Cholesterol Management Health Center

Cholesterol Health Check

Do you have high cholesterol, also known as hypercholesterolemia? Abnormal cholesterol levels such as high LDL cholesterol or low HDL cholesterol are a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. An unhealthy diet can cause high cholesterol. Sometimes high cholesterol runs in families. A low-cholesterol diet can help improve cholesterol levels. If the low-cholesterol diet does not work to lower bad cholesterol and increase good cholesterol, your doctor may prescribe medications.

Cholesterol-Lowering Foods

Tasty, functional foods help you lower cholesterol naturally.

By R. Morgan Griffin
WebMD Feature

Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD

Do you want a diet to lower cholesterol? We all know that butter, ice cream, and fatty meats raise cholesterol, but do you know which foods make up a low-cholesterol diet? Find out here.

Here's some good news. To lower your cholesterol, you can actually eat more of certain foods. A handful of some "functional foods" have been shown to make a big impact on your cholesterol levels. They're also much tastier than a pill chased with a glass of water.

"These foods may not be magic, but they're close to it," says Ruth Frechman, RD, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.

Researchers have found that some foods -- such as fatty fish, walnuts, oatmeal, and oat bran, and foods fortified with plant sterols or stanols -- can help control your cholesterol. Some studies have shown that a diet combining these "superfoods" may work as well as some cholesterol-lowering medicines to reduce your "bad" LDL cholesterol levels.

How strong is the evidence? The FDA has reviewed the research on each of these foods, and given them the status of a "health claim" for managing cholesterol.

This is great news for the 105 million adults in the U.S. with high cholesterol. Making good food choices is an easy way of improving your health. It also puts less strain on your pocketbook. A trip to the grocery store is bound to be cheaper than a trip to the pharmacy. Also, many people can't handle the side effects from cholesterol drugs. Focusing on diet gives us all a new option.

Getting Started on a Low-Cholesterol Diet

Managing high cholesterol isn't a simple do-it-yourself project. You need to work with your health care provider. And while changing your diet may help a lot, many people still need drugs to reduce their risk of heart disease.

Also, remember that these foods aren't cure-alls. A handful of walnuts or a bowl of oatmeal won't make you invincible. It won't give you a free pass to eat all the high-fat foods you want. To benefit, you still must eat low-fat foods, watch your weight, and get more exercise.

"Eating a healthy diet is not just about eating a few special foods," says Suzanne Farrell, MS, RD, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. "There's a bigger picture. You need to practice moderation, eat a variety of foods, and get enough physical activity."

50 Tips For Better Health

1. Begin your day with a glass of luke warm water.
2. Drink at least 8 glasses of water in a day.
3. Include at least two vegetables and a fruit type in your diet.
4. Eat sprouted beans as snacks at least once in a+ day.
5. Eat green vegetables salad before your mid-day meal.
6. Eat fresh vegetables.
7. Eat just vegetables in the morning at least thrice a week. Let lunch be the first heavy meal of he day.
8. Avoid refrigerated or frozen foods. Eat foods hot.
9. Eat green vegetables and yellow colored fruits daily.
10. Fasting once in a week is good for health. Drink only fresh juices while fasting. Begin with vegetable juice in the morning.
11. Replace tea and coffe with fresh juices.
12. If possible avoid using soda, coke and health/energy drinks.
13. Avoid eating fat fried foods.
14. Limit the consumption of ice creams and other baked products.
15. Never skip any meals. Even if you are fasting make sure you drink juices to compensate the energy loss.
16. Select food items rich in fiber content.
17. Moderate the intake of sugar and salt.
18. Wash the vegetables well in running cold water before cutting.
19. Steam or cook the vegetables.
20. Cook the vegetables like cucumber, potatoes and tomatoes with their skin intact.
21. Calculate the amount of fat in your food.
22. Eat your food slowly and enjoy them.
23. Prepare each dish and enjoy the taste while eating.
24. Learn to calculate the nutrient content in your food.
25. Select good and fresh vegetables.
26. Control your moods in order to control the food intake. While in depression it is normal to develop a passion for sweets or chocolates. Substitute this appetite with a fresh fruit juice.
27. Avoid chips or snacks while watching. You may eat popcorn instead.
28. While eating concentrate only on food.
29. Try to eat along with your family.
30. Stop when you feel your stomach filled.
31. Avoid smoking cigarette.
32. Control alcohol consumption.
33. Learn to sleep well.
34. Select an exercise model that suits you and starting training. If you like practise yoga daily.
35. Walk for at least 20 minutes daily.
36. Involve yourself in at least 10 minutes of stretching exercises.
37. In the office avoid lifts and prefer stairs.
38. Meditate for at least 10 minutes a day.
39. Stay calm while concentrating on your breath. Breathe in and out slowly.
40. Relax all your muscles.
41. Find and allocate time for prayer.
42. Laugh is a medicine for good health. Find some time for fun.
43. Rejuvenate all your inner senses and try to savour as much energy as you can.
44. Balance your work and fun time.
45. Find time to spend with your children.
46. Meet your friends and find time to travel.
47. Listen to some music during the day.
48. Share the details of your illness ( if any ) with your family. Participate them in your program to reduce cholesterol.
49. Read books that are informative in contents.
50. Understand that you have the ability to select the changes in your life and believe you can do it.

