About a year back I was diagnosed with a heart condition called “stable angina” also called “exertion angina”. Since my discussions with my doctor showed that neither bypass nor continuous medication as good choices, I was advised to study nutrition as one alternative method to reduce weight and regain good health. Using the methods of nutrition most relevant for good health, I have lost 6 kilos of weight and reduced my waistline by 5 inches in the last 3 months. This was done without exercise as my angina still prevents me from excessive exertion. I have come across several facts worth sharing.
I have as a byproduct brought my diabetes under control and am no longer insulin injection dependent. I have also reduced my intake of my heart medicines. Please note that this is in consultation with my doctor and supporting medical tests. My LDL, HDL, cholesterol and triglycerides are now with normal ranges.
During the next few weeks, I intend creating more posts which I hope you will find interesting and more important useful. In case you have any questions, please do write to me and I will certainly be responding as early as possible. Lifestyle changes are a must to emulate or better my results.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The human body withstands a fair amount of abuse before exhibiting symptoms preceding illness (sometimes chronic illnesses) like hypertension, diabetes mellitus and heart disease.
The abuse may be voluntary (alcohol, Paan, tobacco, snuff etc) or involuntary (foods containing stuff you are not aware of).
The former is self explanatory. Despite warnings like “smoking is injurious to health” “drinking is injurious to health” and pictures of mouth cancer patients printed atop on top of the gutkha packets, one wantonly ignores the advice and opts for the temporary pleasure.
The second is consuming foods you believe to be traditionally healthy like daals, fruits, vegetables and rice. This is where we tend to err unknowingly. All crops today are treated with chemical fertilizers and pesticides to improve crop yields. The produce too contains residual chemicals which our bodies treat as toxins. Our liver tends to give more importance to the neutralizing and elimination of the toxins and fails to fulfill its other function of eliminating fat converted from excess food mainly carbohydrates. Thus fat deposits start to accumulate in unwanted areas of the body. This has no relation to the amount of food we eat.
Additionally there is a condition with a protein called leptin. Leptin is created by the body cells and when adequate volumes exist are supposed to inform the brain “we have enough energy stored”. In many people, one of two problems can occur. Either the body cells become leptin resistant or the leptins cannot reach the brain to switch off the “starvation mode operation”. Then the body functions in starvation mode. It converts food into as much fat as possible. Second it slows down the metabolism of the body. Results exhibit as fatigue, constipation and in some cases especially females may prevent fertility. Eventual fat accumulation may raise your LDL to lethal levels.
Those who are consuming medicines regularly for hypertension, diabetes and heart ailment are at greater risk of fat accumulation. Their livers are stressed out and may lead to aggravated problems.
Solutions: next letter in about 2 to 3 weeks.
Food for thought:
1. Your weight reflects the total number of calories you consume, and your health reflects the QUALITY of those calories.
2. During an average lifetime of 70 years, an average 60 kg person would consume some 50 tons of food. An average of 2 kgs of food per day! (I can hear you thinking that is not possible: Foods range from 70% to 80% water. So solids would be about 500 grams).
3. Our body needs Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats along with vitamins, minerals and WATER.
4. Meals approximate as follows: Carbohydrates: 45% to 55 %, Proteins: 10% to 30 %, Fats: 20% to 30%.
5. Carbohydrates have approx 4 calories per gram. Proteins also stand at 4 calories per gram. Fats have 9 calories per gram.
6. An average person may end up having around 2400 to 2600 calories per day.
Wishing you all good health,