Unfortunately, you need more than medications to properly maintain your health, not to mention that you don’t want to need to take medications for something as treatable as high cholesterol. It is better for you to put the work in to change your lifestyle for your overall health.

The Key to Action Is Understanding

It may help to understand how diet and exercise affects cholesterol. Truly understanding how your choices and lifestyle directly impact your cholesterol and overall health may make it easier for you to stick to a healthier lifestyle.

It likely seems a lot more obvious how your diet would affect your cholesterol. There is cholesterol, both “good” and “bad”, in the foods you eat. If you eat more of the foods with HDL cholesterol, or good cholesterol, and less of the foods with “bad”, or LDL, cholesterol, then you will be healthier overall. Sticking to a healthy cholesterol diet can help you eat your way to healthier cholesterol results.

The affect that exercise has on your cholesterol is perhaps less obvious. You might even be thinking that medical professionals use the phrase “diet and exercise” as an all-in-one answer to a healthy lifestyle, but that exercise is the less important part of the equation. The truth is, however, that exercise is important for a healthy cholesterol lifestyle.

How Exercise Affects Your Cholesterol

Weight Management

The most obvious way that exercise affects cholesterol is the impact that regular exercise can have on your overall weight. There is a high correlation between being overweight and a higher amount of LDL cholesterol in your body. Lowering your body weight can help you lower the amount of those “bad” cholesterol molecules in your body.

Stimulating Steps

Exercise stimulates your body in many ways. Your heart beats faster, pumping blood through your body at a more efficient rate, and all of your body’s systems speed up. Another way that exercise stimulates your body is in the very makeup of your body. In the specific case of your cholesterol, the enzymes that move LDL molecules through the blood to your liver are sped up, helping increase the efficiency of your body’s natural system for removing LDL waste, therefore decreasing your LDL cholesterol.

Bulking Up Blood

Exercise makes you stronger, on the inside as well as out. It can help bulk up the proteins in your blood that cholesterol molecules travel on, making your body stronger and more efficient at using each cholesterol molecule as it is needed, and taking the rest to waste.

Understanding just how important your role is in your own health can help you to make the best decisions to create a healthier you. While medication is certainly helpful in treating many cases of high cholesterol, medication alone cannot do what your body is meant to do. A healthy diet and regular exercise are an important part of the equation to lower LDL cholesterol and increase HDL cholesterol, for an overall healthier you. For more information about cholesterol, click here.

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Fruit is a healthy and delicious food that is full of natural sugars. These sugars are not as harmful as added sugars or even the sugars from broken down simple carbohydrates, but they do still affect your blood glucose levels. This means that you need to be a little careful, but you can still enjoy the delicious sweetness of fruits.

Go Au Natural

When it comes to eating fruit, you are better off choosing all natural, fresh versions rather than canned. Canned fruit is often packed with added sugars, syrups, preservatives, and more. Since fruit is already sweet, you really don’t need all that extra sugar. Frozen is an acceptable alternative to fresh fruit, but be aware that many dried fruits can have added sugars and pack more carbohydrates into smaller servings.

Find Balance

Fruit does have natural sugars and carbohydrates, so it is a good idea to balance out your fruit portions with fiber and protein. For example, eat your fruit with some yogurt, whole grain granola, or some peanut butter. This will help you balance out the sugar and carbohydrates in the fruit so your blood glucose levels can remain stable.

Keep It Simple

Bear in mind that fruit is naturally sweet, and so you don’t need to add anything extra. It is a common practice to sprinkle sugar over fresh berries, or to salt apples and cantaloupe. To keep your snack as healthy as possible, skip these steps and just enjoy the simple sweetness that fruit offers.

Best Choices

Some fruits are better than others for diabetics. Berries, for example, have the most antioxidants and pack a whole lot of nutrition in each tiny bite. Apples have fiber to help balance out the sugars.

Smart Servings

As with everything, fruit should be eaten in moderation. You do not want to go overboard and eat too much because fruit does raise your blood sugars. Monitoring your serving sizes will help you to enjoy your sweet treat without hurting your blood sugar.

Fruit can be a healthy and delicious part of your diabetic friendly diet. You simply need to follow these rules so you can get the most out of your sweet snacks. For more information about diabetes, click here.

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Is cholesterol bad for you?

Considering that almost one million people suffer heart attacks each year in the United States alone, it is best to get down to the truth of the matter. The best way to answer this question is to get down to the basics of what cholesterol is and what it does in your body.

