Nao Takano writes:
Hiroshi Tanaka is a 29-year-old computer specialist. He believes that
he pays enough attention for his healthy life, but there are many
problems about his health. Now, I am going to indicate his health
problems and suggest solutions to these problems.
First, Mr. Tanaka has some hereditary risk
factors, and these may be most dangerous. His medical records indicate
that both his grandfather and father have diabetes, and his mother is
currently ill with a critical heart condition. These records shows
that he also has possibilities of these illness, and whether he gets
these illness or not depends on his dietary habits and daily
exercise. Second, Mr. Tanaka's LDL(law-density lipoprotein) level is
measured at 172, and it is higher than dangerous LDL level 160. High
levels of LDL in the bloodstream are associated with an increased risk
of heart disease. Considering that his mother has illness of her
heart, his high LDL level may cause heart disease.
Except for these risk factors, he has many problems of his health in
his life style, especially in his dietary habit and exercises, and it
is because he doesn't have much proper information about health. Let
us point out his problems of daily life; 1. He seldom take breakfast
in the morning 2. He takes high-calorie food like fast food at lunch
and dinner 3. He relies vitamin supplements which he takes with four
or five cups of coffee in the morning and colas in the afternoon. 4.
He hates most vegetables and eats a lot of meats. 5. He thinks enough
fiber can be taken from udon and rice. 6. He doesn't have refreshing
way after work. 7. He exercise only for keeping his weight down.
I think he should better his lifestyle and these problems, so I'm
going to advise him on some points. First, he should eat breakfast every
morning, because it is necessary for our body to get energy of the
day. And he should also reduce high-calorie foods at dinner, because we
don't need so much nutrition at night, and it causes him
getting fat. So I suggest that taking balanced diet of carbohydrates,
fats, and proteins at breakfast, because these food sauces can supply
carbohydrates and fats, so I'll tell him these two food
sources. To store energy at the beginning of the day, I
recommend he take cereals and milk for breakfast, because they also
contain rich fibers and vitamins, and they don't take so much time to
eat and it's suitable for busy people just like Mr. Tanaka.
It is also a problem that he doesn't have proper information about
food and food resources. He is confused about real differences. A gram of carbohydrates provide 4 calories
whereas fat provides 9 calories, so fats are suitable to
pack a lot of energy and more high-calories than carbohydrates.
Also fats are categorized into saturated fat and unsaturated fat,
and excessive taking saturated fat isn't desirable. So I'd like to
recommend that he replace meat intake with unsaturated fat like
vegetable fats and fishes. Also he had better change eating red meat
which has lots of high protein to high protein and low cholesterol
food like natto, tofu and grain bread since he should reduce his
LDL level. Cutting out not only cholesterol but also saturated fat is
necessary. If his saturated fat intake under 10 percent of his
calories each day, he is on his way to lower cholesterol levels. He
is also confused about RDA of vitamins and minerals. RDA (Recommended
Daily Amount) of vitamins and minerals means the amount of them which
we should take a day, and we can take them from our daily meal. Each
RDA of vitamins and minerals is fixed, for example, iron is 10 mg par
day for men around his age. If he take vitamins and minerals satisfied
with RDA, he would be more healthy. And it is also necessary to take
more vitamins at dinner because most vitamins are considered to be
absorbed while we are sleeping the most.
He also has improper information about exercise. He thinks that he
should do exercise only for keeping his weight down, but it isn't all.
Physical activity can lead the higher his good (HDL) cholesterol
levels and the lower his bad (LDL) cholesterol levels. He may inherit a tendency for high cholesterol levels, so he should be
more careful of his LDL levels, or he may be exposed to dangers of
diseases, like heart disease, or arteriosclerosis, etc. So he should
do continual exercise. 20 or 30 minutes walking can be O.K. Most
important thing is to continue it.
It may be difficult to change his lifestyle, but all of this advice is for his health.
Good Luck!
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