Posts Tagged ‘High Cholesterol’

Dieting The Low Carb Way

Monday, August 17th, 2009

A lot of people are now searching for ways to look good and improve their health. People who are obese are now realizing that if they don’t lose weight their health will deteriorate and their life span will be shortened.

With so many diets out there based on various principles and methods, it should not be surprising to know that there has also been extensive critique about their effectiveness and long-term safety.

Low carb dieting remains one of the most popular and well-known diets. While many diet plans have been evolving nowadays, many people still prefer this diet because it provides the body with the basic nutrients it needs; does not deprive you of all the foods that you wish to eat and is based on sound medical and scientific principles.

Depending on your body weight, fitness targets and general lifestyle, low carb dieting can help you lose weight, and can also help you develop the overall health, or possibly both. Because this diet provides the body with what it needs and what is safe for the long term, some healthy people follow it to enhance and maintain their wellbeing. In addition to helping lose weight, this type of diet also helps you stay healthy and remain that way, while looking great.

Improved Health

Low carb dieting directly works on the real cause of the main health concerns and risks; namely:

* High cholesterol
* Obesity
* High blood pressure
* Diabetes

These diseases are related to being overweight; and are very fatal. Low carb dieting is effective because it generally improves one’s well-being and thus increases your body’s ability to fight diseases. It is important for those who are overweight and plagued by these main diseases to know that they need to seek safe diets that do not worsen their condition.

It is widely believed that a lot of excess weight comes from the carbohydrates we eat, particularly the highly refined ones such as potatoes, baked goods, bread, pasta and other convenient foods. Cutting out the carbs is therefore an effective way of losing weight. Lack of exercise also exacerbates the weight gain.

Basic Discipline

The basic discipline behind low carb dieting is to limit the consumption of foods, which are rich in carbohydrates. There are various low carb diets; with the main ones being the Atkins, South Beach, Zone and Carbohydrate Addict Diet – and they are all based on the same principle.

If you start on this diet plan, you must substitute the carbohydrates with fats and proteins. It is recommended that the majority of your daily calorie consumption come from fat, while carbohydrates account for a very small fraction of your calorie needs.

Benefits

Many medical and scientific experts recommend the low carb dieting plan for improving:

* Overall health and vitality
* Losing weight
* Fighting disease

Proper Food Choices

The other attraction of this regimen is that you can eat as much as you want until you are full; as long as you are eating the right foods, such as meats, fish, poultry, eggs, and cheese, plus a limited amount of green veggies like asparagus, spinach, and broccoli. Hunger and strong cravings for food are some of the reasons why people quit their diets, so basically this diet enables people to stick to it, lose weight and keep it off indefinitely.

It is therefore recommended to follow this regimen by eating less of the processed carbohydrates which cause rapid changes in blood sugar, trigger hunger, thereby encouraging overeating that ultimately leads to obesity.

Low carb diets encourage us to:

* Eat well
* Be healthy
* Have a better quality of life
* Look great!

What great benefits you can gain while reaching or maintaining your weight loss goals.

Article Source: ADB Article Directory

Lana Hampton is the publisher of www.177fastweightlosstips.com. Visit weightlossfantasy.com to subscribe to her free weight loss tips newsletter and also receive a copy of Lana’s “Confessions of a Weight Loss Expert” report today.

Diet Better Than Drugs For Cholesterol

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

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

Article Source: ADB Article Directory

Julian Hall of Davidel – The Natural Health Care Company – providers of herbal medicine, herbalife and other natural health products

10 Easy Tips to Eat Your Way to Lower Cholesterol This Month

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

So you have high cholesterol and need to lower it? That is no surprise considering how many people have high cholesterol these days. To help lower your cholesterol, here are 10 tips you can get started with today.

As with anything health related, diet and exercise are the two crucial components. What you eat is critical to lowering your cholesterol levels, so that is what is included here.

One thing you should know is the difference between LDL and HDL cholesterol. Simply think of HDL as “healthy” and LDL as “lousy.” HDL can actually help carry cholesterol out of your blood vessels while LDL allows it to deposit inside your artery walls.

The good news is that you can change your cholesterol for the better. Here is how to do just that:

1. Have a nice sandwich on whole wheat bread or a pita with some lean turkey and lots of fresh veggies. Skip the hot dogs, bologna, and salami, and hold the Mayo. All of those are highly processed and filled with fat and cholesterol.

2. Fish, like salmon, is good. Look for wild red salmon varieties, which are very high in Omega-3 fatty acids (good fat.) Also, flax seed is a good source of Omega-3s.

3. Avoid Trans fats! Not only do they raise the lousy LDL cholesterol, they can also lower your HDL levels! Stay away from foods like margarine, shortening, and processed foods containing partially hydrogenated soybean oil.

4. Go ahead, go nuts! Look for walnuts mainly but also try almonds, macadamia nuts, cashews, and pecans. Nuts are high in fat, but it’s the good kind. (Also, use natural peanut butter instead of the normal kind which contains unhealthy Trans fats.)

5. Limit desserts and try to eat only the healthier ones like angel food cake, graham crackers, Jell-O, and fat-free frozen yogurt.

6. Eat foods that are high in fiber. Examples include whole wheat bread, oatmeal, fruits, vegetables, beans, and some cereals. (Look for the boxes that say “may help lower cholesterol.”)

7. Use the grill. If you’re going to have steak or burgers, grill them at home and use lean meat. This practice avoids the grease, is fun, and the meat tastes great.

8. Find a new salad dressing. Most of them are full of Trans fats and cholesterol. Olive oil is good, and maybe add vinegar or lemon juice. Also, skip the bacon bits, croutons, and egg yolks.

9. Go overboard on fruits and vegetables. They contain no cholesterol and they have lots of nutrients like antioxidants.

Here are some examples: green peas, broccoli, cauliflower, apples, oranges, mangos, papaya, pineapple, tomato, garlic, onions, spinach, water chestnuts, bananas, apricots, blueberries, and kiwi.

10. Avoid fast food like french fries and anything else from the deep fryer. Those foods will raise your cholesterol like crazy, so stay away from the burger joints if you can.

11. Bonus tip: Use spices like pepper and oregano to add flavor to your dishes. They are a healthy alternative to other toppings like Mayo.

That was easy, wasn’t it? Just make some of these changes and get plenty of exercise like walking, jogging, swimming, or playing basketball. You will have lower cholesterol in no time!

Article Source: ADB Article Directory

More information on cholesterol is available at www.healthandfinesse.com