The Cardiologist's Wife's Chocolate Too! Diet:
No Sugar, Low Fat *&* Low Carb
Why we Have to Exercise
Younger Plaque is More Dangerous
Here’s a surprise: older plaque lining your arteries, blocking them even up to 90%, is less likely to cause an acute heart attack than new plaque which may block the artery only 20 or 30%. This is because old plaque has grown a tough, fibrous cap, or membrane. You lucked out there. But newer plaque, almost as soon as it’s laid down, develops a delicate membrane which cracks easily as inflammation damages it and high blood pressure pounds it. Then the body’s natural tendency to form a clot over damaged tissue can cause sudden, complete blockage of the artery. That part of the heart muscle is starved for oxygenated blood, and dies. Yes, a heart attack.
So. Even if you lucked out with the older plaque, there’s damage done last week to arteries, and disaster could still strike unless you start dieting and exercising today. I truly don’t mean to scare you, but you should know that problems are even more likely now, since the old plaque has already narrowed arteries and done invisible damage.
How do you keep that new plaque from forming at all? Sorry: it’s only by diet and exercise. Some medications are wonderful, but very recent studies show that nothing’s as good as exercise and losing weight to get that new, more dangerous plaque to re-absorb; i.e, get picked up by your HDL and taken to the liver, where it’s broken down and excreted.
Gone! Thank you HDL. I’ll start taking better care of you.
Exercise is cumulative: You don't have to do it all at once :)
Did you know you can also break up your exercise? Do five minutes here, ten minutes there…that’s fine, just do it more frequently. What matters is the day’s cumulative amount. Surely you can work in 20 minutes of fast-walking during the day; then there’ll just be ten minutes left for after dinner. Any exercise can be cumulative, as opposed to sweating it all out all at once.
Just Move More...
If you’re waiting for the microwave, instead of just standing there do an in-place step-step-step, a little dance. Have the radio on? Make the feet move more, no matter how. Park at the furthest end of the parking lot (if it’s daylight, and safe). Take the stairs instead of the elevator (if your health is o.k. for it; check with your physician). If your work on the 30th floor, take the elevator to the 29th floor, and walk the rest. The next week, start walking at the 28th floor, and so on. And…if you’re walking from the, ahem, TV to the fridge, take the long way. Then follow your steps back to the couch, and repeat. Back and forth, back and forth. Then maybe forget the fridge. Pace, even, while brushing your teeth or hair or...anything.
Arthritis due to overweight make exercise painful? Lift hand weights while sitting in a chair. Lie on your back & do resistance pushing.
Any kind of movement is good.
Check with your doctor before starting any exercise program.
Copyright © 2009 The Cardiologist's Wife Chocolate Too Diet. All rights reserved.
Exercise Your Way
“I joined a health club last year, spent about 400 bucks, haven’t lost a pound. Apparently you have to show up.”
Old joke, but it’s how many of us feel. Kick boxing? Are you kidding? What’s an elliptical machine? And things like tennis, swimming, jogging, or Pilates require you to go someplace, remake your life around them, may even be too strenuous for someone just starting out.
But exercise you must, so here’s the magic word: WALK.
We have a mini-speedway in our house, and we “power-walk.” (Power walk, apparently, is the new term for what we’ve been doing all along.) Thirty minutes a day, aiming for five days a week, we zoom around and around through the kitchen, living room, front hall, and other rooms back to the kitchen. That’s it! If it meant driving or trudging through the blizzard or July heat to some gym, we wouldn’t do it. We’re lazy, prefer climate control.
Does your home or apartment lend itself to a “mini-speedway?” If there’s a room that’s a lobster trap (just one door; you can’t run through), could you see having a contractor break through, put a door in? Years ago we did that to a smaller room. It had one non-support wall blocking the way.
Some people have treadmills, or prefer fast-walking around the block, the neighborhood. Whatever feels best, and works easily into your existing routine. “Sow a habit and reap a destiny.” Old saying, applies to exercising too. If you find a routine you can do daily, even if you have to force yourself to do it at first, it will soon become a habit. Something, in fact, you’ll soon feel guilty about not doing! And proud of yourself when you do do it.
Thirty minutes of “power walking” (4 mph) uses 225 calories. That’s a lot off your daily diet-quota of, say, 1200 or 1300 calories. If you only do twenty minutes a day, fine, but the weekly tally should amount to 120 minutes. Two hours a week! That will do the job for you, and you won’t hate it. More, say 180 minutes (ten extra minutes a day), will provide slightly more benefit, and fine if you can do it, but it’s not enough to knock yourself out for.
Especially if you consider the numbers. The average adult consumes about 2,000 calories per day, and there are approximately 3,500 calories of energy stored in one pound of body fat. So if you eat only 1,200 calories a day, that’s a weekly deficit of 5,600, or 1.6 pounds lost. Add to that another 1,400 (burned off in six days’ worth of 30 minutes power walks), that’s another 0.4 pound of fat lost.
On the other hand, if less than 2 pounds lost a week is enough for you, you can up your daily intake by another 100-200 calories a day -- thanks to the exercising! It allows you to eat a bit more without guilt.
Copyright © 2009 The Cardiologist's Wife Chocolate Too Diet. All rights reserved.
