1. Eat More Fish: Improving your heart health is as simple as adding fish like salmon and herring to your diet twice per week.These Omega-3 fatty acids in these foods help to reduce cholesterol and improve your heart health. Not a fan of fish? Try adding a handful of walnuts or a fish oil supplement to your daily routine!
2. Get Moving!  Set realistic goals to exercise more by walking every day on your lunch break for a minimum of 15 minutes per day. Gradually increase speed and try to add either a second 15 minute session or walk for longer.  For accountability ask a co-worker to join you to keep motivation up. Invest in quality orthopedic shoes for women or men to prevent sore feet as an excuse for skipping your daily walk!
3. Quit Smoking! If you could pick only one thing to do for your health in 2012 it should be to quit smoking! This is the single best way to improve your health. With many prescription medications available to help patients quit for good, kicking the habit has never been easier. Ask family members and friends to act as a support system and to help motivate you to stick to your goals.
4. Lose Weight! Many people have this goal set at the beginning of the year without a realistic number in mind. Set small goals with specific deadlines and celebrate your accomplishments.  Learn what a realistic weight loss goal is for you using this weight loss calculator. Aim to lose weight slowly to avoid frustration and as a safer method of weight loss.
5. Use Sunscreen! This one is so easy to do!  Make sure to use sunscreen everyday to keep skin free of wrinkles and age spots. Daily use of sunscreen significantly reduces your risk of skin cancer. In addition, get into the habit of checking your skin for any changes and see your doctor promptly if you notice a changing mole!

The key to success in the new year is setting goals that are attainable and finding ways to hold yourself accountable.

Take time to write down specific goals with deadlines.

Be sure to tell friends and family so that they can keep you going.

If you stumble, don’t get frustrated but keep trying! With persistance you can stick to those resolutions in 2012!

The way that you make this shift is by increasing the amount of fat in your diet.  It is especially important to increase good fats. And just like coconut oils, there is a big difference between simple carbohydrates like sugar and complex carbs like honey. There is also a big difference between the different types of fat and saturated fat. If you get your saturated fat from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, it is not going to be the same quality as getting your saturated fat from raw milk or from coconut oil.  These types of fats are clear and uncorrupted by high heats.

People make coconut oil the same way today that they did thousands of years ago.  Because of that, it is a very good source of nutrition. All you need to do to extract coconut oil is just grind it and then wait for the coconut oil to separate itself and skim the oil off of the top. It is actually a fairly simple process, although it does take some work.

Coconut oil is more expensive than vegetable oil because it is not created in a lab.  Coconuts take 13 to 14 months to mature, and during this time they have a good opportunity to store healthy fats. Saturated fat does not only help in brain development, but it helps out with all the cells of your body.  Each cell in your body is composed of a cell membrane.  What do you think the cell membrane is made out of?  Well you’re right it’s made out of saturated fat. How are you supposed to be healthy if you don’t have healthy cell membrane?

Another good thing about Virgin Coconut oil is that it contains lauric acid. This acid is very helpful to human growth. It is the same one that is found in breast milk. It helps out with bone and brain development. If you have not made coconut oil as part of your diet, consider changing your diet. It is good to include this essential oil that will not only help you lose weight, but also make you smarter.

Simvastatin 40 mg belongs to a class of drugs called statins. These drugs are essentially known as the anti-cholesterol or hypolipidemic drugs in that they lower special kinds of cholesterol known for triggering cardiovascular disease and at the same time increasing the presence and effects of the healthy cholesterol.

Simvastatin comes in other dosages both higher and lower than 40 mg, and Simvastatin 40 mg is the highest regular dose that is generally prescribed, for doctors found that in most cases, going higher than 40 mg equals more side effects risk while only giving more anti-cholesterol controlling properties.

Simvastatin is known as the first statin drug that became available for use in treating high levels of unhealthy cholesterol, and being the first also meant that it was subjected to the most studies and trials ensuring its effectiveness and relative safety. Since only a physician or doctor can diagnose unhealthy cholesterol levels, Simvastatin and other statin drugs can only be bought with a prescription.

What side effects can occur as a result of taking Simvastatin?

