Friday, December 13, 2024
5 SIMPLE LIFESTYLE CHANGES TO HELP LOWER CHOLESTEROL
BY DONOVAN BALDWIN
There are some things that cannot be changed, and your genetic inheritance is one of them. If you are at risk for high cholesterol due to the genetic makeup inherited from your ancestors, then that is a fact.
This is of concern because high cholesterol puts you at risk for heart disease and heart attacks. Often, cholesterol must be controlled with medications, However, at already at a high cholesterol level or not, on medication or not, you can usually lower your cholesterol levels by several points by making some simple lifestyle changes.
1. Get Regular Exercise: Participating in regular physical activity such as gardening, walking, or swimming, or in a formal exercise program, has several well-documented health benefits. Some of these benefits affect your cholesterol levels indirectly or from another angle, but exercise can reduce cholesterol levels itself. Even something as simple as squeezing in a few short exercise sessions daily can help produce results.
2. Lose Weight: It has been shown that losing as little as 10 lbs can help reduce cholesterol levels, and exercise is one of the more effective strategies for healthy weight loss. That's one of the indirect aspects of exercise mentioned earlier.
3. Eat Right: Hey! Here we go again. Healthy eating helps promote weight loss. Healthy weight loss can help encourage interest in exercise, as can getting the proper nutrition.
A general rule of thumb for healthy eating is that the closer to the source the food is, usually the better for you it is. Get rid of trans fats generally found in fried foods and bakery products. Select lean cuts of meat, low fat dairy products, and exercise portion control. Eat a wide range of fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. By all means, read the labels! Pick foods with lower cholesterol levels. For example, I was buying one brand of a certain product I used daily until I read the label and found that it had a much higher cholesterol level than another brand which provided the same nutrients.
4. Keep Alcohol Consumption at Low Levels: It has been found that a low level of alcohol consumption, generally no more than one or two drinks a day, can be of some health benefit and can help increase "good" cholesterol. Red wine has an ingredient, resveratrol, which apparently helps protect cells against the effects of aging. However, high levels of alcohol consumption can lead to serious health problems, including high blood pressure, heart failure and stroke.
5. Don't Smoke: As an ex-smoker, I cannot beat on this drum enough! If you already smoke, stopping smoking can improve your HDL cholesterol level. The health benefits don't end there, either. Only 20 minutes after your last cigarette, your blood pressure decreases. Then within 24 hours, your risk of a heart attack begins to decrease. Within just one year, your risk of heart disease is already down to half that of a smoker. It gets even better. Within 15 years, your risk of heart disease is similar to someone who never smoked.
Generally, lifestyle changes don't cause huge decreases in cholesterol levels, but, given time, they will, in most cases, produce results. However, as mentioned earlier, some people may need medication to actually reduce cholesterol levels effectively. Even in those instances, it is still in the individual's best interest to include the lifestyle choices as a part of their plan for good health overall and cholesterol control in particular.
Labels: article, donovan baldwin, health, lower cholesterol
Friday, December 06, 2024
ARTICLE - HEALTH - FROM DOG SLEDS TO DIABETES
BY DONOVAN BALDWIN
Interesting interview on the radio yesterday. Unfortunately, I only caught a few minutes of it.
It was actually about a novel. The plot was about a doctor in Canada. I don't know much more than that about the book.
It was the author, and his comments, that caught, and held, my attention.
The author had been a Doctor in Canada and drew on his experiences for the novel. He had also been a doctor in Afghanistan, again, I don't know the circumstances, but his experiences in both areas provided him with an interesting point of view on modern health dilemmas.
In Afghanistan, he found that the local people "never" in his words, required insulin for diabetes or to stabilize blood sugar. Apparently, the use of insulin in other, more "modern" societies is quite common due to diet and lifestyle....which have contributed to high levels of body fat, particularly the insidious abdominal, or visceral, fat.
He also compared this to medical observations over just a few decades of the Inuit of Northern Canade.
Not too long ago, many of their "major" health problems were what you would expect from such a civilization...broken bones, cuts, etc. These days, they can have Kentucky Fried Chicken from a fast food emporium, rather than whale blubber from a beast they chased for hours, or even days and expended huge amounts of calories to kill, butcher, and prepare.
The difference in lifestyle is reflected in medical problems. They have fewer broken bones, cuts, and gashes, but have diabetes (once nearly unheard of), heart disease, and strokes...all conditions related to high accumulations of visceral fat.
Sure, they used to have subcutaneous body fat which helped protect against the cold and provided energy stores...which they drew upon regularly. Now, they, like so many of us in the U.S. and other "Western" nations, have accumulations of abdominal fat which surrounds the internal organs and keeps the body in a state of chronic inflammation, contributing to heart disease, as well as diabetes.
