My Journey through High Cholesterol

Obesity and High Cholesterol: One of the most common disease

According to WHO survey, number of obese people doubled, since 1980. Obesity now days is a common problem, and there is no news about it.

Here are some facts, which shows the graveness of the situation

- 1.5 billion Adults were obese in 1980, mostly of age 20 and older, were overweight. Out of which over 200 million men and nearly 300 million women were obese.

- In 2010 nearly 43 million children under the age of five were overweight.

According to OECD Health Data of 2005, following is the list of countries which top the chart in terms of obesity -

Rank    Countries                   Amount 

# 1    United States                 30.6%  

# 2    Mexico                           24.2%  

# 3    United Kingdom             23.0%  

# 4    Slovakia                         22.4%  

# 5    Greece                          21.9%  

So, how obesity is related with high cholesterol index. The answer is quite simple, obesity and cholesterol goes hand in hand. Most obese person have high cholesterol problem.

Molecular structure of Cholesterol | Source

My past mistakes

One of the major reason to write this article is to share my experience about high cholesterol and its problems. Being an IT professional, who works in fast pacing IT industry, sometimes, we have to stretch for project deliveries, stay in office late nights. The only option we have if we feel hungry is to eat junk and fast food, which are full of cheese, fries etc. These so called fast foods are full of saturated and Tran's fatty acids. Earlier I used to work out in gym and use to consume eggs and meat in my diet for protein. But some time back, due to project constraints, I stop going to gym, but consumption of these fatty acids was not reduced, my fault but I never thought about it this way. This was a big mistake; in a year, I accumulated more than 23 kg of weight. Later, when I checked my cholesterol, it was in the range of 350, which falls in high risk range. I consulted the doctor and started regular exercise, diet control, low cal food etc along with some medicines. Although, I am little overweight now and not obese, but still my cholesterol in upper range.It can happen to anyone if we don't pay close attention to our eating habits.

Old habits Die hard

It takes serious dedication and determination to achieve something like this. If you want reduce your cholesterol level, without affecting much of your daily routine, except eating habit. I also tried to control my eating habits, but it was very difficult in the start, and it gets more difficult with time. Sometimes, in last we give hope and return to our old eating habits. This is an alarming situation for us and our heart.

Let's try to figure out the solution of this issue in next part of this article.

Saying 1

An Apple a day keeps doctor away... follow healthy diet routine to maintain balance in life..

Basic Terms related with High Cholesterol

BMI - Body Mass Index

Is way to calculate the "fatness" or "thinness" of a person, based on his/her height and weight. It is simple to calculate BMI through formula -

BMI = (Mass (In kgs))/ ((Height (In meters))* (Height (In meters)))

BMI helps in roughly estimating, if person is overweight, underweight or having a normal weight. Following chart shows the BMI and its corresponding depiction. Take a poll below and see if your are obese.

Obesity

So, based on BMI person is obese if his BMI is greater than 27.5. There are several other factors which also count here like body frame structure, fat accumulation etc.

Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a type of fat or rather waxy steroid of fat in medical language. It is important part of our body, as it helps in producing hormones and our cell membranes. Cholesterol is produced in liver and intestine. However, high level of cholesterol can clog arteries and veins, which may increase the risk of cardiac arrest.

The amount of cholesterol present in plant-based food sources is generally much lower than animal based sources, Total fat intake, especially saturated fat and Tran's fat, plays a larger role in blood cholesterol than intake of cholesterol itself.

LDL or Low-Density Lipoprotein

commonly known as the "bad" cholesterol. High LDL levels are associated with an increased risk for heart disease. LDL levels are often the major focus of cholesterol lowering diets.

HDL or High-Density Lipoprotein

is commonly referred to as the "good cholesterol." The reason behind this is unlike LDL, HDL helps excess cholesterol return to the liver for removal. HDL is known as good cholesterol because it aids in the removal of cholesterol that can block arteries and reduce blood flow.

