Cholesterol Shield
Overview
Cholesterol Shield is a case in point, after visiting several distributors I still am not entirely clear on how this product could be any better than others that are accompanied by plenty of product information. Personally, I'll take a product loaded with consumer support and guidance before I'd ever consider one that the only concern seems to be an accurate UPC code.
Cholesterol Shield is said to be a clinical formula developed with plant sterols. You may know nothing about plant sterols and the role they can play in reducing the LDL cholesterol levels that can cause significant heart problems, so I'll tell you more about them below. Another ingredient in Cholesterol Shield is pantethine, and together the two ingredients may address the two main factors for high cholesterol-genetics and diet.
Ingredients and What They Do
Pantethine and Phytosterols
Plant sterols, sometimes referred to as phytosterols are found in small quantities in nuts, grain, fruits and vegetables. The compound present in plant membranes resembles the chemical structure of animal cholesterol and by including them in your diet; you may lower blood cholesterol levels. The intestines don't know the difference between animal cholesterol and plant sterols, so when you consume plant sterols they in effect trick the body into using them instead of the high fat animal cholesterol you consume. That cholesterol will be flushed from the body through normal digestion and the good cholesterol will assimilate through the intestinal wall. This is how plant sterols can be claimed to lower LDL cholesterol levels. If enough are consumed every day, they will compete, so to speak, with the other cholesterol in the digestive tract-the end result being less bad cholesterol returning to the liver. The key to positive benefits is consuming enough plant sterols and controlling the diet.
Pantethine and pantothenic acid are found in most foods, including vegetables, dairy, eggs, grains, and meat. Liver, salmon and yeast have especially high concentrations of pantothenic acid, which the body uses to produce pantethine. Pantethine has been shown to significantly reduce serum triglycerides, total cholesterol, and LDL (lousy) cholesterol levels while increasing HDL (happy) cholesterol levels. Pantethine is considered an effective treatment for high cholesterol without the negative side while avoiding the effects of synthetic lipid-lowering drugs, such as Lipitor and Crestor.
Pros
• Contains plant sterols
Cons
• No product guarantee
• No testimonials
• Very little product information
Final Thoughts
The two ingredients used to formulate Cholesterol Shield are verified as helpful ingredients for naturally lowering LDL cholesterol levels. You can learn what more about supplements like this one by visiting product review sites.
posted by Healthy Life at 11:55 PM
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Cholesterol Shield is a case in point, after visiting several distributors I still am not entirely clear on how this product could be any better than others that are accompanied by plenty of product information. Personally, I'll take a product loaded with consumer support and guidance before I'd ever consider one that the only concern seems to be an accurate UPC code.
Cholesterol Shield is said to be a clinical formula developed with plant sterols. You may know nothing about plant sterols and the role they can play in reducing the LDL cholesterol levels that can cause significant heart problems, so I'll tell you more about them below. Another ingredient in Cholesterol Shield is pantethine, and together the two ingredients may address the two main factors for high cholesterol-genetics and diet.
Ingredients and What They Do
Pantethine and Phytosterols
Plant sterols, sometimes referred to as phytosterols are found in small quantities in nuts, grain, fruits and vegetables. The compound present in plant membranes resembles the chemical structure of animal cholesterol and by including them in your diet; you may lower blood cholesterol levels. The intestines don't know the difference between animal cholesterol and plant sterols, so when you consume plant sterols they in effect trick the body into using them instead of the high fat animal cholesterol you consume. That cholesterol will be flushed from the body through normal digestion and the good cholesterol will assimilate through the intestinal wall. This is how plant sterols can be claimed to lower LDL cholesterol levels. If enough are consumed every day, they will compete, so to speak, with the other cholesterol in the digestive tract-the end result being less bad cholesterol returning to the liver. The key to positive benefits is consuming enough plant sterols and controlling the diet.
Pantethine and pantothenic acid are found in most foods, including vegetables, dairy, eggs, grains, and meat. Liver, salmon and yeast have especially high concentrations of pantothenic acid, which the body uses to produce pantethine. Pantethine has been shown to significantly reduce serum triglycerides, total cholesterol, and LDL (lousy) cholesterol levels while increasing HDL (happy) cholesterol levels. Pantethine is considered an effective treatment for high cholesterol without the negative side while avoiding the effects of synthetic lipid-lowering drugs, such as Lipitor and Crestor.
