|
|
|
How to Cure Bad Breath Permanently
How to Cure Bad Breath Permanently
As humans, being liked, popular and sought after is a natural
desire inherent in each of us. This is why deodorants,
toothpastes, gym memberships and fancy cars sell at astronomical
rates. This is also why...
When Men Are "Emotional Camels"
Many women find it hard to understand how the men in their lives can be satisfied with life as it is. Don't they need more passion? Don't they need more fun? Don't they need to have more of a connection with their family, their wife, or their...
Which Acne Treatment to Choose
"I killed one yesterday..."
"But I am scared to even touch them..."
"Oh but these creeps are back again...woke up in the morning and was astonished to see one mocking at me sitting on my cheek and the other snoring right at my nose! Gosh...I am...
Why Choose Naturopathic Medicine?
Naturopathic medicine is a system and philosophy of medicine that has been around for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years. Before the advent of ‘conventional’ medicine, which uses a wide variety of drugs and surgical procedures, almost every...
You're Not FAT, You're Hormonal!
What's wrong with conventional diets and weight loss programmes?
Most weight loss programs/diets are "general" and are intended
for the "average" person. They are simply not tailored to your
specific body needs.
What's the answer? A...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Skinny on Cholesterol
There is always a fair amount of controversy surrounding cholesterol. It's in the news, in our diets, and in our bodies. Let's start with some background.
Cholesterol is a molecule that is in the "sterol" family. This family of chemicals are the building blocks for many important body compounds, including the sex hormones (testosterone and estrogen), stress hormones (cortisol and cortisone), bile acids that are used in digestion, vitamin D, and other vital component of your cells' membranes. Your liver makes as much cholesterol as your body requires, and estimates how much to make based on your dietary intake of saturated fats (among other cues). As you can see, cholesterol is truly a vital need for normal body function and physiology.
However, problems arise when the liver makes too much cholesterol. Cholesterol is also one of the components of athersclerosis. These are the plaques and deposits that develop in the arteries throughout the body and can form in the arteries that feed the heart, brain, and limbs. If the plaques become too large or thick, they lead to chest pain ("angina") and heart attacks, stroke, and poor circulation. In the United States, about 8 out of 10 people die from diseases related to athersclerosis! There other factors that influence your risk for athersclerosis, so don't think cholesterol is the only culprit. Smoking is a huge risk, but that is for another time.
So Doc, now we know it's bad, what can we do about it? How do we lower our blood cholesterol level? One way to influence your cholesterol level is by limiting the amount of saturated fat you eat. Saturated fats, put simply, are those that are solid at room temperature. Examples include butter or margarine, lard, and many animal fats. Contrast these with unsaturated fats which are liquid at room temperature (olive oil, canola oil, and most plant fats). First and foremost, no matter what "diet" you eat, you should strive to keep the
saturated fats to a minimum. Too many saturated fats will cause your blood cholesterol to rise, putting you at greater risk for athersclerosis.
But what about the cholesterol in my food? Interestingly enough, you probably don't absorb a lot of the cholesterol you eat. Your body is very efficient at absorbing the fat in your diet. It does this by using the bile acids made by the liver and stored in the gallbladder. Remember, these bile acids are made of cholesterol. The fats you eat combine with the bile acids in the small intestine and are absorbed into the body. Any excess bile acids that are still in the small intestine after the fats are absorbed are recycled and absorbed as well. Since the bile acids are made of cholesterol (and are chemically very similar to cholesterol), the cholesterol that you have eaten in your diet has to compete with the bile acids in order for it to be absorbed as well. As it turns out, very little, if any, of the cholesterol you eat actually makes it into your system. However, notice that of the fats (saturated or unsaturated) are very efficiently absorbed into your system to be used as fuel or stored for a latter time.
So what's the "skinny"? It is the saturated fats in your diet that are most important to minimized, not the dietary cholesterol. Often cholesterol and saturated fats are found together in foods, but not always. For instance, lobster is very high in cholesterol and protein, but not high in saturated fats. Eating lobster is really quite healthy and "heart smart", at least until you dip it in the butter!
