Consumer Guide Online

Cholesterol is a material that is derived from animal fats in food and that is also produced by the body. A certain amount of cholesterol is essential to health-it forms two per cent of the weight of the brain, for example—but too much cholesterol builds up in the arteries and may play a part in causing coronary disease or stroke. Most doctors advice moderating the animal fat content of our diet as a wise precaution. And this applies to lean men as well as plump ones.

Cholesterol-rich foods include fat meats, pork, sausages, egg yolk, butter, cheese, pastry, cream, meat drippings, and other animal fats. So it is wise to avoid too many of these foods and to trim away the visible fat from your meat. Since eating vegetable fats will actually reduce the amount of cholesterol in the blood, try to include in your diet some vegetable oils (such as corn, sunflower, and olive oil), fish oils, or polyunsaturated margarines.

While a certain amount of fat is essential for any man’s health, two foods should definitely be cut right down for a man who wants to slim. These are sugar and alcohol. Sugar supplies nothing but energy, and when it is not used for energy, it is laid down as fat. What’s more, some doctors are convinced that there is a link between high sugar consumption and heart disease. As for alcohol, this is nearly twice as fattening, weight for weight, as sugar. And it has the double disadvantage of stimulating appetite. Ideally, alcohol should be out for a man who is slimming. If that seems impossible, you might decide to try and cut out more calories from other foods to compensate for the occasional drink. But it is not wise to do this regularly lest a man go short of some important food element in the process— quite apart from feeling hungrier and weakening in his resolve to diet.

Any diet should, of course, be combined with regular exercise. For, although exercise alone cannot reduce excess weight—it would take a 35-mile walk or 100 holes of golf to get rid of just one pound of fat—exercise is just as important as diet in weight control. Only when eating and exercise go hand in hand can a man reach a desirable weight and stay there.

Exercise is not just important for the dieter. It is vital for any man’s health, be he fat or lean. Exercise can make a man look, think, sleep, and feel better. It can help release pent-up tension and stress, prevent aches and pains, improve his circulation, and keep his heart and lungs in good shape.

The key to safe and effective exercise is to introduce a little bit of action into every day. Sudden bouts of strenuous exercise can be dangerous because the body just isn’t prepared for the strain. A man who leads a sedentary life needs an activity that starts out gently but can become gradually more demanding as he gets fitter. And it needs to be something he can fit into his daily routine.

One of the best and easiest forms of exercise that will fit into anyone’s daily routine is walking. Maybe you could persuade someone to walk to work or the station. It will probably help if you can walk along part of the way with him or her. Walk before bed— this will also help you sleep better. And exercise after meals is particularly good, because more food is burned up faster just after eating.

Swimming, running, skating, skiing, tennis, squash, table tennis, or bicycling are all excellent activities to reduce cholesterol.

Prevention is the finest way to fight any disease. By regular workout, we will be able to lower cholesterol in our body.  A regular medical checkup and making some lifestyle changes may reduce bad cholesterol in our body.