Pros
• Contains plant sterols
Cons
• No product guarantee
• No testimonials
• Very little product information
Final Thoughts
The two ingredients used to formulate Cholesterol Shield are verified as helpful ingredients for naturally lowering LDL cholesterol levels. You can learn what more about supplements like this one by visiting product review sites.
posted by Healthy Life at 11:55 PM
The Facts About Cholesterol
So what is cholesterol? It is a soft, fatty substance that is found in the bloodstream and in the body's cells. Your body and food are the two main places that it comes from. About 75 percent of blood cholesterol comes from the liver and other cells in the body. 25 percent comes from the food that you eat.
It is important to know that not all cholesterol is bad though. There is good and bad cholesterol. Too much bad cholesterol will circulate in the blood, which can clog the arteries and increase your risk of heart attack and stroke. Not enough good cholesterol can do the same.
Have you ever been concerned about your levels? Some people have been told by their doctors that theirs is high, and need to start watching what they eat, while others have a family history of high cholesterol and may be concerned that it may be affecting them too. When it is high can cause many severe health problems such as heart disease, heart attack or stroke.
Let's talk about the bad cholesterol. There are many things that factor into having high levels. It can be inherited from your mother, father or even grandparents if their bodies tend to produce too much naturally. Food is one of the top causes of it as well. LDL is considered "bad" cholesterol. Hypercholesterolemia is the medical term for high cholesterol. Healthy eating habits as well as working with your doctor can help to keep your levels under control.
So let's talk about other types of cholesterol. There is LDL, or Low-density lipoprotein, it is the "bad", and can be very dangerous if there is too much in your system. Combined with other substances, it can be carried through the system and form a hard, plaque-like material that can attach itself to arteries and cause pulmonary heart conditions.
HDL, or high-density lipoprotein, is "good" cholesterol. High levels of HDL seem to protect against heart disease and stroke because they help to carry harmful cholesterol through the system. Low levels of HDL also can increase the chance of heart disease and stroke. Some experts believe that the good kind tends to help carry the bad kind back to the liver where it can pass through the body.
Triglycerides are a form of fat made in the human body. Being overweight, physical inactivity, smoking, alcohol and carbohydrates can all lead to high levels of triglycerides. High triglyceride levels in people can cause high levels. People with diabetes and or/heart disease also tend to have high triglyceride levels as well.
Lp(a) is a genetic variation of LDL (bad). It is not fully understood by professionals yet, bur it is known that it may interact with matter found in the arteries and contributes to the build-up of fatty deposits.
Cholesterol can not dissolve in the blood stream. It is carried through the cells by lipoprotein, and it either filters out of the body through the liver or builds up in the arteries and bloodstream. There are many things that you can do to keep your levels under control. You can eat foods low in cholesterol, saturated fat and trans fat, maintain a healthy weight, be physically active and follow the advice of your professional healthcare provider. Alternative Health Supplements offers a variety of all-natural, safe products to help lower cholesterol as well.
posted by Healthy Life at 11:55 PM
Sunday, October 12, 2008
It is important to know that not all cholesterol is bad though. There is good and bad cholesterol. Too much bad cholesterol will circulate in the blood, which can clog the arteries and increase your risk of heart attack and stroke. Not enough good cholesterol can do the same.
Have you ever been concerned about your levels? Some people have been told by their doctors that theirs is high, and need to start watching what they eat, while others have a family history of high cholesterol and may be concerned that it may be affecting them too. When it is high can cause many severe health problems such as heart disease, heart attack or stroke.
Let's talk about the bad cholesterol. There are many things that factor into having high levels. It can be inherited from your mother, father or even grandparents if their bodies tend to produce too much naturally. Food is one of the top causes of it as well. LDL is considered "bad" cholesterol. Hypercholesterolemia is the medical term for high cholesterol. Healthy eating habits as well as working with your doctor can help to keep your levels under control.
