The excess accumulation of cholesterol can lead to a stroke or heart attack. This happens because the build-up of excess cholesterol begins to clog the blood vessels leading to arteriosclerosis. It is believed that the overall incidence of strokes and heart attacks could be reduced by as much as 50% if Americans could reduce their cholesterol level by 25%. In fact, for every 1% of lowered blood cholesterol, the chances of having a heart attack are reduced by 2%.
However, all cholesterol is not bad, as most know by now. There are two types of cholesterol: high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL). HDL helps to remove excess fats from your blood while high LDL is known to lead to a higher incidence of strokes and heart attacks.
So the question is how can we follow a diet that helps us reduce LDL while still gaining the benefits of HDL? Below you will find a list of foods to avoid and foods you should eat in order to reduce overall cholesterol levels.
Food To Avoid
sugar products will increase LDL almost exclusively. Avoid them.
Ray Kelly is an Exercise Scientist with 15 years experience in the health and fitness industry. Find out more about Cholesterol at: Cholesterol, Heart Attack, and Weight Loss or http://www.free-online-health.com
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Some popular books tell you that because some prehistoric humans lived on large amounts of meat and ate no grains, you should do the same. That’s lousy advice.
We do know that humans’ nutritional needs and system of digesting, processing and using nutrients have not changed significantly in two million years. We are omnivores and can get nutrients from plants, animals or both. The human race has managed to acquire food and survive on every body of land on earth except Antartica, and has adapted to major climate changes. No single food or group of foods is essential; humans can get the nutrients they need from any reasonably varied selection of plants and/or animals as they are found in nature.
We know what our ancestors ate by studying their fossilized feces; as you would expect, they ate whatever was most available in their place and climate, and within their skills. The books that tell you to eat meat focus on groups who had fire and domesticated dogs, hunting weapons, and sparse vegetation – primarily grasses. These people ate mostly meat, as did later people in the far north.
But earlier humans, and those living in more tropical areas, ate huge amounts of plants plus animals that didn’t require hunting skills: insects, frogs, snakes, fish, small birds, and scavenged carcasses of animals killed by other predators.
Many of the prehistoric peoples appear to have been well-nourished, healthy and not affected by many of our diseases. But their normal life-span was 20-35 years. The diseases and health problems of settled people, with the advent of agriculture, came from many sources: crowding, poor sanitation, higher fertility, reliance on just a few food crops, famines and so forth.
The “caveman diet” of the popular authors, based on meat and those plants that don’t need to be cooked, is unreasonably limited and unhealthy for people who expect to live to be 100 or more. Meat from your supermarket is a far from wild game as white bread is from pinenuts.
It’s 30 percent fat, where game is 3 percent fat. How can they tell you all our problems come from eating grains and beans, and then say you should eat animals that have been fattened on nothing but grains and beans?
All the foods in North America today have been transformed from those that were available to our ancestors: they are larger, sweeter, fattier and more abundant. But they still contain the same nutrients as the ancient wild species. Most of our diet problems today stem from eating too much, and from man taking things away from the foods that are found in nature – wild or domesticated. (White flour, white rice, milled corn, sugars, extracted oils and fats). When you take away parts of plants and load up just on the parts that taste good, you lose nutrients and end up with too many calories.
Here’s my proposal for a hunter-gatherer diet for the 21st century:
Roam around your supermarket and gather anything you can recognize as part of a plant. That means you can pick up just about everything in the produce department. You’ll find seeds in the grains section (brown rice, wild rice, barley) and dried beans. Pick some dried fruit, nuts, sunflower seeds. If you find cans or frozen food packages that have pictures of just fruits, vegetables or beans, you can add them too. Go to the spice section and get herbs and spice seeds: poppy seeds, sesame seeds, peppercorns, caraway seeds and the rest. While you’re gathering all these plants, if any big game runs down the aisle or flies overhead, you can hunt it down and add it to your cart.
Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four specialties, including sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his fitness and health reports at http://www.DrMirkin.com.
