Why is Heart Disease Overlooked in Women?
Did you know heart disease kills a woman nearly every minute in the U.S.?
If heart disease is responsible for so many female deaths why is it still being overlooked not only by women themselves, but by their physicians as well? Heart disease is not only the number one killer of men, but it’s also the number one killer of women.
Here are a few scary statistic:
- 64% of women who diet from heart disease have no previous symptoms
- 1 in 2.6 deaths in women is due to heart disease versus 1 in 30 from breast cancer
- Heart disease kills about half a million women every year
Don’t underestimate your risk for heart disease and the importance of maintaining healthy cholesterol levels. The foods you eat and your level of physical activity both play a role in your heart health.
Be sure to sign-up for the free e-course How to Lower Cholesterol in 8 Simple Steps.
All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Cholesterol Awareness with an Olympian
Mark Spitz is now a retired Olympic swimmer and he turns 60 years-old on February 10th. In case you do not know of Mark Spitz, Mark won 7 gold medals at the 1972 Olympic games. His record was just recently surpassed by Michael Phelps at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with 8 gold medals.
Back in 2002, Mark was diagnosed with cholesterol levels above 300 mg/dl. He worked with his physician to lower his levels through exercise and medication. His total cholesterol was back down below 200 mg/dl within one month. Mark’s been quoted as saying “I was shocked when I was diagnosed with high cholesterol because I had no symptoms at all.” In the past few years Mark has openly discussed his history with high cholesterol and has actively encouraged continued research and awareness.
One of the 2010 national health objectives is to decrease the number of adults with total cholesterol levels >240 mg/dl. A strategy used to reach this goal is increased public awareness. The CDC has found that the number of people screened for high cholesterol and told by a health professional they have high cholesterol has increased. Before you can take action to lower cholesterol levels you have to be aware your cholesterol is an issue. If you do not know your cholesterol levels discuss with your physician to have the necessary lab work completed.
Be sure to sign-up for the free e-course How to Lower Cholesterol in 8 Simple Steps provided by dietitian Lisa Nelson at http://www.lowercholesterolwithlisa.com.
All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Heart Health Made Easy – February Savings
AMERICAN HEART MONTH – February is American Heart Month and to help you get on track with heart health you can access the program Heart Health Made Easy for a 25% savings.
Heart Health Made Easy: Master the Basics to Lower Blood Pressure and Cholesterol for a Longer, Healthier Life – February Savings
Purchase Heart Health Made Easy before February 28th and you’ll receive a 25% savings
The program takes you step-by-step to a lower cholesterol and blood pressure with a practical, easy to understand take action guide.
THIS PROGRAM IS RIGHT FOR YOU IF. . .
- You are newly diagnosed with high cholesterol and/or blood pressure and don’t know the next step.
- You want to promote heart health, prevent high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart disease.
- You want all the information they need to know in one location.
- You don’t want to search for the answers yourself, but want the information you need easily and quickly accessible.
Learn more at http://hearthealthmadeeasy.com
All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Increasing Fiber to Lose Weight – Here's what you need to do!
I’ve been working with a retired gentleman the past few months and he’s been making fantastic progress to lose weight; however, this past week we focused on his fiber intake and learned his intake was much too low. He averaged around 15-20 grams of fiber daily. You should consume 25-35 grams of fiber everyday.
Eating a high fiber diet plan promotes weight loss by stabilizing blood sugars and increasing satiety (i.e. your sense of fullness). Fiber can actually act as a natural appetite suppressant. In addition to promoting weight loss, a diet high in fiber supports a lower LDL cholesterol/cholesterol levels, blood sugar control, promotes digestive health, and has the potential to decrease risk of colorectal cancer (studies are showing mixed results so far).
So, for your weight loss success and overall heart health, let’s take a moment and evaluate the fiber content of your food choices.
To determine your typical daily fiber intake grab a piece of paper and write down what you typically have for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and any snacks in between. If you’ve been keeping a food journal, simply grab your journal and look at yesterday.
