Heart Disease Prevention & Wellness
This is NutrActive's Heart Health section of the site. Here you will find tools to help you assess your health and promote a heart healthy lifestyle. Knowledge is the best key to successfully cleaning up your diet. First, know your heart disease risk -- then get all the information you can to reduce your risk!
Heart Disease Risk Assessment
It’s essential that you measure your risk of heart disease and make a plan for how to prevent it in the near future. Below is a link for a Risk Assessment Tool for people age 20 or older and do not already have heart disease or diabetes.
Learn your risk --
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3003499
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leViv
--28-days of Healthy Meals Delivered--
Controlling your cholesterol and triglycerides may help to reduce your risk for atherosclerosis and heart disease. leViv's program helps to increase the good fats and reduce the fats that may negatively affect blood lipids --Low Cholesterol / Low Saturated fat / Omega 3 Fatty Acids / Soluble Fiber / No refined sugars
Low Cholesterol --
A diet low in dietary cholesterol may reduce the body’s total blood cholesterol, so leViv ensures meals contain little or no cholesterol. They use lean cuts of meat and foods that contain no cholesterol such as whole grains, soy, fruits and vegetables.
What is Cholesterol?
Cholesterol has a bad reputation, making it one of the most feared (and misunderstood) nutrients existing in foods today. Cholesterol actually plays many fundamental roles in the body: Cholesterol stored in the skin is converted by the sun to Vitamin D, which is essential for bone and immune health. It is a component of bile which helps us to digest fats and Vitamins A, D, E and K. It is a key structural component of each and every cell in our body. It is converted to a number of hormones such as estrogen and testosterone. It is, in a word, invaluable.
So, what’s to fear? Studies have found that as blood cholesterol rises, the risk for cardiovascular disease increases, as well. This has led to the recommendation to do whatever you can to lower your LDL (low density lipoproteins that deposit cholesterol in our cells), increase your HDL (high density lipoproteins that remove cholesterol from our cells) and decreased your total cholesterol.
Dietary cholesterol is only found in animal fats such as meats, poultry, some shellfish, eggs and higher fat dairy products. If larger amounts of these foods are eaten, we run the risk of increasing our total and LDL cholesterol. When combined with high blood pressure and high triglycerides, this can pose a problem: This combination can create small tears in blood vessel walls. Cholesterol is then deposited into these tears by LDL proteins. Over the course of time, a build-up of cholesterol hardens, forms plaque, increases inflammation and the risk for cardiovascular disease is in motion.
You may have read about the current controversy that suggests dietary cholesterol has little effect on our blood cholesterol. While this remains disputed, we do know that foods with cholesterol also happen to be higher in saturated fat and naturally occurring trans fats, and there is a larger body of research that shows these fats may be the culprits increasing LDL cholesterol. Until more is known, it is recommended the following dietary advice:
• Reduce saturated animal-based fat sources by increasing plant-based ones such as olive oil, avocadoes and nut butters.
• Choose leaner cuts of meat and lower fat dairy products.
• Increase fiber by eating more fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains in order to bind dietary cholesterol and remove it from the body.
• Eat foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids (salmon, walnuts, flax) which have been shown to reduce LDL and inflammation.
• Perhaps most importantly, completely omit all trans-fatty acids (aka partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and high fat meats and dairy) which have been shown to be the largest contributor to heart disease.
• HDL can be increased by quitting smoking, increasing exercise, and losing weight.
With leViv's meal delivery program, eating a heart healthy diet is easy. leViv's approach is unique in that its focus is on overall health, not on just losing weight. Weight loss will likely occur as you progress through the program, but this is an added benefit instead of the only goal. The idea is to incorporate changes that will last for the rest of your life, not just for the lifetime of a diet. The meals provide and encourage heart healthy eating habits.
leViv provides you with two meals and two snacks per day for 28 days (what others consider 3 meals per day!). It's up to you to make one healthy meal for yourself every day. The goal is to teach you how to eat healthfully without meal support. leViv's team of acclaimed chefs and health care professionals focused on taste, quality, clean ingredients, caloric intelligence, balanced nutrition, fiber, antioxidant rich foods, phytochemicals, essential vitamins and more. They help teach you how and when to build a healthy meal, make great choices at the supermarket and in restaurants, and help you out in the kitchen with easy meal ideas and recipes.
Learn More
leViv.com -- Helping keep your heart healthy!
>> Save $50 using Coupon Code:
"Laura Garrett"
* leViv site includes valuable artcles, healthy resources and other useful information -- Visit leViv's Cardio section for more on articles and advice geared towards heart health.
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Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition
The link below takes you to Colorado State University's Healthy Heart Beats. Here you will find up-to-date information on a variety of nutrition topics -- all aimed at promoting a heart healthy lifestyle.
Definitely worth checking out!
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/healthyheart/0704-06_cont.html
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The information contained on this Web site is intended to help you better understand issues related to nutrition and exercise and help promote a healthy lifestyle. It is not intnded to replace the advice of a physician. If you read something on this site that contradicts what your physician tells you in any way, always follow your physician's advice. We advise you to consult with your physician before beginning any exercise program, especially if you have any serious medical conditions.
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