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The favourable effect of raw juices in the treatment of disease is attributed to the following facts:
1. Raw juices of fruits and vegetables are extremely rich in vitamins, minerals, traceelements, enzymes and natural sugars. They exercise beneficial effect in normalising allthe body functions. They supply needed elements for the body’s own healing activity andcell regeneration, thereby speeding the recovery.
2. The juices extracted from raw fruits and vegetables require no digestion and almost alltheir vital nutrients are assimilated directly in the bloodstream.
3. Raw juices are extremely rich in alkaline elements. This is highly beneficial in normalisingacid-alkaline balance in the blood and tissues as there is over-acidity in most conditionsof ill-health.
4. Generous
amounts of easily assimilable organic minerals in raw juices especially calcium,potassium and silicon help in restoring biochemical and mineral balance in the tissuesand cells, thereby preventing premature aging of cells and disease.
5. Raw juices contain certain natural medicines, vegetal hormones and antibiotics. Forinstance, string beans are said to contain insulin-like substance. Certain hormonesneeded by the pancreas to produce insulin are present in cucumber and onion juices.
Fresh juices of garlic, onions, radish, and tomatoes contain antibiotic substances.
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Sometimes I see clients with that characteristic tan mark around their cheeks and chin indicating early iron deficient anemia. When this happens the client is feeling run down, but not run down enough to cause them to go to a doctors office–yet. It’s my job to help the person supplement their diet so they don’t have to take iron pills, which can be harmful on the system…especially for iron, if a little is good, a lot is not better!
Iron supplement overdose can cause stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhea, black stools, lethargy, weakness, collapse, weak/rapid heartbeats, shallow breathing, convulsions and coma. Try getting those same symptoms from eating parsley and taking a couple teaspoons of blackstrap molasses every now and then. THAT won’t happen.
A safe preventative dose of blackstrap molasses is 1-2 teaspoons per day for a full-sized adult. Three teaspoons per day would be a maximum dosage if you have that characteristic tan on the cheeks. For children, give 1 teaspoon up to three times a week as a preventative, mineral supplement, and to give color to the face. Both parsley and blackstrap molasses are packed with minerals (including those trace minerals we need.)
Iron overload is linked to some cancers, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and endocrine dysfunction. It is easy to
overload when taking iron pills. It is much safer sticking to natural food sources for iron.
Other foods high in iron, besides blackstrap molasses and parsley include: Cherries, prunes, leafy green vegetables, poultry liver, legumes (peas/beans/lentils), eggs, fish and whole grains. If you crave these foods, it may be an indication that you are low in iron. You have to be REALLY low before it will show up on a blood test, so do your body a favor and eat more of these foods.
Herbs high in iron include alfalfa, bilberry, burdock, catnip, yellow dock root, watercress, sarsaparilla (in root beer) and nettles. I think your safest choices are nettles (also for itchy skin disease and low calcium,) catnip (also good for sleep disorders,) burdock (also a good liver cleanser,) and alfalfa (a bit over used—I see some allergic reactions with this.)
© 2005 by Dr. Denice M. Moffat
Dr. Denice Moffat is a practicing naturopath, medical intuitive, and veterinarian working on the family unit (which includes humans and animals) through her phone consultation practice established in 1993. She has a content-rich website at http://www.NaturalHealthTechniques.com and free monthly newsletter. Dr. Moffat advises eating a minimum of 3/3/3 servings every day (raw fruits, raw vegetables, cooked vegetables) to maintain optimal health.
Fibre forms the skeletal system of plants. Without it no plant or tree would be able to stand upright. Dietary fibre, the roughage of yesteryears, consists of those parts of the plant foods that cannot be digested by enzymes or other digestive secretions in the ailmentary canal.
Dietary fibre plays an important role in the maintenance of health and prevention of diseases.
There is sufficient evidence to suggest that an artificial depletion of fibre as in case of refinedcereals and sugar has over the last 100 years contributed to several degenerative diseases.
Recent studies in this area indicate that sufficient intake of fibre-rich diet may help preventobesity, colon cancer, heart disease, gallstones, irritable bowel syndrome, diverticulosis anddiabetic conditions.
