Veggie Blog

If you have been told that your cholesterol is high, it is natural to ask what you can do without medicine. Weight, food and exercise all play a part, and the changes are not as drastic as many people fear. You do not have to give up all the foods you enjoy. You mostly add some new ones and eat less of others.

Does your weight affect your cholesterol?

It does. MedlinePlus notes that being overweight can raise your LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and lower your HDL (“good”) cholesterol. Weight often creeps up with age, bigger portions and less activity, and the cholesterol numbers can follow. The good news is that you do not need to lose a lot. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute says that adults with overweight or obesity can lower LDL and raise HDL by losing only 3 to 5 percent of their weight, which is why exercise is so often paired with a change in diet. See our post on exercise and cholesterol for how to get started.

Which foods help most?

Soluble fiber is the star. It helps stop your digestive tract from absorbing cholesterol, and MedlinePlus suggests aiming for 10 to 25 grams a day. Good sources are oatmeal and oat bran, apples, bananas, oranges, pears and prunes, and legumes such as kidney beans, lentils and chickpeas. Whole grains, vegetables, fruit and nuts also fit a heart-healthy plan, because they replace foods that are high in saturated fat. No single food will transform your numbers; it is the whole pattern that counts. For ideas you can try this week, read oats, fruit, beans and healthy fats and everyday swaps that help lower cholesterol.

What are plant sterols and stanols?

These are natural substances in plants that block some of the cholesterol in your gut from being absorbed. MedlinePlus says to aim for about 2 grams a day. They occur in whole grains, nuts, legumes and oils such as olive and avocado oil, and some foods, such as certain margarines, orange juices and breads, have them added. You will see this on the label. Do not use them as a substitute for a healthy diet or for medicine your doctor has prescribed.

Do apples or red wine lower cholesterol?

You may have read that apple juice or apples can cut cholesterol by up to half. I could not find a reliable source for a result like that. Apples are on MedlinePlus’s list of foods high in soluble fiber, and they are a good snack, but they are one part of a diet, not a cure. Red wine is similar. It is often said to be good for the heart, but MedlinePlus says that alcohol adds calories and can raise blood pressure and triglycerides, and that it is best not to drink at all. If you do drink, keep it modest, and talk to your doctor if you have high cholesterol.

When is medicine needed?

If diet and activity do not bring your numbers down enough, or if your risk of heart disease is high, your doctor may suggest medicine, most often a statin. The NHLBI says that statins have been shown to lower the risk of heart attack and stroke in people with high LDL. How much a medicine lowers LDL differs from person to person, so ask your doctor what to expect and which side effects to watch for. Our post on high cholesterol: when lifestyle is enough and when medicine helps has more.

Finally, have your cholesterol checked as often as your doctor recommends, and pay attention to what you eat at home and in restaurants, where portions and cooking fats are harder to control. Choose grilled or baked dishes, ask for sauces on the side and fill half your plate with vegetables.

Body detox the easy way: a natural diet

Do you sometimes wonder why your body feels heavy and slow, even though you are not sick? You want to be energetic, but your body is not up to it. To get going, many people eat more, drink cup after cup of coffee or smoke, thinking that it will wake them up. For a while it works, but the lift does not last, and the crash can bring headaches, nausea and low mood. If this keeps happening, it may be a sign that you need to look at your habits.

What are toxins?

Toxins are substances that can harm the body. Some come from outside, such as tobacco smoke, car fumes, industrial pollution, alcohol and certain drugs. Others are made inside the body, as waste from normal metabolism, or by infections caused by viruses and bacteria.

Does your body detoxify itself?

Yes, and it does so all day long. Your liver, kidneys, intestines, lungs and skin work together to break down and remove waste. Sleep is an important time for the body to rest and repair itself. Detox diets and products claim to speed this up, but reviews have found no compelling evidence that they remove toxins or help you manage your weight, and some have been unsafe. The best way to “detox” is to support your organs with healthy habits. Our posts on body cleansing and detox and what to check before you buy detox products explain more.

