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!

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?

The average person who goes to the doctor for a checkup or physical, if healthy will come up with a systolic pressure of around 120 or lower and a diastolic pressure of 80 or lower. However, it will take what is called a blood pressure series to confirm what your personal normal is as it may not always be the numbers above. We will get into the area of blood pressure symptoms in a moment after you understand what those numbers mean. In the medical community, they say ‘too high and you die’. This is referring to the diastolic pressure number which is reflected above by the number 80.

This is the most important number because it gauges how hard the blood is hitting the walls of the arteries and veins when your heart beats. This is why some of the blood pressure symptoms are associated with stroke as well. You will harden the arteries and thin the walls until you either form clots or break them. This is why it is so important knowing how to prevent blood pressure symptoms from ever occurring.
Let’s try and recognize for a moment what kind of symptoms you can expect that may make you suspect you are suffering from the silent killer.

1. When you are upset or stressed, do you turn red in the face and the ears?
2. Do you have unexplained dizziness or light headedness?
3. Are you experiencing any chest pain?

There are not a lot of tell- tale blood pressure symptoms. The dangerous thing and why they call it the silent killer is, guess what? They are silent or very subtle and can be masked by any number of other conditions that are very benign. Blood pressure symptoms such as the ones mentioned above, will be sometimes different in women than that of the common blood pressure symptoms found in men.

If one has blood pressure symptoms, one should hurry to the doctor’s office as soon as possible to make sure you can begin to heal the situation. Prevention before the onset of blood pressure symptoms is best but if you are already experiencing this, you can do a lot to prevent the issue from staying around forever. That is right; you can actually reverse the blood pressure symptoms before you have to take medication for the rest of our life. The doctor may suggest these things for your blood pressure symptoms. Exercise, salt free diet; among other dietary changes, and stress reducing activities.

If you are experiencing continued blood pressure symptoms, you should not attempt any self help remedy on your own until you get a physical. Blood pressure symptoms can mask other diseases that can cause the very blood pressure symptoms you are experiencing.

A lot of people  expect to lose up to two pounds of fat each week with a program of regular aerobic exercise. When you have done almost everything  and still you are not losing weight, it’s probably not your age, your metabolism, or your genetics that are causing the problem. It’s simply the fact that conventional aerobic exercise programs are not a particularly effective way to drop the pounds.

The truth is that rapid weight loss is not easy to achieve. You can start your weight loss journey by reading any weight loss articles that might catch your eye. You can look for other references to help you put an end to unhealthy eating. Stop your potato couch lifestyle by reading magazines.

To know what will be the outcome of your reading, then try doing what these articles are saying. If you prefer, consult a fitness trainer – they are specialists who can help you every step of the way with your fitness workout. They can do a number of things to not only help you with your routine but also keep you going when things start to get tough and you feel like giving up.

For anyone looking to start on a fitness workout, the single most important thing that you can do is make contact with a fitness trainer before you begin, otherwise you are not only more likely to give up, but more likely to injure yourself and be unable to keep going.  With these starting ways towards your fitness training success is never out of reach.

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.

Are body fat percentage scales extremely accurate? The answer could either be yes and no. If you are trying to check your weight, you can get precise information on your weight, but not for your body composition measurements. Usually, body fat bathroom scales are known to be inaccurate in giving exact computations. According to consumer reports, the scales are not accurate in providing results compared with DEXA (Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry) tests.

But though the best body fat scales may not provide absolutely accurate computations, there are still advantages that a body fat weight scale has to offer. The device allows users to systematically track their progress when they are undergoing a diet and exercise program, for example, by monitoring body weight and fat.

If you want to maintain and improve your overall health, a body fat scale is probably a necessity, since being able to keep track of your body composition makes it easier for you to achieve your goals. There are a huge number of brands available but most body fat scale reviews tend to agree that the leader in quality body fat scales are Tanita body fat scales and Taylor body fat scales.

Choose the best fat and body weight scale that will help you monitor your body compositions. You can start your research today and start achieving your desired body and become perfectly healthy.

However, there are a few nutritional supplements on the market that show good evidence of effectiveness at combating these diseases. Keep in mind that supplements are, as their name suggests, supplementary and are no replacement for a good diet and rigorous exercise.

