Eating correctly will help you manage the following conditions:
How Do These Conditions Effect Your Health?
Each condition is a risk factor for atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease, or clogged arteries. The more risk factors you have, the greater your chance of developing coronary artery disease or clogged arteries throughout other parts of your body.
People who have atherosclerosis are more likely to suffer from chest pains, pains in the hips or legs while walking, heart attack and stroke. They are at higher risk of developing various types of cancers (i.e. colon, breast, prostate, lung, stomach, mouth, bladder, and pancreatic).
Who Can Benefit?
Anyone having one or more of these risk factors can reduce their risk of developing atherosclerosis. If arteries have begun to clog, the rate of progression can be slowed. For those who already have had a heart attack, angioplasty, bypass surgery, or carotid surgery, careful lifestyle modification is very important. You can stop or reverse the clogging process and protect against re-stenosis or the re-narrowing, or blocking of your arteries.
The reality of cancer prevention rests with every individual. Even though genetics and environment has a role in cancer development, the choices you make each day by eating healthy, staying physically active and maintaining a healthy weight can cut your risk of cancer 20 – 30%. If you do these things and avoid tobacco your potential to reduce your risk is even greater, at 60 – 70%.
A Feast for Your Health – Lessons for the Heart
Feeding yourself well is a powerful way to reduce your risk or even eliminate some risk factors. Besides improving your health, you will learn about new foods, taste new flavors, try new recipes and prepare healthy meals for yourself, your family, and your friends. Adopting this strategy can help lower LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, raise HDL cholesterol, lower blood pressure, lower blood sugars, and reduce body weight thus lowering your risk of many cancers.
The challenge is choice. It’s choosing to eat foods in variety, and foods that are functional. Its focus is on enhancing your diet (foods you can eat) and not restriction (foods you can’t eat). So eat to your heart’s content.