Now let's talk about alcohol. Drinking is not exactly your best activity during a diet, as it can ruin your efforts, but latest research has shown that a glass of red wine per day can lower cholesterol in some cases.
Cholesterol has been a major measuring stick of health since the seventies. Heart attacks, strokes, and other serious complications can arise from having unhealthy cholesterol levels. The problem is that the cure can be more dangerous than the original problem. New, high-tech cholesterol drugs have been associated with some very serious health problems. Yet, when your cholesterol levels are too high, you aren't always informed on exactly how these levels change and what your options are.
Cell membranes contain cholesterol.
Cholesterol levels themselves are only symptoms.
The liver is your key organ in controlling cholesterol levels, as this organ has the absolute final word on the levels that doctors use to determine you cholesterol. A liver that is busy cleaning out chemicals, preservatives, and other unhealthy foods from your diet is too busy to control your cholesterol properly. Flushing toxins from your liver and starting with a fresh new way of eating are the most potent means of bringing your cholesterol levels under control.
Go overboard on fruits and vegetables. They contain no cholesterol and they have lots of nutrients like antioxidants.
The diets currently recommended by most major associations simply don't go far enough.
You need a diet that is delicious, safe, healthy, and energizing, and which will bring you greater results than the diets you may have been presented with in the past. There are a lot of myths about dieting and diets, and why counting the calories, carbs, fats, and cholesterols that you intake is more often a mere distraction from the spirit of healthy eating.
Second to this is being certain that the liver is not physically hindered in its mechanisms. This means having a physician examine the musculature surrounding the liver, ensuring that circulation is not cut off by a rigid, tight musculature.
Without cholesterol, your memory would be faulty and your brain wouldn't function properly. Cholesterol makes you feel serene.
The goal should be to seek a physicians counselling until your cholesterol levels are safe enough so that you can be removed from your prescription routine, or to help you avoid a prescription routine altogether. Ask questions to discover the true processes behind cholesterol formation, behind plaque formations, and consider healthy options for dealing with your cholesterol levels.
Tip! Watch your salad dressing. Most of them are full of trans fats and cholesterol.
About the Author:
Dr. Bryan Brodeur is the owner of VitalityHouse, and the author of Vitalism, a health and wellness web site and e-book.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Lower Your Cholesterol Naturally...Without Drugs!
It is absolutely necessary for you to eliminate or at least to eat less saturated fats. This means that you should start having skimmed milk, low cholesterol spread or light cheese, instead of your normal foods.
Ever since cholesterol lowering prescription drugs were introduced to the medical care profession, more and more of us who are diagnosed with higher than normal levels of LDL cholesterol levels have been prescribed these drugs, in the hope of controlling this problem. For some of us, they have a positive effect in doing just that, but they all have some side affects, some to a greater degree than others. Patients mainly complain of sore muscles after taking the "Staten" cholesterol controller drugs, mainly due to liver reaction to their intake.
The Statins prevent heart disease by lowering Cholesterol.
There is no need to chance any liver degradation( or even the slightest reaction to any of our other organs) through the use of a prescribed drug when some of the foods we normally ingest will do the job just as well... and in some cases...a lot better and surely infinitely safer. Lets begin with beans. Now, that's a food people do not eat a lot of. Yes, it has some unpleasant after effects, but I don't believe there is record of any organ degradation from partaking of some of these legumes? The key reason of course is their high fiber content. Fiber "blocks" cholesterol from being absorbed into the intestinal walls and this "bad" cholesterol is expelled with normal excretion soon after. An 8 oz. portion of regular canned beans, preferably containing a low sugar content every other day, it has been estimated, will usually keep your LDL levels in toe. Beans have untold other medical benefits, but it is not the purpose to be explained here.
Bile, the substance that helps you digest dietary fat has got cholesterol in it.
There are other foods in the herb family which have similar benefits as do our friendly legume family of beans and it is more than justified to give honorable mention here. Garlic is probably one of the most universal medicinally active herb known in our food arsenal. Garlic, which contains a compound called Ajoene, it has been found through research, actually inhibits the production of lipids, thus lowering blood cholesterol. Garlic also thins the blood, thus lessening the effects of artery clogging due to past cholesterol buildup. Garlic in the diet has been found to lower the "bad" LDL cholesterol, while raising the levels of the "good" HDL cholesterol. It has been suggested that just one clove of garlic each day should keep LDL and HDL cholesterol levels at near optimum levels with normal daily levels of cholesterol intake. Garlic should be taken in its raw form to be most effective. An example is of one level teaspoonful of raw chopped garlic and keeping jar refrigerated for future use.
When cells and tissues are damaged, cholesterol helps repair them – its in scars too.
Not only do beans and garlic help keep our cholesterol levels in the safe range, but a reasonable breakfast of 1/2 to 3/4 cup of cooked oatmeal will help keep those levels in the safe range. Oatmeal has a twofold benefit in our body. It also helps keep our blood sugar levels under control.
