Common myths about cholesterol, foods and fats
Guest post provided by Rebecca S. Reeves, DrPH, RD, FADA
2013 is shaping up to be a year of prevention, which should have you thinking about how well you are treating your own heart. If you are trying to maintain healthy cholesterol levels, or your doctor has said that you need to lower your cholesterol, you are probably trying to keep a close eye on your diet.
This does not mean that you must avoid all your favorite foods. What it might take is substituting different ingredients in a recipe or stir-frying a food rather than deep fat frying it.
Learning the difference in the types of fat that we eat and where these fats are found in our food is also important to controlling the cholesterol levels in our blood. Taking precautions today could prevent a heart condition tomorrow.
Here are some of the most common myths and facts that you should know.
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Educate Children on Healthy Behaviors to Reduce Heart Disease Risk
At the American College of Cardiology Scientific Session in March of 2012, information was presented from the University of Michigan Systems showing that children understand the effect of healthy behaviors on overall health.
Project Health Schools, which is a community-University of Michigan System project, measured risk factors for heart disease in middle school children. Measured risk factors included lipid profiles and physical activity before and after receiving education on healthy behaviors. They found that after receiving education the middle school students showed positive behaviors towards improving lipid profiles, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides. This indicates middle school children are not too young to understand the impact of healthy behaviors and they have the ability to implement changes.
This implementation of healthy behaviors at an early age is critical to lifelong health and reduced risk for heart disease, heart attacks and strokes. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 17% of children and teens are overweight or obese. This is triple the rate one generation ago and puts children at increased risk for health complications just as excess weight impacts adults.
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3 Tips to Naturally Lower Stress to Reduce Heart Disease Risk
Stress is part of life. There’s no way you can avoid stress entirely. However, if you constantly live with high stress levels it can lead to physical problems. These physical problems may include high blood pressure, angina (i.e. chest pains), arrhythmia (i.e. irregular heart rate) and heart disease.
How Does Stress Increase Heart Disease Risk?
Stress can increase heart disease risk in different ways. First, stress affects you emotionally. This could lead you to make unhealthy food and lifestyle choices, such as overeating, not exercising, and smoking. Stress also causes elevated levels of the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol, which may have a negative impact long term. Research is also finding that stress impacts the way blood clots.
What Can You Do to Reduce Stress?
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Heart Disease Risk and Cholesterol Levels
Do you take statin medication? If so, when did your doctor recommend you being statins? Was it when your lab results found your LDL cholesterol levels to be elevated?
LDL cholesterol has been the measure used to determine when lipid lowering therapy is needed…and statins are often the therapy started.
Research is beginning to question if LDL is the best measure for knowing if cholesterol treatment is warranted to reduce heart disease risk.
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What Bad Habits Are Increasing Your Heart Disease Risk?
Annually, the American Heart Association (AHA), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and National Institutes of Health (NIH) publish the latest statistics for heart disease and stroke. The most recent updates found deaths due to cardiovascular disease actually decreased by 33% over the past 10 years and deaths due to stroke were reduced 37%.
This goes to show that a significant amount of progress has been made to improve outcomes for those who suffer heart attacks and strokes. Great news!
What’s not so good news are the increasing risk factors of US adults making them more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke. Did you know 68% of US adults are overweight or obese? Did you know 32% of children are overweight and 17% of children obese? And according to the AHA, CDC, and NIH, 33% of US adults do no engage in any aerobic leisure time physical activity. If you look around, it’s not so hard to believe that a majority of US adults are overweight and sedentary. Where do you fall?
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Stroke: Did you know stroke is a major health risk for women?
I was able to interview Sherry Torkos on the concerns regarding stoke and women and what you can do if you are at risk.
Sherry Torkos is a pharmacist, author, certified fitness instructor and health enthusiast who enjoys sharing her passion with others. Sherry graduated with honors from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science in 1992. Since that time she has been practicing holistic pharmacy in the Niagara region of Ontario. Her philosophy of practice is to integrate conventional and complementary therapies to optimize health and prevent disease. Sherry has won several national pharmacy awards for providing excellence in patient care. As a leading health expert, she has delivered hundreds of lectures to medical professionals and the public. Sherry is frequently interviewed on radio and TV talk shows throughout North America and abroad on health matters. Sherry has authored 16 books and booklets, including Saving Women’s Hearts, The Canadian Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine, and The Glycemic Index Made Simple.
Lisa Nelson RD #1: Why should women learn more about their risk for stroke?
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