HDL Cholesterol: Your Secret Best Friend

 

All you need to know about your cholesterol:

LDL Cholesterol is lousy and you want it low.

HDL Cholesterol is healthy and you want it high. 

Picture your arteries are like the picture below. Your bad LDL cholesterol is trying to dump fat and plaque into your arteries, while your good HDL cholesterol works tirelessly to remove the plaque and get rid of it permanently.

We are never going to get rid of cholesterol altogether. Trust me, that's an impossible task. You may already have high cholesterol. Maybe your family members have high cholesterol. The truth is- your family history effects your cholesterol less than you think. It is more likely they have passed certain lifestyle habits on to you. Whatever the case, make the choice today to create more HDL cholesterol and stop making the LDL.

Your Recipe for HDL Cholesterol:

• Most importantly:
• Avoid tobacco (including second hand smoke)
• Get 30+ minutes of exercise most days of the week
• Avoid processed foods (see Food Rules blogs) 
• Also:

• Make half of your diet produce
• Eat whole grains, lean meat, and lean dairy
• Keep a healthy weight
• Try to eat fish twice a week (or other healthy fat foods)

How high is enough?

• HDL cholesterol can never be too high, but shoot for over 60.
• Make sure it never drops below 40 for men or 50 for women.
• Check your cholesterol ratio, which compares HDL to the total cholesterol.
• Less than 3.5 is ideal
• Make sure it's never over 5

Making this Easter Healthy and Fun!

Who doesn't love Easter?! Whether you are religious or not, it is a great excuse to get together with family and friends for a lovely spring backyard barbecue or pick nick! The only problem is the candy....                                                                         
                                                                     
This year, let's take the focus off of candy-filled eggs and Easter baskets.

Instead:                                                                                   

• Keep the focus on hard boiled eggs.
• 1 large egg contains: 
• 1 oz. protein, 77 calories, and only 2 g of saturated fat
• High amounts of riboflavin, selenium, vitamin B12, and choline
• Fair amounts of phosphorus and vitamin A
• 70% of your daily cholesterol allowance (choose egg whites if you are watching your cholesterol)
• 2 large egg whites contain:
• 1 1/2 oz. protein, 32 calories, and 0g saturated fat
• High amounts of riboflavin and selenium
• Better choice if you are watching your cholesterol
• Eat bunny treats. You can make this fun for little ones by getting them to pretend they are bunny rabbits, hopping around and munching on carrots.
• Fill plastic eggs with fun toys or knickknacks like coins, stickers, seashells, marbles, bouncy balls, hot wheels cars, Legos, hair bows, plastic figurines, bracelets, or chap stick.
• Take apart a few puzzles and hide the pieces in various plastic eggs for a fun challenge.
• Create a scavenger hunt with the first egg containing a clue leading to the second egg, leading to the third egg, and so on until reaching a bigger prize at the end.
• Put small pictures or stickers of a variety of animals in plastic eggs for little ones. At the end, help them figure out which are pets, farm animals, or found in the jungle, etc.

http://www.familyvolley.com/2011/04/easter-egg-hunts-more-than-just-candy.html
https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/foodapedia.aspx

Food Rules: Not Too Much

For most of us, eating is a pleasurable experience. We eat for a variety or reasons- sometimes for hunger, sometimes happiness, celebration, sadness, or even boredom. I would like to give you my insights that have helped me to develop and sustain a healthy relationship with food over the years.

A recent topic I have been thinking about is the Hunger and Fullness Scale below:

0	Starving, ravenous for food, feel completely drained
1	Moderate headache, highly irritable, loss of motivation or energy
2	Slight headache, irritability, weakness, dizziness, or shaking
3	Stomach is empty and may start to growl; eat something as soon as you can
4	Initial satisfaction that is hard to recognize; most people keep eating
5	Satisfied, but food is still appealing (Just one more bite… or two… or three…) Resist the urge to keep eating!
6	Full, but still comfortable. May need to take it easy for a while.
7	Uncomfortable fullness that accompanies eating excessively
8	Bloated, stomach feels stretched
9	Sick feeling including stomach or back pain
10	Bingeing fullness, possible vomiting

Letting yourself get too hungry often leads to you wanting to eat more, quicker, and junkier. Neither starving nor eating past comfort is enjoyable, so why would you put yourself through such a cycle?

By choosing instead to keep yourself between a 3 and a 5 on this scale, you will have more energy throughout the day, enjoy eating your meals slowly, and keep your stomach -and weight- smaller.

Don't listen to your parents at the table.

• Yes. There are starving children in Africa, but is it going to do them any good if you clean your plate for them? Nope.
• Can you mail your leftovers to them? Probably not...and if you can, you need to rethink your diet!

          What we can do:

• Use smaller plates- studies show we are likely to eat less.
• Stick to portion sizes. (1 cup of produce or dairy/ 1 oz. of meat, whole grains, or nuts.)
• Eat a fruit or a lean yogurt if you drop to a 3 before lunch.
• Get a to go box if your food is great and you're at a 5.
• Pick a friend or family member as your meal splitting buddy.

Who knows- with the money you are saving on food, you can donate to help people in other countries who really are starving!

This is me, Taun Bleazard, the newest EMI Health Wellness Coach! I am experienced in health education, coaching, and biometric screenings. I studied exercise science and nutrition at the University of Utah! Go Utes! I enjoy hiking, running, and finding easy ways to eat healthy. I have taken over EMI's Coaching Corner, but if you desire more help, I am only a call or email away. 801-270-2813 tbleazard@emihealth.com

What Not to Eat

 

Make certain what you are eating is truly food.

Avoid foods received through your car window. Eating out somewhere with fresh ingredients is better and making your own food is best.

Avoid recipes that sound like science fair projects. If the ingredients can not be found in your pantry or fridge, where do they come from? A lab?

Avoid frozen pre-made meals. These meals are some of the most processed of them all. Prepare your own meals ahead to freeze for later.

Avoid foods made in plants, but instead eat plants. Ever heard of artificial flavors? Natural or organic is always better.

Avoid foods that are pretending to be something else. i.e.: imitation butter, imitation crab, butter flavored, etc. Choose real and fresh.

Avoid the middle of the grocery store. No refrigeration equals processed. Instead, shop the outer realms of the grocery store.

Avoid "immortal" products. Preservatives can make foods last seemingly eternally. Choose foods that will rot sooner than later.

Avoid products that make health claims. These claims are promoted by large corporations that will do anything they can to make money, use the cheapest ingredients possible to make more money, and develop the latest "research" claiming their product is healthy...to sell more to make even more money.

Avoid products claiming 0g Trans Fat! In case you are wondering, there are about two items on a standard grocery store shelf with a full gram of trans fat- good for them for not being the worst of the worst! Meanwhile, most of these items actually contain hydrogenated oils in the ingredient list which means they are allowed to hide under .5g of it by the FDA. Deceptive, right?!

Do fruits and vegetables scream claims of their health benefits? They don't need to convince you, because you already know they are and they don't need bogus research to prove it.  

Eat this instead:

Produce, rice, beans, oats, whole wheat bread (5 ingredients or less), lean plain dairy, nuts, lean meat (without branding), and eggs

Also, try shopping local at farmers markets. You will get the freshest, most in-season produce without being temped by the processed food aisles.