So let's talk about other types of cholesterol. There is LDL, or Low-density lipoprotein, it is the "bad", and can be very dangerous if there is too much in your system. Combined with other substances, it can be carried through the system and form a hard, plaque-like material that can attach itself to arteries and cause pulmonary heart conditions.
HDL, or high-density lipoprotein, is "good" cholesterol. High levels of HDL seem to protect against heart disease and stroke because they help to carry harmful cholesterol through the system. Low levels of HDL also can increase the chance of heart disease and stroke. Some experts believe that the good kind tends to help carry the bad kind back to the liver where it can pass through the body.
Triglycerides are a form of fat made in the human body. Being overweight, physical inactivity, smoking, alcohol and carbohydrates can all lead to high levels of triglycerides. High triglyceride levels in people can cause high levels. People with diabetes and or/heart disease also tend to have high triglyceride levels as well.
Lp(a) is a genetic variation of LDL (bad). It is not fully understood by professionals yet, bur it is known that it may interact with matter found in the arteries and contributes to the build-up of fatty deposits.
Cholesterol can not dissolve in the blood stream. It is carried through the cells by lipoprotein, and it either filters out of the body through the liver or builds up in the arteries and bloodstream. There are many things that you can do to keep your levels under control. You can eat foods low in cholesterol, saturated fat and trans fat, maintain a healthy weight, be physically active and follow the advice of your professional healthcare provider. Alternative Health Supplements offers a variety of all-natural, safe products to help lower cholesterol as well.
posted by Healthy Life at 11:55 PM
2 Things That Stimulate Depression
There are many causes for depression. It makes it even more difficult to find the cause when you consume items that stimulate depression even more. There are items we use daily that can do this. Read on to find out what they are.
You may not even be aware that some of things you consume or use daily can have an adverse affect on your mood. There are more than 24 million Americans that have some sort of depressive illness.
2 things that can stimulate depression
1. Alcohol - this can reduce oxygen to your cells which in turn disrupts you neuro system. This disruption can throw you whole chemical system out of balance triggering depression.
2. Cigarette Smoking - has a similar affect which can over stimulate or relax you system. This too can disrupt you chemistry and cause mood changes.
A chemical depression is a difficult illness to overcome. It requires a lot of will power and the guidance of someone who knows how to handle it.
This kind of illness can spill over into a physical problem due to the damage it does to your body's organs. This double whammy deepens your depression and the hole becomes even bigger.
These habits mentioned above can be quite addictive and hard to change, but it is a must if they are irritating your illness. Some people think these habits actually help their problem, but we know by now that's not the case. Toxins in our systems are a main cause for many illnesses and depression is not exempt.
If you take inventory of what you consume daily and really see what's in them, you'll find a large assortment of processed foods.
posted by Healthy Life at 11:55 PM
Sunday, October 5, 2008
You may not even be aware that some of things you consume or use daily can have an adverse affect on your mood. There are more than 24 million Americans that have some sort of depressive illness.
2 things that can stimulate depression
1. Alcohol - this can reduce oxygen to your cells which in turn disrupts you neuro system. This disruption can throw you whole chemical system out of balance triggering depression.
2. Cigarette Smoking - has a similar affect which can over stimulate or relax you system. This too can disrupt you chemistry and cause mood changes.
A chemical depression is a difficult illness to overcome. It requires a lot of will power and the guidance of someone who knows how to handle it.
This kind of illness can spill over into a physical problem due to the damage it does to your body's organs. This double whammy deepens your depression and the hole becomes even bigger.
These habits mentioned above can be quite addictive and hard to change, but it is a must if they are irritating your illness. Some people think these habits actually help their problem, but we know by now that's not the case. Toxins in our systems are a main cause for many illnesses and depression is not exempt.
If you take inventory of what you consume daily and really see what's in them, you'll find a large assortment of processed foods.
posted by Healthy Life at 11:55 PM
When Everything Seems to Be Going Wrong
For me, this last week has been a little rough. I've been working as an attending physician on an inpatient service populated with incredibly sick patients, several of whom are intensely angry about their diseases and are projecting their anger toward me and the team of residents with whom I work. The medical informatics project on which I'm the physician sponsor has just gone live with its most ambitious and radical portion and many physicians are nervous and resistant and are acting out in negative ways. I'm struggling to find the time to practice Buddhism, to work on my book and this blog, fulfill my work responsibilities, my relationship responsibilities to both my wife and son, continue a regular program of exercise, get adequate sleep, and relax. In short, in the last week my life has felt a bit out of control and a little overwhelming.
