First let’s have a discussion of what cholesterol is and how it affects the body. When you begin to learn how you can become healthier and loss weight through exercise and diet, you will be able to lower you cholesterol and it will become important to check your body’s levels of a fat called triglyceride. You will find that cholesterol and triglyceride are both lipids in your body that will help your body to survive. However if you don’t try to maintain healthy levels of fats in your body, you will be at risk for a heart attack and stroke. At unhealthy levels there are also many other diseases that can attack your body such as diabetes, Kidney problems as well as liver problems.

There are many people who will check with their doctor about their cholesterol levels so that they are able to stay healthy and so the heart can tick stronger than ever. But there are many more that thinks just because they do not hear anything back from the Doctor then everything is OK. This is not always the case as offices can get very busy and phone calls can be forgotten. You will want to inquire about your triglyceride levels because you doctor may not inform you of your personal level.

Triglycerides are tested as part of your cholesterol test and it will be the fourth number that happens to follow the good and bad cholesterol levels and your total cholesterol levels. Unfortunately, medical research has only recently been started on the effects of triglycerides in the blood stream. Usually, there are levels of triglycerides and the levels of bad cholesterol, as well as the good cholesterols. So it is apparent that lower levels of triglycerides are better for your body.

However, it is not yet apparent if triglycerides are contributing to the problems of high LDL cholesterol or if high levels are a symptom of high LDL cholesterol. They are still trying to study this type of problem, but there are doctors who aren’t quite sure on how to recommend treatment for the triglyceride levels. Most of the time, lowering high LDL cholesterol and raising low HDL cholesterol brings triglyceride levels back into a normal range with no additional work. Most of the time this is accomplished through weight loss and exercise although it may require medication in the most extreme cases.

You will find that there are some special cases where there are higher levels of triglycerides that are being treated in patients. You will find that a normal reading of triglyceride is lower than 150. You will also find that anything above the 150 is considered to be high and if you are over 500, then the levels are extremely high and it could be dangerous to your health. Most patients that are being treated for high triglyceride also suffer from syndrome X. The syndrome X is a genetic default that will cause you to have high LDL cholesterol, low HDL cholesterol, also hypertension. You may also have abnormal blood clotting and issues with insulin. This is the reason why patients with the syndrome X are at high risk for heart attack.

Now how does exercise help to control these levels? It is a known fact in many circles that exercise burns the fat that is in your body. And what comprises the fat in your body is broken down into the different lipids. There by through exercise you will begin to help the body to break down these lipids in the body to levels that are healthy for you. Also by having a leaner muscle mass it will also help the body to do a better job of breaking down the lipid levels to a more manageable level. Your high triglyceride levels can be easily treated if you lose some weight and exercise. You may also need to get on some medication, although, a diet could be just as helpful. By learning better nutrition you can also help your body to control the levels of your cholesterol and to maintain your weight.

It is important that you keep a good weight loss program and always keep a check on your cholesterol levels. You can do that by talking to your doctor. You will go to your doctor for a simple blood tests and it will measure the lipids in your blood so that you can stay heart-healthy. You will want to also talk to your doctor about changing habits in your diet and exercise routines so that you can life healthy and happy with your ideal weight.

About The Author
Randall Drake is an accomplished writer of many different types of articles ranging from dieting techniques to weight training. Very successful himself he also reaches out to the community to help them in their own attempts in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Randall invites you to visit his website at: Randy’s Weight Loss Secrets and explore his products today.

3 taking metformin to tolerance (which is bizzarely uncommon practice) is far better  before if necessary adding sulphonylureas/ glitazones/ insulin which promote fattening and other problems,  with little nett benefit..

4. starting on  metformin preventatively ie even well before diabetes presented  can reduce the incidence of new diabetes, pancreatic burnout by up to 80%.

Yet preventative metformin- with zero serious adverse effects  and halving of mortality in appropriate use- is still  irrationally vociferously  objected to; this can only be because of the Disease Industry driving force, to avoid prevention at all cost since only disease pays: effective prevention with natural supplements  like metformin and appropriate parenteral HRT would deplete surgeries and hospitals of serious chronic degenerative illnesses. The BARI study showed clearly that by the time vascular disease presents in diabetics, surgery has no better outcome than medical therapy.All four major diabetes prevention programs (in China then USA then India then Greece) confirmed the major benefit (even against cancer) of adding metformin early if the patient cannot implement permanent effective diet and exercise.

