Choose Lower Cholesterol Foods Over Low Fat Options
Hypertension, otherwise called high blood pressure, has been a pressing health concern for a number of Americans in the past five decades because of insufficient servings of lower cholesterol foods in their diet. In a study cited by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it has been found that more than 30% of Americans are hypertensive. Hypertension can lead to heart disease and stroke, which are the first and third leading preventable causes of death in the US, and studies have shown that this disorder can happen to anyone, regardless of age, race or life status. It has been said that the best way to prevent hypertension, aside from exercise, is to choose foods that are low in cholesterol.
In the supermarket and in fast food restaurants, one will see a variety of low-fat options: low-fat burgers, low-fat ice cream, low-fat soda, low-fat cereal, etc. Many weight watchers immediately buy these products, thinking that low-fat will amount to a decrease in weight and bad cholesterol. However, these labels can be quite deceiving. For one, not all fat is bad; only products containing trans fat and monounsaturated fat are detrimental to one’s health. Another thing is that being less fat will not necessarily help one avoid heart problems. That is why it is important to make a distinction between low-fat and lower cholesterol foods.
Those in danger of being hypertensive should eat a lot of lower cholesterol foods to lower the concentration of lower density lipoproteins (LDL) or bad cholesterol in the blood. If these LDL’s are not put under control, they could build up inside the arteries and result to what scientists call plaque. If there is more plaque inside the arteries, these blood pathways get clogged and the heart will have to work harder to pump enough oxygen around the body. Of course, the heart is not an infallible organ so if it is strained from too much effort in pushing blood through blocked arteries, it will wear out much faster and this is what causes high blood pressure or, worse, heart failure.
The book Beating Cholesterol by Stephen Guy-Clarke, an expert health practitioner who has been treating patients with high cholesterol levels for a number of years, gives a guide on how to maintain a safe level of cholesterol in one’s body. It is true that eating low-fat foods will help one lose weight, but this does not always help relieve plaque build-up in the arteries. In this book, Guy-Clarke offers a long-term solution to dodging complications caused by bad cholesterol through presenting his five crucial building blocks for fighting cholesterol the natural way and this includes an increased consumption of /lower cholesterol foods.
The road to fitness has never been an easy one. Some people are just lucky to be genetically-endowed with the best health that any human being can ever have. Very few live to be a hundred years old and even those who live longer than the average lifespan, which is around seventy years, still suffer from numerous diseases. The good news is that rapid physiological deterioration is preventable, given proper diet, regular exercise and a healthy heart.