Naoki Sameshima writes:
In the case of Mr. Tanaka, there are some problems in his daily diet
and lifestyle habit, but they can be solved by focusing his attention and
effort. Also one problem exists in his family history of disease.
In his diet, there are so many points he should change. First he
seldom eats breakfast. Skipping meals can lead to out-of-control
hunger, often resulting in overeating. When a man is very hungry, it's
also tempting to forget about good nutrition. And he doesn't take
recommended daily amounts (RDA) of vitamins and minerals also enough
fibers, and likes LDL rich foods. For example, he likes red meat, and
dislikes vegetables. He usually eats fast food such as hamburgers or
udon. That is not only because he is busy with his business and
doesn't has enough time for taking his meal, but also because he
tastes them. These food are containing less vitamins and minerals or
fibers. Though Mr.Tanaka knows he can't take enough vitamins from his
daily diet so he takes vitamin supplements, considering other his diet
and lifestyle habit, it might be not proper to the RDA for his age.
For example he should take 2,000IU of vitamin A, 1.1mg of vitamin B1,
1.4mg of vitamin B2, 50mg of vitamin C, 100IU of vitamin D, 12mg of
iron, 25 to 30 grams of fiber and so on. And he should limits the
fats under 10% of whole calories he needs in a day. Because fats,
especially saturated fats tend to raise the cholesterol level in the
blood. And the high level of cholesterol in the blood is thought as a
risk factor of some cardiovascular disease ( This point is mentioned
further below.) . Carbohydrates and fats are main source of energy of
human but carbohydrates don't have an explicit effect to raise the
LDL level of the blood. So the most calories should be taken as
carbohydrates. In addition, yet there are some places or systems in a
human body which can't function properly without fats (for example, the cell's
membrane, in the time of intaking or transporting fat-soluble
vitamins, etc.), human can synthesize fats by carbohydrates in the
liver. Also total calories should be limited because taking too many calories
may cause diabetes. As he is a desk-worker, the RDA of
calories for his age is 2,200 to 2,400.
His lifestyle habit problems are that he doesn't exercise (he does
only a half an hour on a week). So he can't easily work off the calories he's consumed,
and this can cause such diseases as diabetes or
high blood pressure and so on. Mr.Tanaka does exercise only
because he thinks young should keep his weight down. That is he
doesn't know the effectiveness of exercise for the health. Exercise
has effects not only on energy consumption but also in activating the
metabolism (such as replacing the old cell to the new cell,
excretion, etc.).
In his family history, there is a tendency to have diabetes or heart
disease. This character is probably inherited by him too, so he
should be more careful about his health from this point than other
people.
In conclusion, he has to do the following. First, he
should take regular meals every day. Second, he should take RDA of
vitamins and minerals (mentioned above) in a variety of foods, when it's impossible
taking them from foods, although supplements will help. But
either way, it is important to take his RDA of vitamins and minerals. Third, he should take
much more fiber. Fiber helps bowel movement and removes t bad materials
such as bad cholesterol. Fourth, he should eat less amounts of LDL-rich
foods. He likes red meat or cheeseburgers, and those are LDL-rich foods.
And now his LDL level is 172. This is too high for health (for
his age, the level should be less than 130). Still his family history
suggests he has possibillities to have diabetes or heart disease, and these
are often brought on by a high LDL level. So he has to change his diet to reduce
high-LDL containing foods. Concerning the last point, he should take
regular exercise every day. Exercise can speed the metabolism, consume
excess calories, increase HDL (which has a role in reducing
LDL). Keeping these ideas outlined here, he will achieve a healthy weight and a low
LDL level. But I should add one more piece of advice: he should
check his LDL level in his blood and cardiovascular system in the
hospital regularly.
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