Eiyu Matsumoto writes:
There are many similarities between Mr. and Mrs. M in terms of their lifestyle habits. First, they usually skip breakfast, so they eat regular meals only twice a day. Second, they often eat fried foods, like fried chicken and fish. Fried foods contain much fat. Furthermore, both of them take few vegetables and fruits. Their diets are not good. Finally, they work hard, so their life must be stressful. This is not good for their health, too.
Mr. M has a lot of problems in his lifestyle, and his bad habits have already influenced his health in that he feels angina chest pains occasionally. I think there are many factors that have a relation to these pains. First, his diet is bad. Skipping breakfast can lead to out-of-control hunger, often resulting in overeating. He should eat regular meals three times a day. Also, he usually eats simple or fried or fast foods. These foods contain much fat, and few vegetables and fruits. Fat, especially saturated fats, raise the level of cholesterol. Vegetables and fruits contain many vitamins, like vitamin A, B-2, and E. Vitamins help regulate metabolism, convert fat, carbohydrates into energy, assist in forming bone and tissue. Furthermore, fiber contained in vegetables and fruits reduce high level cholesterol. He has to change the style of diets, in short, and he should eat a variety of nutrient-rich, low fat, fiber-rich and vitamin-rich foods. Second, his lifestyle habits, for example, smoking and not having regular exercise, are bad. Cigarette smoking is a risk factor of cancer and coronary heart disease. So he should stop smoking. Although regular exercise elevates the HDL level, and HDL reduce the LDL level, this benefit can not occur for him now. Thus, he should take regular exercise.
Mrs. M has many problems in her lifestyle, too. First, as for Mr. M, she had better change her diet to nutrient-rich, low fat, fiber-rich and vitamin-rich food. In addition to this, she likes cheese, eggs and margarine. However, excess intake of these foods is not good for her health. Cheese contains many saturated fats. Eggs contain many kinds of vitamins, however, eggs are a high-cholesterol food. Though her LDL level is lower than Mr. M's, it is too high. Second, she has unique problems, her family history of cancer. She had better remove the risk factors of cancer as much as possible. So she should not eat much margarine, because, margarine contains trans fatty acid, and this is linked to breast cancer.
There are three basic pieces of advice for Mr. and Mrs. M. First, they should pay more attention to their diets. That is, they had better to recognize their present bad diets, and change them. Second, there are many risk factors for diseases in their life. For instance, smoking, no exercise, being overweight and a family history of cancer. So, they should change their habits with these risks in mind, too. Finally, they can continue to work hard for now. But, if they do not change the stressful lifestyle, they may injure their health.
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