1. Reduce excess body fat so that you reach your ideal body weight.
2. If you drink, do so in moderation. Alcohol is high in calories, it increases one's risk of high blood pressure, and it increases triglyceride levels.
3. Don't smoke, and avoid second-hand smoke (That's a given!)
4. Eat more fiber -- fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and cereals.
As often as possible, replace high-fat animal foods with low-fat foods (e.g., have cereal and nonfat milk for breakfast, instead of buttered toast, bacon, and butter-fried eggs; choose fruit instead of ice cream or chocolate).
5. Exercise! Walk, run, bike, swim, or otherwise get yourself moving for at least 30 minutes a day. Your exercise pace, by the way, should make you sweat a little, but should not cause you to become breathless.
Get your doctor's OK if you haven't had a checkup in a while.
6. Limit your dietary cholesterol intake. This means restricting fatty animal foods (i.e., fatty meats, poultry skin, whole-milk products), and limiting egg yolks to three or four a week (including those used in cooking and baking).
7. Limit the saturated fat in your diet. Saturated fat has far more of an impact on blood chemistry than dietary cholesterol has.
Your liver makes cholesterol out of the saturated fat you eat.
8. Be happy, and make time to relax. Anger and hostility have been linked to heart disease more often than any other emotion or personality trait.
Get enough sleep. Take regular breaks from your routine. Learn stress-management techniques. Spend some quiet time alone each day.
9. Take medication, if you must. Cholesterol lowering medication is very expensive and often carries burdensome side effects, so try lifestyle changes first.
See your doctor. Talk to him or her about the results of your blood tests. See how experimenting with diet and other lifestyle changes affects your blood chemistry.
If you give 100% of your effort to changing your daily habits, you may not have to take medication.
Vitamin E - Recent major studies have found that taking one 400 I.U. supplement of vitamin E a day can reduce the number of heart attacks by nearly 50% for both men and women.
Vitamin E appears to work by neutralizing the oxidation of LDL cholesterol so that it doesn't stick on the walls of the arteries, causing atherosclerosis.
Vitamin E supplements are inexpensive and have no known side effects. Vitamin E works in addition to -- not instead of -- healthy lifestyle habits. |