1. Green Tea: Supported by many numerous studies and strong evidence, green tea is linked with reduced cholesterol and blood pressure. Both of these are important for cardiovascular health. It is also sometimes marketed as a weight loss aid, due to its ability to safely increase metabolism. However, it is probably too weak to be the best diet supplement for directly losing weight, although it might still be a valuable addition to a healthy weight loss diet.

2. Fish Oil: Also strongly supported by evidence from numerous scientific studies, fish oil benefits include improved blood cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and general cardiovascular health. Fish oil contains omega 3 fatty acids, which are necessary to balance the high degree of omega 6 fatty acids present in most diets. This imbalance leads to inflammation which in turn leads to cardiovascular illness.

3. Cocoa: Believe it or not, chocolate is high in a compound that is known for cardiovascular benefits. Known as flavanols, these chemicals help improve blood flow and general cardiovascular health, and are responsible for the well-known health benefits of red wine. The only drawback may be that most consumable chocolate is loaded with sugar and fat, which will offset the benefits of the flavanols. It must be consumed as dark, unsweetened chocolate, or in supplement form.

Obesity is defined as being above the normal weight to the degree that there is adverse effect on your health.  It is measured by the Body Mass Index, which compares health and weight, and is the cause of many diseases, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and sleep apnea.  Obesity can not only adversely affect your quality of life but also lead to an early death.

Many of those who are obese develop type 2 diabetes, which is a chronic disease associated with high blood sugar levels. In type 2 diabetes, the body either doesn’t produce enough insulin or it becomes insulin-resistant. Type 2 diabetes has many complications, including hypertension, neuropathy, eye problems and skin problems.  

Obesity, with or without the complications of type 2 diabetes, can often be controlled through diet modification and an exercise program. In both cases, foods high in fats and sugars should be cut back. Specifically foods made with white flour or sugar, starchy vegetables, sodas, alcohol and sweets of any kind should be avoided.    

Drinking plenty of water helps keep the system flushed.   In order to keep blood sugar levels stable, one should eat more frequently than three times a day; instead eating small amounts every few hours keeps the blood sugar levels consistent.  Foods high in protein, such as nuts are a good snack. 

In addition to diet modification, an exercise program should be followed. For many who are obese, this is difficult to begin; however, even a simple regimen of daily walking is a good start and will produce noticeable benefits surprisingly quickly. Of course, in order to rule out any serious disease, if you are obese, you should always consult your doctor before embarking on any diet and exercise program.

If you are obese and beginning a weight loss program it may be helpful to include some type of mental conditioning. This can be as simple as daily meditation. Hypnotherapy has been shown to be useful in weight management programs.   

Weight management, especially for the obese, is a long term commitment. Finding the best weight loss methods that help you stay on track can make the difference between success and failure.

Find out how much you need

I’m referring to how much calories should you take in a day. You can calculate this using the basal metabolic rate, which you can check in the net, to measure your daily allowance.

Have good servings of fruits and vegetables

Suggested serving is 5 for fresh fruits and green leafy vegetables. They contain enough dietary fibers, vitamins and antioxidants to make you feel full longer and have more energy to cope up with the day.

Check the serving size

When eating outside try to check the serving size. Some restaurants offer more than the actual serving. When in doubt better go to the small size. Or if you think it is a big size, then try to share it with others or cut it to half.

Never skip meals

Skipping meals would only stall your metabolism, this cause more storage of fats. Instead of having three big meals, have five to six meals throughout the day to keep your metabolic rate high, and also avoid hunger pangs.

Fresh foods

Try to purchase fresh foods and avoid package or processed meals. These kinds of food contain high sodium content that causes our body to bloat. Try to prepare fresh foods for yourself and for your family.

Don’t overdo it

We all have our favorite treats and meals, food items that we can’t resist. If you restrict more you would only rebel more. So eat them once in a while, and make them as a reward of a good work done.

Check labels

Check labels and understand them. Fat free doesn’t mean totally no fat is included, that would be impossible.

Exercise

A 30 to 60 minutes walk would be enough if you do it daily. Weight-bearing exercise would be advisable at least 2 times a week to help boost your metabolism and burn more calories.

Take notes

Take note of points of your eating pattern that causes you trouble and problems. Find ways to tackle them or avoid them.

Careful with what you drink

A lot of juices, soda, and coffee contain a lot of sugar. Try to drink fresh water more instead of them.

These fast weight loss tips are simple. Start now and lose weight!