Take Heart on Cholesterol.
Cholesterol can be both good & bad, so it's important to learn what cholesterol is, how it affects your health and how to manage your blood cholesterol levels. Understanding cholesterol will help you take better care of your heart, so you can lead a healthier life and reduce your risks of heart attack and stroke.
What is cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a soft, white, waxy substance found in the bloodstream and in all the body's cells. Despite its reputation, cholesterol is essential to life! The body needs cholesterol for digesting dietary fats, making hormones, building cell walls, and other important processes.
However, our liver makes all the cholesterol our body needs. Consuming fatty foods can lead to a high level of cholesterol in the blood which is easily deposited in the arteries and narrowing the diameter and impeding blood flow to the heart and other organs, creating a major risk factor for coronary heart disease.
Cardiovascular disease is still Australia's greatest health problem affecting over 3.6 million Australians. One Australian dies every 10 minutes of heart disease, stroke or blood vessel disease. According to the National Heart Foundation more than 6 million adults aged 25 and over have high cholesterol levels.
Certain risk factors increase your risk of developing heart disease - factors such as being over weight, smoking, excessive alcohol intake, diabetes, insufficient physical activity and high blood pressure.
What can we do to improve our heart and overall health?
The good news is that cholesterol can be brought under control by lifestyle changes - such as diet, losing weight, and an exercise program.
* Achieve and maintain a healthy body weight - The more you weigh, the more your body stores fat and cholesterol.
* Eat more fruit & vegetables. Include soy products into your diet. Eat more seafood (omega 3 fats are very healthy and good for your heart). Choose wholegrain breads and cereals.
* Be more active - walk for 20 minutes a day
* Dairy products are a good source of calcium, while meat, fish and poultry are a good source of iron. Ensure you choose low fat dairy products and lean meat cuts.
* Avoid take-away foods high in fat.
(Some risk factors, eg heredity, cannot be controlled & need medication to manage.)
As we cut down our intake on foods with saturated fats, some gaps appear in our nutritional intake, resulting in the need to add high quality nutritional supplements to our diets. Also, cutting back on our red meat intake can lead to a diet deficient in protein. Including some soy protein in our diets will help protect against heart disease as well as help to maintain healthy protein consumption.
If you need to lose some weight, look for a program that has adequate daily protein without the high calories and saturated fats associated with animal products. Ongoing personal support from a coach will help you achieve your goals and helps to keep you on track.
If you need to add some more exercise into your day - try simple things like using the stairs, parking further from the supermarket and walking to the local shop for your daily newspaper. Key point here is to add more activity into your day and not put yourself under the pressure of a formal exercise program at a gym. If you need or want something more formal, then by all means, join a gym or a sporting team. You could take up golf, get together with a couple of friends and go for a 20 minute walk a couple of times a week - great time to catch up and get more active! Find something that interests YOU. Make exercise fun!
And finally, make a commitment to yourself to improve your health. After all that is what truly dictates the quality of life we experience. Without our health, we are consumed with doctors visits, medications and restrictions. Take control, take heart, and live a full and healthy life.
About the author:
Dee Britton is a Health & Wellness Coach specialising in weight management & nutrition. Personal support, recipes, hints & tips, newsletters + lots more to help you reach your goal weight. Online health profile & free weight loss consultation at http://www.weightloss-2day.net
Written By: Dee Britton