What Is Cholesterol?

Cholesterol is essentially a type of fat in the blood that takes on important roles in your body. These fat molecules help your body to build and protect cells.

Is Cholesterol Bad?

Typically, when cholesterol is explained, there are references made to “good” and “bad” cholesterol. These refer to HDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. Technically, these names do not describe the cholesterol itself, but instead they are the lipoproteins that carry the cholesterol throughout the body.

HDL- or high density lipoproteins- are considered the “good” because it acts like a janitor to clean out other types of harmful lipoproteins and other waste.

LDL- or low density lipoproteins- are considered “bad” because they can clog arteries and lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attack, and more.

These lipoproteins are a lot like transporter systems, and act as a traveling system for cholesterol. The cholesterol molecule itself is neither good nor bad, and in fact the composition of the fat does not change according to the lipoprotein it inhabits. When people refer to good and bad cholesterol, they are actually simply referring to the lipoproteins they are attached to.

Down To Semantics

So, is cholesterol actually bad?

The short answer is no, and that is because it is the lipoproteins themselves that are the good and bad, not the cholesterol molecules that they are carrying. This fact, however, is merely semantics and does not change the fact that these lipoproteins, which people typically refer to as cholesterol, do need to be controlled. Too much LDL cholesterol and too little LDL cholesterol are bad for you and can lead to dangerous consequences if not controlled.

Talk to your doctor about testing your blood cholesterol levels and how you can make healthy changes to reduce your risk of heart disease. Often, simple dietary and other lifestyle changes can go a long way to reducing your LDL cholesterol and increasing your HDL cholesterol, which is the key to a healthy heart. For more information about cholesterol, click here.

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The answer, as it is so often, is in your diet. What you eat is just that important, that it truly affects every aspect of your life. While that may sound daunting, consider also the power this gives you over your own life. Simply changing your diet can help you to feel better; stays focused, and stay more energized.

Here are some delicious diabetes friendly ideas for more energy:

Breakfast

An energetic day starts with the right jolt to get you moving. A great breakfast starts you off right and wakes you up for the day ahead. You want to get your blood sugar up after fasting all night, and keep it maintained at a healthy level until your next meal.

Scrambled All In One

This one pan recipe is about as easy as it gets, and can be modified according to how many people you are cooking for. It is also easy to swap out ingredients for your favorite vegetables or breakfast meats to make it your own.

Ingredients:

½ medium potato, shredded
¼ sweet yellow onion, diced
¼ cup red and yellow bell pepper, diced
2 strips of turkey bacon, chopped
2 eggs or egg whites, whisked
Salt and pepper to taste
Shredded cheese for topping

Start by cooking your chopped bacon pieces until about two thirds of the way done, depending on how crispy you like your bacon. Drain most of the excess grease from the pan, keeping the bacon in the pan. Add your onion and bell pepper, and cook until onion is translucent. Add your shredded potatoes into the pan, flipping and scattering until cooked through and hash-browns are lightly brown, or browned to your liking. Add eggs to the pan, scrambling all of the ingredients together until eggs are cooked through. Season to taste; and top with a little shredded cheese.

Lunch

The early afternoon can start looking pretty bleak without a good meal to perk you up. After so many hours since your last meal or snack, your blood sugar can start to drop. Perk it up and keep it stable with a nice rounded midday meal.

Simple Chopped Chef Salad

Crisp and refreshing and filling too, a big salad is the perfect lunch meal to keep your energy focused and moving. Even better, these simple ingredients can be thrown together to go for lunches away from home.

Ingredients:

½ head romaine lettuce
¼ sweet yellow onion, diced
¼ cup carrot, shredded
1 small celery stalk, chopped
5 broccoli and/or cauliflower florets, chopped
1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
2 slices deli turkey, rolled and sliced
2 slices deli chicken, rolled and sliced
2 slices deli ham, rolled and sliced
2 slices deli Swiss or provolone cheese, rolled and sliced
1 hard-boiled egg, crumbled
Pinch of shredded cheddar cheese

Simply throw all of your ingredients in a big bowl and toss together with 1-2 tablespoons of your favorite light dressing. Top with croutons, dried cranberries, or walnuts for a special touch.

Snacks

When your blood sugar is getting low and you feel your energy waning, reach for one of these delicious energy boosting snacks:

•    Apple with peanut butter
•    Carrots and hummus
•    Banana and almond butter on a graham cracker
•    Whole wheat crackers and cheese
•    Sugar free yogurt with granola

Diabetic friendly recipes for more energy never tasted so good. Tasty recipes like these, along with plenty of water and regular exercise, can help you increase your energy exponentially. As always, talk to your doctor before making any big changes to your diet or lifestyle. If you are looking for more information on diabetic friendly recipes, click here.