The side effects of Simvastatin are similar to the other statin drugs and are directly caused to a negative reaction on the body with the properties of the statin drugs. There are a few people with known sensitivity to statins and they are prohibited from taking them, while others can take Simvastatin or any other statin and experience no allergic reaction or side effect in any way.

Side effects that are known to occur more often but considered less serious are tiredness and stomach problems such as constipation, diarrhea, indigestion, and abdominal pain. These reactions and any other are better addressed to your doctor. Cramping muscles and aches around the joints might need immediate medical attention, and extremely rare side effects like seizures, fainting, persistent vomiting and irregular heartbeat will require emergency care.

Drug side effects can also take place when two medicines interact with each other. Simvastatin can affect they way regular painkillers function, change Coumadin levels in the blood, affect Lisinopril’s vessel-relaxing qualities or inadvertently mess with the use of Methotrexate in cancer or autoimmune diseases. This means

Simvastatin should not be carelessly handled, and consuming other drugs both special prescription or over the counter should not be attempted without consulting your doctor. Observing the Simvastatin dose assigned to you and not skipping or taking more of the drug will also help keep you in good health and more protected from side effects.

Niacin flushing, deliberately taking in a surplus of niacin in order to increase the blood flow, is becoming more and more popular. Regular niacin consumption can prevent depression, add muscle to your physique, make you lose a few pounds and improve cholesterol. This article will explain how this is possible, how you can niacin flush properly yourself too and how to avoid side effects often associated with niacin overdosing.

How it Works

When you take in the overdose of niacin, your veins will become a little wider (vasodilation). This greatly enhances circulation, enabling your body to get rid of toxic waste stored in the capillaries. The blood flow in the capillaries, which can be seen as access roads if the veins were a highway, is normally relatively weak and by improving circulation, cluttered waste is being removed. This process also improves good cholesterol (HDL) and decreases bad cholesterol (LDL) at the same time.

Niacin Consumption: Two Paths

In order to achieve these benefits yourself too, you can do a few things. First of all you can eat lots of niacin dense foods. Otherwise, you can take in niacin supplements. Personally, I heavily recommend to eat lots of niacin dense foods, because the also contain other crucial micro-nutrients like folic acid that make the body function properly. The following list shows my favorite foods high in niacin:

1. Wild salmon | 9.2 mg vitamin b3 per 3 ounces serving.
2. Peanut butter | 4.1 mg niacin per 1 ounce serving.
3. Sun dried tomatoes | 8.7 mg niacin per 100 grams serving.
4. Lima beans | 2.4 mg vitamin b3 per cup.
5. Raw Crimini mushrooms | 4.6 mg vitamin b3 per 5 OZ.

Avoiding Side Effects of Niacin Overdosing

Most people complain after their first niacin flush about intense side effects like a red skin and a tingling feeling in the chest. In order to avoid this, you should note down with pen and paper how much niacin you have consumed during the day. Personally, I recommend for people new to niacin flushing to spread intake over the whole day.

Other remedies include, taking in an aspiring 30 minutes prior to the niacin rich meal or drinking lots of water during the flushing period. However, no matter what you do avoid alcoholic and hot beverages at all costs, since these make side effects more intense. This is something I can confirm out of own experience.

If you follow the advice given in this article, you will be able to experience the benefits of niacin flushing without having to worry about niacin side effects like a red skin.

Studies show that stress and anxiety can affect and increase the production of cholesterol. Going through family problems, work concerns, financial problems and the like puts a person under a serious stress condition. Being consistently and excessively exposed to stress can make a person develop anxiety disorders which worsen the situation considerably. A sudden increase in cholesterol levels can then lead to a number of other problem such as heart attacks, high blood pressures and strokes.

Dealing with stress, anxiety and cholesterol levels is never an easy task. You cannot decrease your cholesterol level without getting rid of stress and treating anxiety first. A person who is going through stress and anxiety should be aware of anxiety treatments to prevent other complications that may be developed. There are countless of programs, articles and videos and eBooks available online for stress and anxiety management. Make use of these resources -  be resourceful!

