STAYING
HEALTHLY AS YOU START 2012:
Consider a healthy weight for
yourself, increasing your activity level, decreasing
your cholesterol number, decreasing your blood
pressure and decreasing / quitting tobacco use.
Blood Pressure
(B/P): High blood pressure
can almost always be prevented, so follow these
steps even if you do not have high blood pressure.
If you do have high blood pressure, you and
your health care provider need to work together
as a team to reduce it by establishing a B/P
goal, a plan and a timetable to meet your goal.
•
Maintaining a healthy weight: Losing even 10
pounds can lower your B/P. Losing weight has
the biggest effect on those who are overweight
and already have high B/P. The DASH eating plan
is an example that may help to manage B/P by
selecting foods that are low in saturated and
total fat, and cholesterol. It is high in fruits
and vegetables, and low fat dairy foods. It
includes whole grains, poultry, fish, and nuts,
and has low amounts of fats, red meats, sweets,
and sugared beverages. It is also high in potassium,
calcium, and magnesium, as well as protein and
fiber. Eating foods lower in salt and sodium
also can reduce blood pressure.
• Be physically active: All you need is
30 minutes of moderate level physical activities
on most days of the week. You can even divide
the 30 minutes into shorter periods of at least
10 minutes each. Check with your doctor if you
have heart trouble or have had a heart attack,
if you are over age 50 and are not used to moderate
level physical activity, if you have a family
history of heart disease at an early age, or
if you have any other serious health problem.
• Drink alcohol only in moderation.
• Have your B/P checked and logged on
a regular basis.
• Take your B/P prescribed medications
as directed.
Cholesterol:
Your blood cholesterol level has a lot to do
with your chances of getting heart disease.
High blood cholesterol is one of the major risk
factors for heart disease. You can lower your
cholesterol with therapeutic lifestyle changes:
• Eat a low saturated fat, low cholesterol
eating plan that calls for less than 7% of calories
from saturated fat and less than 200mg of dietary
cholesterol per day.
• Manage your weight – losing weight
if you are overweight can help lower LDL and
is especially important for those with a cluster
of risk factors that includes high triglyceride
and / or low HDL levels and being overweight
with a large waist measurement (more than 40
inches for men and more than 35 inches for women.
• Get regular physical activity of thirty
minutes on most, if not all days. It can help
raise your high density lipids (HDL) and lower
your low density lipids (LDL) and is especially
important for those who are overweight with
a large waist measurement.
• Quitting smoking today will help reduce
your LDL.
• Follow your medication treatment as
prescribed by your doctor
Consider joining RFGH’s
Weigh to Go weight management program starting
on January 23, 2012. Choose 10-11am or 5-6 pm.
Our eight week classes are taught by RFGH dietitians
and other health professionals. The agenda includes
keys to success, weight loss goals, a plan for
healthy eating, self assessment, meal planning,
portion control, label reading, healthy cooking,
baking and recipe modifications, getting excited
about exercise, pre-diabetes, and much more!
Call our Community Health Educator at 858-2318
for more information or to pre-register.
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