Tips to prevent heart disease and lead a healthy life
Mike Spencer

One of the greatest ailments that endanger your healthy life is undoubtedly the heart disease. As per statistics provided by the American Heart Association, 62 million Americans suffer from some form of cardio-vascular diseases like heart attack, high blood pressure and congestive heart failure. Close to, a million such cases per year turn fatal. Heart disease is the number one killer in the U.S. and about 1/3 of the deaths from heart disease could be prevented by a way of a better dietary habit.

Without analyzing the cause, you cannot prevent the effect. One of the prime catalysts of heart disease is the free radicals. Contrary to the belief, margarine, which you may think is preventing heart disease (thanks to widespread advertisements), is much more harmful than butter. The process of margarine preparation involves heating oils to very high temperatures. Such a high temperature transforms the oils into free radicals.

One of the best foods you can have is the egg.

The egg yolk contains about 250 mg of cysteine, a variety of amino acid. This cysteine is instrumental in the elimination of free radicals.

Another common cause of heart diseases is cholesterol.

However, the interesting fact is that bulk of the cholesterol is synthesized within the body itself and not taken as part of the diet. Cholesterol is a soft buttery substance. It joins hands with calcium and cause hardening of the arteries that results in heart disease.

We consciously avoid some fat-rich food, like butter in order to avoid heart disease. However, this notion is grossly incorrect. The real culprit for poor heart health is sugar rich processed food. For instance, let us observe the dietary habits of the Eskimos. They consume large quantities of blubber – a highly fat-rich food. Yet, the instance of heart disease in them is minimal, unless fizzy drinks and French fries influence their food habits.

Excess weight begets heart disease.

Therefore, you need to check your diet. However, you should remember that being overweight is the problem, not eating fats. Some essential fats like Omega 3 fish oil has healing power.

Surprisingly 150 years ago, heart diseases were almost unheard of. Some vested interests have made heart disease proliferate. The people, who manufacture drugs for heart disease, stand to gain enormously when a detected patient has to consume drugs for the rest of his/her life. What is worse, your doctor is also befooled by the drug manufacturers in the name of educating them.

Prescribing drugs is rooted to faulty medical education of the doctors. It is a pity that less than 2% time of a Harvard Medical school student is spent in learning preventive medicine and a minor slice is devoted to nutrition.

One of the well-known surgeries in this heart disease field is the bypass surgery. Contrary to what you know, bypass surgeries fail to lengthen your life span than those who go without it. Unfortunately, 2% to 4% of the cases of bypass surgery turn fatal on the operation table itself.

Respectable medical journals have started stating the truth – bypass surgery does not result in increase of life expectancy. Bypass surgeries do not attack the cause of the problem, merely attempting to repair damage. It leaves chances for falling pray to heart disease again. Only about 2 inches of the blood vessels are repaired without addressing the problem of hardening of the arteries.

Much to your horror, another bigger fraud exists than the bypass surgery. It is the heart drugs. Cholesterol drugs reduce the cholesterol to some extent, but it never prolongs your life. The most important adage in this context is prevention is better than cure. In order to prevent heart disease, be vigilant on your diet. Avoid fizzy drinks and calorie-rich fried food (but that doesnt mean fat).

Consumption of cholesterol drugs in order to prevent heart disease has ugly side effects. Instead of prolonging life, these drugs aid in shortening your life span. A study in Finland on heart disease shows that the probability of people suffering a heart attack is 46% higher for those who are regular consumers of cholesterol drugs.

The mantra is to go for a heart-friendly diet, prevent being obese and exercise regularly. Lend your heart a helping hand in combating heart disease.

For more detailed information on preventing heart disease and recommended products visit:

http://www.heart-healthy-diet.com

Mike has been helping people protect their health for several years – through exercise and nutrition. The heart and circulation system is the most important, and all good health programs need to start here. Let Mike guide you in getting started.

http://www.heart-healthy-diet.com

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The Solution to Healthy Weight Loss
Marilyn Pokorney

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The overweight and obesity epidemic is a worldwide problem.
There are no official statistics for spending on diet
products, but estimates vary from $40 to $100 billion in the
US alone, much of that on scams and fad diets that promise
the impossible.

