Welcome to Heart Tips Tuesday - let's talk about cholesterol & products

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Greetings Sweet Friends,

 Welcome to Heart Tips Tuesday,

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Hope this day finds you well and happy!

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It is an absolutely gorgeous day here,  not 

a cloud in the sky, all sunny blue,  but quite

warm,  in the lower 80's.  Rosie and I  just

came in from sun bathing,  gotta get that 

vitamin D, and this is one of the best ways.

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Joey went home last night,  so I just have

Rosie today, but we are having fun!

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Thought today we would talk about that

lovely word "Cholesterol".  I am sure many

of you are already familiar with the word

cause you have probably heard it from your

 Dr., like in the sentence " your cholesterol 

it is too high"!!

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If you have heart problems, particularly 

coronary artery disease, (CAD, for short)

this is one of the things they watch very

closely!  They tests hubbies blood every

6 months for this, and triglycerides and 

other things too, because of meds he is on.

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Cholesterol is the soft, fatty substance

found in your body's cell.  Your body

makes cholesterol and the saturated fats

you eat also contribute to your blood

cholesterol level.  Saturated fats come 

from meats and whole dairy products,

as well as from vegetable oils, such as

coconut, palm and hydrogenated oil

found in margarine and many boxed

foods. Too many fats - saturated fats

in particular - can raise your blood

cholesterol level and cause and increased

risk of coronary heart problems.

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(This last paragraph came right out of a booklet

we rec'd from our insurance company yesterday

 on managing CAD (Great timing since I was 

thinking about doing my post on that today).

The bold  print is from me, and  I am really shocked 

they did not say  that, cause they certainly should

 have, it is a major source for hydrogenated oils

 or partially hydrogenated oils in our quick meal

 preparation society).

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The text you saw in pink above are also the reason you

 eat Chicken, Turkey  and fish mostly,  because beef

 and pork are higher in saturated fat.  Also the reason

 to use low fat dairy or no fat dairy products.

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Cholesterol and fats use special carriers called

lipoproteins to travel through your bloodstream

to cells throughtout your body.

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Low-density lipoproteins (called LDL) or bad

cholesterol contributes to plaque buildup on the

walls of your arteries, causing blockage, blood

clots and heart attack and stroke.  It caused

my hubby a heart attack and blockages that

lead to bypass surgery and stents.

It is serious stuff, so if you have high cholesterol

now,  do whatever you can to work with the

Dr. to get it down.

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High-density lipoproteins (called HDL) or good

cholesterol protects you,  so it's important to 

keep that level as high as possible.

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The Goal to Reduce your Cholesterol

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Total Cholesterol

Should be under 200 mg./dl

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Your LDL (Bad) should be less than 100 mg/dl

but if you have CAD or risk factors

Your Dr. will probably want your LDL

to be less than 70 mg./dl

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Your HDL (Good) should be greater than

40 mg./dl

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Your triglycerides should be less than 

150 mg./dl

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Eating oatmeal, walnuts and almond are

great for helping with that, and of course,

a low fat diet,  and exercise. Sometimes you

 need cholesterol reducing or increasing  meds. 

 My husbands bad cholesterol

was under control but his good cholesterol

 was too low,  so the Dr. changed him to a

 med called Crestor because it was very 

good for increasing good cholesterol.

They want that to be high as possible

 because it protects you from heart 

attacks. The Crestor has worked

well on Jimmy,  so if you are having

that problem and are not taking Crestor, 

 you might want to ask your Dr. about it.

  It is very much like lipitor and the others, 

 it just has that added feature from what

our Dr. said.

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Now for a few products that you might

like to try:

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These are great if you have a sweet tooth.
These plum sweets are delicious and have fiber
and the candy is also delicious and satisfying
with just one of those squares.  We probably
would not have tried this Citrus Sunset but we
happened to find them somewhere on sale, so
decided to give them a try,  now we will buy
them more often, now that we know they are
really quite good! 

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I may have shown you these before,  not
sure.  This makes great macaroni and cheese.
And it is great to have lower sodium bouillon,
cause most of it is soooo salty!
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These Sweet Potato fries are awesome and they
are made with Sunflower oil.  Alexia also had other
potatoes that are great too! It is also great that Dole
has all this frozen fruit so that even when it isn't
 in season you can still  have it,  and sometimes even
 when it is in season it can be less expensive to
 buy it this way!
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Hope you find something in this post that you
can use to make life better for you and yours.
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Have a fun and Springy Evening!
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Hugs n' Blessings,
Nellie