Artery blockage and hydrogenated fats

It's a matter of managing risk factors.

Cholesterol, diabeters, high blood pressure, tobacco use, and a variety of other factors are variable and controllable risk factors

Things like family history, age, sex, ... are not controllable.

As these factors increase, we have a greater chance of having blockages.

To make sure we don't have a blockage, we perform tests to see if they are present.

Even a person with a low risk factor profile can have problems, but the chances are lower.

Rob

 

Us, though no blockages that we are aware of.

My husbands cholesterol and tri glycerides are just simply HIGH. over the roof high. Have the doc's office calling to see if I feed him pure fat high. Warnings of imminent death high.

They became the highest at the point where we were trying to control his diabetes with his diet. (*I* nearly starved on that diet!) I was cooking with NO fats and all he was getting was in his meat (meat we were told he was to eat because he got NO carbs during this time).

I use only canola and olive oils to cook with at the moment and he takes two different meds to control his cholesterol. But his numbers while high are stable and his good numbers are better than his bad. Generally.

You just can't control everything. Do the best you can and know that God knows the number of your days and you aren't moving on until He says so. Isn't that why we have this faith of ours?

My husband told me when he was a young healthy man that he wouldn't live to see 45. He turned 47 last Friday. Who do you think caused that to happen?

I'm all for taking precautions and changing bad habits. But when there aren't any bad habits to change, you just have to live life as it comes and trust God with the rest.

As for the margarine thing. Lately studies have shown that the fats in real butter are better fats than those in margarine. We use a combination of both here, mostly because we were raised on margarine and the taste of butter is just different. And butter is way more expensive.

 

Hydrogenated fats would be a good thing to avoid, but also cutting way down on all unhealthy saturated fats is in order. Another thing to avoid is sugar because while the liver is working itself hard on that troublesome ingredient it is not doing a good job producing good cholesterol. Along with this, some weight loss and a regular progressive exercise program should do you wonders. These things work together as a system.
NOW, of course all this will take some major lifestyle changes to accomplish. BUT, if you REALLY want to make some 'significant' changes in this area you REALLY need to make some important and 'significant' lifestyle changes to do it. You need to look at the big picture; ONLY cutting back on hydrogenated fats will ONLY get you mild improvements at best. Its all about your reasons for doing it and how bad you want it. The possibilities ARE there.

 

Gosh Gina, the things you are describing are exactly those things I am learning to deal with in the field of physical therapy. You need to tell a physical therapist just want you said here and let them work with you. I would need to examine you and work with you in person to even begin to deal with the balance issues, back pain and pain in general. A doctor in physical therapy would have to do the initial examination before sending you to me for exercise instructions anyway and I would have to consult with him/her as things progressed.

Coincidently, I’ve been sitting here studying all day and into the night on different strengthening procedures on people with varying types of issues. Like which muscles to strengthen and how in order to increase “range of motion” while enabling a person to maintain and improve flexibility, coordination and endurance and do PRE (progressive resistance exercises). There are all kinds of ways to accomplish exercising which leads to better mobility and overall health.

This is my field, but frankly I’m still rookie and you need a DPT to get you started and then you can work with someone cool like me ; I am going to begin my clinical internship this summer, woot! Really though, it is amazing what we (those in my field) can do with peoples bodies to bring about functional goals! Especially with some one who is motivated to work for these positive changes. If you can, please give PT a try.

 

There seems to be a prevailing myth going about these days that one "is" what one "eats." Have blockage in your arteries? Must be because you ate stuff that blocked them... Yeah, right. As if that stuff goes directly from your mouth to your arteries.

The food we eat goes into the stomach, where it is broken down into elemental molecules. Some isn't broken down and passes right through. Other things are filtered out and exit via the kidneys. We need some of the three types of molecules that food breaks into: fat, protein, and carbohydrates. We do not need chemically-modified products that imitate the true foods above, for they trigger weird body reactions akin to eating poison, but are supposed to be "healthy." Weird how all the people eating all those "healthy" chemicals instead of plain old food are so un-healthy.

I'd suggest that there is also a tie-in with insulin and that insulin production -- less or more than is needed -- is at the core of the true problems with the diet and the body. Research is now starting to show this tie-in. Things like cholesterol are not "eaten" but produced by the body. Understanding this is the first line of defense. Insulin is directly related to the body's production of cholesterol.

And, after that, I prefer natural foods -- the things given us by God -- over the super-refined stuff that may or may not actually be helpful in the diet. And, yes, butter... It is actually "food" instead of chemically modified acids that pretend to be food. Complex cabs are good, as the body has to work to process them so we do not see systemic spikes of the insulin (that causes us to desire MORE food to deal with the excess insulin produced).

Here is a decent blog on butter (and a few other things):
http://medhed.com/blog/2007/03/butter_yeahyou_heard_me.html