LIFE-CONDITION
And a slip in my life-condition is what's really to blame. Certainly many people are facing far more oppressive circumstances than what I described above (especially the very patients I complained about). But the degree of pain and suffering people experience can't be calculated by observing their outward circumstances. Pain and suffering always occur as a result of a low life-condition, explaining, among other things, how millionaires can be miserable.
A story famous among Nichiren Buddhists tells of a practicing Buddhist who went to see an lay Buddhist leader for encouragement about a particular problem he was having. However, before he could even begin to explain his circumstances, the leader pointed to a large oak desk and asked him to lift it. Bewildered, the member replied, "There's no way I can lift that. It's way too heavy." To which the leader responded, "The problem isn't that the desk is too heavy. The problem is that you're too weak." His point, of course, was that our ability to win isn't determined by the size of our problems but by the strength of our life force. When you feel overwhelmed by your own life, rather than focusing on finding a different set of more manageable problems (as if that were even possible), you should look for ways to raise your life-condition so you can gain access to the wisdom, courage, and energy you need to solve the problems you have. If you don't have a process or a practice that does this for you, find one. Will power and intellect alone are often insufficient.
This is the real answer about what to do when everything seems to be going wrong: find a way to transform your perspective so that obstacles feel like opportunities. But if that seems too abstract, or you're having trouble finding a practice that works for you, or you're not interested in finding a practice at all, I'd offer the following techniques for making yourself feel better when you feel bad. These are just clever tricks--some comforting thoughts really--but ones that you might find useful.
TRICKS AND COMFORTING THOUGHTS THAT MAY WORK
1. Visualize yourself succeeding. Like a professional skier envisioning every twist and turn of a ski run before making it, imagining yourself on the other side of a problem even in the abstract can activate a powerful belief in your ability to succeed. Even if today you have no idea how to win, a belief that you can---even a "blind" belief---can be empowering if it's a belief in yourself.
2. Avoid making important life decisions when your life-condition is low. The kinds of thoughts you'll have in general are always more reflective of your life-condition at the moment rather than the circumstances in which you find yourself. You'll best avoid future misery if you can consciously recognize when circumstances have gotten you down and thereby produced gloomy feelings and defeatist thoughts---which, when your life-condition is higher, are nowhere to be found.
3. Imagine you've already achieved a desired goal (one you're completely confident you can) and bathe now in the joy you anticipate you'll feel later. I've often found that daydreaming about future successes lifts my spirits by bouncing my mind out of my present difficulties into future imagined glories.
4. Force yourself to focus on one problem at a time. Focus on what's easiest, most important, or that which you can solve soonest. Reducing the total number of challenges confronting you will be an enormous relief and help combat the tendency to feel defeated when facing what seems to be an overwhelming number of problems.
5. Wait. My four favorite words for weathering all storms: this too shall pass. Think of entering into a waiting mode as an active process, not a passive acceptance of whatever fate has in store for you. Other good things often happen that raise your life-condition and enable you to handle the mess you're facing more easily. You may think you know all the bad things that are going to happen, but outcomes we anticipate---good and bad---most often don't turn out the way we envisioned.
6. Access your creativity to solve problems. Reduce the chatter in your head by listening to moving music, by meditating, by chanting nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Solutions often bubble up from the subconscious when the conscious mind floats.
7. Find something to distract you. Take a real break from thinking about your problems when you're not actively engaged in solving them. Because it's much harder to turn off obsessive thoughts about the challenges facing you than turn on more positive thoughts, finding something genuinely distracting is the best strategy. Humor works for me as long as it's humor that's genuinely funny. Nothing wrong with taking a break from fighting the good fight to recharge your batteries. In fact, strange as this may sound, there's nothing wrong with engaging in controlled denial. As long as you don't let it prevent you from acting when action is required, it can be an extremely effective way to combat anxiety. Or...