Studies have also established that dietary fibre is a collection of elements with a variety offunctions rather than a single substance with single function as was assumed earlier. This newinsight into the true nature of fibre has given the lie to old beliefs that bran is synonymous withfibre, that all fibre is fibrous or stringy and that all fibre tastes the same.
Physiological effects
Fibre in the diet promotes more frequent bowel movements and softer stools having increasedweight. The softness of stools is largely due to the presence of emulsified gas which is producedby the bacterial action on the fibre. A high fibre intake results in greater efficiency in theperistaltic movement of the colon. This helps in relieving the constipation which is the maincause of several acute and chronic diseases.
Recent studies suggest that increasing the dietary fibre
intake may be beneficial for patients withirritated bowel syndrome who have diarrhoea and rapid colonic transit, as well as to those whohave constipation and slow transit. The high fibre diet, like bran, thus regulates the conditioninside the colon so as to avoid both extremes – constipation and diarrhoea.Investigations have shown that several potential carcinogens are produced in the faeces. Theirproduction is related to the acidity of the gut content. The greater the acidity in the bowelcontent, the less is the production of these carcinogens. The breaking down of the fibre bybacteria renders the faeces more acidic. This reduces the amount of possible carcinogenicsubstances. Fibre also reduces the possibility of formation of harmful toxins in the large intestineby reducing the intestinal transit time of the food contents.
Dietary fibre increases the bacteria in the large intestines which require nitrogen for their growth.
This in turn reduces the chances of cancerous changes in cells by reducing the amount ofammonia in the large bowel. Fibre reduces the absorption of cholesterol in the diet. It also slowsdown the rate of absorption of sugars from the food in the digestive system. Certain types offibre increase the viscosity of the food content. This increased viscosity indirectly reduces theneed for insulin secreted by the pancreas. Thus a fibre-rich diet can help in diabetes mollitus
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The human body needs calcium more than any other mineral. A man weighing 70 kg. contains one kg. of calcium. About 99 percent of the quantity in the body is used for building strong bones and teeth and the remaining one percent is used by the blood, muscles and nerves.
Calcium performs many important functions. Without this mineral, the contractions of the heartwould be faulty, the muscles would not contract properly to make the limbs move and bloodwould not clot. Calcium stimulates enzymes in the digestive process and coordinates thefunctions of all other minerals in the body. Calcium is found in milk and milk products, wholewheat, leafy vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, and cabbage, carrots, watercress, oranges,lemons, almonds, figs and walnuts.
A daily intake of
about 0.4 to 0.6 grams of calcium isconsidered desirable for an adult. The requirement is larger for growing children and pregnantand lactating women. Deficiency may cause porous and fragile bones, tooth decay, heartpalpitations, muscle cramps, insomnia and irritability.
A large increase in the dietary supply of calcium is needed in tetany and when the bones aredecalcified due to poor calcium absorption, as in rickets, oesteomalacia and the malabsorptionsyndrome. Liberal quantity of calcium is also necessary when excessive calcium has been lostfrom the body as in hyperparathyroidism or chronic renal disease.
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While medications to treat hypertension are available, research has shown that modest lifestyle and dietary changes can help treat and often delay or prevent high blood pressure.
People trying to control hypertension often are advised to decrease sodium, increase potassium, watch their calories, and maintain a reasonable weight.
Following are 5 best books on hypertension diet
The DASH Diet for Hypertension
The DASH Diet for Hypertension, recommended by the American Heart Association, has been shown in studies to lower blood pressure in two weeks without the use of drugs. The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet emphasizes fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy; includes moderate amounts of fish, poultry, and nuts; and reduces consumption of red meat and sweets. Studies from the National Institutes of Health followed
800 participants and found that the DASH diet lowered blood pressure as much as typical medication.
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The DASH Diet Action Plan, Based on the National Institutes of Health Research: Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension
The DASH Diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) has been proven in several National Institutes of Health (NIH) research studies to lower blood pressure and cholesterol without medication. It is the diet recommended by the NIH for lowering blood pressure. The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends this eating plan for everyone. And the DASH diet forms the basis for the new MyPyramid.
Hypertension diet – www.spiritindia.com
Dr. Anil Singhal, M.D.