Triglyceride

Triglycerides are a type of lipid found in your blood. When you eat, your body converts any calories it doesn't need to use, into triglycerides. The triglycerides are stored in your fat cells. Later, hormones release triglycerides for energy between meals.

Saturated fat

Saturated fat is fat that consists of triglycerides containing only saturated fatty acid.

Tran's fat

Trans fats are typically derived from the partial hydrogenation of unsaturated fats, and do not occur in significant amounts in nature.Trans fat is the common name for unsaturated fat

Reasons for high cholesterol

There can be one or reasons for your high cholesterol level. Knowing the right reason will help you in avoiding it, and increases your chances to reduce cholesterol. Some major reasons can be

1. Hereditary

Your high cholesterol or Hypercholesterolaemia can be hereditary. Try to point out, if it is a trend in your family, to have high cholesterol?

2. Consumption of high-calorie fatty food

It may be a case that you consume, rich fatty food all the time and which may be unnecessary for body. This accumulates as fat as reserve for later use. But it never used up and keep on piling eventually causing High Cholesterol.

Avoid foods like fried foods: extreme consumption of milk and its foodstuffs like ghee, butter, and cream; white flour, pastries, biscuits, cheese, and ice cream; and non-vegetarian foodstuffs like meat, fish, and eggs.

3. Smoking, Drinking and Anxiety

Drinking and Smoking not only is cause of cholesterol but also is reason for  other dangerous diseases. Same goes with anxiety, prolonged anxiety increases stress harmone level, which in turn increase the cholesterol level. Try quitting them, follow natural healthy life and it may be difficult during first attempt, try to get support from the one who recently left this habit or your doctor.

Sources of cholesterol

Most of the food sources of cholesterol are animal meat or fat products. Foods containing animal fat contain cholesterol to varying extents. Here is the list of cholesterol sources categorized

Major dietary sources of cholesterol include-

-Cheese

-Egg yolks

-Beef

-Pork

-Poultry, and

-Shrimp

Plant Sources

-Flax seeds and

-Peanuts

Saturated fat

-Full fat dairy products,

-Animal fats

-Oil and

-Chocolate.

Tran's fat

-Margarine

-Hydrogenated vegetable fat

-Fast foods

-Snack foods

-Fried or baked goods

Saying 2

Early to bed and early to rise, make you healthy, wealthy and wise.... Follow discipline in life... don't cut loose every now and then...

Know your BMI

Calculate your BMI based on formula above...

Risks involved with High Cholestrol

Why it is bad to have high cholesterol majorly because of -

-Fatigued

-Lower stamina

-Hypertension

-Hardening of arteries

-Choking of arteries

-Cardiac arrest

-High blood pressure

Where to start from ???

So you have a high cholesterol problem, don't worry I had too, try suggestions given in article below -

Accept it

First step towards the problem is to accept it. Accept that you have a problem of high cholesterol and obesity. Don't try to shy away from it, and don't give yourself any lame accuses, this is your life; you have made it that way. So no point in saving your face from yourself. In this way you will feel much lighter and will get the courage to fight the issue.

Know your BMI

After accepting the problem, you have to identify how grave the situation is. For this calculate your weight and height accurately. Calculate your BMI based on the formula provided in upper section.

Brainstorming

Try to do some brainstorming; read about it as much as possible, this will give you an insight. Moreover, you will become aware about its risks and latest development in this field.

I have tried to categories some of the activities based on do's and don'ts to reduce high cholesterol. If I can follow them so can you...

Source

Fruits can also help in lowering cholesterol.

Include portions of fruits in your daily diet... they contain vitamins, fibres, natural sugar and antioxidants.

Saying 3

Eat enough to satisfy your hunger, eat less enough so, it should not make you lazy and dull....

Indulge yourself in workouts

Reduce your weight with these amazing products to reduce and in-turn increase your chance to lower your cholesterol

Do's and Don't

Do's

Consult doctor

Before starting new schedule, first consult your doctor. Make him aware of your medical history. Seek his advice and guidance. He may also suggest you some of the best practices. He will make you aware of your limits. So, please consult your doctor before you take any drastic steps.

