6 Do 10 minutes of resistance-training exercises a day Women who did 45-50 minutes of muscle-building resistance-training exercises three times a week lowered their LDL levels by 14 percent. Even just 10 minutes a day of the easy exercises on routine 1 easy does it day 1 strength exercises - routine 1 easy does it day 3 stretches will help.
7 Eat six small meals a day You'll get there if you follow the long-life eating approach. In a large British study, people who 'grazed' throughout the day had lower cholesterol levels than those who ate big meals twice a day. The difference was big enough to give the small-meal aficionados a 10-20 per-
cent reduction in their risk of heart disease.
8 Add a half teaspoon of cinnamon to your coffee before brewing Pakistani researchers have found that this amount (about 6g) reduced LDL levels by 30 percent in people who had type 2 diabetes.
9 Avoid saturated-fat traps Your body uses saturated fats to produce LDLs. Overeating foods such as cheesecake, cheeseburgers and sausages provides far too much raw material for producing this heart-threatening stuff. A better plan: always stop and think before saying 'yes' to the foods heavy with animal fat. Ask yourself: what could I have instead? The answer might be a fruit salad, a lean steak, a piece of grilled chicken or fish, or a small helping of low-fat or fat-free frozen dessert such as sorbet or reduced-fat frozen yoghurt.
6 Ways to raise HDLS
HDL, or 'high-density lipoprotein' cholesterol is the body's LDL cholesterol clean-up crew, actually fusing with the bad type of cholesterol and carrying it to the liver for disposal. New evidence suggests that HDLs also act as antioxidants, shielding LDLs from the type of damage that promotes plaque.
Long ignored by doctors, HDL is now taken seriously by researchers and clinicians as a heart-protection factor. Studies show that low HDL Levels are an independent risk factor, and research suggests that for every 0.03 mmol/l increase in HDL, cardiovascular risk is reduced by 2-3 percent. HDL can remove cellular cholesterol, and has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-clotting properties. Together, these inhibit atherosclerosis and improve the health of arterial linings, so reducing cardiovascular risk. This even applies to patients taking statins who have already achieved target levels of LDL, say cardiologists at University College London.
The new thinking: higher is better. Women after menopause should aim for levels of 1.3 mmol/l or higher, while men should aim for at least 1 mmol/l. Here are some ways to increase your levels.
1 Give up smoking Kicking the cigarette habit can raise your HDLs.
2 Enjoy one alcoholic drink a day A glass of wine with dinner could increase your good cholesterol. But skip this step if you also have high triglycerides - alcohol can make them soar and would cancel the benefits.
3 Snack on walnuts or pecans You'll enhance your HDL level if you regularly snack on a small handful of walnut halves or pecans, report researchers from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Iran and from Loma Linda University in California.
4 Achieve a healthier weight If your doctor approves of your weight-loss plans, gradually moving to a healthy weight could raise your HDLs, experts say.
5 Walk briskly, three times a week You can raise your HDLs with a fast-paced stroll (just vigorous enough that conversation is a little difficult) lasting half an hour, on three days of the week, studies show.
6 Avoid a fat-free lifestyle You read that right. Your body needs some fat to help to maintain its HDL level. Choose 'good' monounsaturated fats, found in olive oil, avocados and peanuts, and omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish, walnuts and fish-oil capsules, to help your body to keep HDLs on an even keel.
5 Ways to reduce triglycerides
Triglycerides seem innocuous: they link to excess blood sugars from the food you eat and whisk them to fat cells for long-term storage. But when levels are high, triglycerides can also become the raw material for LDLs, making them another dangerous actor in the heart-disease drama. Newer studies suggest that triglycerides alone can be used to predict your risk of heart disease, because they encourage atherosclerosis - and may be twice as dangerous for women as they are for men.
Smoking, drinking, eating too much sugar and other refined carbs and being overweight can all elevate triglycerides. These additional strategies can help you to keep your triglycerides within a healthy range.
When to get help
If your cholesterol and triglyceride numbers are only slightly elevated, talk to your GP about trying lifestyle changes for about six months. After six months, ask for another blood test to check levels. If HDLs are still low or LDLS and/or triglycerides are still high, ask about medication, including cholesterol-lowering statins and drugs that can raise HDLs, such as prescription-grade niacin.
1 Have a 'natural' whole grain at dinner every night Try brown rice, bulgur wheat, barley, even quinoa. Simply choosing whole grains instead of the refined type could cut your risk of heart attack by 30 percent.
2 Have fruit for dessert Fruit - fresh, frozen (without syrup), canned in its own juice or dried (but not sugar-coated) - has a wealth of fibre, vitamins and minerals, plus a host of antioxidants. Have some fruit most evenings.
3 Avoid 'liquid sweets' Skip high-sugar fizzy drinks, processed fruit juices and sweetened iced teas. Switch to fizzy water with a splash of orange juice or lemon, plain water or, if you just love fizzy drinks, try the diet version.
