losing 2 pounds a month, his lab work has improved astonishingly, and I am beginning to believe he will never go back to eating the way he ate before.
Go for the Whole Program, Friends!
What I ' ve said in previous chapters almost makes my general position on your heart health self-explanatory. The vast majority of you will find that on a controlled carbohydrate regimen your recognized risk factors for present and future heart problems will steadily improve and will remain good as long as you follow this nutritional approach.
Your total cholesterol will probably go down-that ' s the most common result-but even if it doesn ' t or if it increases slightly, your ratio of HDL to LDL cholesterol is more likely to get better and your ratio of triglycerides to HDL is even more likely to do so. Those ratios are the real McCoy in terms of determining risk of a future coronary event. And if you were progressing toward diabetes-one of the great, grand gateways to heart disease-the improvements in your blood-sugar and insulin levels should astonish and delight your physician.
Half of all Americans still die of some form of heart disease. 15 I hope you will take the malign potential of this disease so seriously that you will eat the Atkins way for a lifetimeand follow the other components of nutritional supplementation and exercise. These two factors are not merely gaudy ribbons that I wave in front of you to impress you with the fact that the Atkins plan isn ' t only about weight loss.
I have stubbornly insisted throughout this book that you should exercise. It ' s good for your mood, good for your muscles, good for your energy level, especially good for your heart. Even if you ' ve never exercised, it is not too late.( And you ' ll probably enjoy it once you start.)
The same advice applies to supplemental nutrients. Only the most hidebound physicians have failed to appreciate their value by now. I ' ve written whole books promoting vitanutrients, so I ' m sure you know I ' m serious. Supplementation can have major positive effects on heart function. For supplements that address cardiovascular disease, see Dr Atkins ' Vita-Nutrient Solution.
The Atkins Nutritional Approach is like a three-legged stool, resting on a controlled carbohydrate way of eating, nutritional supplementation and exercise. Rely on just one or two of the legs, and the stool will not support you. But follow the whole plan faithfully, and you will be firmly positioned for ongoing cardiovascular health.
================================================================== The Dangers of Trans Fats
Many Americans are still unaware that the most grossly harmful heart health trend of the last century was the gradual replacement of healthy natural fats and protein foods with foods such as margarine. They are constructed with hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils, which both contain fats never found in Nature. Called trans fats-meaning transformed from their natural state-they are manufactured by heating vegetable oils at a high temperature and bombarding them with hydrogen gas to form more stable oils. The process creates trans fats constructed of twisted, unnatural molecules that the body cannot process. The food industry sticks these hydrogenated and partially
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