Tag: Bad Fats

Learning the Proper Diet to Lower Cholesterol

Cholesterol is one of the major substances that cause heart attacks, high blood cholesterol levels, and weight problems. Despite its bad guy image, this waxy, fat-like substances made in the body by the persons own liver serves a number of vital functions unknown to many.

Basically, there are two types of cholesterol: the Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL) and the High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL). The former refers to the bad type of cholesterol that is known to clog the persons blood vessels, thus, increasing the risk for a heart attack or a heart disease. Studies show that a diet that is high in saturated fat is a main dietary cause of a raised LDL cholesterol level. The latter, on the other hand, is the good type of cholesterol that helps clear LDL cholesterol out of the blood stream, thus, reducing the risk for any heart illness. Researches have shown that a diet rich in fruit and vegetables along with average levels of omega-3 from fish oil greatly helps raise HDL cholesterol levels.

Although diet is the major reason for having high cholesterol levels, experts agree that factors such as genetics, lack of exercise or regular physical activity, obesity, unhealthy lifestyle such as excessive drinking and smoking, hormones, and varying high and low cholesterol levels can trigger the sudden increase of cholesterol levels in the body.

GETTING STARTED

Indeed, cholesterol is a growing problem in the health of many people in the world. Experts say that people over 20 years of age should be more concerned about their cholesterol levels; thus, they should start doing everything they can to lower LDL cholesterol. Although it is quite hard to stick to the needed requirements and regiments to combat the growing problem, experts say that it can be controlled with the proper diet to lower cholesterol.

Studies show that a good diet to lower cholesterol can reduce a persons risk for heart diseases while getting rid of bad fats because this diet to emphasizes on eating heart-healthy foods. But, aside from using the proper and proven low cholesterol diets available today, the most important thing is that knowing and taking in the right foods and effective cholesterol formulas to assist in lowering cholesterol levels.

Experts say that a diet to lower cholesterol includes good foods like grainsespecially whole grain products and cerealsfish rich in omega3 such as salmon and tune, a variety of fruits and leafy vegetables, nuts, juices, and the like. Here are other effective means of lowering cholesterol level through diet:

1. Make sure that you visit your attending physician first before trying out any low cholesterol diets so he/she could administer the proper examinations and access your general health status.

2. You can lower your cholesterol levels by replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat in meat, chicken, and whole milk products.

3. Refrain from eating refined carbohydrates contained by bakery products, pastas, and sugary or sugar-added foods.

4. When eating out, makes sure that you ask the waiter to make serving substitutions like steamed or boiled food preparations. If possible, also pick lean meat, fish, or skinless chicken that is broiled, baked, grilled, steamed, or poached instead of being fried and ask for lots of vegetable side dishes and fresh fruit desserts.

5. Cutting down on eggs, margarine, or butter out of your daily diet.

6. Use natural-based oils such as vegetable, corn, and olive oils when cooking instead of the usual cooking oil.

7. Load up on a lot of garlic when youre preparing dishes because it contains substances that help lower HDL cholesterol.

8. Take in high quality daily vitamin mineral supplements like Vitamin E to improve blood circulation, and Vitamin C and vitamin B3 to lower your high cholesterol levels.

Low Blood Sugar Diet

If you have frequent low blood sugar episodes then you should consider starting on a low blood sugar diet. You need to get you blood sugars under control otherwise you may find yourself in some serious trouble at some point. Low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia, can be a serious condition if not brought under control. Figuring out how to eat better is the best way for you to control your low blood sugar. Here’s what you do.

Plan out what you are going to eat throughout your day. This will make things easier for you so you don’t get so hungry and then have n o idea what to eat. Your best bet is to plan out several small meals that are easy to get to during the day. If you work then you may need to start carrying an insulated lunch box to keep the food you prepared close at hand. Buy a thermos to keep hot things,like soup, hot.