Research shows that 95% of people who have lost weight find
that they regain it back when they return to their normal
eating habits.

According to the Center for Disease Control’s Chronic
Disease Center, in 1991 in the United States, only four
states had an obesity prevalence of 15 percent to 19
percent. In 2003, 15 states had an obesity prevalence of
15 to 19 percent, 31 states had an obesity prevalence of 20
to 24 percent, and four states had a prevalence of 25
percent or more.

Major medical problems associated with obesity include
gallbladder disease, high blood pressure, high blood
cholesterol, diabetes, and osteoarthritis.

If that isn’t incentive enough to lose that excess weight
statistics show that overweight people are usually given
lower paying jobs, get lower salaries, receive little in
raises, and are, as a whole, looked down upon by 40 percent
of fellow employees and employers.

In 2002 The American Heart Association reported that more
than 10 percent of US children ages 2 to 5 are overweight.
That is up from 7 percent in 1994. The situation is
probably even worse now, said Dr. Robert H. Eckel,
president-elect of the heart association and professor of
medicine at the University of Colorado.

The obesity problem among children has increased with
school-age children as well. Four million children ages 6
to 11 and 5.3 million in age group 12 to 19 have increased
by 75 percent from 1991.

Food habits adopted in childhood can be hard to change. As
a result hypertension and high cholesterol leading to heart
disease, strokes, and diabetes are going to become the
nations top health problem with people of all ages within 10
to 30 years. These are ailments that usually afflict the
middle age to elderly population. More than a million new
cases of diabetes are already being diagnosed each year,
says the American Diabetic Association.

Nearly 30 percent of American adults are overweight and
another 30 percent are obese, according to University of
Minnesota researchers. Obesity is usually described as a
weight 20 percent greater than the persons desirable weight.

A study by the Obstetrics and Gynecology department at the
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle revealed
that 60% of overweight women, and 70% of obese women, are
likely to become pregnant while taking the pill. The
researchers suggest that a higher metabolism is the reason,
causing the medication to be effective for a shorter length
of time. Or, that the drug interacts with the body’s
hormones in a way that the drug becomes trapped in the body
fat instead of circulating in the bloodstream.

Studies with obese pregnant women show they are 50% more
likely to die during pregnancy than those of normal weight.
Complications such as miscarriage, gestational diabetes,
hypertension, pre-eclampsia, pre-term labor, and stillbirth
are also more common. Preliminary evidence shows that
babies are also adversely affected, and are more likely to
be obese themselves in later life.

Fast foods: Studies show that people who frequent fast food
outlets twice a week or more gained 36 pounds over the
course of 15 years compared to 26 pounds for those that
frequented them once a week or less.

A major factor for the obesity crisis is a sedentary
lifestyle, not enough exercise, and the eating of high
calorie fast foods in place of nutritious natural food
products.

Fast food is designed to promote consumption of the maximum
number of calories in the minimum amount of time. This
upsets the body’s normal metabolism. One solution is to eat
smaller, more nutritious, meals more frequently throughout
the day.

Physical activity reduces the effects of being overweight,
but healthy eating habits have to be followed to prevent
disease associated with poor nutrition according to an
expert of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School
of Public Health.

The new diet guidelines set by the Health and Human Services
and the U.S. Department of Agriculture is basically a
balanced diet and good old fashioned exercise. They stress
more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and limit fats, sugar,
alcohol, and salt.

Many supermarkets are open 24 hours a day making a choice of
healthy food available at all times.

