their unbalanced dietary habits. Its always advisable to control these factors if you want to reduce your risk.

Preventing Coronary Diseases
When there are excess deposits of fat, cholesterol or other substances in the inner wall of arteries, the arteries narrow and harden into a condition known as astherosclerosis, the most common cause of heart trouble. A planned diet and regular exercise are the key to prevent atheroclerosis.

Friendly and Unfriendly FATS
FAT should not exceed 30 per cent of your total calorie intake, which includes a maximum of 10 per cent saturated fat and 10 per cent mono-unsaturated fats. Saturated fatty acids in full-cream milk and red meat increase your cholesterol level. Use non-fat or low-fat milk and milk products instead of full-cream milk and avoid sources of saturated fatty acids like lard, butter, cream, palm oil, coconut oil, ghee and vanaspati

Mono-unsaturated fats that lower cholesterol as well as prevent formation of blood clots are present in olive, canola, peanut and mustard oils. It’s best to use these while cooking.

Omega-3, a fatty acid that prevents atherosclerosis is present in foods like herring, mackerel, salmon, tuna, soyabean, walnuts and butternuts. Take these regularly in small quantities to prevent atherosclerosis.

Cutting Cholesterol
Dietary cholesterol should be limited to 300 mg per day. Since it largely comes from animal products, consumption of non-vegetarian foods, whole milk and milk products hould be restricted. For example, an egg has 250 gm of cholesterol and it is not advisable to take more than two to three eggs a week.

Take healthy alternatives like chicken, fish, beans, vegetable, fruits, bread, pulses, wholewheat flour, cereals, rice, millet, skimmed milk and skimmed milk products and vegetable oils like corn, sesame, soyabean, sunflower, canola, olive and mustard.

Heart disease is less frequent among those who eat high carbohydrate and fibre-rich foods. Carbohydrate and fibre-rich foods. Carbohydrates should provide at least 55 per cent of your daily calories. Foods like bread, chapattis, cereals, rice and dals provide an adequate amount of carbohydrates.

How to control Chest Pain:

Boil 4-5 pods of garlic in a glass of milk and consume the garlic pods with milk daily to avoid chest pain.
Pound the dates with the seeds and eat them every day.
Increase the intake of ginger and lime in your diet.
Pound urad dhal to powder and eat it regularly.
Drink a glass of milk mixed with kadukai powder every night before going to bed.
Take a spoon of tulsi juice with honey in empty stomach every day.

http://www.healthtips.in/treatment-cholesterol-heart.asp

Watch your Cholesterol

By Health Tips & Technics

Sip green tea or munch on a few nuts to fight bad cholesterol. High blood lipids (cholesterol or triglycerides) requires a combination of diet and exercise as initial treatment. Reducing dietary calories and intake of saturated fat, and consuming a high-fibre diet rich in fresh fruit and vegetables are obvious first steps. Other dietary measures exist, and here is an overview of the most popular ones.

The American heart association (AHA) recommends at least two servings of fatty fish per week to prevent heart disease. The omega – 3 fatty acids in fish lower bad cholesterol and triglycerides. According to the AHA, fish oil supplements, which contain massive amounts of omega – 3 fatty acids, are recommended only in refractory hypertriglyceridemia and are not meant for the general population. Vegetarian sources of omega 3 fatty acids include canola oil, soyabeanoil, flaxseed oil and nuts. Consuming moderate amounts of nuts definitely helps lower cholesterol particularly the bad cholesterol. One study showed that taking 20 percent of daily calories from a PUFA rich source like almonds or walnuts significantly lowered the bad lipids, Green tea and not black tea or oolong tea, has a similar beneficial effect.

Garlic: Something that smells this bad ought to do something good, and garlic indeed has many healthful properties but lowering cholesterol is not one of them. Sorry. And the same goes for soy protein which has only a minor effect on blood cholesterol. Soy protein is a great food but it is not worth having just for the sake of cholesterol.

Guggulipid made from the resin of the mukul myrrh tree, is a controversial product. Indian studies attest to its cholesterol,lowering effect but American research does not bear it out. Moreover, there are questions about the quality of the Indian research that led to the claims of health benefit. Pity.

Red yeast rice: This is a fermented rice dish popular in Chinese cuisine. It contains monacolins, which are substances with HMG COA reductase inhibitor activity similar to that of the statin drugs used to lower blood cholesterol. Unfortunately, not all strains of the rice have the same activity, and extracts of red yeast rice are poorly standardized.

Calcium Supplements improve the composition of blood lipids, and a diet high in calcium is inversely associated with cardiovascular risk. However, in postmenopausal women, who are the chief target of calcium and Vitamin D supplements, there is no reduction of cardiovascular risk with such supplements

The Hindu wellness December 11 2008

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