PRIORITY #1 - stop chewing! Study on Nicotine and LDL / HDL imbalance. Reversal is speedy with cessation! See bottom of page.

PRIORITY #2 - lower CHOLESTEROL. ( >200 / day using Fitbit app)
These first two are absolutely connected. High cholesterol levels in your blood can lead to a buildup of plaque in your arteries, causing them to become narrower. This increases the risk for heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.

PRIORITY #3 - SODIUM - 1500-2300 mg daily limit.

PRIORITY #4 - stop being over-weight. 169 lbs to 202 lbs = 25.0 to 29.9 BMI = Overweight = over my body's healty weight
KEY LINKS
  1. Fitbit foods log
  2. Calorie burn by Heart Rate
  3. BMI Calculator (29.5 as of 1/10/24)
  4. Healthline
  5. Web MD food calculator
  6. Conversion Calculator
  7. Shark on demand
 HARRY’S RULES
  1. Exercise SIX days a week forever. It’s your JOB
  2. Do serious aerobic exercise 4 days a week forever.
  3. Do serious strength training, 2-3 days/week forever.
  4. Spend less than you make.
  5. Quit eating and drinking crap! Hydrate.
  6. Care. God and family.
  7. Connect and commit. Embrace change.
JEN'S DIET RULES
  1. Make up your mind: Set your goal and go for it..
  2. Eat much less, much better and be mindful.
  3. Don’t eat Dead Food.
  4. Eat much produce—half of diet should be veg & fruit.
  5. Eat good fats in moderation, avoid sat. & trans fats.
  6. Eat less meat and make it lean.
  7. Don’t drink your calories. Don’t skip meals.

HEART RATE : My max heart rate is 166: subtract 0.7 times your age - from 208 (208-42)

Fitbit will tell me my workout heartrate if I start and finish a workout or record the correct start and end times. 12/18/23 I hit 160-2 for a minute.

WEIGHT

Goal of 166 lbs by losing 1 lb/week

12/29/23 = 202.4 lbs or 29.9 BMI (overweight) down from 11/17 215 or 31.75 (obese). Will lose 34 more = 08/25/24, .St. Louis IX

CDC and NIH Adult Body Mass Index (BMI)
Height Weight Range BMI Considered
5′ 9″
125 lbs to 168 lbs 18.5 to 24.9 Healthy weight
169 lbs to 202 lbs 25.0 to 29.9 Overweight
203 lbs or more 30 or higher Obesity

WORKOUTS AND FOOD

Large meals take longer to empty from the stomach, about 4-6 hours.
Snacks (300 calories or less), depending on their content, take about 30-60 minutes to leave your stomach

BEFORE: Eating a high carbohydrate snack two hours before exercising can leave you ample energy and a calm stomach for a great workout. Avoid eating altogether for the thirty minutes beforehand (insulin surge and drop during workout, blood flow conflict - muscles or digestion?). Stay hydrated: 8–12 ounces of water before a workout. Fruit, bread, Greek yoghurt, oatmeal.

AFTER: it’s a great idea to have a high-carbohydrate-with-some-protein snack within 30-60 minutes after exercise. This is the critical window when your muscles are best able to take up circulating glucose to store as muscle glycogen.

CHOLESTEROL

>200 per day (Fitbit APP). No butter, alcohol, eggs, red meat, chorizo, bacon, coffee creamer or cheese. Light on chicken and pork.

Eat fish, nuts, beans, rice, veggies, fruit, whole grains.

How to reduce cholesterol - 5 lifestyle changes - it takes 1-3 months for changes to show

Cholesterol and foods and 11 good foods

Important to advocate for yourself. Start by asking your doctor for a coronary calcium scan, which identifies hard plaque. For men over the age of 45. It can identify plaque buildup years before it would cause an event, allowing for the opportunity to use preventive treatment. The test is not a part of standard cholesterol screening.

LDL is 183, should be 50 (Dr. Thomas 2/22/24),
Small dense LDL is the most atherogenic subtype of LDL, which means that it is more likely to leave fatty deposits in the blood. Having fatty deposits in the blood means that a person may be at higher risk of developing certain conditions, such as: heart disease.

