Reduce High Cholesterol With A Little TLC

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Reduce High Cholesterol With A Little TLC

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=50449

September is National Cholesterol Education Month -- new consumer

booklet has lifestyle tips to reduce heart disease risk

If you're one of the nearly 65 million Americans with high blood

cholesterol, National Cholesterol Education Month (September) is a

perfect time to read a new publication designed to help you make the

lifestyle changes needed to reduce cholesterol and, with it, your

risk for heart disease.

Your Guide to Lowering Your Cholesterol with TLC (Therapeutic

Lifestyle Changes) from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

(NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health details a three-part

program of diet, physical activity, and weight management designed to

bring cholesterol levels down.

" Lifestyle is crucial for lowering cholesterol but it's not enough to

tell people it's important - you have to help them do it. This guide

offers a set of tools to help people get started and to embrace a

heart-healthier way of living, " said the NHLBI's Cleeman, M.D.,

coordinator of the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP).

The 80-page easy-to-read booklet is based on the NCEP's guidelines on

cholesterol management. These guidelines emphasize the importance of

therapeutic lifestyle changes (TLC) -- intensive use of heart-healthy

eating, physical activity, and weight control - for cholesterol

management. TLC is the cornerstone of treatment, according to

Cleeman, even if someone also has to take a cholesterol-lowering

medication.

As the booklet explains, following a TLC diet means reducing

saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol in order to lower LDL,

the " bad " cholesterol. How do you know how low your LDL cholesterol

should be? Your goal LDL level is determined by your risk for

developing heart disease or having a heart attack. To help you

determine your risk, the new guide includes the NCEP 10-year coronary

heart disease risk calculator. Once your LDL goal is determined, you

and your doctor can use the new booklet to implement TLC and reach

your goal.

To help reduce saturated fat, trans fat, and dietary cholesterol, the

guide offers tips on choosing and preparing low fat meals, selecting

healthy snacks, reading nutrition labels, and dining out while

staying on the TLC diet. The booklet includes sample menus for

different types of cuisine (traditional American, Southern, Mexican-

American, and Asian).

The LDL-lowering power of the TLC diet can be boosted by adding

soluble fiber and plant stanols and sterols, substances derived from

plants that help block cholesterol absorption. The guide suggests

ways to add fiber to the diet and discusses the value of plant

stanols and sterols and which food products have them.

In addition to what you eat, how much you move is also important for

heart health. Lack of physical activity is an important risk factor

for heart disease. Inactivity contributes to weight gain and raises

LDL as well as lowering HDL, the " good " cholesterol. The booklet

offers a step-by-step program to get people moving and includes a

chart of calories burned in common activities.

Overweight and obesity increase a person's LDL level and can also

raise triglycerides and lower HDL. To help people lose those extra

pounds, the guide includes calorie-cutting strategies, ideas for

substituting lower calorie foods for high calorie favorites, and a

handy chart of portion sizes based on NHLBI's Portion Distortion

Interactive Quiz: http://hin.nhlbi.nih.gov/portion/. There are also

sample menus for TLC at different calorie levels.

A special section of the booklet is devoted to the metabolic

syndrome, a cluster of risk factors for heart disease and diabetes

that is associated with obesity and overweight. Having one risk

factor increases a person's risk of heart disease, but having several

as in metabolic syndrome increases risk even more. The lifestyle

changes recommended in the TLC program - especially weight control

and physical activity - are the main treatment for metabolic

syndrome.

The last chapter of the guide, Learning to Live the TLC Way, offers

suggestions for how to make the needed lifestyle changes - and get

back on track if you fall off the program. A key strategy is to

follow TLC with family and friends. Those closest to you can provide

support - and help you plan heart healthy meals and physical

activities. They can also benefit as the program can help them

prevent high cholesterol and/or other risk factors.

" TLC is more than a diet. It's really a change in your way of living

to help you stay heart healthy, " said Dr. Cleeman.

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The new guide is the latest in the NHLBI Your Guide to Better Health

series. The series provides easy-to-read science-based health

information and features compelling testimonials from people about

their real-life health issues. Other Guides include Your Guide to

Lowering Your Blood Pressure With DASH; Your Guide to a Healthy

Heart; Your Guide to Physical Activity and Your Heart; Your Guide to

Living Well With Heart Disease; and Your Guide to Healthy Sleep

For more information on cholesterol and heart disease, check out the

following NHLBI resources:

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Hbc/HBC_WhatIs.html.

High Blood Cholesterol, What you Need to Know

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/chol/hbc_what.htm.