Keeping Fit and Healthy

Weight Reduction

Losing weight long term requires a lot of motivation and a commitment to permanent lifestyle change. Crash diets are often quite successful at losing weight but are impossible to sustain and when the diet is over people usually return to their old eating and exercise habits. Long term lifestyle change includes:

• -Changing the foods you buy each week
• -Not having biscuits/crisps etc in the house except on special occasions
• -Eating slightly smaller portions
• -Greater proportion of vegetables on the plate, less fatty food
• -Exercising regularly (most days, 30-60 minutes walking is fine)

Tips

• -Learn a few new recipes - people tend to keep cooking the (high calorie) ones they know
• -Drink water/herbal teas rather than soft drinks/cappuccinos
• -Don't shop for food when hungry
• -Don't eat watching TV or on the move-you will tend to eat more/faster

Drugs/Surgery

Some drug treatments can give a small boost to weight loss, but they are only mildly effective. Surgery (gastric-banding and gastric-bypass) is sometimes offered to the very obese and is effective, but carries risks. If you would like to discuss these treatments please arrange an appointment with your doctor.

Exercise

Exercise is beneficial to almost all individuals. It reduces heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, bowel cancer, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, osteoporosis, and obesity. In addition it reduces anxiety and is comparable to antidepressants in treating depression.
Most people with illnesses of the heart, lungs and joints do better if they exercise than if they 'rest up'.
Ideally, you should do at least 30 minutes of moderate aerobic physical activity, at least five days per week. Brisk walking is fine.

Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a fatty substance essential for normal bodily function. Some of it we eat in foodstuffs, but most of the cholesterol in our bodies is manufactured by our own livers. Unfortunately, too much cholesterol is associated with blockages in arteries supplying the heart and brain, leading to heart attacks and strokes.

A typical western diet, high in animal fat, stimulates the liver to produce too much cholesterol. Not all cholesterol causes problems. Having a high LDL cholesterol (low density lipoprotein) seems to be the problem, whereas a high HDL cholesterol (high density lipoprotein) seems to be protective. Your doctor will assess you cholesterol based on the ratio of HDL to LDL. Some people are born with a gene variation that leads to a particularly high cholesterol which can lead to a heart attack at a young age. If you have a close relative who had a heart attack at a young age contact your GP for a test.

Fortunately there are effective drugs now available for lowering cholesterol that have been shown to lower the risk of having a heart attack or stroke.
It is important to remember that having a raised cholesterol is not a disease, but a risk factor among others including:

• Age
• Smoking
• Blood pressure
• Male sex
• Diabetes
• Lack of exercise
• Obesity
• Family History
• Race (people with Indian/Pakistani ancestry at higher risk)
• Early Menopause

So only having a raised cholesterol does not mean you are definitely at high risk of heart attacks. Similarly, if you have many other risk factors your doctor may suggest cholesterol lowering even if your cholesterol is average to lower your overall risk of cardiac disease/stroke.
http://www.rosemarymedicalcentre.co.uk/index.php/medical-advice/keeping-fit-and-healthy