Question: I am a 55 year old male about thirty pounds overweight with slightly elevated cholesterol but am otherwise very healthy. What can your program do for me?
Answer: You probably know the saying “Rome was not built in a day”, well, neither was heart disease, cancer, or diabetes. We don’t just wake up one day with a heart attack, a massive tumor, or diabetic gangrenous toes. These are disease processes that evolve in our bodies over time. You did not mention how elevated your cholesterol is, but regardless, elevated cholesterol is a sign that your blood vessels are likely diseased and it is a risk factor for heart disease. So is being an overweight male over 55. You can’t very well change your gender or your age…BUT, you can change your other risk factors with a few diet and lifestyle changes. For example, if you smoke...quit. That may sound harsh, but the truth is that smoking by itself increases your risk for heart disease. Combined with other factors, smoking greatly increases your risk of developing heart disease. In fact, according to the Surgeon General, smoking is "the leading preventable cause of disease and deaths in the United States." Next, if you don’t exercise…start. Beginning a physical fitness regiment has numerous health benefits from heart protection to increased energy to weight loss to an improvement of overall well-being. Finally, elevated cholesterol can result from two sources: your body or your diet. In rare cases, excess cholesterol production is genetic. More often than not though, raised cholesterol levels result from what we put in our mouths. Animal products are the only dietary source of cholesterol. Eating saturated fats and trans fats can also affect your cholesterol levels. Plant foods, on the other hand, do not have cholesterol. So, the last step is to modify your diet to increase your plant foods and limit or eliminate animal products and high-fat foods. Although these changes may not be easy, they are doable. As a matter of fact, you could do them on your own. What we are here for is to help you make that transition to health. We have medical doctors trained in nutrition and lifestyle medicine. Their expertise is in working with you to develop a health program tailored to your needs – one that addresses not only your goals but the obstacles that are keeping you from attaining and maintaining success. Last but not least, at Exsalus Health & Wellness Center, we won’t just create a plan for you, we will see you through it every step of the way. Hope this helps.
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