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Every human body isn’t primed for running a marathon or pumped up aerobics classes, and that’s okay. There are plenty of low impact cardiovascular workouts that can help you shape up. Here are some great low impact heart healthy exercises for you to try:

Swimming

Swimming is a nearly perfect exercise. Not only does the water take the strain off your muscles and joints, but it literally works your entire body. When you are swimming, every muscle is working as well as your cardiovascular system. The weightlessness of the water soothes, while still creating resistance.

Swimming is also great because it can be done at just about every level. Whether you are swimming laps, splashing around, or simply treading water, you are getting a great workout.

Water Aerobics

Another water based workout, water aerobics is a great opportunity for some fun and heart healthy group exercise. Water aerobics classes are available at gyms and health centers almost everywhere, offering a great chance for some fun exercise with other people just like you. Just like with regular swimming, the water helps keep the workout easy and low impact, while creating enough resistance to be a fantastic exercise.

Walking

As simple as it sounds, just plain walking is a great and underrated cardiovascular exercise. Jogging or running puts a lot of strain on the body, especially the joints, as your body hits the ground with each stride. Instead, walking does not shock the body like running does. Going for a leisurely, or brisk, walk at your own pace helps get that heart pumping just as well and is certainly more sustainable than sprinting.

Dancing

Especially because it can be done according to your own pace and abilities, dancing is a great low impact cardiovascular exercise that people rarely consider. Your body is moving, from your feet to your arms, and don’t forget those hips. From ballroom to hip hop, dancing is a great exercise at every speed and level. Simply turn on some music and move.

These great exercises prove that you can get a great heart healthy cardiovascular workout without being too hard on your body. You should always talk to your doctor before starting a new exercise regimen or before making any dietary changes. With a list like this on hand, your doctor is sure to be proud of your new knowledge of low impact heart healthy exercises. For more information on heart health, click here.

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Good and Bad Carbohydrates

There is a good side and a bad side to carbohydrates. These are generally referred to as “simple” and “complex” carbohydrates. Each type of carbohydrate affects your blood sugar differently.

Simple/Bad: Simple carbohydrates are considered bad. These are carbohydrates that break down into sugars very quickly and can raise your blood sugar almost as much as eating sugary sweets. Simple carbohydrates are found in bread, pasta, and basically anything made with white flour.

Complex/Good: Good carbohydrates are complex, such as the carbohydrates found in vegetables, whole grains, and beans. Complex carbohydrates are better because they affect your blood sugar more slowly, helping to keep it stable over time. These are the types of carbohydrates that you want to eat, rather than simple carbohydrates that spike your blood sugar.

What Is Carb Counting?

Carb counting is a method of meal planning that can help you monitor your diabetes friendly diet. The idea is to keep track of how much carbohydrates you are consuming to better manage your blood sugar levels. Since carbohydrates are often the biggest culprit in raising your blood sugar, this is a great way to manage your healthy diabetes diet.

How to Count Carbs

Counting carbohydrates is a lot simpler than it may sound. There isn’t a lot of complex math or equations to figure out how much you are eating.

Set a Limit: With the help of your doctor or nutritionist, set a limit as to how much carbohydrates you should be consuming per day. This number will vary from person to person, depending on your particular condition, other health issues, physical activity, body mass index, and what medications or treatments you are on. The typical healthy amount of carbohydrates per meal is around 50. You may need to eat more or less, so be sure to talk to your healthcare providers to know what will work for you.

Check Labels: Most store bought foods will tell you right on the nutrition label how many carbohydrates there are per servings. Make sure you are paying attention to your serving sizes, however, because it can be easy to over serve. If you come across a food that does not have a label, like fruit for example, you can go online and find easy lists of carbohydrate counts for virtually anything.

Controlling your blood sugar is more than just abstaining from sweets. Consider using some of these carbohydrate counting tips in your meal plans for a healthier diet. It is simple to find out the carbohydrate count of any food and keep track of what you are eating better this way. For more information on a healthy diet, click here.

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Cholesterol Basics

The first step to truly making a difference to your own health and well-being is to understand the basics. After all, how can you truly know what changes to make without understanding what cholesterol is and how it affects your body.