Eating healthy food and exercising regularly can greatly help in lowering cholesterol levels, stress and anxiety. Also, always remember that eating small meals frequently is much better than eating heavy meals two to three times a day. Eating fruits, vegetables and low-fat yogurt can help a person deal with stress positively. Most of the people enjoy eating and find pleasure on eating thus improves the feeling and mood of a person under stress.

However those who consistently have a cholesterol level of 6.2 and above and are obliged to monitor their cholesterol levels, find eating stressful because what and how much they eat are limited. They cannot eat all they want to eat. The answer to this is discipline. One just needs self discipline to be able to follow any meal plan. In addition, as time passes, a person would just get used to limiting their food intakes. So a disciplined person can enjoy his low-fat diet which can help reduce stress, anxiety and cholesterol level.

Strive hard to become a stress and anxiety-free person so you can be high blood pressure and heart attack-free person as well. Then if you must worry, at least you can worry about nothing.

Cholesterol is carried through the bloodstream by molecules called lipoproteins. Low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is characterized as “bad” cholesterol and high density lipoprotein (HDL) is called the “good” cholesterol. LDL transports the cholesterol from liver to the cells and if the cells have enough cholesterol, these cells refuse the transported cholesterol causing the building up of cholesterol in the blood vessels walls and narrowing the arteries thus reducing the blood supply to vital organs. This phenomenon causes atherosclerosis.

HDL is responsible for the return journey and acts like a vacuum cleaner that picks up excess cholesterol and carries this back to the liver which converts it to bile. Too much intake of cholesterol causes atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis reduces the diameter of blood vessels thus increasing the pressure on the blood vessels to pump blood.

The major source of cholesterol is saturated fats that come from animal sources. These enter the human body in the form of food like meat, egg yolks, fish, poultry, cheese, butter, liver and other dairy products. Reducing saturated fats intake helps on preventing atherosclerosis. The way one body handles and controls cholesterol is determined by genetics and diet. The liver of a healthy person would reduce its production of cholesterol when this person eats high cholesterol food to keep it at a healthy level, in contrast to cholesterol-sensitive individuals where their livers cannot easily regulate the production of cholesterol.

Listed below are the few tips on how to lower down the cholesterol in the body to prevent high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes from occurring:

• As recommended by doctors, all 20-year old adults and above should have their cholesterol level  checked at least once every five years.
• Obese people are more prone to high blood pressure because of unmonitored cholesterol intake. Losing weight and regular exercise are highly advised and are often enough by themselves to keep cholesterol under control .
• Awareness of what food to eat should be developed. Drinking green tea, eating food rich in omega-3 fatty acids, and eating plenty of green vegetables and juicing fruits to lower cholesterol.
• Monitor cholesterol level. There are plenty of home cholesterol test kits out on the market these days, which save people from time consuming and costly appointments with doctors. Some test kits measure the overall cholesterol level, while other more advanced test kits can provide LDL and HDL cholesterol level breakdowns.

Many people who have suffered from high blood pressure and heart attacks because of cholesterol level are prone to developing anxiety. They tend to worry too much about their cholesterol intakes and cholesterol level fearing such complications might happen again. This development of anxiety can make things worse, therefore it is highly advisable to regularly monitor the cholesterol level of the body as well as the development of anxiety to prevent the occurrence of heart attacks, high blood pressures and strokes. Taking anxiety tests online and buying home cholesterol tests kits is far more affordable than paying for hospital bills.

If cholesterol serves such important purposes then why are so many people so concerned about having too much of it? Unfortunately the adage “more is better” is not true when it comes to cholesterol. Having too much of it can cause a plethora of cardiac symptoms diseases and conditions. It has been linked to chest pains heart attacks strokes atherosclerosis peripheral vascular diseases and many more. It is important that cholesterol is properly controlled and maintained at normal levels. There are various ways to keep your cholesterol levels under control such as dietary modification exercise smoking cessation etc.

Excessive consumption of fatty foods can greatly affect the body’s cholesterol levels. It is important that you read and check labels before buying food items. Labels detail how much fat triglycerides etc. are contained in a serving of a particular food. Trans-fat is an insoluble type of fat that clogs the arteries veins and capillaries over time. Foods containing fat or fat-related substances equal to or more than four milligrams are generally considered harmful to the body and should not be consumed on a daily basis.