Let’s use the following day as an example:
Breakfast:
2 cups of Cheerios with skim milk
6 oz. OJ
Morning Snack:
6 oz. Yogurt
Lunch:
Grilled cheese sandwich on white bread
1 cup tomato soup
Afternoon Snack:
¼ cup Walnuts and Dried Fruit
Evening Meal:
3 oz. Baked Turkey Breast
½ cup baked potato
½ cup broccoli and cauliflower
Now, you’ll have to be in your kitchen, so you can look at the food label of different foods to add up your fiber intake. For example, Cheerios provides 3 grams of fiber per cup, so fiber intake at breakfast was 6 grams (2 cups x 3 grams) since OJ and skim milk provide 0 grams of fiber. Do this for all your foods and add up the total.
In this example, total fiber intake is around 16 grams, which is low. If your fiber intake is also below 25-35 grams, look for ways to boost your fiber intake. Using the above example, you could swap out the OJ for a piece of whole fruit to add ~4 grams of fiber, sprinkle 1 Tbsp of ground flaxseed on the yogurt to add 2 grams of fiber, select whole grain bread that provides 5 grams of more fiber per slice, swap the baked potato for a baked sweet potato, and increase your broccoli and cauliflower serving to 1 cup with your evening meal. These changes would increase total fiber intake to around 34 grams.
Now, something important worth mentioning! If you currently consume a low fiber diet, making a sudden drastic increase can result in unpleasant side effects (i.e. gas and diarrhea). Increase your fiber intake gradually to avoid side effects.
All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Heart Healthy Tips
http://www.hearthealthmadeeasy.com
Lower Cholesterol – Do you understand the difference between LDL and VLDL cholesterol?
If you are trying to sort out everything regarding cholesterol and make an informed treatment decision that’s best for your health, you may be feeling overwhelmed. I’ve already given steps to raise HDL and lower triglycerides, now I’d like to more into VLDL versus LDL.
Let’s start at the beginning. You eat a food and it provides more energy (calories) than you immediately need. The liver breaks down some the carbohydrates and protein and forms triglycerides (fat) and cholesterol. The liver is the major fat producing organ, while our adipose tissue (fat cells) stores the fat made by the liver.
Well, we all know that oil (fat) and water (blood) do not mix. So the liver, in order to solve this problem and export the triglycerides its’ created, coats the fat (triglycerides) with a protein, cholesterol, and phospholipid shell. A phospholipid shell is a structure that acts as an emulsifier so the fat and blood will mix. The resulting product is called a lipoprotein (lipo or lipid = fat).
Lipoproteins can transport different components throughout your system, such as cholesterol, fat, and protein. LDL (low density lipoprotein) and VLDL (very low density lipoprotein) transport mostly fat and cholesterol, but differ in the amount of each.
The liver releases VLDL into circulation. VLDL is made up of 55-65% triglycerides, 10-15% cholesterol, 15-20% phospholipid, and 5-10% protein. For comparison, HDL the “good” cholesterol is 45-50% protein. Once the VLDL is released, enzymes in the bloodstream interact with the triglycerides within the lipoprotein and change the package from “very low density” to “low density”. LDL is “less dense” than VLDL because it has lost a large chunk of triglycerides, changing its concentration to 10% triglycerides, 45% cholesterol, 22% phospholipid, and 25% protein. Now, there is an intermediate step between the VLDL and LDL, but for simplicities sake we’ll stick with the more general overview of what is taking place.
If you have high LDL levels, an oxidation process takes place that leads to plaque development in your artery walls, damage to vessel linings, and heart disease. Eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables rich in antioxidants, such as vitamin C and vitamin E may slow or inhibit this oxidation process.
So, let’s summarize.
LDL and VLDL are both “lipoprotein packages” in your blood. Both are considered “bad” types of cholesterol.
They differ in what each package carries.
LDL – “bad” cholesterol
LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol carries mostly cholesterol, some protein, and minimal triglycerides throughout your circulation. LDL should be less than 130 mg/dl, ideally less than 100 mg/dl.
VLDL – “bad” cholesterol
VLDL (very low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol contains minimal protein and mainly transports triglycerides. VLDL should be less than 40 mg/dL.
