Cholesterol Talk!

This is a mini checklist that you can create for your own personal use to improve your heart health and your cholesterol levels with the 8 food tips to lower cholesterol.

You can try the followings:

1. Stock your pantry and your refrigerator with the right foods for a low-cholesterol diet. Buy your favorite canned or dry beans, fresh fruits, whole grains, vegetables, and vegetable juice.
2. For a low-cholesterol diet, toss the butter, trans fat margarine, and polyunsaturated oil. Replace them with canola oil, olive oil, or plant sterol spreads.
3. Look for products specifically created for low-cholesterol diets, like Minute Maid HeartWise orange juice and Benecol, Promise, Smart Balance, and Take Control margarines. These foods have been fortified with plant stanols and sterols that help to block the absorption of cholesterol.
4. Start your day with oatmeal. Experts agree this is one of the top cholesterol-lowering superfoods.
5. Try a cholesterol-free egg substitute instead of whole eggs.
6. For a tasty low-cholesterol dish, switch out the cream sauce on your fettuccine for lightly stir-fried vegetables.
7. Instead of using butter to keep your pan moist while cooking, use white wine vinegar. It doesn’t change the flavor of foods and doesn’t add fat — a key to low-cholesterol cooking!
8. Don’t lean on butter, sour cream, and other fatty additives for flavoring. Instead, reach for the spices — either while cooking or at the table. Liven up your dishes with oregano, basil, parsley, rosemary, thyme, cilantro, coriander, or cumin.

Source: WebMD

This is in conjunction with the 2008 National Cholesterol Education Month.

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Aside from making wise choices in food, good nutrition can be achieved through other methods that reinforce our health. It is not just what you eat, but how you eat.

We have 7 easy tips to eating smarter:

1. Read Food Labels

   Making a conscientious effort to read labels when buying food can make a difference in the food one eats, as many foods contain saturated fat or sodium that can raise cholesterol levels and increased blood pressure. Look out for terms such as “Free”, “Reduced” or “Low” to help you make the best decision.

2. Buy Smaller Servings

   Resist the temptation to buy more than you need when you are shopping for food, as this is one of the best ways to control your calorie intake.

3. Cooking

   Other than selecting healthier foods to consume, using low-fat methods such as boiling, broiling, baking, grilling, poaching and steaming can go a long way in keeping cholesterol levels low. This can also extend to requests made to the restaurants where you eat, ensuring that the food that you consume is healthy for you.

4. Take time to chew your food

   Digestion begins in the mouth. Chewing breaks the food into smaller particles and mixes the food with saliva that contains digestive enzymes. Thorough digestion is key to the absorption of nutrients and to good health. Chew your food slowly, savouring every bite. We tend to rush though our meals, forgetting to actually taste the flavours and feel the textures of what is in our mouths.

5. Avoid stress while eating

   When we are stressed, our digestion can be compromised. Avoid eating while working, driving, or watching TV (especially disturbing programs or the news). Also avoid confrontations, serious discussions or worry during meals. If you feel stressed or upset, stop eating and relax before continuing with your meal. Try taking some deep breaths prior to beginning your meal, or light candles and play soothing music to create a relaxing atmosphere.

6. Listen to your body

   Stop eating when you feel full. It actually takes a few minutes for your brain to tell your body that it has had enough food, so eating slowly can help you get a more accurate read on this, as well. Eating just enough to satisfy your hunger will help you remain alert, relaxed and feeling your best.

7. Eat early, eat often

   Remember this old saying: breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper. Starting your day with a healthy breakfast can jumpstart your metabolism, and eating the majority of your daily caloric allotment early in the day gives your body time to work those calories off. Also, eating six small, healthy meals throughout the day, rather than the standard three large meals, can help keep your metabolism going and ward off snack attacks.

This is an article extract from an eBook on cholesterol wellness produced by Cholesterol Talk! community.

Download our FREE eBook on Cholesterol Wellness today!

We all have our individual eating patterns derived from different reasons. Some people overeat when they are stressed, bored or lonely. Some launch into chaotic eating patterns in the name of a busy work schedule. Some are restrained eaters who watch their weight too much and end up denying their bodies of proper nutrients.

The first thing you have to do is to uncover your negative eating patterns. You can note down the timing of your meals and amount of food consumed over a 2-week period. The key is to be honest with yourself and identify the times when you are eating not because of hunger.

Here is a quick profile of some common ‘negative’ eaters. If your habits fit one of the following descriptions, please consider a diet-change programme immediately and consult a doctor if necessary.

• Emotional eater

  You turn to food to lessen the intensity of negative emotions and enhance the enjoyment of positive emotions. Think overloads of chocolates and ice-cream. Criticism can send you in search of a candy bar, potato chips and soda. Other emotional triggers include anxiety, depression, boredom, loneliness, fear and stress. Food is the emotional eater’s drug of choice.