Not a whole lot of conclusions here, but I think I will go exercise now.
Labels: article, diabetes, donovan baldwin, health, opinion
Sunday, August 04, 2019
Review: Shaklee Mental Acuity Plus®
Review: Shaklee Mental Acuity Plus®
Mental Acuity Plus® from Shaklee, combines Ginkgo biloba with complementary herbs and essential nutrients in a unique combination that provides dietary support for proper blood flow to the brain, mental acuity, and circulation, and is also valuable for maintaining the strength of blood vessel walls.
Mental Acuity Plus® from Shaklee, combines Ginkgo biloba with complementary herbs and essential nutrients in a unique combination that provides dietary support for proper blood flow to the brain, mental acuity, and circulation, and is also valuable for maintaining the strength of blood vessel walls.
Labels: Ginkgo biloba, health, mental acuity, product, Shaklee
Friday, September 07, 2018
Poem: Lets Get Physical
By: Donovan Baldwin
In my blood cholesterol rages,
Causing geometric increase of my ages,
Measured by official cholesterol gauges.
I try to dissuade, disavow, and distract,
But the doctor restates with so little tact,
My health's in danger - and that's a fact.
So, I turn to food most decidedly lean,
Although this fare will turn me mean,
I suppose I can eat it, as long as it's green.
But, some night when I've had all the greens I can take,
And, the whole world's asleep, yet, I'm still awake,
I'll dine in the moonlight... on a blood red steak.
Copyright March 2020 by Donovan Baldwin
In my blood cholesterol rages,
Causing geometric increase of my ages,
Measured by official cholesterol gauges.
I try to dissuade, disavow, and distract,
But the doctor restates with so little tact,
My health's in danger - and that's a fact.
So, I turn to food most decidedly lean,
Although this fare will turn me mean,
I suppose I can eat it, as long as it's green.
But, some night when I've had all the greens I can take,
And, the whole world's asleep, yet, I'm still awake,
I'll dine in the moonlight... on a blood red steak.
Copyright March 2020 by Donovan Baldwin
Labels: cholesterol, donovan baldwin, health, humorous poem
Monday, September 03, 2018
In Defense Of Our Real Treasure... Humans As They Are.
By: Donovan Baldwin
I'm always wary of absolutes... okay, usually, almost, probably.
Still, my radar comes on when I see statements like, "Do this to get rich, happy, taller..." whatever. Usually involves chocolate, wine, or cabbage soup.
While we do share many common traits and feelings... desires, even lusts, we humans are just too unique for a "one size fits all" approach to most life situations and relationships.
Another one that makes me start looking for the exit, is, "________(fill in the blank with a group) like, want, expect, deserve...." etc.
In my 73 years, I've met too many people that simply do not fit into a mold prepared for them by pundits and politicians (and become my own odd little self in the process).
From soup to nuts, health to wealth, sexual preferences, religious teachings, personal trials and tribulations, internal and external scars, and glorious glowing of transcendent souls, we ARE different.
Until we accept THAT as the ultimate commonality among us, and learn to live WITH it, rather than trying to figure out how to get around it, fight it, or just plain argue about it, life's not going to be nearly the rewarding and enriching experience it could be... because people who can accept US the way each messy little, "spilling out of the box" individual of us is, ARE to be treasured.
Follow @donovanbaldwin
I'm always wary of absolutes... okay, usually, almost, probably.
Still, my radar comes on when I see statements like, "Do this to get rich, happy, taller..." whatever. Usually involves chocolate, wine, or cabbage soup.
While we do share many common traits and feelings... desires, even lusts, we humans are just too unique for a "one size fits all" approach to most life situations and relationships.
Another one that makes me start looking for the exit, is, "________(fill in the blank with a group) like, want, expect, deserve...." etc.
In my 73 years, I've met too many people that simply do not fit into a mold prepared for them by pundits and politicians (and become my own odd little self in the process).
From soup to nuts, health to wealth, sexual preferences, religious teachings, personal trials and tribulations, internal and external scars, and glorious glowing of transcendent souls, we ARE different.
Until we accept THAT as the ultimate commonality among us, and learn to live WITH it, rather than trying to figure out how to get around it, fight it, or just plain argue about it, life's not going to be nearly the rewarding and enriching experience it could be... because people who can accept US the way each messy little, "spilling out of the box" individual of us is, ARE to be treasured.
Follow @donovanbaldwin
Labels: chocolate, donovan baldwin, health, human beings, life lesson, living together, sexual preferences, wealth, wine