For more tips on how to lose weight safely see The Secret to
Weight Loss at:
http://www.apluswriting.net/diettips/diettips.htm

*****************************************
Author: Marilyn Pokorney
Freelance writer of science, nature, animals and the
environment.
Also loves crafts, gardening, and reading.
Website: http://www.apluswriting.net
*****************************************

About the Author

Author: Marilyn Pokorney
Freelance writer of science, nature, animals and the
environment.
Also loves crafts, gardening, and reading.
Website: http://www.apluswriting.net

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Staying Healthy on a Low Carbohydrate Diet
Marjorie Geiser

It is estimated that about 32 million Americans are following some type of low carbohydrate diet. This is the result of fad diet authors claiming that carbohydrates are the cause for Americas rising obesity problems. The backlash against carbohydrates is a result of the low fat craze that started in the 80s.When consumers started cutting down their fat intake, manufacturers figured out that they could create low fat processed food products that the public would buy. Because these products claimed to be fat free, Americans didnt pay attention to the fact that they were not also calorie free, and as a result, the total amount of daily calories has slowly been increasing. In fact, although the total percentage of calories from fat has decreased, the actual amount of fat intake has increased by 10# per year since 1975! The increase of carbohydrate has also increased, at a rate of 20# per year, mostly as a result of highly processed foods.

It is estimated that 3800 calories are now produced for every American man, woman and child. We have evolved from a world of feast or famine, but were in a state of perpetual feast, although our bodies have not changed. We have no defenses against excess calories: Every year, 300,000 to 400,000 deaths in the US are attributed to obesity.

Meanwhile, Asian and Middle Eastern populations consume 50-75% of their calories from rice and have some of the lowest rates of obesity and heart disease in the world. People living in the Mediterranean also have fewer health conditions commonly seen in the US. This diet consists of whole grains, vegetables, legumes, nuts and fruits. Their diets are rich in fish and low in meats and poultry. Although their fat intake is about the same as in America, the type of fat is primarily monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil, where Americans eat primarily saturated animal fats.

Regardless of the actual advantage or disadvange to following a low carbohydrate diet, there are three recommendations for maintaining good health while following such a diet. The first is to choose healthy fats over the unhealthy, saturated fats, when considering fat intake. Examples of healthy fats would be plant fats that have not been hydrogenated, which makes the fat more solid at room temperature. It is believed that hydrogenation is actually more harmful to health than saturated fats found naturally in animal products. Plant fats would include nuts, avocados, and olives. Oils such as olive oil, canola oil and peanut oil are better choices than fats that come from animal sources, such as butter, lard or bacon grease. Multiple studies over the years have shown that excess animal fats lead to higher risks of cancer, heart disease and other inflammatory disorders. Saturated fats have been linked to increased cholesterol, LDL (the bad) cholesterol as well as to increased LDL cholesterol oxidation. In fact, in January 2004, an Atkins representative put out a press release advising the public to decrease their amounts of steak, eggs, and saturated fast to less than 20% of their total fat intake.

The next recommendation to ensure good health is to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. Although fruits and most vegetables are restricted in the initial phase of some low carbohydrate diets, they are then allowed back in limited amounts. The phytonutrients that come from a diet rich in fruits and vegetables have been shown to decrease blood pressure, as well as protect against cancer, heart disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and obesity. Its easy to add more fruits and vegetables to your diet, once you get in the habit. Examples are; add some berries to breakfast, eat a tomato at lunch, include broccoli with dinner, drink some vegetable juice with snacks, and have a large salad with your meal.