Regular check-ups

If you have an action plan ready which you are going to follow, add another item in your checklist of activities. Have a regular check-ups. in that way, you can keep track of your internal body stats. Monitoring your total cholesterol, LDL, HDL and triglyceride levels etc. will help you in tweaking your activities. No two persons are same, that is why your action plan cannot be same as others. Personalize it.

Keep an eye on your weight

With check-ups in place, keep an eye on your weight more often. Buy a weighing machine and note the trends in your weight increase or decrease. Identify your daily activities and compare it with your weight on that day. Keeping note of your weight will help you to identify activities which are more effective than others.

Have patients

It will take some time for results to show up, it is not an overnight change.

Diet control

One of the major activities in this list is to control your intake of cholesterol. Be aware of what you eat, read the ingredients used to prepare the item. Avoid any fatty food. Eat small portions of food multiple times rather than having single heavy portion.

Regular exercise

Have daily routine for physical activities of your interest, like swimming, horse riding, interactive sports, tennis etc

Yoga & Meditation

Now days, yoga and meditation are getting more and more popular because of kind of results, you can achieve through them. Not only they will help you in reducing the high cholesterol, but also the side effects of it, like hypertension, blood pressure.

Motivation

Try to motivate yourself, this is not a one day task and may get boring sometimes. But you have to pull through. Find out the fun activities that you can do to distract yourself every now and then, but these activities should not involve having unhealthy food. Set your goal, try to achieve that goal in period of time.

Support from family

This is much required for motivation. Family will boost your morale and will guide you, in your regime. Involve your family into this.

Medicines

There are medicines in market to lower the cholesterol level, but should be taken under strict supervision of medical practitioner.

Our Lifestyle

Change your lifestyle; don't make an excuse that you don't have time for these things. It is your life and you and your loved ones will suffer most, if something happens to you. Take out some time for activities, exercise. Be more disciplined, be on guard always.

Healthy Foods

There is substitute for every unhealthy food, not only they will satisfy your craving but also helps in reducing the cholesterol.

1. Green Leafy Vegetables

2. Citrus fruit

3. Whole grain, barley, oats

4. Lentils

5. Soybean and products

6. Non-Veg equivalent products mostly prepared from soybean.

Follow your leader

Choose a person who is healthier and whom you admire most. Keep him in mind, while performing the activities. Try to be like him.

Don'ts

Don't stresses too much

it took months or even years, to accumulate that unwanted cholesterol, thus, it will take at least some months to dissolve. This is a slow metabolic process. Don't expect too much in first night and stand in front of mirror next morning, to see how you are doing. Like I said, it took years to accumulate, it will take some time to get rid of it, just keep on following your routine you will start seeing results in couple of months.

Don't loose hope

It is not a one day stance rather it is much like a lifetime commitment towards healthy living. Be disciplined, keep on following the routine

Foods to avoid

1. Fast and Junk Food

2. Fatty food

3. Non Veg

4. Dairy products

4. Sweets and sweet fruits like banana and mango etc

Green Salad

Prepare green salad in few easy steps... get back your curves and reduce cholesterol

"Laugh more often. Laughter therapy is best practice to reduce side effects like Hyper Tension etc..."

Best of Luck!!!

One final note, you are not alone who wants to get rid of unwanted fat. I am with you in this. On positive note, WHO report also states that obesity is preventable and curable. If you have watched the show 'the biggest loser' you will realize that, there are much obese people in the world, who overcame this problem with sheer determination.

Hope the above article is helpful to you.

Best of luck!!!

Make Schedule

Create your own custom schedule of the day with 6 small portion of healthy food with salads and fruits, no calorie rich food. User skimmed milk, avoid fat, butter etc. always use light oils like olive oil etc.

Walk at least half hour in morning and evening each daily...