--------
For more information about Dr. Manger, his philosoph and a helpful monthly newsletter, visit http://www.smartcalorie.com/
About the Author
Dr. Manger is board certified in Internal Medicine, and holds a graduate degree in biomedical science and physiology. He practices in a University setting. His focus is on health prevention and wellness.
|
|
|
|
|
| National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health |
| Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Library of Medicine offers access to health information for consumer, patient, and physicians ... |
| www.nlm.nih.gov |
|
| Health and Medical Information produced by doctors - MedicineNet.com |
| Doctor-produced health and medical information written for you to make informed decisions about your health concerns. |
| www.medicinenet.com |
|
| Medicine in the Yahoo! Directory |
| Collection of sites for health professionals, with sections on specific disciplines, organizations, continuing education, conferences, publications, ... |
| dir.yahoo.com |
|
| MedlinePlus Health Information from the National Library of Medicine |
| Health information from the National Library of Medicine. Easy access to Medline and Health topics, medical dictionaries, directories and publications. |
| medlineplus.gov |
|
| Medicine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| Medicine is a branch of health science and the sector of public life ... The practice of medicine combines both science as the evidence base and art in the ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
|
| Journal Home - Nature Medicine |
| Nature Medicine has a vacancy for a Locum Assistant Editor for six months. The position involves working in all aspects of the editorial process, ... |
| www.nature.com |
|
| The New England Journal of Medicine: Research & Review Articles on ... |
| The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is a weekly general medical journal that publishes new medical research findings, review articles, and editorial ... |
| content.nejm.org |
|
| eMedicine Clinical Knowledge Base |
| eMedicine features up-to-date, searchable, peer-reviewed medical journals, online physician reference textbooks, and a full-text article database in 62 ... |
| www.emedicine.com |
|
| Open Directory - Health: Medicine |
| the entire directory, only in Health/Medicine. Top: Health: Medicine (11429). Description · Medical Specialties (4888); Surgery (2265) ... |
| dmoz.org |
|
| the www virtual library biosciences medicine |
| www.ohsu.edu/cliniweb/wwwvl/ - Similar pages |
|
|
| Medicine - home |
| Bimonthly journal covering the latest results in clinical investigation relevant to hospital and office practice. |
| www.md-journal.com |
|
| Institute of Medicine |
| The Institute of Medicine serves as adviser to the nation to improve health. |
| www.iom.edu |
|
| ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News |
| Medical Research News. Health news on everything from cancer to nutrition. Full-text, images, updated daily. |
| www.sciencedaily.com |
|
| Google Directory - Health > Medicine |
| Search only in Medicine Search the Web. Medicine. Health > Medicine, Go to Directory Home. Categories. Alternative Medicine (6308) Basic Sciences (66) ... |
| www.google.com |
|
| the world wide web virtual library biosciences medicine |
| www.mcb.harvard.edu/biopages/medicine.html - Similar pages |
|
|
| PLoS Medicine - A Peer-Reviewed Open-Access Journal |
| PLoS Medicine is a peer-reviewed, international, open-access journal published ... Every issue of PLoS Medicine contains a selection of readers' responses. ... |
| medicine.plosjournals.org |
|
| Medicine On-Line - Medicine Online -The International Medical Journal |
| Medicine Online - independent and peer reviewed journal published by Priory Medical Journals - priory.com. |
| www.priory.com |
|
| Entrez PubMed |
| PubMed is a service of the US National Library of Medicine that includes over 16 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for ... |
| www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov |
|
| Stanford University School of Medicine |
| Home Page of the Stanford University School of Medicine. |
| med.stanford.edu |
|
| Medicine OnLine |
| Meds.com offers medical information and education on cancer (lung cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, leukemia) and HIV / AIDS for patients, ... |
| www.meds.com |
|
|