The final tip to ensure good health is to eat a diet of whole foods, rather than fall back on the easy snack, convenience foods of today. If Americans had just cut down their amount of fat intake in the 80s, without finding new ways to snack, we may not be seeing the epidemic of obesity we see, today. When people started going on the low carbohydrate diets, they eliminated a large number of calories by eliminating snacking, especially at night, where common snacks are chips, crackers, and other high fat, high refined carbohydrate foods, such as ice cream. Today, though, much like in the 80s, manufacturers are now developing low carb and low net carb snack foods. We can now find low net carb chips, crackers, ice cream, popcorn, even low carb pizza! As Americans start to increase their intake of these foods, we will soon see a slowing of the weight loss many had seen initially. In order to call themselves a low net carb food, manufacturers subtract the fiber and sugar alcohols from the total carbohydrates in the product, rather than produce products without carbohydrate. There is no actual FDA standard for what a low net carb food is, yet, though, so right now its anything the manufacturer wants to say it is. These foods also are very high in fat and saturated fat, usually through hydrogenation. So, not only will calories be added back into the diet through resuming unhealthy snack habits, but they will be calories consisting of high amounts of the unhealthy fats.

So, while following a low carbohydrate diet, in order to ensure continued good health, follow these three recommendations: 1) Make most fats you eat the healthy, plant fats, rather than eating a diet high in animal or hydrogenated fats, 2) Eat plenty of nutrient rich fruits and vegetables, which are high in disease-fighting antioxidants, and 3) eat mostly whole, fresh foods and very little processed snack foods, even if they say low carb, in order to avoid hidden and unnecessary fat and calories.

Marjorie Geiser has been teaching health, fitness and nutrition since 1982. She is a nutritionist, registered dietitian, certified personal trainer and life coach. As the owner of MEG Fitness, Marjories goal for her clients is to help them incorporate healthy eating and fitness into their busy lives. To order her 30-Day Health & Fitness Challenge e-course and learn more about Marjorie, go to her website at www.megfit.com or email her at Margie@megfit.com

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Stay Healthy With Exercise
Michael Stefano

As a society, weve been more than convinced of the need for daily exercise. From the gimmicky hype of the television info-mercial, to the sound advice of the family physician, weve been bombarded with the reasons why we need to workout.

The medical community has coined the phrase, The Deadly Quartet, to describe four risk factors that plague Americans in disproportionate numbers:

The Deadly Quartet

Obesity

High blood pressure

High blood cholesterol, and triglyceride levels

Reduced sensitivity to insulin

Despite all this information thats been made available, overweight and out of shape Americans still huff and puff their way through their day. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that obesity alone results in over 300,000 preventable deaths in the United States every year.

More than 60 percent of all Americans are classified as overweight or obese, while at any given time 30 to 40 percent of all Americans are trying to get in shape. An even higher percentage of cardiovascular disease is related to obesity, and being overweight nearly doubles your chance of developing high blood pressure.

But hears the good news, an article published in the March 2001 issue of The Annals of Internal Medicine has revealed that thirty minutes of daily exercise can extend human life.

This elaborate study took place from 1984 to 1989 in Finland using 1300 middle-aged men. Upon follow-up in 1997, researchers recorded 124 total deaths from both cardio and non-cardiovascular causes. After making adjustments for other risk factors (such as age and smoking), low fitness levels were associated with an almost three times higher mortality rate.

Scientists have proven that twenty to thirty minutes of moderate physical activity per day, forestalls the onset of the deadly quartet, and thereby prevents chronic disease, while extending human life.

Following a sensible exercise program will bring about significant change in the bodys chemistry, and its ability to perform work efficiently. This training effect lowers blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels, as well as increases insulin sensitivity, and thereby forestalling the onset of type II diabetes.

But besides these all-important health benefits, the right kind of exercise also burns fat, and sculpts our bodies into lean, high performance machines. Following a properly orchestrated workout program will not only add years to your life, it will add quality years that are reminiscent of youth, where youll look forward to the dawning of each fun-filled day.

About the Author

Michael Stefano is a 20-year veteran of FDNY, as well as author of The Firefighter’s Workout Book and creator of The Firefighter’s Workout Video.

His workout routines and articles have been featured on such internet giants as America Online, Yahoo! and eDiets.com.

Currently Michael is editor in chief at http://www.firefightersworkout.com, where you can get more information about his book and other services, as well as sign up for his FREE Train For Life Newsletter.

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