Heart Disease
This ebook covers everything you need to know about starting and maintaining your own healthy eating plan. You'll also be introducing yourself to a diet that's been incredibly affective with minimizing cancer and heart disease as a plus.
The Mediterranean diet has been around for hundreds of years. This new book makes the diet easy to work with and is important for those who are tired of the fads and promises that lead nowhere.
It includes recipes too. The Mediterranean Diet takes you along a low cost journey while using Mediterranean diet recipes that have been a long time in the making - supported by extensive formally researched proof and verification. How many diets do you know of that you can still entertain friends with and know they'll also be impressed and enjoy themselves. You see - the Mediterranean Diet can also be a very social diet if you'd like it to be.
PROMINANT nutrition expert Dr. Elson Haas’ thinking about cholesterol and heart disease has progressed far beyond the HDL/LDL level.
He believes there is now conclusive evidence suggesting it is not the total amount of cholesterol – or any particular type of cholesterol – that triggers heart disease. He believes it is the degree to which the cholesterol is protected from damage – particularly from oxygen.
He thinks it is vital to have an optimum intake of antioxidants including vitamins C and E and minerals such as zinc selenium, manganese and copper along with a wide range of phytonutrients found in fresh fruit and vegetables.
CHOLESTEROL forms part of the outer membrane surrounding cells and is used to insulate nerve fibres and make hormones, which carry chemical signals around the body. Cholesterol is vital to the body’s normal functioning. However, too much cholesterol in the blood can increase the risk of coronary heart disease and disease of the arteries.
One of the biggest misconceptions people have is that food is packed with cholesterol. In fact, very little cholesterol is found in foods. The main sources are eggs, offal and shellfish. What is more important is the type of fat in the food you choose, particularly saturated fat. Once inside the body, the liver turns this fat into cholesterol.
This is where lipoprotein levels come in, the molecules that carry cholesterol around the body. There are three main types: low-density lipoprotein or LDL, high-density lipoprotein or HDL and triglycerides. LDL is often called ‘bad’ cholesterol as it carries cholesterol from the liver to the cells and if supply exceeds demand, can cause a harmful build-up of cholesterol. HDL is often called ‘good’ cholesterol as it takes cholesterol away from the cells and back to the liver where it is either broken down or excreted.
According to The British Heart Foundation, one of the causes of high blood cholesterol levels among people in the UK is eating too much saturated fat. The cholesterol which is found in foods including eggs, liver, kidneys and some types of seafood such as prawns, does not usually make a significant contribution to the level of cholesterol in the blood. It is much more important to eat foods that are low in saturated fat.
However, some people may have high blood cholesterol levels even though they eat a healthy diet. For example, they may have inherited a condition called familial hyperlipidaemia (FH). A person’s overall risk is also determined by a combination of factors, including age, gender, family history of heart disease and whether the person smokes, is overweight and has high blood pressure or diabetes.
The higher the risk of heart disease - for example, a male smoker with high blood pressure and diabetes - the greater the need to lower cholesterol levels. However, according to recent research, the balance of different types of lipoproteins, rather than the overall total cholesterol level, is what matters. UK-based nutrition expert Patrick Holford believes the ideal ratio is one part HDL to three parts total cholesterol. He also believes that multi-vitamin and mineral programmes can help achieve this balance. Well-known nutrition researcher, Dr. Michael Colgan, has shown that cholesterol levels can be consistently reduced by putting people on supplement programmes for six months and then taking them off again.
Another effective therapy is consuming large quantities of omega-3 fish oils. Holford believes the combination of diet and supplements is likely to be more effective than current mainstream treatments of statin drugs. These drugs lower the risk of both heart attacks and stroke in the long term by blocking the enzyme that makes cholesterol. However, this enzyme also makes the important heart nutrient, coenzyme Q10, so blocking it potentially increases the risk of heart failure and this enzyme is vital for the proper functioning of the heart. Anyone taking statin drugs would be wise to supplement at least 30mg of CoQ10 daily.
Most authorities agree that a diet low in saturated fat will lower cholesterol levels and potentially avoid heart disease, by cutting down on saturated fats and trans fats and replacing them with monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats.