8. Take on your anxiety directly. Identify the thoughts that make you anxious and follow them to their logical extreme. Wrap your mind around what it would feel like for your worst fears to be realized. What would you do then? Often if we force ourselves to imagine the worst in concrete terms it feels less frightening than it does when we imagine it abstractly.
9. Ask for help. You don't have to do it all by yourself. I struggle with this one a lot, not because I have any aversion to asking for help, but because I just rarely seem to think to do it.
10. Accept that you must face something unpleasant. Stop worrying about experiencing pain. Stop trying to avoid it. You'll make it through and survive. Prepare yourself to feel whatever there is to feel. The longer you wait to feel it, the more anticipatory dread you'll feel as well. As Nichiren Daishonin wrote, "Suffer what there is to suffer. Enjoy what there is to enjoy. Regard both suffering and joy as facts of life."
11. Whatever you're going through actually does represent an opportunity for growth. The thing about cliches is that they're mostly true.
12. There will come a time when you'll struggle even to remember what's causing you so much angst today. It's hard to project yourself into that future, but if you stop think about it, you've almost certainly already forgotten about most of the trying experiences you've faced in the past (not, of course, the life-changing experiences---but most things that get us down on a daily basis are much more mundane).
WHEN YOU FEEL COMPLETELY DEFEATED
Or maybe it's even worse for you than I've described. Maybe you feel like everyone and everything is conspiring against you, that no one sees things quite the way you do, and that you're alone in the wilderness and the world. Whether this is actually true or not is irrelevant: if it feels as though it is, it can't but help plunge your life-condition into the world of Hell, the lowest of the Ten Worlds.
When this is how you feel, you must summon up the stand-alone spirit. Even if everyone and everything--the entire world--is pointing left, if you believe the correct direction to point is right, then point to the right you must. If you feel within whatever context your problems are occurring that you have the gift of sight in a country of the blind, you must fight to help others to see until either they do or you learn you were wrong, not they.
Society, discovery, and culture are advanced by people who have every reason to remain seated but who stand up anyway; by people who resolutely and consistently point out what they believe is true. If you do this despite whatever fears the prospect of doing so brings, eventually others will be emboldened by your example and stand up with you. And then you'll have made a worthy contribution to the world.
posted by Healthy Life at 11:55 PM
LIFE-CONDITION
And a slip in my life-condition is what's really to blame. Certainly many people are facing far more oppressive circumstances than what I described above (especially the very patients I complained about). But the degree of pain and suffering people experience can't be calculated by observing their outward circumstances. Pain and suffering always occur as a result of a low life-condition, explaining, among other things, how millionaires can be miserable.
A story famous among Nichiren Buddhists tells of a practicing Buddhist who went to see an lay Buddhist leader for encouragement about a particular problem he was having. However, before he could even begin to explain his circumstances, the leader pointed to a large oak desk and asked him to lift it. Bewildered, the member replied, "There's no way I can lift that. It's way too heavy." To which the leader responded, "The problem isn't that the desk is too heavy. The problem is that you're too weak." His point, of course, was that our ability to win isn't determined by the size of our problems but by the strength of our life force. When you feel overwhelmed by your own life, rather than focusing on finding a different set of more manageable problems (as if that were even possible), you should look for ways to raise your life-condition so you can gain access to the wisdom, courage, and energy you need to solve the problems you have. If you don't have a process or a practice that does this for you, find one. Will power and intellect alone are often insufficient.
This is the real answer about what to do when everything seems to be going wrong: find a way to transform your perspective so that obstacles feel like opportunities. But if that seems too abstract, or you're having trouble finding a practice that works for you, or you're not interested in finding a practice at all, I'd offer the following techniques for making yourself feel better when you feel bad. These are just clever tricks--some comforting thoughts really--but ones that you might find useful.
TRICKS AND COMFORTING THOUGHTS THAT MAY WORK
1. Visualize yourself succeeding. Like a professional skier envisioning every twist and turn of a ski run before making it, imagining yourself on the other side of a problem even in the abstract can activate a powerful belief in your ability to succeed. Even if today you have no idea how to win, a belief that you can---even a "blind" belief---can be empowering if it's a belief in yourself.