 HDL Cholesterol Normal value: >40 mg/dL 49
Cholesterol total should be under 200. Mine is 252

Dietary guidelines recommend limiting cholesterol to 200 milligrams per day if heart risk, no more than 30g of saturated fat a day,
However, it is more important for a person to concentrate on reducing foods high in saturated fats, trans fat, and added sugars. 2 tbsp butter = 20-30 mg. Some say eating 1-2 eggs daily is healthy for a healthy person. One brown egg has 185 mg cholesterol.

1. Eat heart-healthy foods

2. Exercise on most days of the week and increase your physical activity Exercise can improve cholesterol. Moderate physical activity can help raise high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, the "good" cholesterol. Work up to at least 30 minutes of exercise five times a week or vigorous aerobic

3. Quit nicotine - even if you don't intentionally inhale, large amounts of nicotine can be absorbed through the lining of your mouth. Nicotine/Smoking can reduce HDLs — “good” cholesterol — and increase LDLs —”bad” cholesterol — in the blood. Both actions can cause damage to blood vessels. This damage causes blockages that narrow the arteries. In turn, this increases a person's likelihood of developing cardiovascular diseases or stroke. Holding an unlit cigar between the lips also exposes these areas to carcinogens. In addition, when saliva containing smoke constituents is swallowed, the esophagus is exposed to carcinogens. Other cancers - mouth, organs, etc.

4. Lose weight
Carrying even a few extra pounds contributes to high cholesterol. Small changes add up - keep track of the calories. Look for ways to incorporate more activity into your daily routine. Take walks during breaks at work. Try to increase standing activities.

5. Drink alcohol only in moderation, if at all.
For healthy adults, that means up to one drink a day for women of all ages and men older than age 65, and up to two drinks a day for men age 65 and younger. Too much alcohol can lead to serious health problems, including high blood pressure, heart failure and strokes.

BLOOD PRESSURE

130/72 on 3/7/24, 126/70 2/20/24

NUTRITION

TIPS
  1. 9 servings fruit and veg – four diff colors or shades of green

  2. Tackle the worst first - alcohol, salt and refined flour. Beware of hidden SODIUM - 1500-2300 mg daily limit. Shrimp!
    As for alcohol, not only is it calorie dense (7 kcal/gram, almost as high as fat), it has no satiety factor. There is another reason to cut down on your alcohol consumption: It blows away your resolve. Which is why I’m going to give you this challenge: To kick-start your weight loss and to lose weight, don’t drink alcohol at all.

  3. Eat breakfast - avoid sugar spikes, prevents you from eating more calories during day. Bananas for breakfast? . Instead of a banana, pairing healthy, higher fiber, high carb foods like a banana with heart-healthy fats and a good protein source may be more beneficial for blood sugar and appetite regulation. Glycemic index info. Oat bran, egg for breakfast with avocado toast

  4. Foods with fiber and water content fill you up more, fewer calories - produce! Eat a salad or soup before a meal to fill up.
  5. Read labels for simple ingredients. Example - Shredded wheat / cereals has one ingredient, whole wheat
  6. Make Vegetables and Fruit Account for 50 Percent by Volume of Your Diet. 20% should be whole grains (brown rice, amaranth, farro, oat, etc.), 20% lean protein (legumes and tofu, fish, and some poultry. ) Last 10% fat or some type of low-fat dairy.

  7. Watch saturated fats – non-grass-fed red meat, fried food, processed, bakery items, snacks, use nonfat milk, yoghurt, cheese
  8. Avoid butter, dairy, sour cream, cheese, fried foods, oily crusts/pastries and refined flour and fillers, processed meats, sugar, sweets, alcohol
  9. Good unsaturated fat and fiber - Fruit, veg, fatty fish (1-2 x per week) - cod, tuna, sardines, salmon, halibut, haddock, shellfish (salt!)