• Restrained Eater

  The restrained eater agonises over food choices and may miss out social events due to erratic eating and exercise patterns. You spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about food, planning what to eat or avoid, and exercise heavily to ‘make up’ for diet indulgences. Such an eating habit is far from achieving a balanced lifestyle or peace of mind.

• Chaotic Eater

  As a chaotic eater, you spend a lot of time at the extremes of hunger and fullness. You may go many hours or most of the day with nothing more than a coffee and a vending machine snack; you gorge yourself at night when you finally have the opportunity. You often eat convenience food and seldom sit down at a table for a proper meal. A chaotic eater may have nutritional or digestive problems.

Our bodies send out unique signals when they are in need of food and nourishment. But due to cultural, social, psychological or emotional factors, many of us have ignored these signals along the way. Start honouring you body and respect its natural reactions. Give up man-made reasons or factors that may cloud your intuitive understanding of your body.

Because each person experiences hunger and fullness differently, there is no blanket rule to how much and how often one should eat. A fair gauge will be to eat in moderation. You should not be starving or so full that you feel sick. Learn to work with, not against your body physiological hunger signals to optimise your health and quality of life.

Be mindful of what you are eating. Pay attention to your food. Even if you have only five minutes to devote to a meal, sit down, take a deep breath, and enjoy your meal as much as possible. When you are mindful, you are less likely to overeat and also make sure you have a good nutritional intake. There are certain times when in some restaurant settings.

Another key to good eating is to eat smartly. 1500 calories derived from consumption of potato chips only is not the same as similar calorie intake from a balanced meal. Taking note of the proportion of carbohydrate, protein and fat we consume daily has to be an internalised habit so that we learn to intuitively ‘accept’ or ‘reject’ certain food at meal tables. Also, try to include at least three food groups in your meals to get the nutrients you need. One benefit of balanced eating is you will stay satisfied longer after a meal.

Water is not a nutrient but it is essential for our survival. Make it a habit to drink plenty of water throughout the day, especially after strenuous exercises when you need to replenish loss of fluid.

Tip of the Day:

We have little control over the portions we are served.

One trick is to, as soon as you are served, separate the food on your plate into two or more portions.

Each time you finish a portion, monitor your hunger level and decide if you still want to continue eating.

This is an article extract from an eBook on cholesterol wellness produced by Cholesterol Talk! community.

Download our FREE eBook on Cholesterol Wellness today!

Shockingly and surprisingly, thousands of people are at risk in developing a genetic heart disease which is caused by a certain cholesterol condition in Britain. To cut down these numbers, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) issued guidelines to encourage doctors to identify the estimated 95,000 people in Britain unaware they have familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH).

FH, caused by a genetic mutation, triggers dangerously high levels of cholesterol in the blood and without treatment can lead to early death from coronary heart disease. With all of these guidelines, it will keep FH at bay and save many lives.  It affects around one in 500 people but only 15,000 of those with the condition in Britain have been identified presently.

One of the guidelines includes that the doctors should consider checking for FH in patients with high levels of cholesterol, especially where there is a family history of premature heart disease.
Children and siblings of someone with FH have a 50 percent chance of inheriting the condition, and should be offered cholesterol and DNA tests, it said.NICE said children of a parent with FH should be tested by the time they are ten years old.

Those found to have FH will normally be offered cholesterol-reducing statins as well as lifestyle advice on smoking, diet and exercise. Without treatment, 50 percent of men with FH will suffer a heart attack by the age of 50, while 30 percent of women with untreated FH will have a heart attack by the time they are 60.

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Source: Reuters Health

Download our FREE limited eBook on Cholesterol Wellness today!

When it comes to cholesterol, it’s good to know your numbers. High blood cholesterol increases your risk for heart disease and heart attack, and lowering it decreases that risk.

September is National Cholesterol Education Month, a great time to learn about high blood cholesterol, especially if you are among the 65 million Americans who have this condition. It is also a good time to sponsor cholesterol screening and education events.

The NHLBI offers many resources to help you prepare for National Cholesterol Education Month. They are featured on the National Cholesterol Education Month Web page at http://hp2010.nhlbihin.net/cholmonth/.

Get your worksite, health or community center, HMO, social organization, or faith-based group involved. In addition to organizing screenings, offer cholesterol education sessions and distribute printed take-home materials. Ideas for fun activities include heart healthy cooking demonstrations, taste tests, and cafeteria menus; pot luck dinners with dishes low in saturated fat and cholesterol; and bulletin board displays or e-mail newsletters with tips for lifestyle changes that foster lower cholesterol levels.

September is right around the corner. Visit the National Cholesterol Education Month Web site at http://hp2010.nhlbihin.net/cholmonth/ to get a jump start.

Source: National Network of Libraries of Medicine

Download our FREE limited eBook on Cholesterol Wellness today!