Lowering Your Cholesterol

The glycemic index (GI) is a measure of the quality of carbohydrate foods. It’s like a good carbs/bad carbs thing, based on how the carbs affect your blood sugar. Pure glucose, which is what the cells get from your blood and use for energy, is assigned the score of 100. This is just a set reference point. All other foods are given a number relative to glucose and its affect on the blood sugar.

Foods with a low index typically break down slowly and don’t cause large fluctuations in blood sugar. Foods with a high index do. For example, green peas have an index of 39, while waffles has an index of 76.

Originally the index was developed to help diabetics control their blood sugar. It includes mainly carbohydrate foods, because protein and fat don’t have much immediate effect on blood sugar.

By assigning numbers to different foods based on their glycemic effect creates a scaled list of foods that ends up being a useful tool for obese people and those dealing with other health issues. Maintaining a low-glycemic index diet can guide people toward healthier eating and weight loss, even when that is not their specific goal.

Many of the low GI foods are also negative calorie foods, so the GI is a good tool to use to lose weight.

There are some quirks in the GI, so some people use the glycemic load which I will explain in a later post.

I read about negative calories on www.listoffatburningfoods.com  .  It’s quite a concept. A food may be listed as having so many calories say 100 calories for a cup of x-food. But when you eat it, it might take 150 calories for the body to process it, so in effect it’s taking 50 calories away from the body. The net effect is the body loses 50 calories, so it’s a negative calorie food.

I looked over the list of negative calories foods on the web site. All the foods are very heart friendly and will lower your cholesterol. So you lose weight and protect your heart too – real good deal!

Olive oil (OO) is made by pressing olives. Olives are a fruit and in general as I’ve always pointed out, fruits contain nutrients that make them heart protective. But even beyond this there are factors that make OO much better than other vegetable oils. Part of it lies in the composition of its fatty acids.

For example: 100g (grams) of OO is typically composed of 27g of three fatty acids: 3.6g of saturated (SFA), 20.0g of monounsaturated (MUFA), and 2.2g polyunsaturated (PUFA). OO has the highest MUFA composition of any naturally-produced oil and here is where it is believed that OO excels in protecting the heart.

The negative effects of the SFA are pretty much neutralized by the other two fats and possibly other constituents in OO. This oil contains polyphenols which act as antioxidants. So substituting OO for other oils will lower your LDL levels and raise your HDL levels. Note - some researchers have suggested that the antioxidants may play a greater heart-protective role than the composition of fatty acids in OO.

It can be quite confusing buying OO because there are so many different types. The best one to buy is Extra Virgin Olive Oil. The main reason for this is that the olives have to be pressed within 24 hours after picking.  If the olives are left in the open and in the sun they can quickly lose their nutrients. By expediting their processing, when you buy the resulting OO it is closest to the real fruit and you benefit from its many nutrients.

The second reason to purchase Extra Virgin OO is that it is pressed from the very best olives. Other reasons are that first pressed oil is technically flawless and has an acidity level of 0.8% or less.

The freshness is the key.

There is new hope on the horizon – testing for metabolic syndrome. You may recall that -metabolic syndrome can be described as a cluster of factors that put a person at risk for developing cardiovascular disease. Now a new breakthrough has occurred and doctors may soon have a test to identify well in advance those patients who are most likely to develop metabolic syndrome and further heart disease.  

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have found that people with high oxidation levels of LDL particles are more likely to develop metabolic syndrome. They measured oxidized LDL in more than 2,000 generally healthy people in the 33-45 year old age group (average age 40).  After removing those with metabolic syndrome, they followed the remaining 1,889 persons for five years. They found that those with the highest levels of oxidized LDL had 3.5 times the risk of developing metabolic syndrome five years later.

The researchers point out that if LDL particles are severely damaged, the body recognizes them and excretes them. But those minimally oxidized are not as easily recognized. The test they devised identifies minimally oxidized LDL particles, which they theorize are the ones that are most likely to be incorporated into plaque and cause health problems.

Everybody loves chocolate. But do you know that even though it might seem like it surely can’t be good for you that in fact it really is. In small quantities that is, this tasty treat can do much to help your heart and even prevent heart disease. First of all chocolate is a plant product.  It is made from the cacao bean that comes from a tree. Plants do not produce cholesterol, only animals do. Additionally dark colored plants are known to have many health benefits one of which is flavonoids.  Flavonoids act as antioxidants which protect the body by neutralizing free radicals (charged chemicals which are byproducts of body processes).  Free radicals roam the bloodstream and when they encounter LDL particles (bad cholesterol), they can oxidize them. In their oxidized state, LDL particles can more easily burrow into the artery-cell walls and hasten hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis).  

Dark chocolate contains a large number of antioxidants (nearly 8 times as many as found in strawberries). It has been shown to reduce LDL levels by as much as 10 percent.

