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2 Types of Cholesterol, What Are They Talking About?

Tim Oneil — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 00:01:12 +0000

It seems whether you’re reading a magazine, watching the news, or just out to lunch with a coworker, everyone is talking about “good” cholesterol and “bad” cholesterol. What exactly does this cholesterol differentiation mean to someone who is not a doctor? Naming the two types of cholesterol in such obvious terms is the easiest way to communicate to most people if they are on the path for some type of heart disease.

The “good” cholesterol, High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL), is labeled so due to its ability to clear the “bad” cholesterol, Low-density Lipoprotein (LDL), from the blood and transport it into the liver where it can be reused by the body. LDL is essential for the body in small amounts, since this is the type of cholesterol that helps repair the body when it is lightly damaged, such as after acute bouts of exercise. Arteries, especially those that feed the brain and the heart with oxygen and other nutrients, are greatly affected by high cholesterol levels because of their small size. When healthy amounts of LDL are present, a micro-tear in the lining of an artery can easily be “plugged” by a LDL molecule. However, if there is too much LDL cholesterol in the blood it will eventually begin to build upon itself until it is no longer easy to remove. Once this small obstruction is in place, more and more cholesterol will stick to it which could lead to a complete shunting of blood, or in other words, a subsequent “clogging” of the artery. This condition is a precursor to a heart attack, and is the world’s most deadly untreated illness. Another silent killer related to excess LDL is a stroke that develops due to the clots in the arteries. If a large clot gets dislodged from the artery wall it can move to the brain where it can inhibit blood flow, killing brain cells and, in some cases, leaving the victim partially paralyzed.

HDL, on the other hand, helps to shuttle the excess LDL out of the blood and back into the liver where it can be stored and converted when the body needs it. Currently, there is no way to examine the extent of damage that is done by high levels of LDL cholesterol, only recommendations as to what a safe amount in the blood may be. Many resources state that 160 mg/dL of LDL cholesterol in the blood is a precursor to heart disease, but having a HDL count of over 40 mg/dL is a good way to counteract some of these effects. Recommendations for a better ratio of cholesterol are exercising and eating right. Exercise can lower the total amount of cholesterol in the body by reducing the amount of fat stored in the body, and it gives the cholesterol in the blood somewhere to be used as a repair tool. Many of the foods we eat are full of this “bad” type of cholesterol, especially those containing animal products (i.e., eggs, beef, pork, butter, etc.). The body is already able to produce enough cholesterol for repair without supplementation, so consuming excessive amounts of saturated fats is unnecessary, and contributes to a potential future cholesterol problem. The websites below can give you some great ideas on foods that have little or no saturated fats. Overall, being aware of what we put in our bodies and living an active lifestyle is enough to keep the threats posed by “bad” cholesterol under control.

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/25-top-heart-healthy-foods

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4488

Lifting Away Diabetes by Jacob

Jon Fennell — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 02:56:01 +0000

Numerous recent reports have estimated the number of people living with Type-2 diabetes in the United States to be around twenty million, with another forty-five million showing pre-diabetic symptoms. This is an alarming number since this disease is completely preventable, and is mostly caused by years of inactivity coupled with a poor diet. Type-2 diabetes is different from Type-1 diabetes, in that Type-1 is an immunodeficient prenatal disease that causes your own immune system to attack its own body’s cells that are needed in glucose regulation. Type-2, or adult-onset diabetes, stems from the person demonstrating hyperglycemic (high blood sugar) characteristics for too long, and now the cells of glucose regulation are damaged and not working properly. Many of the foods in Americans diets today include some form of processed sugar, so there is ALMOST no way to avoid ingesting any of this type of nutrient. There are many reports on the amount of activity that is essential to weight and health maintenance, but what about the effects these have on pre-diabetic and people with Type-2 diabetes?
It should be known that aerobic exercise has many benefits when it comes to helping maintain a healthy blood glucose levels. However, more and more studies coming our recently have shown that resistance training can be more beneficial in regulating blood glucose. This comes from the fact that glucose can enter the skeletal muscle without the help of the insulin signaling pathway which is damaged in people with diabetes. This increased glucose uptake has been shown up to four days after in more advanced weightlifter, to about one to two days for people who are just beginning a resistance training regiment. As the muscle is contracting it does not need insulin to move blood glucose, thus the mechanisms of the muscle automatically create a pathway for glucose to enter. Resistance training when compared to aerobic exercise has been shown to maintain fat free mass which is critical in raising one’s resting metabolic rate which overall helps the stability of blood glucose. However even without the addition of muscle mass, skeletal muscle still had a higher clearance rate of glucose. Showing us that it is not just the amount of muscle, but that the muscle is getting smarter in the way it uptakes glucose. As time goes on the body will not need as much insulin to move the same amount of glucose, and will become more insulin sensitive, moving them in the opposite direction of diabetes and metabolic syndrome. This does not mean resistance training is the only answer, as aerobic exercise helps to add to one’s daily energy expenditure which is also important; higher energy expenditure means less time for sugar to circulate in the blood, and more of it being used as fuel in skeletal muscle and other tissues of the body. Overall, resistance training may be a good transition into aerobic exercise for those who have not done so in a while. It is a more moderate way to get the body used to moving again. Resistance training integrated with aerobic exercise and proper nutrition will help reduce hyperglycemia along with many of the other health-related issues that come with diabetes.