Healthcare: Best Health Care Articles at www.spiritindia.com
Dr. Anil Singhal, M.D.
Healthcare: Best Health Care Articles at Spiritindia.com
Hypertension online encyclopedia.
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Our bodies are truly incredible machines. What makes cells healthy? What causes disease? Scientists are discovering the answers: Keep human cells healthy and fully functional and with out degeneration.
True health begins with the cell. The health of our bodies depends on healthy cells. The cells are the fundamental unit of life. Starve it, poison it, injure it and the resulting damage causes disease and degeneration. Nurture it, protect it and feed it the nutrients it needs and it repairs itself providing health and longevity. All of us begin as a single cell and divide again and again as we grow.
Every day billions of new cells are produced to replace those that have served before them. This natural process is constantly under the attack by the environmental toxins, pollutants, preservatives, synthetic chemicals, and the oxidative damage that occurs in our daily lives through our lifestyle choices.
Disrupt the fragile balance within your body with toxic substances, poor nutritional habits, distress, psychological stressors and the results: Disorder and Disease. The notion of true health is not just the absence of illness. It is the constant empowering of our bodies to perform at optimal levels with exercise, energy, stamina, flexibility and endurance.
For each of us true health is obtained when we incorporate all of these aspects of a
healthy lifestyle. Having reserves to deal with unexpected events and stress in our lives.
If given the proper nutrients in the right amounts, ratios and balances our bodies will repair and rebuild themselves. You can help make a positive impact on health in our world.
Gina Bucci, has researched every health product on the market. Visit her website and take a Fast & Free Health Assessment. See what your body may be lacking. Listen to your body calling before it is too late. We take our health for granted. The Usana Health Science products are created by Scientist’s and PhD’s from all over the world, to help everyone maintain health and happy lives. Nutritional’s we all need and must recognize sooner before later. Start focusing on preventative measures and avoid or help degenerative diseases you do have, such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, chronic disease, cystic fibrosis. Cystic Fibrosis affects 1 in every 3000 children. Once considered fatal and terminal inherited childhood disease, taking lives of children by the age of only five years. In 1970’s scientists discovered through research: Vitamins & Nutritional Supplementation & Natural enzymes CURED these children and SAVING THEIR LIVES!!! Miraculously improving these smart, sweet childrens’quality of life! All with a simple lifestyle change! See My Story: http://www.olivegrapes.usana.com
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Cholesterol. Boy, there sure is a lot of noise being made about keeping your cholesterol low. You can see ads for all kinds of drugs all over the TV to help lower your cholesterol. Go to a doctor’s office and the first thing you see hanging on the wall is a cholesterol chart.
So what exactly IS cholesterol and what’s the big deal about it? In this article we’ll try to answer some of those common questions.
For starters, all cholesterol is not bad. In fact, it’s produced naturally in your liver and it helps with important body functions. It’s the bad cholesterol, called LDL (low density lipoprotein) that can really do you in. Get too much of this in your system and it can lead to heart disease. Unfortunately this can be something you inherit from your ancestors, meaning there isn’t much you can do about getting it, not that it can’t still be controlled. We’ll get to that later. The more common cause of high LDL is poor diet, usually one that’s high in saturated fats. Add to that lack of exercise and you’ve got a real problem on your hands.
In 2003 it was estimated that about 50 million men had high cholesterol greater than 200. Oh yes, the numbers. How they come up with these figures isn’t important. What is important is that it has been determined that a cholesterol level above 240 is considered high and risky. A person with a level above 240 has twice the risk of heart disease compared with someone who’s cholesterol is below 200. The magic number seems to be below 200. That’s when you are no longer considered to have
high cholesterol. According to the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) you should have your cholesterol checked at least once every five years. All that is needed to do this is a simple blood test.
So what happens when you get high cholesterol? How can you treat it?