To prevent VLDL and LDL from clogging your arteries, follow a diet to lower cholesterol and consume antioxidant rich fruits and vegetables.
Be sure to sign up for the free ecourse How to Lower Cholesterol in 8 Simple Steps at http://lowercholesterolwithlisa.com.
All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
http://www.hearthealthmadeeasy.com
Heart Disease – Does green tea lower heart disease risk?
All right, this green tea article has been hanging over my head for at least a month now. I just couldn’t get motivated to wade through all the research to determine if yes, this is an effective way to lower cholesterol and prevent heart disease, or no, it’s just a lot of hype.
Well, I sat down and sorted it all out today and here’s what I found.
Health Claim
The proposed health claim for green tea is that drinking at least 5 fluid ounces as a source of catechins may reduce risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease.
What are catchins?
Green tea contains catechins, which are a type of flavenoid with antioxidant properties. Antioxidants slow the oxidation process. The oxidation of LDL molecules is what results in plaque formation. Therefore, increasing antioxidant intake should slow oxidation of LDL, resulting in less arterial plaque formation.
Also, when molecules are oxidized, free radicals are released that damage cells. These free radicals can increase inflammatory issues associated with cardiovascular disease.
How flavenoids work
The body recognizes flavenoids as foreign particles and works to eliminate them from the body. Flavenoids themselves do not act as an antioxidant and they are poorly absorbed by the body. However, the proposed benefit of extra flavenoids is that as the body eliminates the unwanted flavenoids, damaging free radicals are also eliminated.
Tea production
The various types of tea are produced differently. The leaves of oolong tea and black tea are allowed to oxidize (enzymes in the tea change catechins to larger molecules). Green tea is not oxidized, but produced by steaming fresh-cut leaves whereby enzymes are inactivated and little oxidation occurs. The least processed tea is white tea, which contains the highest levels of catechins. Green tea contains the second highest catechin level, approximately 125 mg catechins per serving (or ~25% dry weight of fresh tea leaves).
Here’s a little breakdown on tea oxidation:
Black tea – Highest oxidation; also, highest caffeine content and strongest flavor; 90% of all tea served in the West is black tea
Oolong tea – 10-70% oxidized
Green tea – Low oxidation
White tea – Minimal oxidation; Uncured, unfermented; Lower caffeine content that other teas
FDA Review
In 2005, the FDA did not approve the health claim for green tea, because the link between green tea and reduced cardiovascular disease risk was too weak and more conclusive evidence was needed.
Recent Research
This past June, 2008, a study was published that links green tea to reduced flow-mediated dilation of brachial arteries (major blood vessels in the upper arms). Flow-mediated dilation is related to coronary endothelial function and is an indicator for cardiovascular disease risk. Increased dilation is good. It means the heart has to do less work to move blood throughout circulation. (The endothelium is the inner layer of an artery, which blood flows against.)
This was a study of 14 healthy individuals that consumed 6 grams of green tea, followed by a measure of flow-mediated dilation. The results showed an increased flow-mediated dilation with tea (peak at 30 minutes post consumption). There was no change to antioxidant status after consumption. It’s proposed that the improved flow-mediated dilation is how green tea reduces cardiovascular disease risk.
The Hype
I came across multiple articles with headlines screaming “Green Tea Protects Against Heart Disease” since this study was published in June. I think there is significant research that still needs to be completed before it can be determined for sure how tea works to prevent heart disease. A study of 14 individuals is a small study.
Drinking 6 grams of green tea, would equal about three – 6 ounce cups of green tea each day. (Based on making 1 six ounce cup of tea with 1 teaspoon or 2.25 grams of green tea.) However, the study results are based on consuming 6 grams of tea in one setting followed by improved flow-mediated dilation at peak levels 30 minutes after consumption. How likely is it for you to drink three cups of tea quickly, back-to-back to reproduce the short-term benefit shown in this study?
To me, that is not a very effective way to reduce heart disease risk. But, I will say that if you like green tea – drink it. Many studies are showing that green tea is beneficial to heart disease. The what, how, and how much is yet to be determined. Who knows what future studies will find?!
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All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
