Keep your heart healthy – the facts about Cholesterol
Your heart is amazing!
It is working incredibly hard every single second of every day. Don’t take it for granted!
- Your heart pumps 2,000 gallons of blood around your body every day.
- Even at rest, your heart works twice as hard as the leg muscles of a sprinting man.
- Your heart is only as big as a clenched fist and weighs just 250-350g (8 to 10 ounces).
- It pumps 100,000 times a day, 35 million times a year and over 2.5 billion times in an average lifetime.
- All your blood vessels (arteries, veins and capillaries) put together are over 60,000 miles long (96,500 kilometres), enough to circle the world more than twice), but take just 20 seconds to pump blood throughout your system.
Men’s and women’s hearts
In matters of the heart, men and women are surprisingly similar, so it is important that we all look after our hearts. Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) causes 30% of premature deaths in men and 22% in women. CVD claims more lives here each year than any other condition.
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One in five men and one in seven women die from heart disease – that is around 94,000 deaths in the UK each year; over 250 every day. (1)
Although younger women have some protection against heart disease, if you are going through the menopause you may find your cholesterol levels are raising slightly. This could have an impact on the health of your heart.
But CHD (Coronary heart disease) can often be prevented. Making small changes to your diet and lifestyle can improve your heart health and quality of life dramatically. It’s never too late to learn to love your heart. One key way to love your heart is to reduce or manage your cholesterol.
What is cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a waxy substance that is produced naturally in our liver and other organs. We also absorb cholesterol from eating foods such as red meat, high fat cheese, butter, eggs and liver.
Our bodies need a certain amount of cholesterol to make cell membranes, insulate nerves and to produce hormones. Too much cholesterol however, can affect your heart.
Studies have shown that 2 out of 3 people in the UK have more cholesterol in their bodies than is recommended (2).
'Good' and 'bad' cholesterol
The notion of 'good' and 'bad' cholesterol comes from the way it is carried around in the body. The carriers are called 'lipoproteins' and there are two types - low density lipoprotein (LDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL).
LDL transports cholesterol from the liver to the rest of the body. When there is more LDL cholesterol in the blood than the body needs, cholesterol accumulates in body tissues, such as the walls of coronary arteries. Here, it can build up and can have an adverse effect on your heart. That's why LDL cholesterol is called 'bad' cholesterol.
HDL picks up and transports surplus cholesterol from the body tissues back to the liver, where it is broken down and passed out of the body. That's why HDL cholesterol is called 'good' cholesterol.
A good way to remember is HDL should be High and LDL should be Low
Understand your number
- Your 'cholesterol level' is a measurement of the number of millimoles of cholesterol per litre of blood (mmol/l).
- The medical opinion in the UK is that the adult level should be no more than 5.0 mmol/l. (3)
- If you have diabetes or a family history of heart disease you should consider targeting a lower level (4). Discuss this with your doctor.
Look at your numbers and try the 5:3:1 rule:
- Your total cholesterol should be below 5 and
- Your HDL cholesterol should be below 3 and
- Your LDL cholesterol should be below 1
Diet and lifestyle
There are many changes you can make to your diet and lifestyle that can help you to manage your cholesterol.
Diet:
- Eat less saturated fat. Choose lean meat, reduced fat dairy products and limit the biscuits, cakes and other foods that are high in saturated fats.
- Eat plenty of foods rich in carbohydrates for example: potatoes, bread, rice and pasta. Where possible choose fibre rich foods like wholegrain cereals and lentils.
- Eat oily fish such as herring, mackerel, trout or sardines regularly (twice weekly is ideal).
- Snack on nuts.
- Eat more fruit and vegetables - at least 5 servings a day.
- Use less salt and sugar.
- Drink 2 litres of water each day.
Lifestyle:
- Only drink alcohol in moderation and make sure you stay within safe drinking limits.
- Exercise regularly. Take up a sport or add active habits to your day, like walking to the shop. You do not need to join a gym to improve your exercise regime but a gym as a part of your regime could improve your outcome.
- Learn to relax and control the amount of stress in your life.
- Take enough time to eat.
- Avoid smoking.
- Get your cholesterol checked regularly by a health check company or a GP or Chemist.
Conclusion
It is in everyone’s interest to reduce bad cholesterol in your diet and maintain good cholesterol, as a key part of providing your heart with a healthy and supportive diet. We hope this article gives you an insight into the importance of managing your cholesterol intake and lifestyle.
About the author
YourDoc Medical is a holistic healthcare company set up by health professionals, based in West Sussex, though we work with UK wide clients. We provide a range of preventative health care services to local individuals and UK wide corporate clients (and their employees) plus other third parties who share our commitment to wellness, such as health insurers, health clubs and gym chains. One of our services is the Wellbeing Resource Centre, a regularly updated online preventative health portal. The aim of this resource is to encourage individuals to take personal responsibility for maintaining their health, by providing an online source of education and support.
www.yourdocmedical.co.uk
Telephone 01444 220031
References:
1. British heart Foundation statistics (2010)
2. Health Survey for England, 2003
3. Second Joint Task Force of European and other Societies on Coronary Prevention 1998 suggest that healthy total cholesterol level should be below 5.0 mmol/l and LDL cholesterol level should be below 3.0 mmol/l.
4. Laker MF. Cardiovascular disease prevention: the new Joint British Societies' guidelines. Joint British Societies. 2006.
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