  Dark chocolate does contain fats, but only about one third of them are harmful to the arteries. 

Since dark chocolate is high in calories, consumption should be limited to 100 grams a day or about 3.5 ounces. One bar of dark chocolate has about 400 calories, so if you eat ½ a bar a day you may balance your diet by eating less of something else.

Researchers are getting closer and closer to repairing heart tissue. At Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York,  researchers are successfully growing three types of human heart cells from laboratory cultures derived from embryonic stem cells.

The researchers created the so-called master heart cells by adding a mix of growth factors and other development-related molecules to the laboratory dishes containing stem cells at key times during the experiment. By timing these steps correctly, the researchers encouraged the cells to grow into ancestors, or “progenitors,” of the three specific heart cell types which are: cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells, and vascular smooth muscle cells. Each type of cell plays an important part in the makeup of functioning heart tissues. 

The second set of cells, the endothelial cells are the first barrier to the invasion of cholesterol. They are on the outer surface of the arteries and touch the bloodstream. When these cells are breached by LDL particles, cholesterol can begin to store inside the artery-cell walls and the process of atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries begins.

It looks quite promising that in the near future heart repair will take place. This is one (big) step towards the reversing of heart disease.

Yesterday Yahoo mentioned that a ‘large study offers the strongest evidence yet that a diet (The DASH diet) the government recommends for lowering blood pressure can save people from heart attack and stroke’.   

It seemed to me that it was obvious that the DASH diet which was designed ot lower high blood pressure would also be heart friendly and lower the risk of heart attack and stroke. I guess it took a study to make that conclusion.

The DASH diet, favors fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat milk and plant-based protein over meat. It is a very heart friendly diet. Click on the following link if you would like to look at the DASH diet.

http://tinyurl.com/2avkvv

While shopping yesterday I noticed that some fruit juices are sold enriched with vitamins. First of all if the fruit juice has a lot of the original fruit in it, it should be loaded with vitamin C at least. So if it mentions that vitamin it is almost false advertisement.

Vitamins A, D, E, and K are oil soluble. If you see that any of these are added to the juice, then be sure to drink the juice with oil or some fats like in meat or fish. Drink the juice with a meal to get the full benefits of these vitamins. This is because these oil soluble vitamins will not be absorbed by the body if they don’t find any fats to cling to. This is also true when you take multivitamins.

Vitamins A, C, and E are important vitamins in the prevention of heart disease. They each serve an important role.

Soy Protein is Plant Protein. Soy beans have one of the best protein digestibilities among all protein sources. Soy beans also contain little or no fat. Being a plant protein, soy is free from steroids and antibiotics animal protein contains. 

Soy products are also a great source of other nutrients such as saponins, isoflavones, and phytosterols.
Saponins help support a healthy immune system. They also combine with cholesterol to avoid increased absorption
of cholesterol in the body. Phytosterols also help reduce the absorption of cholesterol in the body in the
same way saponins do.

Isoflavones are powerful antioxidants and prevent the effects of free radicals in the body. They prevent  
atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries. This alone makes soy a miracle protein source in its own right.

Isoflavones, along with vitamins A,C, and E are among the front liners in the fight against disease –
they also counter the effects of pollution, and stress.

Vegetarians love soy bean as it provides a comparable – if not better – source of protein than that of animals.

Eating fiber has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease. Fiber refers to complex carbohydrates that cannot be digested. The average American adult consumes between 12-17 grams of fiber daily. The American Dietetic Association recommends eating 20-35 grams of fiber (both soluble and insoluble) daily. It’s easy to consume more fiber if you are not eating enough.

For example: three-quarters of a cup of dried oat meal has 6 grams of fiber. A medium-sized apple has 3 grams. A half cup of kidney beans has 6 grams. And:

● Eat whole fruits instead of drinking fruit juices.

●  Replace white rice, bread, and pasta with brown rice and whole-grain products.

●  Snack on raw vegetables instead of chips, crackers, or chocolate bars.

●  Substitute legumes for meat two to three times per week in chili and soups.

·         Eat five servings daily from the fruit and vegetable group

·         Choose whole-grain cereals for breakfast

·         Include 3 servings of whole grain products daily

·         Eat more fresh fruit and vegetables for snacks

·         Eat fresh or dried fruit on breakfast cereal

·         Pack fruit and vegetables for lunch

·         Eat sandwiches topped with fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, sprouts, green peppers, and onions or make salads with these ingredients

·         Make homemade soups with legumes, beans, and vegetables

·         Buy whole grain cereals, breads, and crackers with at least 3 grams of fiber per serving

·         Try popcorn for snacks

·         Drink plenty of fluids to help the fiber do its work

·         Don’t remove skins from fruits and vegetables.