Healthy Lifestyle

Do you know……
Unhealthy lipid levels are one of the major risk factors for heart disease and stroke, which are still major killers in Singapore. The good news is that lipid levels can be controlled.

What is lipid? How would I know my lipid level?
The types of lipids are cholesterol, HDL, LDL and triglycerides.

The only way to know if your lipid levels are high is to have your lipid profile checked. It can be done with a simple blood test with 10 hours fasting.

How often should I check my lipid profile?
High lipid levels usually don’t have any symptoms. Therefore, we call it silent killers. Some doctors recommend that lipid profiles should be done regularly even by healthy individuals.

What can I do to prevent high lipid levels?
The primary prevention of high lipid level is to adopt a healthy lifestyle.

10 Great Ways To Control Your Lipid Levels

1. Reduce excess body fat to reach your ideal body weight.
2. If you drink, reduce your alcohol consumption to a moderate level. Alcohol is high in calories. It tends to increase one’s risk of high blood pressure, and it also increases triglyceride levels.
3. Stop smoking! And avoid second-hand (or passive) smoke.
4. Watch your diet. Eat more fibre, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and cereals.
5. Exercise! Build up a regular exercise habit for at least 30 minutes a day and five times a week.
6. Limit your dietary cholesterol intake. This means to replace high-fat animal foods with low-fat foods. Ask help from a dietician if you need assistance.
7. Limit the saturated fat in your diet. Saturated fat has far more impact on lipid levels in the blood than dietary cholesterol. Your liver makes cholesterol out of the saturated fat you take.
8. Be happy, relax and get adequate sleep. Anger and stress levels have been linked to heart disease.
9. Take medication regularly as advised by your doctor.
10. Do regular lipid profile tests. This will help you lower your lipid levels as measuring your lipid levels regularly will help you control it.

Obesity is defined as a condition of excessive fat accumulation in the body to the extent that health and well-being are adversely affected (WHO). It is also the fastest growing medical condition affecting people all over the world. People who are obese have much higher risks of many serious health problems than non-obese people. These include:

• Diabetes
• Hypertension
• Heart Disease
• Stroke
• Cancers
• Sleep Apnoea
• Orthopaedic problems
• Emotional problems

The exact causes of obesity are still not clear to scientists, although several factors may contribute to obesity:

• Genetic factor
• Environment factor
• Psychological factor
• Specific illnesses
• Certain medication

In 1997, WHO classified Body Mass Index (derived from weight, height2, measured in kg/m2; BMI) has been found to be the most suitable for assessing the presence of excessive body fat and adverse effects on adult’s health. With this height-weight index, we can define the overweight and obesity accordingly.

Research shows that by reducing one’s weight, health problems can be prevented from developing or can be reduced in severity. Besides improving your health losing weight definitely makes you feel better. The good news is that you don’t have to reach your “ideal” weight to lower your risk of developing obesity-related medical problem. Losing even 10% of your total body weight can significantly lower your risk. For example, if you weigh 80 kg, losing 8kg can have a significantly positive effect on your health. With this good start, you can always continue to lose more weight.

Obesity is a chronic disease, just like diabetes or high blood pressure, losing weight will be a long term commitment. As such, there is no overnight solution.

HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT

• Eat right - Choose your food wisely
• Get up - Increase your activity level
• Be positive - Change in habits and attitude
• Hang in there - Emotional support

Lastly, new and safer methods of surgery are now available to those who are severely obese (BMI>40), or BMI>35 with obesity-related health problems and have failed repeated attempts at weight reduction.