6 Exercise Machines You Should Do Without

Here are some tips from Men's Health....

While machines might seem like the foolproof way to exercise, they aren’t always the safest. In fact, sometimes they actually contribute to the injuries you were trying to avoid in the first place. Here are 6 machines you should lift without.

The Seated Leg Extension

The myth: It’s the safest way to work your quadriceps, or thigh muscles.

The truth: Physiologists at the Mayo Clinic determined that leg extensions place significantly more stress on your knees than squats. Why? Because the resistance is placed near your ankles, which leads to high amounts of torque being applied to your knee joint every time you lower the weight. What’s more, Auburn University scientists found that people who squat long-term have tighter, stronger knee ligaments than those who don’t squat at all.

The alternatives: Free weight squats, split squats, and lunges—performed with perfect form—are all better choices for working your quads and protecting your knees.

The Behind-the-Neck Lat Pull-Down

The myth: The best way to perform the lat pulldown is to pull the bar behind your head, down to your upper back

The truth: Unless you have very flexible shoulders, this exercise is difficult to do correctly, and can increase your risk for shoulder impingement syndrome—a painful condition in which the muscles or tendons of your rotator cuff become entrapped in your shoulder joint.

The alternative: Simple—just pull the bar in front of your head, down to your collarbone. You’ll work your back just as hard, but with less risk for injury.

The Pec Deck

The myth: It’s a super safe and very effective way to work your chest muscles.

The truth: This apparatus, also called the chest fly machine, can overstretch the front of your shoulder and cause the muscles around the rear of your shoulder to stiffen. The result: Doing this movement frequently can lead to shoulder impingement syndrome.

The alternatives: Forget the machine, and stick with exercises such as the pushup, dumbbell bench press and dumbbell incline press; they’re easier on your shoulders and the best way to build your chest overall. In fact, Truman State University researchers found that pectoral muscles are activated for 23 percent less time during the chest fly, compared with the bench press.

The Seated Hip Abductor Machine

The myth: This machine is the best way to work your out thighs, including your glutes.

The truth: Because you’re seated, it trains a movement that has no functional use. And if done with excessive weight and jerky technique, it can put undue pressure on your spine.

The alternative: Work the same muscles, but while standing. Simply loop a resistance band around both legs, and position the band just below your knees. Now take small steps to your left for 20 feet. Then side-step back to your right for 20 feet. That’s one set. This is much harder than it sounds, but you can do it anywhere, and it’s also a great warmup for any sport.

The Seated Rotation Machine

The myth: Twisting on this machine helps melt your love handles.

The truth: It works the muscles under your love handles, but will do little to reduce the fat that covers them. What’s more, because your pelvis doesn't move as you rotate your upper body, this exercise can put excessive twisting forces on the spine.

The alternative: As long as you don’t expect to shrink your love handles, you can use rotational exercises to work your obliques. But here’s the secret to safety: Before you do any rotational exercises, brace your abs forcefully—as if you’re about to be punched in the gut—and hold them that way as you do the movement. This limits your range of motion and helps to keep you from rotating excessively at your lower spine.

The Smith Machine

The myth: This machine—which looks like a squat rack with a built-in bar that runs on guides—gives you all the benefits of squats, but none of the risk that comes from holding a heavy barbell across your back. That’s because the bar can easily be secured at any point during the movement.

The truth: Because the bar runs on guides, you can only move straight up and down as you squat—instead of down and back, as you would in a free-weight squat. The result: An unnatural movement that puts extra stress on your knees and lower back. Need another reason to skip the Smith? Canadian researchers found that traditional squats produced almost 50 percent more muscle activity in the quadriceps than squats done on a Smith machine.

The alternative: If you’re not comfortable with barbell squats, simply do the exercise while holding dumbbells at arm’s length next to your sides. You won’t need a spotter, and your body will be free to move through the natural motion of the squat.

Tailoring Your Program

How can you individualize your training in a meaningful way? First, take an inventory of your own situation. For instance, in the first category, you might start by assessing your somatype. Are you an ectomorph, mesomorph, or endomorph? Do you have any postural problems that need to be concerned with? Do you have a high percentage of fast twitch, or slow twitch fibers?(You can get an estimate by seeing how many reps you can perform with 75% of your one rep maximum for any given exercise. If you can only do five or six reps, you're a "fast twitcher." If you can get twelve or more reps, you're probably a "slow twitcher.")

