Eating for Heart Health By Gail L. Becker
|
||
 |
 As you start on your plan to change habits acquired over a lifetime, it's encouraging to realize you have plenty of company.
Since the early 1960s, millions of Americans have learned about the risks of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease and have successfully changed their lifestyles.
The American Heart Association reports that since 1964 the average per capita intake of saturated fat and cholesterol has declined and, correspondingly, cholesterol levels in adults have decreased. Millions of American adults have stopped smoking. Many American adults with high blood pressure are learning to reduce their intake of sodium. As mentioned in the introduction, cholesterol is necessary to a healthy body. it acts as an insulator of nerve and brain tissue. An important part of the cell membrane, it makes your skin almost completely waterproof, while at the same time retarding evaporation of water from the body.
Since your body needs cholesterol, it ensures a supply by manufacturing it. But when a high dietary intake of cholesterol is added to your body's naturally produced cholesterol, your system may become overloaded.
Diet is the major key to reducing cholesterol and controlling atherosclerosis. A regular weight-control program, integrating diet and exercise, takes commitment. As you progressively change your habits, making your plan part of a permanent lifestyle, it becomes easier and easier until it is second nature.
The importance of diet in lowering body cholesterol can be seen in recent studies.' A group of researchers at the University of Minnesota has found that vegetarian diets containing no animal fats result in lower blood cholesterol levels. In studies of Japan's population, it seems that increasing Westernization in that nation has been accompanied by an increase in death from heart disease. Compared to the U. S. population, Japanese in Japan have low cholesterol levels.
However, Japanese living in California and eating American diets have relatively high cholesterol levels, and the severity of atherosderosis approaches that of Caucasians in the United States. A recent research trial provides strong support for the role of nutrition in preventing heart disease. The study, referred to as MR. FIT (Multiple Risk Factors Intervention Trial), showed that men who experienced the greatest reductions in plasma cholesterol were those who adhered to diets lowest in total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol. 6 Besides cholesterol and fat, other dietary factors may influence blood-cholesterol levels. Recent studies suggest that omega-3 fatty acids-a type of fat found in cold and deep-water fish such as salmon, tuna and mackerel-Iower the level of harmful LDL cholesterol and may raise the level of beneficial HDL cholesterol.
Interest in the benefits of fish was sparked by the observation that Greenland Eskimos experience law rates of heart disease despite a very high dietary intake of fat. The type of fat--omega-3-was the key. Subsequent studies have shown significant reductions in the incidence of heart disease when fatty fish is consumed at least twice a week. 8 Besides lowering the levels of harmful LDL cholesterol, fatty fish may actually protect against heart attack by making blood platelets less sticky and, therefore, less likely to form clots that cause heart attacks. Fatty fish may also play a role in lowering blood pressure.
Another ,dietary factor in the spotlight is monounsaturated fat, of which olive and avocado are the most common. New studies suggest that these types of fats can also help lower the level of harmful LDL cholesterol.
Certain forms of fiber such as "gums" and pectins-found in legumes, some fruits and vegetables, oats, oat bran and barley-also play a role in lowering blood cholesterol levels. Although poorly understood, these soluble fibers move through the small intestine and interfere with either the absorption or the metabolism of cholesterol. The good news is that Americans are becoming more aware of the relationship between diet and disease.
As a nation, we are eating more vegetables, fruit, fish and chicken and fewer animal fats such as beef and dairy products. The latter foods have been status symbols in the affluent industrial countries, which have traditionally had the highest incidence of heart disease.
Between 1963 and 1977, per capita consumption of animal fats fell almost 50 percent in America. Perhaps this accounts for the dramatic drop in heart disease among adult Americans. It is up to you and your doctor to determine the combination of diet and exercise that fits into your future life/health plan. In the meantime, such changes for the general public are a topic of debate among scientists.
Some researchers believe that there should be major changes in the American diet. Others think it would be premature to recommend any changes at all. A more moderate approach is taken by those who advocate individual prescription. These health professionals have concluded that evidence suggests a relationship between diet and coronary heart disease. But they agree that the risks don't apply to everyone.
Individual prescription-a diet combined with an exercise program and possible drug therapy based on a physician's judgment as to the special health needs of each patient-seems to be the most sensible approach.
We all know people who have change d their lives through diet and exercise and have adopted a missionary zeal toward converting friends who haven't yet "seen the light." The truth is, not everyone needs to change.
You, on the other hand, have been told by your doctor that you have a cholesterol level that is too high. The most exciting aspect of choosing a healthier approach is that you, yourself, can make it happen.
Source: "A Plan For Low-Cholestorel Living"
|
  Relations Beauty Health Recipes |
