TOPIC: High Cholesterol And Diet...
It's no big secret. I have high cholesterol and even higher triglycerides. I'm not proud of it, but these are factors I live with everyday. Some of the reasoning for high HDL is my diet. The remainder is hereditary (I can do nothing about that). Along with being clinically overweight, my heart risk factor is along the lines of eight times the risk of a "normal" adult male in my age range. I am 43 years oold -- with a wife and three children, so it's time I got serious about my health.
This morning as I stopped by the cafeteria to get some lowfat yogurt and granola for breakfast (did I mention the Diet Dr. Pepper?), I saw some info on the "TLC Diet" for people with high cholesterol. That lead me to google the diet and gather some info. I thought I'd pass it along to readers of The Sope-Bocks as I suspect some of you may need to make changes in YOUR diet as well.
The National Institute on Health (NIH) has an excellent website devoted to the heart-healthy Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) Diet. Check it out and follow through the steps. I found that what I thought was a low-fat plan is really over the limit for fat and sodium. So, I need to make MORE changes -- and have a better chance of sticking around to see my kids graduate college, get married and have grandchildren for us to spoil. :-)
You can find more TLC Diet information at HeartAdvance.com, CNN.com and the American Heart Association. If you have only a couple of minutes to devote to this topic today, then read the outline entitled: Following a Healthy Eating Plan from the AHA. You should also check out the list of foods that best help lower your HDL ("bad") cholesterol and learn more about dietary fats.