Once you've created a profile for yourself, you can then begin to create a training program which takes your unique characteristics into account. Start with your objectives, and consider the constraining factors you're operating under. These two variables will narrow your options considerably. Next, consider the most significant characteristics that make you unique. Age and training experience, for example. Younger people with more experience generally have more options than older people with less experience. Finally, examine your health status, including any postural problems you may have (resolving health problems should always be the first priority in any training program).

After you've spent some time analyzing your situation, you should be able to home-in on a basic program that will best suit your needs. Later, you can make minute adjustments as the need presents itself.

When you get the basics down, let me know if you need additional help tailoring a program for you!

An Article from Men's Health

Is Exercise a Waste of Time?

By David Zinczenko

Sometimes, when a news report seems to defy logic, it’s because someone hasn’t done their homework. And that’s what’s happened over at Time magazine with its latest cover story, “Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin.” The article claims that working out is not only useless for weight loss, but can actually lead to weight gain.

This contention hinges mostly on a recent study done at Louisiana State University. Scientists there divided sedentary women into four groups: One group didn’t exercise, and three others performed different amounts of physical activity. All of the groups were told to stick to their typical diet.

The results: The women who exercised the most didn’t lose any more weight than those who didn’t exercise at all over six months. How can this be?

Well, first understand how much exercise these women were doing. The group that exercised the most burned around 1000 calories a week, or about 140 calories a day. The other two exercise groups burned around 700 and 350 calories a week, respectively.

This isn’t a tremendous amount of exercise—you might burn around 140 calories vacuuming your house—so no one would anticipate a tremendous amount of weight loss. Even so, the researchers calculated how many pounds they would expect each woman to lose, and their predictions were spot-on for the two groups that did lesser amounts of exercise. For these ladies, the exercise did indeed work.

(Make the most of your workout, by tapping into the 100 Greatest Fitness Tips of All Time.)

However, the other group of exercisers fell about two-and-a-half pounds short of their predicted weight loss. The Time story states: “Whether because exercise made them hungry or because they wanted to reward themselves (or both), most of the women who exercised ate more than they did before they started the experiment.”

Not so, according to the published data. The writer of the Time story either misread the results, or conveniently skipped over the parts that didn’t support his assertion. The study authors clearly state that the women in all four groups ate fewer calories on average.

(For an easy way to cut your calories—even when you’re in a hurry—discover the 14 Best Fast Food Meals Under 500 Calories.)

To be fair, the calorie-intake numbers probably aren’t accurate. The study’s lead author, Timothy Church, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., admits that since this data was attained from a survey—and not measured directly—it’s not very reliable. We really do suspect .

This further muddles the findings. And given that the non-exercisers lost weight, too, one could conclude this study proves that sitting on the couch causes weight loss. But Time magazine isn’t reporting that. At least not this week.

Instead, the Time author tries to support his notion that exercise doesn’t help you lose weight by pointing out that some women gained more than 10 pounds over the six-month study. “What the article fails to report is that other women lost even more weight than we expected,” says Dr. Church.

Bottom line: Our responses to diet and exercise are all highly individualized, explains Dr. Church. Sure, some people might compensate for their exercise by eating more, but according to Dr. Church, this isn’t the fault of exercise. More likely, he says, it’s because people don’t realize how easy it is to consume 1,000 calories at the drive-thru compared to burning just 250 calories on a treadmill. “If your weight is a concern for you, exercise is important. But it doesn’t give you license to eat what you want,” cautions Dr. Church. “You still need to pay close attention to what you’re putting in your mouth.”

Even so-called “healthy” food can have a surprising number of calories. Check out our list of the worst salads in America, including a 2,115-calorie salad from California Pizza Kitchen.

As for exercise making you hungrier, Dr. Church doesn’t think that’s the case. And overall, the research is mixed on the matter. But even if exercise does stoke your appetite, you still have the power of choice. Are you going to reach for an apple—or a big bowl of ice cream?

Dr. Church insists that we have much to learn on this topic, and wants you to know this: “When you look at people who lose weight and keep it off, what you find is that almost 100 percent of them not only watch what they eat, but are also regular exercisers.”

Want even more reasons why Time is wrong about exercise? Keep reading.

• Exercise can protect your muscle. A Penn State University study found that people who lifted weights along with a program of diet and aerobic exercise had the same weight loss as those who only dieted (or who dieted and performed aerobic exercise). The difference? The lifters lost 5 pounds more fat because almost none of their weight loss came from muscle. Read: Resistance training didn’t improve weight loss, but it did improve fat loss. And isn’t that what really matters?

Want to lose more fat? Click here to instantly download more than a dozen fitness plans that you can take with you anywhere.

