fat

Why is the epidemic of heart disease particularly strong in the U.S.A.? If you are the average American, your diet is probably unbalanced and is very likely to lead you towards obesity, regardless of whether you know it or not. Drs. Louis Katz and J. Stamler, prominent researchers in this field, called it “a pernicious combination of over-nutrition and under-nutrition -excessive in calories, carbohydrates, lipids and salt; and frequently substandard in certain critically important amino acids, minerals and vitamins.” This makes sense, since the study of nutrition, which is relatively new to the medical field, has focused almost entirely on not having enough nutrition until recent years. People have been encouraged to “eat the right foods” and to provide plenty of meat, eggs, milk, and cheese for their children.

One of the greatest factors influential in the current epidemic of heart attacks has unquestionably been the startling increase in fat intake. In the United States alone, the fat content of our diet has just about doubled in recent times. Where fat formerly constituted some 15 to 20 percent of our meals 50 years ago, it now has jumped to 30 and 40 per cent or more.

What is fat? First let us examine our food in general. Our bodies are always using up energy-which is supplied by food – to carry out the processes and functions that allow us to breathe and live. Food is usually divided into six categories, all of which are fundamental nutrients important to maintain health. These are proteins, carbohydrates, fats (which are also produced by the body), vitamins, minerals, and water.

Famous figures, as Mark Twain and Marilyn Monroe have shown, sometimes have a way of giving us a false image, by misunderstanding cause and effect relationships where the health of whole populations is concerned.

First of all, exercise isn’t limited to lifting weights every day. If you can go to a gym and workout every day, that’s good, but most of us probably do not have the time for a full work out. Thus, we can save lots of time by working out at home. However, if you are to work out at home or gym, one concept is important: you must exercise consistently. Consistency is very important for an exercise routine to be effective on our body. Getting started is easy, but the hard part lies in keeping up a regular exercise routine, because people often give up.

When a Spanish-speaking friend wants to wish you the very best that life can offer, he will often lift his glass with the following toast: “To health and wealth – and time to enjoy both.” Embodied in this simple salute are the three basic desires common to people everywhere in all ages.

During the past 10 years we have learned a great deal in the fields of pathology, chemistry, biology, and nutrition that has provided us with clues to the mystery, and a practical approach to treatment for the first time. Widespread popular interest in the heart and in the aging process has helped immeasurably in the conquest of disease. But at the same time, it has been responsible for a good deal of fear and confusion among lay people. Some of these misconceptions are reflected in the questions my patients ask after reading articles of the kind that now appear in many newspapers and magazines. Take diseases of the heart and blood vessels, for example. Terms such as atherosclerosis, coronary thrombosis, and cholesterol are today fairly commonplace, even in publications for the general reader. But few non-medical people know exactly what these words mean. What is the cause of this new epidemic? Before taking up our discussion of ways to forestall a heart attack, it might therefore be well to understand more clearly the basic physiology involved.