http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/25/suppl_1/s64.full

Dining Out With Your Personal Trainer

Jon Fennell — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:59:14 +0000

#5: P.F. Chang’s

Beverage
Sauvignon Blanc
Caloric Value – 120 calories

Appetizer
SEARED AHI TUNA – Sushi grade for the sushi fan. Served cold with spicy mustard and fresh mixed greens
Caloric Value – 320 calories (2 servings, so eat half and split the calories accordingly)

Entrée
CANTONESE SHRIMP – A light, mild blend of seafood, garlic and snow peas
Caloric Value – 430 calories (again this meal equals two servings, so take half home)

Dessert
Mini Desserts (you might have to ask for it if it is not showing on the menu)
Tiramisu or The Great Wall
Caloric Value – 100 calories each

Total Caloric Value – 970 calories (if licking the plates clean)

Total Caloric Value – 595 calories (for those who feel guilty after reading the above statement)

Dining Out With Your Personal Trainer

Jon Fennell — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:05:59 +0000

Installment #4 – T.G.I. Friday’s

Appetizer
Buffalo Flavor Chicken Strip Snacks
Caloric Value – 70 calories

Entrée
Mexican Style Chicken Quesadillas
Tender white meat chicken, pepper jack, mozzarella and cheddar cheese with salsa in fresh flour tortillas
Caloric Value – 290 calories

Beverage
Margarita Strawberry Daiquiri
Caloric Value – 156 calories

Total Caloric Value – 516 calories

By Jon

New ACSM Exercise Intervention Statement

Jon Fennell — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:53:30 +0000

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) is one of the foremost resources exercise and health professionals consult for the most current information regarding health and wellness. In the late nineties, the organization released a statement which established that weight maintenance and disease prevention can be achieved by including thirty minutes of moderately intense activity on most days of the week. Since then, many research studies have examined the effectiveness of this amount of exercise on weight loss. Most have found that thirty minutes of activity a day helped to offset some cardiovascular and blood profile (triglycerides, blood sugar, cholesterol, etc.) problems which are associated with inactivity. Even with the support for this data advertised at the gym, in magazines, on television, and even on our cereal boxes, approximately sixty percent of Americans still do not meet this daily thirty minutes of moderate exercise; coincidently (or perhaps not so coincidentally), about the same percentage of the American population is classified as overweight and/or obese. However, even if the majority of the U.S. population suddenly began to fulfill the ACSM physical activity recommendation, this factor would not be the key to effective weight loss, but rather to weight maintenance as well as disease prevention. The earlier exercise prescription gives an average weekly volume of 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise, while in the past ten years studies have shown that to get the added benefits of weight loss one must engage in the range of 250-300 minutes of moderate intensity activity. Another addition to the prescription was the addition of more vigorous activity on 2-3 days a week. If exercise is done at a higher level, less actual time is needed in order to burn the same amount of calories and thus lose the same amount of weight. High Intensity Training (HIT) is a fantastic method for diminishing the amount of time dedicated to exercising while still reaping all of the desired health benefits. One hour of HIT training three days a week adds up to 180 minutes per week. Although this is a good start to improving overall physical health, an additional two hours a week are critical in order to achieve desired weight loss. This equates to about 30 minutes of moderate intensity on the other days of the week. In general, the more exercise that is achieved during the week, the greater the health benefits in the short and long term.

By Jacob