Metabolic Syndrome Bigger Problem for Heart Disease Than Obesity
A study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology has found individuals with a healthy weight and metabolic syndrome are at increased risk of heart failure when compared to overweight individuals that are metabolically healthy.
Metabolic Syndrome
Metabolic syndrome is the name given to a group of risk factors that increase your risk for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.
Here are the five conditions considered risk factors for metabolic syndrome:
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What equals 25 – 35 grams of dietary fiber?
I recently had an individual email me the following question:
How much fiber do I need to eat to equal 25 grams? How many pieces of fruit, slices of bread, cups of barley or flaxseed? I can’t relate to 25 grams.
I want to share the answer with everyone. Read on. . .
How Much Dietary Fiber
You need to consume between 25-35 grams of dietary fiber daily. Of this, soluble fiber should make up 15 grams. For every 1-2 grams of daily soluble fiber intake, LDL (bad) cholesterol is lowered 1%.
The average US dietary fiber intake is 12-18 grams/day. If your current diet is very low in dietary fiber, do not increase to 35 grams overnight. A sudden increase will result in gastrointestinal (stomach) distress and unpleasant side effects (flatulence and diarrhea). You want to increase your intake gradually.
Top 5 Foods Containing Dietary Fiber
Weight Loss Gifts Giveaway Offers Best Selection of FREE Health and Wellness Related Products, Services & Memberships
I wanted to let you know today about a Weight Loss site that will allow you to download a ton of weight loss-related gifts. And the best part is that it is absolutely FREE!
If you’ve had enough of plodding along year after year and you want to improve yourself and your health to make this your BEST ever year, then you need to go here: http://weightlossgiftsgiveaway.com/go/114
The Weight Loss Gifts Giveaway will be open only for a VERY LIMITED TIME from October 6th to October 27th, 2011. When you go there you’ll find a multitude of products – all FREE – provided by Weight Loss experts from all over the world. Here is just a small sample of what you will find:
TLC Diet to Lower Cholesterol
Are you familiar with the TLC diet? I was not, so when I saw this treatment plan to lower cholesterol I was interested to see what it was all about. Below I’ve shared a summary of the diet plan and a link where you can access more information.
TLC stands for Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes and consists of a three part program of diet, physical activity, and weight management.
Diet
Diet changes focus on reduces saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol in your daily intake. If you are overweight, you would also work to reduce your daily calorie intake.
Here are goal levels for nutrients on the TLC diet:
Heart Fat – Is the fat around your heart increasing your heart disease risk?
You are probably familiar with the fact that an ‘apple’ body shape puts you at greater risk for heart disease. A new study published August 16th in the online edition of the journal of Radiology has found the fat around your heart may be an even stronger predicator of heart disease risk.
What is heart fat?
Heart fat, or pericardial fat, is hidden behind the rib cage in a pericardial cavity. It appears that pericardial fat releases proinflammatory markers which promote irregular build-up of plaque along coronary artery walls. This plaque build-up leads to atherosclerosis which can result in a heart attack.
Pericardial fat volume is linked to being overweight or obese. The more excess fat you carry, the greater your risk of having high levels of pericardial fat.
The 183 participants of this study were from the community-based Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). All participants were symptom free, meaning they did not show or experience symptoms of heart disease, but the majority of participants were overweight.
How is heart fat linked to heart disease?
Losing Weight Involves More Than Simply ‘Eat Less, Exercise More’
There are a variety of factors that impact your success losing weight. The results of a recent long term study shed light on the impact your food choices and lifestyle choices have on weight gain.
The Study
This study included 120,877 women and men participants who were followed for 12 to 20 years. Relationships between diet, lifestyle, and weight changes were examined.
The Results
