Therapeutic lifestyle changes now can improve health, lifespan later

Statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate many great health risks fall predominantly within a few life- and health-threatening categories. These are especially applicable to men approaching middle age when a number of health issues often appear.

The National Institutes of Health has worked with doctors and researchers across multiple elds to create a set of recommendations for speci c therapeutic lifestyle changes people can make in their daily lives to reduce these risk factors for a healthier and longer life. These lifestyle changes can be instituted before or after diagnosis of cholesterol, blood pressure and other health issues and have positive, direct effects in the body, which can lead to lower risks of a wide array of diseases.

The lifestyle changes include:

• diet speci cally designed to lower cholesterol,
• appropriate exercise for your age and physical condition – being physically active,
• loss of excess body fat,
• managing stress, and
• cessation or minimization of high-risk or health-damaging behavior, especially smoking.

These changes can lead to:

• increased HDL (“good”) cholesterol,
• decreased LDL (“bad”) cholesterol,
• normalized blood pressure,
• reduced blood glucose,
• reduced arterial plaque formation,
• reduced excess fat/weight.

And those bene ts can further result in signi cantly reduced risk of:

• heart disease,
• heart attack or stroke,
• respiratory diseases,
• cancer, and
• diabetes.

One of the most important components of the NIH’s recommendation is diet. The National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines have particularly targeted LDL cholesterol because of its strong correlation with the risk of coronary heart disease. This has led to the development of the Therapeutic Lifestyle Change Diet, which has been endorsed by the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association and the Obesity Society as reducing health risks in heart disease, heart attack/stroke, atherosclerosis, cancer and diabetes. The NIH states, however, that use of the TLC Diet does not mean the individual will not need or bene t from cholesterol-lowering drugs, or blood pressure medication.

Weight reduction is another consideration NIH considers an important component of the TLC strategy; it being a risk factor for coronary heart disease, diabetes, cardiac events and stroke. The NIH states, however, that the TLC Diet was designed to improve cholesterol levels, not reduce weight; however, the NIH claims that if the TLC guidelines are followed in conjunction with caloric limits, the TLC diet functions as a weight-loss diet. The NIH advises eating just enough calories to achieve or maintain a healthy weight and reduce your blood cholesterol level, having consulted a physician or nutritionist to determine the level of calories appropriate for the individual.

Exercise is another key component to therapeutic lifestyle changes. Keeping a high activity level relative to one’s health and ability to maintain it is another aspect of therapeutic lifestyle changes indicated by the NIH TLC plan. Daily activity and regular exercise is recommended, but should follow a physician’s recommendations, taking into account one’s age, health and physical conditioning. The NIH advises that regular exercise – even as little as an hour total per week – can help lower cholesterol and help maintain cardiovascular health.

Exercise also helps with another part of the NIH’s TLC program, which is managing stress. They recognize stress as being a factor in a variety of physical and emotional illnesses, including coronary heart disease. Besides regular exercise, the NIH recommends social support, a positive mental outlook, and relaxation techniques to aid in managing stress.

The last component of the NIH’s therapeutic lifestyle changes recommendation is to eliminate or minimize known high-risk behaviors which threaten health, a key one being cigarette smoking, which according to the NIH says increases risk factors for coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis, diabetes, emphysema and other respiratory diseases.

–Michael Stone

NIH’S RECOMMENDATIONS IN THE TLC DIET:

• total fat limited to 25-35 percent of total calories, with less than 7 percent of calories from saturated fat

» 50-60 percent of total calories from carbohydrate

» 20-30 grams of dietary fiber per day

» protein 15-25 percent of total calories

» less than 200 milligrams of dietary cholesterol per day

» less than 2300 milligrams sodium per day

» supplementation of plant sterols/stanols, up to 2 grams per day

» soluble fiber of 5-10 grams per day, and fish containing omega 3 oils in the weekly eating plan