• Exercise may help you stick to your diet. University of Pittsburgh researchers studied 169 dieters for 2 years and found that the participants who didn’t follow a 3-hour-a-week training plan ate more than their allotted 1,500 calories per day. The reverse was also true—sneaking snacks sabotaged their workouts. “One healthy behavior without the other will not work—you need to diet and exercise to maintain long-term weight loss,” says lead study author John Jakicic, Ph.D. That’s because both actions can act as a reminder to stay on track.

• Exercise may target belly fat. While weight loss was similar among all four groups in the LSU study, only the groups that exercised saw their waist size decrease. The Time story downplays this finding, but isn’t it relevant? Think about it: This study actually shows that even a small amount of low-intensity exercise—performed in, say, just three 24-minute sessions a week—could help your jeans fit better. In other words, it makes you thinner. Doesn’t sound like a waste of time to me.

http://mhtoday.menshealth.com/2009/08/is-exercise-a-waste-of-time.html

Article from Men's Health

Q: Is it better to vary reps, or to change exercises?

Aaron, Chevy Chase, MD
Muscle Guy answers from Men's Health

I prefer both. Too much of the same exercises can lead to harmful muscle imbalances, so change exercises every 4 weeks. And although lots of guys perform 10-rep sets, other techniques can quicken muscle growth. For example, alter the number of reps with each workout. An Arizona State study followed men as they used different repetition ranges in each of three training sessions a week for 12 weeks (5 reps on Monday, 15 on Wednesday, and 10 on Friday, for example), and found that their strength increased more than twice as much as that of men who varied reps only on a monthly basis.

Motivational Tip

I've been reading Kathy Smith's book called "Lift Weights to Lose Weight." It's a good book with a lot of images and ready-to-use tips. I wanted to share what I learned from her, and I found her website, so I'm sharing what she says about motivation (it's easier to copy & paste). I am also inserting my own italicized comments along the way, as well as bolding key ideas. Please feel free to share other helpful ideas for keeping people motivated with fitness & health.
Melissa

Be Consistent

What's the secret to health and fitness success? That's the question I'm asked far more than any other.

The answer: Be consistent. Be consistent. Be consistent.

For more than twenty years, I've exercised every day (I'm only at 11, but I'm younger than Kathy Smith). Now, does that mean a full, hour-long workout? No. Some days, in fact, I only have time for ten minutes; other days, only thirty; still others, a strenuous, two-hour hike. There are periods when I'm traveling for a week or so and only able to get in a few minutes of exercise between meetings (yea, vacations are tough for exercise, unless you stay at a hotel with a gym). But whether it's ten minutes, thirty, or a long sixty, I make sure I work up as much of a sweat as possible. Not only because I'm trying to burn off last night's dinner or because I think it'll improve my cardiovascular capacity, but because I don't want to fall out of practice. That's what I mean by consistency - if you fall out of the habit, get right back on track. I agree - don't stop exercising. It's better to half-way do it than not at all. Partial exercise helps you maintain the momentum.

Often when I talk to people who aren't exercising on a consistent basis, I get the feeling that they have the best intentions, but allow one excuse after the next to interfere with their workouts (No excuses! I even exercised when I was crippled. A lot of people exercise when they are pregnant. Make exercise a priority, and you'll soon be addicted). Then, they lose momentum. "I was exercising and then all of a sudden I just stopped," is a common lament. "I don't know what happened; I just sort of quit. I haven't really done it for six months, but I plan on starting again right after my birthday." (You can maintain a level of consistency for anything, be it a foreign language, paying your bills on time, or spending time with loved ones).

But exercise and self-care is not an on-and-off proposition. It's a daily one. If you don't have time to do your regular workout in its entirety you don't abandon the whole thing. That's not the way to approach exercise.

Try thinking of it this way. You have a goal - an ideal, if you will. The ideal is to work out five times a week for at least thirty minutes. But if you can't get in all thirty, then you take what you can. That's the way life works. Just because you fall short of an ideal doesn't mean that you abandon its pursuit. Telling a single lie wouldn't compel you to give up honesty as an ideal any more than accidentally running a red light causes you to break every other rule of the road.

The hardest aspect of exercise is starting again after not doing it for a while. That's why I try not to lose my momentum - so I don't have to start all over again.

Just accept that you'll devote at least ten minutes a day to exercising, the same as you accept that you're going to have to eat, bathe, and dress. Now, those ten minutes may not necessarily be at the gym or on the track. They may be that walk you take by parking a little father away from the office. Or those stairs you climb instead of pushing the elevator buttons. (When you only have a few moments to exercise, find a handful of ones that you can do on the go or at home).

Once you choose to make exercise a daily part of your life, you start to see opportunities for it where before you saw only barriers. That viewpoint begins to create lifestyle changes, and produces a healthier attitude toward life in general.