4 Take your reading glasses to the supermarket Even canned beans, tomatoes, and pasta sauce may contain sugar. Usually, a sugar-free version sits next to it on the shelf.
5 Set a drink limit The limit for women is no more than two to three units a day; for men no more than three to four units a day. If your triglyceride level is in the healthy range, these amounts are fine. If your triglycerides are high, cut out alcohol, as it can actually raise triglyceride levels. Even small amounts can send levels soaring in some people.
6 Supplements
Your heart will love
These safe, well-chosen nutritional supplements repair and protect your heart in ways that go beyond a healthy lifestyle. Adding them to your personal long-life planning could add even more healthy years to your heart.
1 FISH OIL
Two heart-friendly omega-3 fatty acids - eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docasahexaenoic acid (DHA) - found in fish-oil capsules can cut heart attacks risks by 73 percent. Fish oil stabilises dangerous artery plaque so that it's less likely to burst and trigger the formation of heart and brain - threatening blood clots. These oils can also cut triglycerides blood clots. These oils can also cut triglycerides by 30-40 percent. And fish oil helps to keep your heart beating in a regular rhythm, cutting the odds of out-of-rhythm beats that can trigger a stroke and sudden cardiac death.
How to take it: Experts suggests getting a total of 1,000-2,000mg of EPA plus DHA - though less conservative experts suggest twice as much may be better. How many capsules? Read the label; it varies by brand. Take it with food, and talk to your doctors first if you have a bleeding disorder or take an antiiocoagulant drug such as warfarin.
2 SOLUBLE FIBRE
Soluble fibre - found naturally in foods such as oatmeal, barley, beans and many fruits - forms a thick, cholesterol-trapping gel in your digestive system. Get enough and you could lower your 'bad' LDL cholesterol by 5 percent - enough to reduce your heart disease risk by 10-15 percent. While we
need at least 8g a day - and up to 25g if you have elevated cholesterol - most of us barely take in 4g, handful of strawberries. That's where a soluble fibre supplement comes in.
How to take it: Fibre supplements come as flavoured powder you mix with water, as capsules and even as wafers. Soluble fibre supplements can be made from ground psyllium seeds (the most extensively researched fibre supplement for cutting cholesterol), from beta-glucan (the same fibre that's in oatmeal) and also from fibres called inulin, methylcellulose and polycarbophil. Aim for 7-10g soluble fibre from supplements a day - and take half in the morning, half at night. Always drink a full glass of water with it. Check the product you choose; each has a different fibre content.
7 Eat six small meals a day You'll get there if you follow the long-life eating approach. In a large British study, people who 'grazed' throughout the day had lower cholesterol levels than those who ate big meals twice a day. The difference was big enough to give the small-meal aficionados a 10-20 per-
cent reduction in their risk of heart disease.
8 Add a half teaspoon of cinnamon to your coffee before brewing Pakistani researchers have found that this amount (about 6g) reduced LDL levels by 30 percent in people who had type 2 diabetes.
9 Avoid saturated-fat traps Your body uses saturated fats to produce LDLs. Overeating foods such as cheesecake, cheeseburgers and sausages provides far too much raw material for producing this heart-threatening stuff. A better plan: always stop and think before saying 'yes' to the foods heavy with animal fat. Ask yourself: what could I have instead? The answer might be a fruit salad, a lean steak, a piece of grilled chicken or fish, or a small helping of low-fat or fat-free frozen dessert such as sorbet or reduced-fat frozen yoghurt.
6 Ways to raise HDLS
HDL, or 'high-density lipoprotein' cholesterol is the body's LDL cholesterol clean-up crew, actually fusing with the bad type of cholesterol and carrying it to the liver for disposal. New evidence suggests that HDLs also act as antioxidants, shielding LDLs from the type of damage that promotes plaque.
Long ignored by doctors, HDL is now taken seriously by researchers and clinicians as a heart-protection factor. Studies show that low HDL Levels are an independent risk factor, and research suggests that for every 0.03 mmol/l increase in HDL, cardiovascular risk is reduced by 2-3 percent. HDL can remove cellular cholesterol, and has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-clotting properties. Together, these inhibit atherosclerosis and improve the health of arterial linings, so reducing cardiovascular risk. This even applies to patients taking statins who have already achieved target levels of LDL, say cardiologists at University College London.
The new thinking: higher is better. Women after menopause should aim for levels of 1.3 mmol/l or higher, while men should aim for at least 1 mmol/l. Here are some ways to increase your levels.
1 Give up smoking Kicking the cigarette habit can raise your HDLs.
2 Enjoy one alcoholic drink a day A glass of wine with dinner could increase your good cholesterol. But skip this step if you also have high triglycerides - alcohol can make them soar and would cancel the benefits.