Exercise is as important as diet modification. You burn excess fats when there is continuous physical activity for at least 30 minutes each day. Intense cardiovascular workouts like aerobics and running should be done two to three times a week for at least one hour. This builds endurance promotes smooth blood flow strengthens the blood vessels and it burn excess calories and stored fats.

This article was written by Cindy – a professional health blogger who does hcg diet reviews and answers interesting questions such as what is hcg?

Fat is an essential food class that provides vital benefits to the body. It deserves a place in the food group, and removing it entirely from the diet is most emphatically not a good idea. Of course, this does not mean that we should eat all types of fat. Fat sources that contribute to high cholesterol are best avoided.

It’s important to know that there are a lot of alternative fat sources containing lesser bad cholesterol. Many of these good fat sources are listed below.

Olive oil

Olive oil is rich in unsaturated fats. It uses as ordinary cooking oil or as a regular side dish oil. Olive oils add well in your vegetable salads. They are great substitute to use for butter in cooking. If one can’t find olive oil in the grocery then go for canola oils.

Avocados, olives and coconuts

Certain fruits are good sources of unsaturated fat. Avocados, olives and coconuts are part of the list. One doesn’t have to worry about weight gain with these foods.

Fish

Fish are rich in unsaturated fats and are great sources of protein. It helps decrease your cholesterol level when one takes more fish than regular meat and poultry. More importantly, fish oils are rich in omega– 3 fatty acids, which supports a healthy heart and cardiac function.

Nuts

Nuts contain high amounts of monounsaturated fats that protect one against cardiovascular diseases. It is a better food choice for snacks and not eating potato chips or doughnuts. Peanut butter also has healthy fats, just watch for the added ingredients.

Notice that saturated, unsaturated, mono unsaturated, good cholesterol or bad cholesterol shows up a lot in this topic. To give you an idea of what these are, you simply categorize them as good and bad (read this to find out what is cholesterol exactly).

“Good kinds of fat” include high-density lipoprotein (HDL), unsaturated fat, and mono-unsaturated fat. While the not so healthy kinds of fat are the ones with low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and saturated fat – these are commonly found in mayonnaise, butter, meat fat and oils, chicken skin, etc. It’s best to also lookout for these bad types of fat as they are the ones basically responsible for weight gain (which in turn leads to higher cholesterol).

A simple understanding of fats, its types, and the different fat sources, helps one meet fast weight loss – this along with the fat nutrients received.

Furthermore what are the normal levels to start with? If you know what’s normal then at least you can set goals to work towards if your numbers are on the high side. If this sounds like a situation you are in, not to worry. You’re not the only one. As a medical student, this used to be a big question my patients would ask me soon as the   attending doctor left the room.

Sometimes doctors tend to be so busy they forget that taking the time to talk and  explain to their patients what exactly they are dealing with goes along way on the road to recovery or at least getting people to realize why they are on a medication and what are their goals.

What cholesterol number are you trying to achieve to lower you health risks. Before we look at what the different lipid profile numbers are lets first understand what high cholesterol does to your body and the health implications.

In order to understand how Cholesterol plaques form to cause atherosclerosis we need to understand what LDL and HDL are. LDL stands for Low Density Lipoprotein which is the “Bad cholesterol” and HDL is High Density Lipoprotein which is the “Good Cholesterol” (VLDL is simply Very Low Density Lipoprotein). This is where people usually get confused and say “hey wait, shouldn’t the low density LDL be the good and HDL which is high density be bad?”

One would think that, but one very important thing to realize is that HDL takes cholesterol from the circulation back to the liver to be metabolized and processed while LDL does the opposite, that is to say it stays in the circulation which allows for the deposition of cholesterol into the wall of your blood vessels causing atherosclerosis.

The word Atherosclerosis when broken down to its latin meaning, translates into Athero- meaning atery and sclerosis- means hardening. That is exactly what happens; your blood vessels start to harden, a plaque forms causing occlusion,  hence you have a decrease in the flow to blood which in turn means there is a decrease in oxygen coming to that organ or area of a body and that is what leads to cell and tissue injury in the heart and is how you get a heart attack.