It must be cautioned that in no way does this information imply that it can replace regular medical treatment which can be provided by your personal physician, but it also does not negate the use of its possible benefits in the control of ones cholesterol.
Ever since cholesterol lowering prescription drugs were introduced to the medical care profession, more and more of us who are diagnosed with higher than normal levels of LDL cholesterol levels have been prescribed these drugs, in the hope of controlling this problem. For some of us, they have a positive effect in doing just that, but they all have some side affects, some to a greater degree than others. Patients mainly complain of sore muscles after taking the "Staten" cholesterol controller drugs, mainly due to liver reaction to their intake.
The Statins prevent heart disease by lowering Cholesterol.
There is no need to chance any liver degradation( or even the slightest reaction to any of our other organs) through the use of a prescribed drug when some of the foods we normally ingest will do the job just as well... and in some cases...a lot better and surely infinitely safer. Lets begin with beans. Now, that's a food people do not eat a lot of. Yes, it has some unpleasant after effects, but I don't believe there is record of any organ degradation from partaking of some of these legumes? The key reason of course is their high fiber content. Fiber "blocks" cholesterol from being absorbed into the intestinal walls and this "bad" cholesterol is expelled with normal excretion soon after. An 8 oz. portion of regular canned beans, preferably containing a low sugar content every other day, it has been estimated, will usually keep your LDL levels in toe. Beans have untold other medical benefits, but it is not the purpose to be explained here.
Bile, the substance that helps you digest dietary fat has got cholesterol in it.
There are other foods in the herb family which have similar benefits as do our friendly legume family of beans and it is more than justified to give honorable mention here. Garlic is probably one of the most universal medicinally active herb known in our food arsenal. Garlic, which contains a compound called Ajoene, it has been found through research, actually inhibits the production of lipids, thus lowering blood cholesterol. Garlic also thins the blood, thus lessening the effects of artery clogging due to past cholesterol buildup. Garlic in the diet has been found to lower the "bad" LDL cholesterol, while raising the levels of the "good" HDL cholesterol. It has been suggested that just one clove of garlic each day should keep LDL and HDL cholesterol levels at near optimum levels with normal daily levels of cholesterol intake. Garlic should be taken in its raw form to be most effective. An example is of one level teaspoonful of raw chopped garlic and keeping jar refrigerated for future use.
When cells and tissues are damaged, cholesterol helps repair them – its in scars too.
Not only do beans and garlic help keep our cholesterol levels in the safe range, but a reasonable breakfast of 1/2 to 3/4 cup of cooked oatmeal will help keep those levels in the safe range. Oatmeal has a twofold benefit in our body. It also helps keep our blood sugar levels under control.
It must be cautioned that in no way does this information imply that it can replace regular medical treatment which can be provided by your personal physician, but it also does not negate the use of its possible benefits in the control of ones cholesterol.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Cholesterol Reduction and Teas
Exercise and weight loss can also help to lower cholesterol levels. In addition, if you smoke you should cut this out right away as well.
According to Dutch Medical Institute of Heart Disease research, drinking tea protects against the build-up of cholesterol in the arteries, especially in women. Results indicated that people who drank one to two cups of tea a day were 46% less likely to develop severe atherosclerosis, rising to 69% in those who drank four cups of tea a day. The protective benefit of tea was most pronounced among women. The authors acknowledge that at least in the West, people who drink tea generally have a healthier lifestyle and diet, which may account for the findings. In this study, for example, the researchers found that people who drank more tea tended to be lean, had a healthy diet, and smoked less.
And we saved the best for last. Always remember that a diet for reducing cholesterol level will definitely help you lose weight.
However the fairly high levels of antioxidant flavonoids in black tea are thought to protect against arterial plaques, the fatty deposits that clog arteries, by preventing fat from being deposited on artery walls. Green tea appears to speed up calorie burning, including fat calorie burning, according to researchers from the University of Geneva in Switzerland. The study authors report that, compared with placebo, treatment with green tea was associated with a "significant increase" (+4%) in daily energy expenditure. They believe that the caffeine interacts with the flavonoids in tea to alter the body's use of norepinephrine, a chemical transmitter in the nervous system, and increase the rate of calorie burning (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, November 1999).
There are many natural supplements available that can help fight high cholesterol. They include: guggul, pantethine, fish oil, and garlic among others.
In Japan, a study of 1,306 males who received the retirement health examination at the Self-Defense Forces Fukuoka Hospital between October 1996 and December 1998, showed serum total cholesterol levels were found to be inversely related to the consumption of green tea while no association was noted with serum triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Adjusted mean concentrations of total cholesterol were 8 mg/dl lower in men drinking nine cups or more of green tea per day than in those consuming zero to two cups per day.
Without cholesterol, your memory would be faulty and your brain wouldn't function properly. Cholesterol makes you feel serene.
Another Japanese study found that "the main constituent of green tea, EGCG, is a practical cancer chemopreventive agent available in everyday life The British Medical Journal has published a Japanese study on the benefits of green tea consumption in preventing cardiovascular disease, liver disorders and possibly cancer.