Which habits can you cut back on?

Many of us rely on stimulants to keep us going. The most common ones are refined sugar, coffee, diet pills, cigarettes and fatty or fried food. Cutting back on them is the easiest first step.

Sugar gives a quick burst of energy, which is why we feel lively after a cola, but the lift is followed by a dip. Cola and ketchup are examples of products with a lot of added sugar. Brown sugar is still sugar, so the better choice is to eat less of it, and fruit juice has a lot of sugar, too. Eating whole fruit is better.

Late at night, many people turn to coffee to stay awake. Moderate amounts are fine for most adults, but if you want an alternative, Japanese or Chinese green tea also contains caffeine, though less, along with antioxidants.

Diet pills are stimulants as well. Athletes sometimes use them to get extra energy before a big competition, despite the risks. Fruit is a much better choice for a natural lift.

Smokers who think that a cigarette helps them think should know that smoking is a major cause of cancer and heart disease. Stopping is the single most useful thing a smoker can do for their health, and free help is available. Crunching on carrots will not replace nicotine, but it can keep your hands and mouth busy while you quit. A site such as Smokefree.gov, run by the US National Cancer Institute, offers support.

If you like fried or fatty food but feel heavy and sluggish after eating it, try eating less of it. Grilled or steamed fish, or beans, lentils and tofu if you are vegetarian, make a lighter choice.

What does a natural detox diet look like?

It is simple: plenty of fruit and vegetables, whole grains, beans and lentils, nuts and seeds, and lots of water. You do not have to eat everything raw. A mix of raw and cooked vegetables is fine. Add regular exercise and enough sleep, and you have a plan that supports your body every day.

Now we can see why our parents keep reminding us to eat our fruit and vegetables. They keep us fit and healthy in the most ordinary ways. For more ideas, read our post on a rejuvenating 5-day body detox plan, which is a gentle way to start.

Body Detox the Easy Way: A Natural Diet

Yoga for Women: How to Gain a Shapely Waist Through Yoga

Waist size is an indicator of overall fitness for many people. Most health experts agree that a smaller waist is healthier than a large one. The reason is that extra fat around the waist is linked to higher health risks such as type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

In evolutionary and biological terms, a small waist signifies youth and vitality. But endless sets of crunches alone will not give you the waist of your dreams, because you cannot burn fat from just one spot of the body. You will need to combine specific waist-oriented exercises with ones from other disciplines, together with a healthy diet.

Specifically, you will need to work the inner girdle of muscles, commonly known as the core muscles, with slow, controlled abdominal exercises that reach deep into these muscle groups.

While yoga is usually associated with flexibility, some exercises from yoga-based workouts, like those in our Yoga for Women series, also work the deep core muscles around the waist.

Losing weight? Go herbal

These days there is a lot of interest in losing weight. Being lighter can lead to a healthier lifestyle and makes everyday movement easier. The choices are huge: exercise programs, machines, supplements, diet drinks, pills and even soaps that claim to help you lose weight while you bathe.

One alternative that many people consider is to go herbal. Herbal products are often seen as a gentler, more natural way to lose weight. Their effects tend to be subtler, so results, if any, come slowly. Natural does not automatically mean safe or effective, though, so here is what to know.

Are herbal weight loss products safe?

Many of them are sold as dietary supplements, and in the United States supplements do not need approval before they are sold. You can find a lot of herbal pills and teas on the Internet and in shops. Some claim to be safe because they are herbal, but some have side effects, and many have not been studied properly. The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements concludes that the evidence that weight loss supplements work is inconclusive and unconvincing. Here are some ingredients to be careful with.

Senna is an herbal laxative found in many slimming teas. It works by stimulating the colon, and the downside is that it can cause cramps, diarrhea and dehydration. A laxative makes you lose water and stool, not body fat, and regular use may make some people dependent on it. See our post on the dangers of using laxatives for weight loss.