A high protein, low carbohydrate low blood sugar diet is best for you to learn to adjust and then maintain your low blood sugar. Stay away from things that are highly processed they are full of bad carbs. Also stay away from anything made with white sugar or white flour for the same reason.
If you do not consider yourself much of a cook, then learn. This is the best thing you can do for yourself. Learning to cook with fresh ingredients will help you keep your blood sugars under control.

Decreased carbs is great but how do you get and feel full? The easy answer is, fat. Be careful here though and make sure that you are using the right kinds of fat. Olive oil and canola oil are best. Anything that says ‘hydrogenated’ is bad. Fats will help you feel fuller, longer and slows the absorption of sugar into the blood stream. The slower the absorption the more stable the blood sugar.

A great way to see what foods are foods you react to when you have a low blood sugar episode, is to keep a food diary. Maybe you have done this in the past and already know what foods are your triggers, great! Then all you have to do is to learn to eat right to keep things under control. Avoid any of the foods that you react badly to, or, if you can’t stay away from them then just have them in moderation and make sure that you eat them with something that will help maintain your blood sugar level.

The reason that carbs are bad for you if you have low blood sugar, is because carbs immediately convert to sugar in your body during the digestion process. This sudden increase in blood sugar makes your pancreas pump insulin into your blood stream to try to control it. The problem arises when the blood sugar has been taken care of then there is still an overabundance of insulin in your blood stream and then here is where the trouble starts. With too much insulin and not enough sugar you have an insulin reaction, or, a low blood sugar episode. This can be prevented if you learn to live on a low blood sugar diet.

The Healthier the Better: Your Brains Health Improvement

They say that aging is one of the causes that lead to the weakening of your brains performance. As you grow older, your memory becomes out of form, this is why there are illnesses such as the unfortunate Alzheimers disease. Fortunately, there are already known ways that can help you better your brain performance, thus giving you the protection from the dreaded brain deterioration.

One good prevention is the inclusion of colorful fruits and vegetables to your diet. The brighter the color of the fruit or vegetable, the healthier and fresher it is thus, the better. As you may know, healthy foods help the body get rid of unhealthy toxins because these foods have antioxidants. If you follow this kind of diet, then you may have a 70% lower chance of suffering from dementia when you get older.

Vitamins, especially vitamin B can also help maintain the fitness of your brain. If you lack vitamin B, you are more prone to suffer from Alzheimers disease and many other diseases. So, you may want to include vitamin supplements in your everyday meal. If you do not feel like you need supplements, then you may want to cut down on your alcohol and cigarette consumption for these substances, together with coffee and sugar, can use up your bodys stock of vitamin B. Aside from this, you should also try eating more beans and green veggies; these are rich in vitamin B.

You should stay away from bad fats that come from junk foods. Your brain may be made up of fats, but this does not mean that it should come from the fats from hot dogs. Instead of munching on unhealthy foods, enjoy good fats such as fish and nuts and all those foods which are good sources of omega-3 fatty acids. If you do this, you will have a higher chance of keeping your brain in its best shape.

Stress is another thing that you should avoid if you want a healthy brain. Hence, you should protect yourself from being too stressed out and from being overwhelmed by all the drama that may come your way. Release your tension, relax and meditate so that you can give your body and your mind the time they need to recharge. Also, take enough rest and sleep. Six to eight hours of sleep is highly suggested to keep your mind in its prime. After a good rest, you should engage yourself in healthy activities, such as exercising and working out. This will keep your body active and alert.

Finally, if you are exercising your body, you should exercise your brain as well. Always use your mind think and rethink. Keep your brain muscles active by reading, doing puzzles, answering crosswords and socializing with other people. There are a lot of activities that are designed to keep you thinking. Any type of activity from which you can learn is worth trying. Do not be afraid to explore, active learning is the key to your minds actual exercise.

As you know, the healthier you are the better; your brain should also feel the same way. If you are doing all your best to keep yourself physically fit, you should also keep yourself mentally fit. Fight all the factors that may cause the weakening of your brain performance.