What Cholesterol Is

Cholesterol is a waxy substance found in all of the cells of your body. It is made naturally in the body and has quite a few important functions, such as helping in the production of hormones. You need cholesterol, or at least you need a certain kind of cholesterol. There are different types of cholesterol. One kind of cholesterol, low density lipid, or LDL cholesterol, is considered to be “bad” cholesterol. This is the type of cholesterol that doctors warn you against. The good kind of cholesterol, known as HDL or high density lipid cholesterol, is the kind that you want to increase.

How Cholesterol Affects Your Body

As mentioned about, cholesterol has an important role in your body’s healthy function. Here are some of the functions of cholesterol in your body:

•    Production of hormones
•    Vitamin D production
•    Maintaining cell membranes
•    Fighting off infection
•    Producing bile

HDL cholesterol also helps to clean the body of dangerous LDL cholesterol, which makes it even more important to understand about it.

LDL cholesterol affects the body in more harmful ways. It clogs veins and arteries, and can cause serious medical conditions such as high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke.

Balancing Out the Bad

Maintaining the healthiest possible cholesterol levels comes in two parts. You have to focus on both the good and the bad. This means that not only do you need to reduce your LDL cholesterol, but you also need to increase your HDL cholesterol levels. You want to reduce your LDL cholesterol to avoid those scary medical issues, of course, but you need the healthy kind of cholesterol to perform those very vital functions. Not only do you want to increase your HDL cholesterol levels so that hormone and vitamin production is healthy, but higher HDL cholesterol levels can help you to lower your LDL cholesterol.

Healthy Cholesterol Sources

There are a few fairly easy ways that you can increase your HDL cholesterol levels. Some examples are:

•    Get daily cardiovascular exercise
•    Eat less sugar
•    Eat a diet full of colorful fruits and vegetables
•    Eat foods high in healthy fats like fish, avocado, and nuts
•    Work to lose excess weight
•    Medications are available when necessary

A healthy lifestyle is more than just avoiding “bad” stuff. It is also about putting effort into being good to your body. This means getting regular exercise and making a point to eat foods that increase healthy cholesterol levels. To learn more about cholesterol click here.

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Why is breakfast so important?

Breakfast is the first meal you eat after many hours of fasting, thus the name “break-fast”. It starts your entire day with a jolt of much needed energy after running empty for so long. Especially for gestational diabetes mothers, this meal raises and stabilizes blood sugar levels.

Think of your body like a vehicle. In the morning, after not eating for hours, you are running empty and need fuel to fill your tank. You need the right kind of fuel to keep you full and satisfied until your next fill up.

Healthy Breakfast Choices

In order to start your day the right way, you need to consider the type of fuel you are giving yourself. It isn’t enough to grab a donut as you rush out the door in the morning. Especially as an expectant mother, and a gestational diabetic at that, your choices will affect your health and your entire day.

You want to choose breakfast options that will fill you up and keep you full, as well as stabilize your blood sugar levels. So you want to avoid empty calories and high sugar options. Instead, aim for foods that are high in fiber and protein. Choose healthy fats instead of empty calories and complex carbohydrates instead of simple sugars.

Healthy Breakfast Examples

Oatmeal: Oatmeal is a perfect food for breakfast, and it is versatile enough to fit into just about every sense of taste. It is full of fiber that will keep you full and help stabilize your blood sugar. Add in all sorts of delicious and healthy toppings to make it interesting and give your morning a healthy boost. Try stirring in granola, nuts, fruit, berries, and more. Use agave syrup or fruit to sweeten your oatmeal instead of sugar.

Breakfast Sandwiches: You don’t need a drive through to enjoy a delicious breakfast sandwich. Simply start with a healthy, fiber-rich whole wheat English muffin and fill it with your breakfast favorites. Try egg whites, turkey bacon, and tomato. Or egg and cheese with spinach.

Classic Favorites: It’s hard to go wrong with breakfast staples such as bacon, eggs, and toast. You can even start your day with some pancakes or waffles. You just have to choose the healthier, and just as tasty, versions of your favorite foods. For example, use whole wheat flour or oat flour to make your pancakes, and use sugar free syrup or agave syrup.

Breakfast is truly the most important meal of the day, especially for gestational diabetics. Give you and your baby the healthy start you need with a balanced and healthy breakfast. Keep your carbohydrates balanced with proteins, and include plenty of fiber to keep you full. Click here for more information.