The study, begun in 1996, concerned 1371 men over the age of 40. Tea consumption was classified as less than 3 cups, between 4 and 9 cups, and over 10 cups per day. It was found that consumption of green tea was significantly associated with lower serum concentrations of lipids and lipoproteins. "An increase in consumption substantially decreased serum total cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations, and this strong association remained almost unaltered even after age, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption and relative body weight were controlled for."
According to Dutch Medical Institute of Heart Disease research, drinking tea protects against the build-up of cholesterol in the arteries, especially in women. Results indicated that people who drank one to two cups of tea a day were 46% less likely to develop severe atherosclerosis, rising to 69% in those who drank four cups of tea a day. The protective benefit of tea was most pronounced among women. The authors acknowledge that at least in the West, people who drink tea generally have a healthier lifestyle and diet, which may account for the findings. In this study, for example, the researchers found that people who drank more tea tended to be lean, had a healthy diet, and smoked less.
And we saved the best for last. Always remember that a diet for reducing cholesterol level will definitely help you lose weight.
However the fairly high levels of antioxidant flavonoids in black tea are thought to protect against arterial plaques, the fatty deposits that clog arteries, by preventing fat from being deposited on artery walls. Green tea appears to speed up calorie burning, including fat calorie burning, according to researchers from the University of Geneva in Switzerland. The study authors report that, compared with placebo, treatment with green tea was associated with a "significant increase" (+4%) in daily energy expenditure. They believe that the caffeine interacts with the flavonoids in tea to alter the body's use of norepinephrine, a chemical transmitter in the nervous system, and increase the rate of calorie burning (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, November 1999).
There are many natural supplements available that can help fight high cholesterol. They include: guggul, pantethine, fish oil, and garlic among others.
In Japan, a study of 1,306 males who received the retirement health examination at the Self-Defense Forces Fukuoka Hospital between October 1996 and December 1998, showed serum total cholesterol levels were found to be inversely related to the consumption of green tea while no association was noted with serum triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Adjusted mean concentrations of total cholesterol were 8 mg/dl lower in men drinking nine cups or more of green tea per day than in those consuming zero to two cups per day.
Without cholesterol, your memory would be faulty and your brain wouldn't function properly. Cholesterol makes you feel serene.
Another Japanese study found that "the main constituent of green tea, EGCG, is a practical cancer chemopreventive agent available in everyday life The British Medical Journal has published a Japanese study on the benefits of green tea consumption in preventing cardiovascular disease, liver disorders and possibly cancer.
The study, begun in 1996, concerned 1371 men over the age of 40. Tea consumption was classified as less than 3 cups, between 4 and 9 cups, and over 10 cups per day. It was found that consumption of green tea was significantly associated with lower serum concentrations of lipids and lipoproteins. "An increase in consumption substantially decreased serum total cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations, and this strong association remained almost unaltered even after age, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption and relative body weight were controlled for."
Thursday, August 9, 2007
"Good " and "bad " cholesterol
How many of you know that besides the cholesterol that causes many medical conditions there is also a "good " cholesterol. In your body there are two types of cholesterol: HDL, which is the good cholesterol and LDL, the bad cholesterol. For many years now, having a high level of HDL was thought to be very beneficial to your health. This high level of cholesterol was thought to give you some kind of protection against heart conditions. However, lately there have been some attention to lowering all cholesterol levels, not only the LDL cholesterol level, known as the bad cholesterol.
In spite of their intial believes that said that HDL cholesterol levels which are high can protect you from heart problems, recent studies have shown that this cholesterol level is actually a risk of heart disease. But this risk is only if you have a low HDL cholesterol level. So the advice that you were given, to lower both cholesterol levels was wrong. This was discovery that shook a little all the knowledge about cholesterol that people had. Furthermore, it was also discovered that even if the LDL cholesterol level was in normal limits, people that had the good cholesterol levels a little lower were very much at risk of developing an artery problem. A normal HDL cholesterol level is when you have minimum 35 mg/ Dl. There was also another cholesterol question that has found it' s answer. Why is the HDL cholesterol "good " ? Well, it seems in fact that not the actual cholesterol is beneficial, but the work that it does. This cholesterol, HDL cholesterol is actually a very complex molecule. This type of cholesterol is the combination of lipids, protein and cholesterol. What this cholesterol molecule does is to clean out the walls of your blood vessels. The HDL cholesterol actually takes out the cholesterol excess that is found in your blood. Yes, this means that actually the "god " cholesterol cleans out the "bad " cholesterol that is found in your blood. This LDL cholesterol is then taken back to your liver for more processing. This is the reason why, one cholesterol must be risen: to help the other cholestrol level to lower and thus protecting you from heart conditions.
The most common thing that one can to rise their HDL cholesterol levels is exercise. Jogging, riding a bike, even walking can rise your "good " cholesterol levels.
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