So why are “Authorities” still not endorsing preventative metformin in the resistant overweight at all ages? Why are those who should know better still  attacking us preventative physicians for practicing evidence-based medicine ie using appropriate metformin in a lifethreateing situation- progressive or persistent overweight ie BMI above 25kg/sqm?

One hopes that this Quebec analysis pushes authorities to enforce that metformin built up slowly from eg 250mg/d  to tolerance -ideally with blood level control-  is the only firstline chronic drug   therapy of type 2 diabetes, even where the new patient has first to be temporarily stabilized with  insulin.

When I first met with Ali, it was an emergency situation. At 26, my cholesterol was over 280 points, my triglycerides were out of control, and I was 40 pounds overweight. I had stomach problems, migraines, and a variety of other issues. I had seen doctor after doctor, but none could give me an explanation or relief.

Ali almost immediately recognized a pattern in my symptoms and suggested I try cutting gluten out of my diet for 2 weeks. Since I eat out for pretty much every meal every day, it was hard at first. But then I started to feel better, and I realized I had a lot of food options. After 3 months I had gone completely gluten-free, and I never felt better. I dropped 4 dress sizes and 96 points from my cholesterol with just that and some exercise. Now I don’t even go near anything with gluten and I feel great. I’m an entirely new person who looks forward to eating, buying clothes, and living a healthy life – all thanks to Ali!

~ C.O., Philadelphia, PA

Reformed theology blogger Tim Challies had a post up about a funny CLEAN comedian named Brian Regan. This is really funny stuff.

Brian Regan goes to the doctor:

Brian Regan calls UPS for a pick-up:

Brian Regan goes to the grocery store:

Brian Regan goes to the emergency room, part 1 of 2:

Brian Regan goes to the emergency room, part 2 of 2:

I’ve driven myself to the emergency room for food poisoning, and was dismissed after 45 minutes. They told me stop breathing shallow and stop throwing up! So I did that. Then they sent me home.

One more: Brian Regan goes to the airport:

And for those who don’t get YouTube through their company’s proxy server, here is something funny from Frank J. of IMAO.us, on term limits. Inventing ridiculous things is what I find the most humorous.

Excerpt:

This whole Sanford mess reminds me of the main problem with politics: Politician. Apparently, normal people don’t want to go into politics, so we mainly gets weirdos. Fred Thompson used the Sanford incident to argue for term limits, the idea being if we have to have politicians, at least let’s not keep them around too long.

Here’s my idea: Kidnapping.

Happy Friday!

In response to a study published in The Journal of Nutrition (1) which showed how eating peanuts reduced the risk of heart attack in women with type two diabetes, British Heart Foundation (BHF) cardiac nurse Ellen Mason said:

“It is beneficial to include nuts in our diets as they are low in the saturated fats that raise our cholesterol.”

Please click here for the full article

On Father’s Day we went out twice. The first time was to Benny’s Bar and Grill for their brunch. I had never had their brunch before. We had their mussel appetizer (really good), a bowl of their gumbo (fantastic), and I had a tilapia wrap. My wife had a chicken sandwich, with marinated grilled chicken, and my daughter had a omelet.  It was all good, and too much food for lunch really. We all took leftovers. And I found out how much my daughter liked my wrap when I took it for lunch on the Tuesday after, and she had already taken a large slice of it. For dinner we went to Destas Ethiopian. I’ll review that restaurant later.

My doctor has laid down a gauntlet in terms of my eating, and it’s going to be hard to meet. The deal is, no red meat, no soft drinks that aren’t diet drinks, control portion size, and start an exercise program and stick to it. I start exercise programs all the time. Sticking to them is the hard part. The point is to lower my weight, lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, and if possible, prevent the onset of adult diabetes. There were some ugly sides to my last blood test, and though I didn’t starve the way I should before that kind of test, it is better take precautions now.

Simply put, I’m not going to be able to give up red meat. But what I think would work better actually, is giving up almost all meat for lunch. While the difference in cholesterol between fish and red meat is something like a 20-30% difference, the difference between animal and plant products is a 100% difference. Plants have no cholesterol at all.

The best diet I was ever on was later popularized as the Subway diet. You don’t need to eat Subway sandwiches to do this. Just limit calories at lunch to 400 or less, don’t snack, eat normally at dinner, and exercise moderately. My last successful diet, about 10 years ago, was exactly this. I lost 20 pounds doing this and relatively painlessly.

