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eLearning Series:
My Cholesterol Level Is Too High -
What Can I Do?
( 8 pages )
One way
to heal many health problems is with a detoxification
diet that
cleanses the body
and
re-establishes the
nutritional balance needed for
optimum health, says Elson Haas,
M.D.,
director of the Preventive Medical
Center of Marin in San Rafael,
California, and author of Staying
Healthy With
Nutrition.
His diet should be practiced
for only three
weeks. It is not
nutritionally balanced enough
for longer periods. Do not undergo
it if you are pregnant or suffer
from
deficiency problems
marked
by fatigue,
coldness or heart weakness. Here
is
the detox diet.
Breakfast
Immediately
upon arising, drink two glasses of water, one of
them containing
the
juice of half
of a lemon.
Also have
one
to two servings of fresh
fruit – apples, pears, bananas, grapes
or
citrus fruits
such as oranges
or grapefruit.
About 15 to
30 minutes later, have one to two cups of cooked
oatmeal,
brown
rice millet,
amaranth or untoasted buckwheat.
For flavoring, you can
add two tablespoons of fruit
juice
or use the Better Butter
described below.
Better
Butter Recipe
Stir ½ cup
of canola oil (look for one labeled “cold-pressed”) into
a dish with ½ pound
of butter, melted or at least softened, and refrigerate.
Use about one teaspoon per meal
for flavoring and don’t
exceed three teaspoons per day.
Lunch
Have a big
bowl (up to four cups) of steamed
vegetables – potatoes,
yams,
green beans,
broccoli, kale,
cauliflower, carrots,
beets,
asparagus, cabbage
or others. Use a variety,
including
stems, roots and
greens. Better Butter
can also be used.
Then refrigerate
the
water from
the vegetables
for later
use.
Within two
hours, slowly drink one
to two cups
of the water
from the
steamed vegetables,
mixing
each
mouthful
with
saliva. You can
add a little
sea salt
or kelp
for flavoring.
Dinner
Same as
lunch, with a variety
of vegetables.
Evening (After
Dinner)
No
food at all, but
you can
have non-caffeinated
herbal
teas such
as peppermint,
chamomile
or blends.
No caffeinated
beverages.
Throughout
the day,
feeling's
of hunger should
be
satisfied
by
drinking
plenty
of water
and eating
pieces
of carrot
or celery.
If you
are feeling
very
fatigued or if
hunger
persists,
then
you may add
up
to four
ounces
of protein,
such
as
fish,
organic chicken,
lentils
or garbanzo,
mung
or black
beans.
Optimally
this
should
be
eaten
mid-afternoon, around
3:00
or 4:00.
Again, this is
a detoxification diet only and is to cleanse the body and
re-establish nutritional balance needed for optimum
health. Do not practice the diet for more than three weeks
and do not undergo it if you are pregnant or suffer from deficiency
problems.
In a restaurant,
opt for steamed, grilled or broiled dishes instead of those
that are friend or sautéed.
Vary your veggies. Eat more dark green veggies, such as
broccoli, kale, and other dark leafy greens; orange veggies,
such as
carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and winter squash; and
beans and peas, such as pinto beans, kidney beans, black
beans, garbanzo
beans, split peas, and lentils.
Read the Nutrition
Facts label on foods. Look for foods low in saturated fats
and trans fats.
Choose and prepare foods
and beverages with little salt (sodium) and/or added sugars
(caloric sweeteners).
If you eat 100
more food calories a day than you burn, you’ll gain about
1 pound in a month. That’s about 10 pounds in a
year. The bottom line is that to lose weight, it’s important
to reduce calories and increase physical activity.
Know the
facts about what you are purchasing to eat.
Read labels carefully.
Most packaged
foods have a Nutrition Facts label. For a
healthier you, use this tool to make smart
food choices quickly and easily.
Try these tips:
- Keep these
low: saturated fats, transfats, cholesterol, and sodium.
- Get enough
of these: potassium, fiber, vitamins A and C, calcium,
and iron.
- Use the % Daily Value (DV) column
when possible: 5% DV or less is low,
20% DV or
more is high.
Look at the serving
size and how many servings you are actually consuming. If
you double the servings you eat, you double the
calories and nutrients, including the % DVs.
Make your calories
count. Look at the calories on the label and compare them
with what nutrients you are also getting to
decide whether the food is worth eating. When one serving
of a single food item has over 400 calories per serving,
it is
high in calories.
Don’t sugarcoat
it. Since sugars contribute calories with few, if any, nutrients,
look for foods and
beverages low
in added
sugars. Read the ingredient list and make sure that added
sugars are not one of the first few ingredients. Some names
for added
sugars (caloric sweeteners) include sucrose, glucose, high
fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, maple syrup, and fructose.
Know your fats.
Look for foods low in saturated fats, transfats, and cholesterol
to help reduce the risk of heart disease
(5% DV or less is low, 20% DV or more is high). Most
of the fats
you eat should be polyunsaturated and monounsaturated
fats. Keep total fat intake between 20% to 35% of calories.
Reduce sodium
(salt), increase potassium.
Research shows
that eating less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium (about 1
tsp of salt) per
day may reduce
the risk
of high blood
pressure. Most of the sodium people eat comes from
processed foods, not from the saltshaker. Also look for
foods high
in potassium, which counteracts some of sodium’s
effects on blood
pressure. Remember there is no substitute for your physician. Make certain
that you clear any new treatments with him before embarking
on any radical health changes you are anticipating.
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