In some instances the plaque that  is forming in the vessels tends to get dislodged and travels to smaller vessels and blocks them, stopping blood flow (known as an embolism). So you can see that it may seem like your doctor is constantly raving and persistently nagging you about your cholesterol level being high and you need to get those number down, but know you know why!

Now that we understand what happens, lets take a look at what our Cholesterol goals should be. The NHLBI (National Heart Lung and Blood Institute) has developed the ATP III (Adult Treatment Panel III) which  they revise and modify every few years as new clinical research evidence and newer drugs come to the market or if they have new studies which show evidence of benefits in increasing an existing drugs dose or if it need to be taken of the market and so on.

The test done for cholesterol levels is called the Lipid Panel it must be conducted after fasting for 9-12 hours (hint get an appointment with your doctor as early in the morning as you can so you don’t have to go hungry all through the day). It measures Total Cholesterol, LDL, HDL and Triglycerides in mg/dl (milligrams per deciliter)

Total Cholesterol

<200  Desirable
200-239   Borderline high
>240   High

LDL

<100   Optimal
100-129   Near optimal/above optimal
130-159    Borderline high
160-189    High
>190    Very high

HDL

<40 Low
>60 High

Now that the implications are end results of high cholesterol are clear you are able to appreciate why we need to watch those number and keep them in line. Usually before a doctor prescribes drugs such as statins, fibrates or niacin they will encourage you to try and get those numbers back in line with diet and exercise and if that fails then the drugs can be added to help you lower you cholesterol.

When fat gets broken down by your liver, cholesterol is sometimes a product of the process. Cholesterol is divided into a few distinct sorts. High-density lipoprotein (HDL), Low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and Triglycerides. HDL cholesterol carries cholesterol towards your liver, where it is digested into different substances.

Therefore HDL is known as “good cholesterol”. So HDL helps to keep cholesterol levels low. LDL cholesterol (“Bad cholesterol”) takes cholesterol out of the liver to the cells and is associated with higher risk of heart attack, stroke, and diabetes. Triglycerides are another variety of “bad cholesterol” since they have been found to lead to “hardening of the arteries”. Triglycerides are found mostly in animal fats.

Contrary to many misconceptions, cholesterol has a vital set of roles in keeping people in good health. Cholesterol serves a few indispensablejobs in the human body. They are the making of hormones, the construction of cell walls, and insulation of nerve fibers.

The problem is, it is all too easy to have too much cholesterol in our blood, especially if we are consuming a lot of fatty food like junk food or snacks. If people have too much cholesterol, we are at risk of having heart disease and at a much higher risk of having a stroke. The greatest danger to a person’s health and wellbeing is if he or she has high LDL and triglyceride levels, but low low HDL levels.

Doctors are concerned that the 21st century might witness a huge number of deaths from diseases which are preventable caused by poor diet or lifestyle. reduce our risks by undertaking simple alterations to the way in which we live day to day.

Lowering your cholesterol levels is an important step to take. Try and steer clear of turning to medicine to reduce your levels of cholesterol. Why? It is because in a great many users, cholesterol medicines are actually just 2% effective in reducing risk of heart disease. If possible, try and find out about the best ways to lower cholesterol naturally and only use drugs as a final resort.

Good cholesterol levels can be yours thanks to these highly practical tips:

- Eat plenty of healthy food. Fish products and olive oil are excellent foods to eat regularly.

- If possible, lose a bit of fat. If you lose weight you can reach far lower cholesterol by 45%.

- Pile your plate high with tasty fruit and vegetables!

- Caffeine and alcohol intake should be reduced. Caffeine and alcohol can increase your cholesterol levels.

- Don’t let yourself end up too stressed out. Some gentle stress here and there is nothing for anybody to worry about. Although, should you be stressed every single day, you will probably have high blood pressure which results in many serious problems.

Even if you are in good condition, applying these tips can improve your health in a big way. A healthier body often makes you look and feel a lot better.