Without having to take drugs, which is the last resort, the best way to lower your cholesterol is to change your diet. Eat fewer foods that are high in saturated fats and exercise regularly. The most common foods to avoid are fatty meats, deli, bacon, peanut butter, unless it specifically says it is low in cholesterol and anything coming out of a fast food chain such as fried food and onion rings. Also eating lots of fruits and vegetables will help in lowering cholesterol levels. If you smoke, by quitting, you will lower your cholesterol level. Also drinking alcohol in moderation will help to lower cholesterol levels,
If diet and exercise aren’t enough, there are drugs that can help to lower your cholesterol. The most popular of these drugs is Lipitor. What Lipitor does is lower the level of LDL produced by your liver, usually by 39 to 60%.
While cholesterol can be extremely dangerous it is actually one of the easiest things in your body to control between diet and exercise and if need be, with prescription drugs. There is no need for anyone to suffer from heart disease because of high cholesterol. It is an easily treated disease. So see your doctor and get a blood test. If you have high cholesterol speak to him about how you can lower it. You’ll be glad you did.
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Cholesterol
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In 1838, a Dutch chemist, G.J. Mulder, described a certain organic material as “unquestionably the most important of all known substances in the organic kingdom. Without it, no life appears possible on our planet. Through its means the chief phenomena of life are produced.” This complex nitrogen-bearing substance was called protein from the Greek word meaning “take the first place.” Protein in now a group name signifying the principal nitrogenous constituents of the protoplasm of all plant and animal tissues.
Proteins are extremely complex organic compounds of the elements carbon, hydrogen, oxygen,nitrogen, and,with some exceptions, sulphur. Most proteins also contain phosphorous, and somespecialised proteins contain iron, iodine, copper and other inorganic elements. The presence ofnitrogen distinguishes proteins from carbohydrates and fats.
Proteins are thus vital substances, which form important constituent of muscles, tissues, and theblood. Proteins supply the building material for the body and make good the wear and tear oftissues. Several substances concerned with vital life processes such as enzymes, which help indigestion of food, are chiefly protein in nature.
There are several varieties of protein. Each type contains a specific number of “building blocks”known as amino-acids. Before they can be absorbed by the body, all proteins must first bebroken down into amino-acids. When food stuffs are ingested, the nutrients and amino-acids donot immediately diffuse into all the different tissues. There are a series of biochemical reactionsin the digestive tract which collect these proteins, break them down and then utilise them asneeded. Any interference with the normal digestive process causes in-complete protein digestionresulting in gas, bloating etc.
There are about 22 amino acids needed for the normal functioning of the body. The body canmanufacture many amino acids if it has no adequate nitrogen source, but it cannot producecertain others in sufficient amounts to meet its needs. The amino acids that the body cannotsynthesis is in adequate amounts are called essential or indispensable because they must
besupplied by the diet in proper proportions and amounts to meet the requirements formaintenance of growth of tNon-essential or dispensable amino acids are those thatissue. thebody can synthesize in sufficient amounts to meet its needs if the total amount of nitrogensupplied by protein is adequate. The essential and non-essential amino acids are listed in tableA. TABLE A
Classification of Amino Acids with respect to their essentiality
Essential NonessentialHistidine* AlanineIsoleucine ArginineLeucine AsparagineLysine Aspartic acidMethionine CysteinePhenylalanine CystineTheronine Glutamic acidTrypophan GlutamineValine GlycineHydroxyproline Proline Serine Tyrosine
*Histidine is required for infants but its essentiality for adults has not been clearly established.
It will be seen from this statement that nine amino acids are essential for maintenance ofnitrogen equilibrium in human bodies. The estimated requirements of essential amino acids forinfants, children and adults are given in Table B. Men in the older age group appear to differ intheir requirements. Studies seem to suggest an increase need for methionine and lysine forthem. Infants and children have proportionally greater demands for essential amino acids thanadults. In addition, infants require histidine as an essential amino acid.
Factors in addition to the age, sex and physiological condition of an individual influence therequirements for specific amino acids. If total protein intake is low, small surpluses of certainamino acids can increase the need for others. The non-essential amino acids in protein alsoaffect the quality of protein. For example, the amount of sulphur – containing essential aminoacid methionine required may be somewhat reduced if cystine, a sulphur-containing nonessentialamino acid,is supplied in the diet. Likewise, the presence in the diet of tyrosine, anon-essential amino acid similar in structure to phenylalanine, may reduce the requirement forphenylalanine.
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