An easy way to accomplish a vegan/vegetarian lunch at my work is to make heavy use of Kashi’s frozen entrees, such as their Black Bean Mango and their Ranchero Bean offerings. Both are vegetarian, if not vegan (Sara from Innocent Primate suggests that many Kashi entrees may have honey as a sweetener. Please check). Both are under 400 calories.

Popular Atlanta sandwich shops often have a vegetarian option. Alon’s has a Tuscan sandwich and Wright’s Gourmet in Dunwoody has a vegetarian sandwich they call Glenda’s Garden. Finally, I’ve cooked both a quinoa and Kashi stir-fry before. If worst comes to worst, then I can do it myself (though I need some way to figure out calories per serving).

In terms of boonie peppers, I couldn’t be happier. The outside plant simply shed all its bad, nasty looking leaves and it now looks extremely healthy:

Potted boonie pepper growing outside in Georgia. It looks fantastic!

The inside plants, in 2 liter soda bottle greenhouses, are doing extremely well. To reiterate, take your plant once sprouted, get a peat pot, add about 1 inch of soil. Put the sprout in the peat pellet into the pot, cover with soil. Place in a greenhouse made of an empty soda bottle cut in two, with a few two inch vertical slits (can be done on either half, really. I split the top half). Water immediately with an indoor strength fertilizer; assemble greenhouse and place on handy sunny window sill; repeat watering as needed (every 1-2 weeks). Don’t worry about excess; it will drip into the bottom of the greenhouse and help keep the plants moist. To keep them warm through the cool Georgia spring on the window sill I had them on, I was using a heating strip. Heat + fertilizer + greenhouse = steady reliable growth.

Many of those will be moved outside sometime during July. They are looking that good, growing that well. My tomatoes, on the other hand, aren’t growing well. I believe I’m going to have to find a new plot for them, some place with more sun. The only tomato to fruit there so far have been Sweet 100s a few years ago.

Cholesterol naturally rises with age and is a leading contributor to heart disease- the number one killer in the United States. While you may have heard the importance of watching your cholesterol levels for a healthy heart, many people do not realized the connection between cholesterol levels and hormones.

Cholesterol is a building material for the following hormones:

• Pregneneolone
• Progesterone
• Cortisol
• Aldosterone
• DHEA
• Testosterone
• Estradiol

These hormones are important in many aspects of our lives, including:

• Mineral balance
• Blood pressure regulation
• Sex hormone balance
• Blood sugar regulation

Statistics indicate that a number of Americans are suffering from hormonal imbalances due to improper diet and ability to handle insulin.  These factors can, in turn, affect many other hormones in the body including the sex hormones.  If adequate cholesterol levels are not maintained and balanced, these hormones cannot be made in good quantities and symptoms of hormone deficiency may occur. 

What is Cholesterol?

Cholesterol is found in every cell of the body and is a soft, waxy and fat-like substance. But unlike general thinking, cholesterol is not all bad; it is necessary by the body to strengthen cell membranes, digest fats, make hormones and insulate nerves

There are two types of cholesterol: LDL (bad) and HDL (good). LDL cholesterol causes build-up of plaque in arteries that blocks blood flow to the heart and brain. HDL, on the other hand, appears to have the ability to help prevent heart disease by carrying LDL cholesterol away from arteries- making high levels of HDL cholesterol a good thing.

The many benefits of cholesterol include:

• Keeping your cell membranes intact
• Boosting mental performance
• Aiding digestion
• Building strong bones and muscle
• Maintaining your energy, vitality, libido, and fertility
• Regulating your blood sugar
• Repairing damaged tissue
• Protecting against infectious diseases

The American Heart Association says that total cholesterol levels below 200 mg/dL are most desirable; 200-239 mg/dL are borderline high risk for heart disease and strokes. One out of every two Americans have high cholesterol, in fact, more than 106 million Americans have cholesterol levels above 200 and another 46 million have levels about 239. An HDL cholesterol of 60 mg/dL or higher gives some protection against heart disease.

Cholesterol provides the building blocks for you to make your hormones.  If your cholesterol levels are too low, your body is not able to make the necessary hormones for proper functioning.  Our physicians are experts in bioidentical hormone therapy and using a combination of a customized fitness and nutrition program, you can positively impact your cholesterol levels and provide a stage for your body to function optimally and in balance.

Watch this video on cholesterol from Cholesterol Network.

I have never been a fast food eater.  Recessionwoman did not earn her stripes blowing money on fast food.  Besides, being a creature of habit I tend to have most food ready to go at home. Read the rest of this entry »