Many of you may not know, but I took a Nutrition 221 class last semester taught by my teacher that is a renal dietitian and this took place at the university I attend now. We talked about various topics in this class, which I won't get into all of them because I think it's too complex to explain all of that in detail on a blog. I have also combined some knowledge I remember from my Biology 102 class that I took at my technical college. And, I will add some information about exercise that comes from an exercise class I took last semester as well. I will now cover one important topic on my blog today and that will be Sodium, Fats, and Cholesterol. Now I will mention on my blog that I am not a Nutrition Major, these are some things I have learned from my class, so please check with your doctor about some things, ok?
So first things first, I am going to talk about how you can lower your sodium/cholesterol:
Fix meals at home, do not go out to eat because this is a form of process food; but also watch out for frozen foods and canned foods because some of them contain alot of excess sodium and that's not good for your body. You need to keep in mind that some people are more salt sensitive meaning a high form of salt can make your blood pressure soar, where as other people may not have that problem. So, keep this in mind because it's very important. The most important thing to remember overall is limit your salt intake.
The next thing is increase your physical exercise. You need to exercise depending on your size/weight. Go to www.myplate.com or www.mypyramid.com to find out. Exercise mins: 30, 60, 90, or an 1 hour and 50 minutes and it helps to exercise for atleast 3 to 4 days, but not everyday.
Change your diet, you need to eat dense foods or foods that are full of fiber. This consists of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean meats and low-dairy foods. Also keep in mind that your diet needs to consist of fiber, potassium, magnesium, and calcium to help lower you blood pressure. Also, do not use that salt shaker. It's the worst, people think they need to add salt to add flavor to their every meal. This is the worst myth/notion. WARNING: IT IS NOT HEALTHY TO SEASON YOUR EVERY MEAL WITH SALT. YOU WILL LITERALLY KILL YOURSELF WITH ALOT OF SALT. I'm sorry I had to get that across. You do not want to learn the hard way because then it might be too late. I do not suffer from having high sodium because I watch my sodium intake, but some people I know well, have a problem with this, this is the main reason why I am doing this post.You can season your foods with spices or polysaturated oils (which I will talk about later in this blog)
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Watch/Look at Nutrition food labels when you are buying products at the store: Make sure you get meals that add up to 2, 300 mg and looking at the percentages can help as well. Look at how much mg of sodium you are getting and keep track by jotting down your totals in a journal and do this everyday to keep track.
People you need about 2, 300-2,400 mg of sodium. Why? I will explain this later in my blog as well. Now, as I was saying your body needs salt, but if you get too much salt you will suffer from sodium toxicity. What is sodium toxicity? This is high blood pressure, my friends. Again, if you do not take this high blood pressure matter seriously it can lead to heart attack, heart disease, atherosclerosis, stroke (which is caused from a blood vessel blockage in the brain) website: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stroke/DS00150 and it can also cause kidney disease, and even premature or early death. The healthy blood pressure you want to maintain is 120/80 and I found a website to explain what the 120/80 stands for: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stroke/DS00150. I will explain what some nurses/doctors might say would be prehypertension which is ranging in the 130/80 and then hypertension which is set somewhere between 140-150/80 range or higher can cause stroke, heart attack, or even death.
Make sure you eat the good fats and these consist of the following:monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. You want to avoid trans and saturated fat because they are not good for you at all. Trans fat is actually man-made fat and this consists of a hydrogenated stuff to basically preserve foods and shelf life at the store. An example of trans fat : crackers and Saturated fat comes from animals and oils/creams. This includes cows, pigs, and etc. You get the idea! So, this includes beef , butter (made from milk), icecream (made from milk), pork (bacon, ham, etc...). So, I will now get into the topic of the good fats. You remember what those are right? Polyunsaturated and Monounsaturated, so now I will talk about Fish because this can help lower your cholesterol/sodium intake. There are two terms: Omega-3 fatty acids and Omega-6 fatty acids.
Omega-3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fat and carbon double-bond. Types of Omega-3's are Alpha linolenic oils which is found in vegetable oils, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenioc acid (DHA) and this is found in fish oils and other common sources include fish, walnuts, and canola oil (good fats). and the Omega-6 fatty acids consist of Linoleic acids found in corn and safflower oils, and arachidoinc acid which is found in meat and fish, and other good sources of fish, canola oil, walnuts, peanuts, almonds, and sunflower seeds (good fats).
Why do we need Omega Fats? Well we need Omega fats because they are used to synthesize regulatory molecules in the body. It helps with the regulation of blood pressure, blood clotting, and immune functions, and regulation of glucose, and fatty acid metabolism. They have anti-inflammatory properties, which decreases the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disorder. Also important in brain development in infants and young children (these notes come from my renal dietitian teacher, Ms. Lacy Ngo).
Other factors that reduce the risk of heart disease are the following: Diets high in fiber, antioxidants, B vitamins, and moderate alcohol consumption. So eat more whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and low dairy. Along with fat, too much sugar and salt can increase the risk. I'll explain why later.
I was going to list some of the percentages of sodium you need, but again I won't because some of these may be different for different people,so I will leave this information for your doctor/nurse/dietitian to tell you. Ok, so im coming to a closing just about the last thing I want to mention are some tips for this blog I posted. Eat as little as possible of cholesterol, saturated fat, and trans fat. I will mention this part though, Daily Values on food labels recommend less than 10% of calories should come from saturated fat and less than 300 mg should come from cholesterol. And cholesterol should be checked starting in your early 20's (which reminds me I need to check mines) and you should do check this as many times as your doctor, nurse, or dietitian says to check. How to cut fat? Cut out process foods like cakes and cookies b/c they are a high form of sugar and salt, but also because they are a big source of fat and they are also a refined carbohydrate as well. What does a refined carbohydrate mean? well it's been stripped of the natural ingredients from the whole grain product. There's not as much nutrients left over the bran/germ might be the only thing left over after being stripped of it's natural ingredients from the whole grain. I will add a link to explain what a whole grain consists of which is three parts: endosperm, bran, and germ. Website: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/26724/whats-proportion-endosperm-bran-germ and then go to google and type in : vital vittles word document on whole grains and click on the third one and wait to download. I think this document here gives you more information about the whole grain process.
I forgot to add one more final link to this blog, its on sodium: http://www.cookinglight.com/eating-smart/nutrition-101/sodium-00400000001108/
So, here you go here's all the information you need for this particular blog, I might post another blog related to nutrition or exercise, so keep an eye out for those blogs. Until next time blessings to my divas and boos.
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