Chromium picolinate is a form of chromium, a mineral that helps regulate blood sugar. Studies of chromium for weight loss found only a minimal effect on body weight and body fat. Side effects can include headache, watery stools and nausea.

St. John’s wort is a herb used for low mood, not a weight loss herb. It can interact with many medicines, including birth control pills, blood thinners and antidepressants, and it can make skin more sensitive to sunlight, so never take it without checking with a doctor or pharmacist.

Does organic food help you lose weight?

Organic food is grown without most synthetic pesticides, and many people buy it for that reason or for the environment. There is no good evidence that organic food in itself makes you lose weight. An organic cookie has about as many calories as any other cookie. What helps is eating more vegetables, fruit and whole foods, whether they are organic or not.

What about green tea and caffeine?

Green tea is the best-studied herbal option. Clinical trials suggest that it may have a modest effect on body weight, and as a drink it has not raised safety concerns, although it contains caffeine. Green tea extracts are another matter: they have been linked to stomach upset, higher blood pressure and, in some people, liver damage. Claims that green tea speeds up fat burning by 40 percent or makes you lose two to three times more weight do not hold up.

Caffeine does give a small boost. In one study, a 100 mg dose, about a cup of coffee, increased energy expenditure by about 9 calories an hour for three hours. That is a very small amount and no substitute for exercise.

Are other herbs worth trying?

Gynostemma pentaphyllum, known as jiaogulan or “immortality herb”, is a traditional Chinese herbal tea. It has been promoted for many things, but I found no strong evidence that it helps with weight loss.

Apple cider vinegar is another popular choice. One 12-week study in Japan found that obese adults who took one or two tablespoons of vinegar a day lost a small amount of weight, a few pounds, more than people who took a placebo. That is a modest result from a single study. Vinegar should always be diluted, because drinking it undiluted can harm tooth enamel and irritate the throat, and it is not a proven treatment for any disease.

What is the best approach?

There is no herbal shortcut. Look into the ingredients and the evidence before you buy anything. Ask a doctor or pharmacist whether a product is safe for you, especially if you take medicines or have a health condition. To see what the labels of diet products really mean, read our posts on what is in a weight loss diet pill and what to know about diet pills. For lasting results, our weight loss tips and our post on natural weight loss explain how to make steady progress with food and movement.

Vitamin C skin care: the challenge

Vitamin C is widely regarded as a skin protector and an anti-aging agent. In technical terms, the main aim of Vitamin C skin care is to support the production of collagen (a structural protein found in skin). A further benefit of Vitamin C skin care is its ability to counter free radicals, which damage the skin.

Vitamin C skin care, however, faces a real challenge: Vitamin C is unstable. On contact with an oxidising agent (e.g. air or light), the Vitamin C in a skin care product oxidises, which makes the product much less effective. Oxidised Vitamin C turns the product a yellowish-brown colour. Check for this before buying a Vitamin C skin care product. After you buy one, store it properly and keep checking that it is still good to use (i.e. that it has not turned yellowish-brown).

Manufacturers have tried to deal with this oxidation problem in various ways, and research on Vitamin C skin care products is high on their list. One way of keeping the products effective for longer is to use a high concentration of Vitamin C. However, this makes the products more expensive, and they are already fairly expensive. Another way is to use Vitamin C derivatives (like ascorbyl palmitate and magnesium ascorbyl phosphate). These are more stable and cheaper. There is less evidence that the derivatives work as well as pure Vitamin C, but their stability is a very attractive feature. They are also known to be less irritating.

Talking of the effects of Vitamin C skin care products, it is important to note that not everyone responds to Vitamin C treatments. So it is not a magic potion in any way. If you do not see a noticeable difference in your skin, it may be because your skin does not respond to Vitamin C (and the product may not be at fault at all).

As research goes on, we can only keep our fingers crossed and wait for a complete solution to the challenges faced by Vitamin C skin care today.