Worldwide, heart disease is the number one cause of death among women. Thus, it’s critical that a woman, no matter her age, go for regular cardiac screenings at intervals determined by her doctor. Cardiologists screen patients’ hearts using an array … Continue reading
Nuts have had a terrible rap for many years. The basic misunderstood values of the nutritional content have been under review for decades. Older information that nuts are inherently unhealthy was based on the ideal of their fat content. Today … Continue reading
Chocolates and sweets have been associated with certain health perils. Some say eating chocolates contributes to lower bone density. It is also said that it causes headaches. The most common remark about chocolates, particularly milk chocolates, is that they are … Continue reading
People with high cholesterol levels are usually told to follow a healthy and low cholesterol diet; but what exactly does that mean? With cholesterol being a real health threat in our modern lifestyles, we need to know when to eliminate … Continue reading
The Mayo Staff Clinic states, cholesterol is a waxy substance that’s found in the fats (lipids) in your blood. While your body needs cholesterol to continue building healthy cells, having high cholesterol can increase your risk of heart disease.
When you have high cholesterol, you may develop fatty deposits in your blood vessels. Eventually, these deposits make it difficult for enough blood to flow through your arteries. Your heart may not get as much oxygen-rich blood as it needs, which increases the risk of a heart attack. Decreased blood flow to your brain can cause a stroke.
High cholesterol (hypercholesterolemia) can be inherited, but is often preventable and treatable. A healthy diet, regular exercise and sometimes medication can go a long way toward reducing high cholesterol.
Over the past two years my doctor has been keeping a close eye on my bad cholesterol levels and she has decided that I should be on medication. Heart disease runs in my family and though I’m sure that genes are part of the reason for my high cholesterol levels, I definitely have to change my lifestyle and eating habits or I could end up like my mother and have a stroke, or like my grandparents and have a heart attack and end up having heart surgery.
Am I scared? Yep! My mom told me that when she was 30-something she also started medication for cholesterol. I don’t want to have a small pharmacy in my purse, and at this point I’m on my way. Open my purse now and you can find Simvastatin, Sertraline, and Loratadine inside. That’s two prescriptions too many…one is for allergies, I can handle that.
Foods I should avoid:
Damn! The list goes on and on. You can read more of what to avoid along with healthy options here. This is gonna be very hard and life altering for me, but I have gotta get it together or I could die too young and in very bad health.