3 Snack on walnuts or pecans You'll enhance your HDL level if you regularly snack on a small handful of walnut halves or pecans, report researchers from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Iran and from Loma Linda University in California.
4 Achieve a healthier weight If your doctor approves of your weight-loss plans, gradually moving to a healthy weight could raise your HDLs, experts say.
5 Walk briskly, three times a week You can raise your HDLs with a fast-paced stroll (just vigorous enough that conversation is a little difficult) lasting half an hour, on three days of the week, studies show.
6 Avoid a fat-free lifestyle You read that right. Your body needs some fat to help to maintain its HDL level. Choose 'good' monounsaturated fats, found in olive oil, avocados and peanuts, and omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish, walnuts and fish-oil capsules, to help your body to keep HDLs on an even keel.
5 Ways to reduce triglycerides
Triglycerides seem innocuous: they link to excess blood sugars from the food you eat and whisk them to fat cells for long-term storage. But when levels are high, triglycerides can also become the raw material for LDLs, making them another dangerous actor in the heart-disease drama. Newer studies suggest that triglycerides alone can be used to predict your risk of heart disease, because they encourage atherosclerosis - and may be twice as dangerous for women as they are for men.
Smoking, drinking, eating too much sugar and other refined carbs and being overweight can all elevate triglycerides. These additional strategies can help you to keep your triglycerides within a healthy range.
When to get help
If your cholesterol and triglyceride numbers are only slightly elevated, talk to your GP about trying lifestyle changes for about six months. After six months, ask for another blood test to check levels. If HDLs are still low or LDLS and/or triglycerides are still high, ask about medication, including cholesterol-lowering statins and drugs that can raise HDLs, such as prescription-grade niacin.
1 Have a 'natural' whole grain at dinner every night Try brown rice, bulgur wheat, barley, even quinoa. Simply choosing whole grains instead of the refined type could cut your risk of heart attack by 30 percent.
2 Have fruit for dessert Fruit - fresh, frozen (without syrup), canned in its own juice or dried (but not sugar-coated) - has a wealth of fibre, vitamins and minerals, plus a host of antioxidants. Have some fruit most evenings.
3 Avoid 'liquid sweets' Skip high-sugar fizzy drinks, processed fruit juices and sweetened iced teas. Switch to fizzy water with a splash of orange juice or lemon, plain water or, if you just love fizzy drinks, try the diet version.
4 Take your reading glasses to the supermarket Even canned beans, tomatoes, and pasta sauce may contain sugar. Usually, a sugar-free version sits next to it on the shelf.
5 Set a drink limit The limit for women is no more than two to three units a day; for men no more than three to four units a day. If your triglyceride level is in the healthy range, these amounts are fine. If your triglycerides are high, cut out alcohol, as it can actually raise triglyceride levels. Even small amounts can send levels soaring in some people.
6 Supplements
Your heart will love
These safe, well-chosen nutritional supplements repair and protect your heart in ways that go beyond a healthy lifestyle. Adding them to your personal long-life planning could add even more healthy years to your heart.
1 FISH OIL
Two heart-friendly omega-3 fatty acids - eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docasahexaenoic acid (DHA) - found in fish-oil capsules can cut heart attacks risks by 73 percent. Fish oil stabilises dangerous artery plaque so that it's less likely to burst and trigger the formation of heart and brain - threatening blood clots. These oils can also cut triglycerides blood clots. These oils can also cut triglycerides by 30-40 percent. And fish oil helps to keep your heart beating in a regular rhythm, cutting the odds of out-of-rhythm beats that can trigger a stroke and sudden cardiac death.
How to take it: Experts suggests getting a total of 1,000-2,000mg of EPA plus DHA - though less conservative experts suggest twice as much may be better. How many capsules? Read the label; it varies by brand. Take it with food, and talk to your doctors first if you have a bleeding disorder or take an antiiocoagulant drug such as warfarin.
2 SOLUBLE FIBRE
Soluble fibre - found naturally in foods such as oatmeal, barley, beans and many fruits - forms a thick, cholesterol-trapping gel in your digestive system. Get enough and you could lower your 'bad' LDL cholesterol by 5 percent - enough to reduce your heart disease risk by 10-15 percent. While we
need at least 8g a day - and up to 25g if you have elevated cholesterol - most of us barely take in 4g, handful of strawberries. That's where a soluble fibre supplement comes in.
How to take it: Fibre supplements come as flavoured powder you mix with water, as capsules and even as wafers. Soluble fibre supplements can be made from ground psyllium seeds (the most extensively researched fibre supplement for cutting cholesterol), from beta-glucan (the same fibre that's in oatmeal) and also from fibres called inulin, methylcellulose and polycarbophil. Aim for 7-10g soluble fibre from supplements a day - and take half in the morning, half at night. Always drink a full glass of water with it. Check the product you choose; each has a different fibre content.
No comments:
Post a Comment