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No Guess Work

Perhaps the best thing about meal planning is that it takes the guess work out of your daily meal plan. A meal plan gives you a clear strategy for each day and what you will eat for every meal and snack. This makes follow through a lot more likely, because you don’t have to think about what you eat. You also are a lot less likely to get caught unaware and end up making desperate food decisions at a vending machine or fast food counter.

A meal plan does not have to be a complicated thing. You can use one general base idea for a whole week’s worth of meals, making a simple process even easier.

Breakfast (Base: Oatmeal)

Pre-make oatmeal for the week. You can do this by cooking the oatmeal and then separating it into servings for each day, or by making a no-cook refrigerator version for each day. To make the no-cook version, place oats and your milk of choice in a container overnight. Each day, add something different to the oatmeal to make it a different experience.

For Example:

•    Almonds and Honey
•    Apples, Pecans, and Cinnamon
•    Granola and Cinnamon
•    Peaches and Coconut Milk
•    Pureed Pumpkin and Pumpkin Pie Spice

Lunch (Base: Salad)

Salads are always a great lunch idea. They are lean and clean, so they won’t slow you down or make you feel sluggish. They are easy and are great for spiking your energy in the middle of the day. They are also incredibly versatile. Here are some ideas to add to simple lettuce, tomato, and cucumbers to make salad interesting every day:

For Example:

•    Chicken, Corn, and Black Beans
•    Re-fried Beans and Salsa
•    Walnuts, Dried Cranberries, and Vinaigrette
•    Deli Turkey, Cherry Tomatoes, and Olives
•    Salmon and Pecans

Dinner (Base: Chicken and Rice)

There are a lot of things you can do with a base meal of chicken and simple brown rice. These are both very versatile meal options. Simply cook your meal a little differently each night, and add a few different touches to make it a whole new experience.

For example:

•    Italian: Pan Fry chicken, covered in Italian bread crumbs, in a small amount of olive oil. Infuse rice with Italian spices. Serve next to a Caprice salad.
•    Bake chicken in salsa; serve with rice and black beans.
•    Bake chicken in sauce made with chipotle spices and a little agave nectar. Serve over plain brown rice with a small amount of butter, and sautéed zucchini.
•    Teriyaki chicken over plain rice, serve with Asian mix vegetables or broccoli.
•    Stir-fry chicken with all your favorite vegetables, serve over rice.

With one simple base meal idea, you can build a whole weekly meal plan for each meal. It is so simple you are guaranteed to do well, which means a healthier diet and lifestyle for you. For more information on diabetes, click here.

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What Is High Blood Pressure?

High blood pressure is a condition marked by the increased force of blood pumping through your veins. The numbers you hear when your blood pressure is measured are an account of how much force is being pushed onto the walls of your arteries.

Blood pressure is measured in two parts, thus the top number and bottom number that is given to you in the doctor’s office.

Systolic (top number): Measures the pressure of your blood against the walls of your arteries when your heart beats.

Diastolic (bottom number): Measures the pressure of your blood between heart beats.

Together, these calculations help to give a base measurement of how much force is being applied to your body with each heartbeat. Increased force, or high blood pressure, forces your body to work harder than it should need to pump blood. This can cause a host of uncomfortable and very dangerous problems such as heart attack, stroke, and even death.

What Causes High Blood Pressure?

There is no one cause of high blood pressure. Sometimes the increased force can be caused by swelling or blockages, but there is not always a known cause. There are risk factors that can contribute:

Age: Older people are more likely to have problems with their blood pressure. This is likely due to the wear and tear on the body, including the veins and arteries.

Weight: Carrying excess body weight can significantly increase the likelihood of high blood pressure. One major reason for this is that excess weight creates a lot of extra work for your entire body, including the ability to pump blood.

Genetics: Your family health history can contribute to your likelihood of having high blood pressure and many other chronic health conditions.

Diet: Your diet affects your overall health, including your blood pressure. A diet high in salt and fat leads to increased blood pressure.

Lifestyle: Smoking, drinking alcohol, and leading a sedentary life all contribute to high blood pressure.

Overall Heath: Many health conditions can contribute to multiple health issues. You are likely to have high blood pressure if you are living with other chronic health conditions such as kidney disease.

A true understanding of how your body works and how to combat the dangers of health issues such as high blood pressure is your first step to making real progress. It is easier to stick to a healthier lifestyle if you know how and why all of your hard work pays off. Not only that, but misunderstanding a health condition such as high blood pressure could prove to be quite dangerous. For more blood pressure information, click here.

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