  10. Legumes/beans, especially white beans (Northern, cannelini, navy). 21% daily potassium, 11g Fiber, 26% magnesium. Beans Nutrition

  11. 29 Healthy Snacks to help weight loss

LONG LIFE TIPS

GUT HEALTH

There are three main types of digestive enzymes:

1. Lipases - made by the body – avocado, walnut, pine nuts. They attack visceral fat! The Pac-Men that pull fat from the bloodstream down into the muscle, increase and are more active—they are primed to tap into those fat stores and burn them a lot sooner during movementWith exercise, they actually develop a preference for using the visceral fat, the dangerous fat around your middle!

2. Bromelain – I don’t need it, pineapple, too hard to get without a supplement

3. Amylase:
- Bananas - contain amylases & glucosidases, 2 groups of enzymes that break down complex carbs like starch into smaller & more easily absorbed sugars. 2 per day?
- Apples naturally contain liquid acid amylase & amyloglucosidase as an enzyme, which converts starch to sugar maltose. Proteases convert proteins into amino acids
- Avocado, pineapple, sauerkraut, kefir, mango, kiwi, ginger

SMOOTHIE – high calorie
½ apple,
½ banana (6% potassium),
chia (5g fiber), hemp, flax,
2 protein powder (21 g protein)
8 oz / 1 cup kefir daily (8% p)
Cocnut water 1 cup = 13% potassium,
avocado = 15% potassium, 13% fiber),
arugula or spinach / kale

KEFIR

VITAMIN D and SUNLIGHT

When your skin is exposed to DIRECT sunlight, it makes vitamin D from cholesterol. The sun's ultraviolet B (UVB) rays hit cholesterol in the skin cells, providing the energy for vitamin D synthesis to occur. Vitamin D has many roles in the body and is essential for optimal health. It’s important to note that the sun’s UVB rays cannot penetrate through windows. Link.

Midday, especially during summer, is the best time to get sunlight. At noon, the sun is at its highest point, and its UVB rays are most intense. That means you need less time in the sun to make sufficient vitamin D. Many studies also show that the body is most efficient at making vitamin D at noon. Under the right circumstances, 10 to 15 minutes of sun on the arms and legs a few times a week can generate nearly all the vitamin D we need

The commonly recommended daily dose of vitamin D is 600 IU (15 mcg) - cod liver oil (Carlson - 400 IU, 11 mcg)

Only a handful of foods contain significant amounts of vitamin D.These include cod liver oil , swordfish, salmon, canned tuna, beef liver, egg yolks and sardines. That said, you would need to eat them nearly every day to get enough vitamin D. If you do not get enough sunlight, it’s often recommended to take a supplement like cod liver oil. One tablespoon (14 grams) of cod liver oil contains more than three times the recommended daily amount of vitamin D (4).

You can still get vitamin D on a cloudy day. Even if the sky is overcast, UV rays still penetrate that cloud cover, triggering the synthesis of vitamin D

SLEEP

On average you'll go through 3-5 REM cycles per night, with each episode getting longer as the night progresses. The final one may last roughly an hour. For healthy adults, spending 20-25% of your time asleep in the REM stage is a good goal. If you get 7-8 hours of sleep, around 90 minutes of that should be REM.

Around 25% of this should be deep sleep.

More info

ALCOHOL

We don't like the taste of alcohol. Our brain associates it with good feelings/times and learns to like the taste.
All inebriation and hangover effects are due to chemical imbalances, overcompensations, withdrawal.
It is a toxin, a poison.

NICOTINE

Yes, quitting nicotine can reverse heart damage. In fact, it can do so QUICKLY!.

According to the American Heart Association, one-third of deathsTrusted Source from coronary heart disease each year are due to nicotine. On average, people who smoke die more than 10 years earlier than people who don’t smoke.

But quitting can positively impact your health within a short time frame. With time, you can nearly eliminate the damage that nicotine caused to your blood vessels and heart:

Quitting nicotine has other health benefits beyond the good it does for your cholesterol and heart health.

For example, the nerve endings in your nose and mouth begin to grow back within 48 hours of your last cigarette. This will help restore your sense of smell and taste, which is damaged by smoking.

You’ll have more oxygen in your blood, which will translate to more energy for your cells and tissues to use. The improved oxygen levels can also help boost immunity and lower inflammation, so you’re better able to fight off colds, viruses, and other illnesses.

Quitting nicotine lowers your risk of several cancers, too, including: