Natsuko Karasawa writes:
Mr and Mrs Mine (M) have some common problems. First, they usually skip breakfast or if there is time, they'll fry some food left over from the day before. Second, they usually eat some fatty foods that contain animal fat at lunch. Third, late at night, both Mr and Mrs M share fast food that Mr M picks up on his way from the office, pizza, yakitori, etc. Because of this unbalanced diet, their LDL levels are high. This is not so good because a high LDL level means high risk for heart disease. To prevent heart disease and related death, they should try to reduce cholesterol levels in the blood and fat in the diet.
Mr M has some particular problems. He has high blood pressure and occasionally experiences angina chest pains. And he has low levels of HDL but his LDL level is 170. This is due to the fact that he usually takes hamburger or fried chicken or fried fish at lunch. These fatty foods lead to high blood cholesterol, increasing the risk of heart disease. And his chest pain may be caused by the high level of bad cholesterol. What is worse, Mr M has no opportunity to do regular exercise and he is a heavy smoker. Smoking is another important risk factor in the development of heart disease. So he has high risk for heart disease. To solve this problem, he must change his diet. First of all, he should reduce eating fried food and take more vegetables and fruits. Next he needs to some exercise, walking and so on, and he must stop smoking.
Mrs M has some problems, too. Her LDL level is high and she is 10 kilos overweight. These problems are due to that her lunch which is usually a bowl of rice with some meat and a sweet dessert, cake, cookies or ice cream and her dinner which is sometimes a combination of snack food and sandwiches. These meals add up to an unbalanced diet. To make matters worse, she especially likes cheese or eggs and butter on her bread. These foods are saturated fat that is animal in origin, and they can lead to increased LDL levels. This is one of the important risk factor for heart disease. Additionally, women who eat diets rich in animal foods develop breast cancer at a significantly higher rates. (In fact, on average, American women's risk for breast cancer is higher than Asian women's risk because they like fatty foods.) Mrs M must change her diet. At first, she should take foods that contain unsaturated fat such, as olive oil, and she should consume more vitamins and calcium found in vegetables and fruits. In particular, tomatoes and broccoli have positively affected women's health and reduce risks for cancer. Next, in order to burn fat and healthily reduce her state of being overweight, Mrs M should do some exercise, for example, walking, swimming, and so on.
The most important thing is that they make an effort to improve their health. First of all, they need to take three meals a day and pay attention to food balance to control their cholesterol levels. They need to take more vitamins, calcium and less cholesterol. And, they must exercise for health. I hope in sum that they can spend healthy life together.
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