In my role as therapist, coach, friend, volunteer, and passionate supporter of making the world a better place, this has gotten much easier. (I’m sure you’re familiar with the quote, “therapist heal thyself” - well, I took that to heart!). It has become clearer to me that when I am struggling with wanting to “change” someone or something, I have to tune in to myself first.
Copyright (c) 2008 Healthy Bodies, Happy Minds
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” (Gandhi)
I recently got a phone call that was rather shocking. A friend of mine had just died of a heart attack. “So what?” you might ask, “People die every day from heart attacks.” Well, that’s true but most of them aren’t my friend’s age. He was only 45.
A definition of cardiovascular disease doesn’t include an age. In fact, early signs of cardiovascular disease have been noted during surgeries performed on young soldiers wounded in battle. It has been estimated that plaque build-up was seen in the arteries of nearly 90% of the troops wounded in Vietnam. That’s pretty amazing when one considers that these soldiers were in their teens and early twenties. So, we need to take a good look at exactly what cardiovascular disease is, what causes it, and how we can prevent it.
High cholesterol levels are linked to many health problems. The principle illnesses are thought to be thickening of the arteries and heart disease. These diseases are life threatening if left untreated so there is much emphasis on lowering cholesterol in topical programs and commercials on TV and radio. This article will discuss how to lower cholesterol and keep problems like heart disease at bay.
Although there are plenty of cholesterol medicines available, medication is often a last resort for doctors. If you are diagnosed with high cholestrol, a doctor will prescribe two treatments that are quite simple but require discipline and will power. They will advise that you eat low cholesterol foods and develop a regular exercise program.
Fat and cholesterol receive bad press, there is no doubt. If you hear fat or cholesterol mentioned in a sentence it is often preceded or closely followed by some way to reduce or lose it in some ingenious fashion. The truth is that fat and cholesterol are essential for the overall health of the body. Fat is needed in two cases. There is essential fats that keep vital systems like the nervous system and brain running and storage fat that is can be converted to energy when the body cannot get nutrition from the environment.