2. Avoid making important life decisions when your life-condition is low. The kinds of thoughts you'll have in general are always more reflective of your life-condition at the moment rather than the circumstances in which you find yourself. You'll best avoid future misery if you can consciously recognize when circumstances have gotten you down and thereby produced gloomy feelings and defeatist thoughts---which, when your life-condition is higher, are nowhere to be found.
3. Imagine you've already achieved a desired goal (one you're completely confident you can) and bathe now in the joy you anticipate you'll feel later. I've often found that daydreaming about future successes lifts my spirits by bouncing my mind out of my present difficulties into future imagined glories.
4. Force yourself to focus on one problem at a time. Focus on what's easiest, most important, or that which you can solve soonest. Reducing the total number of challenges confronting you will be an enormous relief and help combat the tendency to feel defeated when facing what seems to be an overwhelming number of problems.
5. Wait. My four favorite words for weathering all storms: this too shall pass. Think of entering into a waiting mode as an active process, not a passive acceptance of whatever fate has in store for you. Other good things often happen that raise your life-condition and enable you to handle the mess you're facing more easily. You may think you know all the bad things that are going to happen, but outcomes we anticipate---good and bad---most often don't turn out the way we envisioned.
6. Access your creativity to solve problems. Reduce the chatter in your head by listening to moving music, by meditating, by chanting nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Solutions often bubble up from the subconscious when the conscious mind floats.
7. Find something to distract you. Take a real break from thinking about your problems when you're not actively engaged in solving them. Because it's much harder to turn off obsessive thoughts about the challenges facing you than turn on more positive thoughts, finding something genuinely distracting is the best strategy. Humor works for me as long as it's humor that's genuinely funny. Nothing wrong with taking a break from fighting the good fight to recharge your batteries. In fact, strange as this may sound, there's nothing wrong with engaging in controlled denial. As long as you don't let it prevent you from acting when action is required, it can be an extremely effective way to combat anxiety. Or...
8. Take on your anxiety directly. Identify the thoughts that make you anxious and follow them to their logical extreme. Wrap your mind around what it would feel like for your worst fears to be realized. What would you do then? Often if we force ourselves to imagine the worst in concrete terms it feels less frightening than it does when we imagine it abstractly.
9. Ask for help. You don't have to do it all by yourself. I struggle with this one a lot, not because I have any aversion to asking for help, but because I just rarely seem to think to do it.
10. Accept that you must face something unpleasant. Stop worrying about experiencing pain. Stop trying to avoid it. You'll make it through and survive. Prepare yourself to feel whatever there is to feel. The longer you wait to feel it, the more anticipatory dread you'll feel as well. As Nichiren Daishonin wrote, "Suffer what there is to suffer. Enjoy what there is to enjoy. Regard both suffering and joy as facts of life."
11. Whatever you're going through actually does represent an opportunity for growth. The thing about cliches is that they're mostly true.
12. There will come a time when you'll struggle even to remember what's causing you so much angst today. It's hard to project yourself into that future, but if you stop think about it, you've almost certainly already forgotten about most of the trying experiences you've faced in the past (not, of course, the life-changing experiences---but most things that get us down on a daily basis are much more mundane).
WHEN YOU FEEL COMPLETELY DEFEATED
Or maybe it's even worse for you than I've described. Maybe you feel like everyone and everything is conspiring against you, that no one sees things quite the way you do, and that you're alone in the wilderness and the world. Whether this is actually true or not is irrelevant: if it feels as though it is, it can't but help plunge your life-condition into the world of Hell, the lowest of the Ten Worlds.
When this is how you feel, you must summon up the stand-alone spirit. Even if everyone and everything--the entire world--is pointing left, if you believe the correct direction to point is right, then point to the right you must. If you feel within whatever context your problems are occurring that you have the gift of sight in a country of the blind, you must fight to help others to see until either they do or you learn you were wrong, not they.
Society, discovery, and culture are advanced by people who have every reason to remain seated but who stand up anyway; by people who resolutely and consistently point out what they believe is true. If you do this despite whatever fears the prospect of doing so brings, eventually others will be emboldened by your example and stand up with you. And then you'll have made a worthy contribution to the world.
posted by Healthy Life at 11:55 PM
