Lipid Targets and Diabetes Control for Obese Individuals: 12 Scientific Methods for Lowering Lipids

47. Obese individuals, have your blood lipid levels reached the target range?

According to a special report in the Health News in April 1999, the vast majority of patients with hyperlipidemia in my country did not receive proper treatment. An analysis of treatment outcomes for patients with dyslipidemia conducted from February to April of this year showed that among 1,000 hyperlipidemia patients from 18 top-tier hospitals in Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou, 89.9% still had not reached their target lipid levels after treatment. Among these, the rates of failure to reach target levels were 94.9% for patients with coronary heart disease and 85.8% for patients without coronary heart disease.

These data serve as a warning to those who are overweight and suffer from varying degrees of obesity. Obese individuals especially need to pay attention to their blood lipid levels. Experts warn that focusing solely on lowering blood pressure while neglecting to use scientific methods to lower blood lipids increases the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke. Renowned cardiovascular experts Professors Hu Dayi and Jiang Baoqi, when announcing these results, pointed out that awareness of hyperlipidemia in my country is far less than that of hypertension. Not only patients and community doctors, but even some specialists need to receive education on scientifically lowering lipids.

High blood lipids are a major cause of coronary heart disease and stroke, which are leading causes of death worldwide. For overweight individuals, it's crucial to recognize that obesity combined with high blood lipids is a relatively common syndrome. Therefore, a chain reaction of weight loss and fitness – exercise – diet – treatment – ​​weight reduction – blood lipid reduction forms a crucial step in preventing coronary heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases.

Currently, the number of people with hyperlipidemia in my country continues to increase. However, many patients and even doctors focus only on lowering blood pressure, neglecting the importance of lowering blood lipids. The 1997 recommendations for the prevention and treatment of dyslipidemia published by the Chinese Society of Cardiology state that for hyperlipidemia patients with risk factors for coronary heart disease, the target values ​​for lipid-lowering treatment are: cholesterol no higher than 200 mg/L and LDL cholesterol no higher than 120 mg/L; for patients with coronary heart disease, the target values ​​are: cholesterol no higher than 180 mg/L and LDL cholesterol no higher than 100 mg/L.

Therefore, Professor Hu Dayi believes that for every 1 mg/L decrease in cholesterol, the risk of developing coronary heart disease decreases by 2%. In light of this, excessive reliance on health products heavily advertised on television and in newspapers, which often fail to provide effective treatment, is misguided and unreliable. Furthermore, it is inadvisable for some patients to abandon scientific drug treatment due to concerns about adverse side effects from long-term oral administration of lipid-lowering Chinese and Western medicines (in fact, some of these drugs have negligible side effects).

The scientific principle of lipid-lowering treatment is a two-pronged approach. On the one hand, it's essential to strengthen various forms of physical exercise, lose weight and maintain a healthy diet, minimizing the consumption of fried and grilled meats and replacing them with light, fresh, and green foods. Establishing a scientific lifestyle requires embracing the traditional Chinese philosophy of "harmony between man and nature," breaking away from the modern urban "civilization" of living in fully enclosed, air-conditioned offices, and using weekends to escape to nature, enjoying the sunshine, beaches, and appreciating the charm of mountains, forests, and fertile fields, drawing nourishment from Mother Nature. On the other hand, when non-drug treatments are ineffective, consult a specialist to establish a treatment plan, take reliable lipid-lowering medications regularly, and undergo periodic checkups.

To prevent abnormally high blood lipid levels, one crucial aspect is maintaining a scientific approach to diet and hygiene. Besides a light diet, regularly drinking green tea, and reducing meat consumption, the following dietary recommendations are also suggested:

(1) Regularly eating apples and onions can protect the heart. A 25-year follow-up study of 5,132 people found that eating apples, onions, and foods rich in flavonoids helps prevent coronary heart disease. This study showed that women benefited particularly significantly from a flavonoid-rich diet. This is because flavonoids are antioxidants that can inhibit the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein, reduce platelet aggregation, and alleviate local ischemia and reperfusion injury, thus playing a role in preventing heart disease. Experts have also found that in addition to apples and onions, carrots, strawberries, pumpkins, eggplants, tomatoes, tea, and red grapes also contain flavonoids.

(2) Traditional Chinese medicines that nourish the kidneys, blood, and yin have a good effect on regulating blood lipids. These medicines that can be eaten include lotus seeds, longan pulp, wild lily bulbs, large and small walnut kernels, black sesame seeds, and vegetable oil. Specific cooking methods: lotus seeds, longan pulp, lily bulbs, and fox nuts can be cooked into a soup, or pork kidneys, walnut kernels, jujubes, and glutinous rice can be cooked into porridge. Both have the effect of lowering lipids, nourishing the kidneys, and increasing energy. Foods containing deer antler, Polygonum multiflorum, Eclipta prostrata, Agrimonia pilosa leaves, and Ligustrum lucidum not only have the effect of promoting blood circulation, removing blood stasis, and lowering lipids, but regular consumption can also make hair black.

(3) Traditional Chinese medicine foods for weight loss and slimming, such as fresh lotus leaves, poria cocos, shiitake mushrooms, coix seeds, Chinese yam, wild lily bulbs, and mung beans, not only have lipid-lowering functions, but also promote diuresis and remove blood stasis, clear the head and eyes, lower blood pressure, and have the effects of weight loss, beauty, and anti-aging. These traditional food-based Chinese medicines can be used flexibly to replace daily meals, either as side dishes, as a substitute for breakfast, or as traditional medicinal cuisine. They can be enjoyed once a week.

**48. Do you know these 12 ways to control obesity and diabetes?**

(1) Focus on vegetables: Since many fruit juices contain a lot of sugar, just like sweetened drinks, it is best to replace fruit juice with vegetable juice. Save fruit for the end of the meal. The fat, fiber, and protein in food help slow down the absorption of fructose, so as to prevent a significant increase in blood glucose levels.

(2) Eat smaller, more frequent meals: Studies have shown that eating smaller, more frequent meals helps keep blood sugar and insulin levels close to normal. Eat a small breakfast every day. Have some skim and unsweetened yogurt between breakfast and lunch. Eat a small amount of rice or vegetables for lunch. Eat dinner early and keep it light. One to one and a half hours after dinner, you can have a carton of plain yogurt or a small amount of skim milk.

(3) Reduce the amount of fat in your diet: For every 40 grams of fat you consume, the risk of developing diabetes increases fivefold.

(4) Eat more spices: Studies have shown that spices containing curry sauce can enhance the "activity" of insulin and accelerate its metabolism. Bay leaves also have this effect.

(5) Be cautious when eating pizza: Studies have shown that blood sugar levels do not rise significantly immediately after eating pizza, but continue to rise 4 to 5 hours later. Eating pizza in the afternoon is particularly harmful to diabetic patients.

(6) Increase magnesium and chromium intake: This helps prevent heart disease complications in diabetic patients and keeps carbohydrate metabolism, sugar digestion, and blood sugar levels normal. Studies have shown that many diabetic patients have low levels of these two important minerals. Insulin injections can exacerbate chromium breakdown. Therefore, doctors recommend taking chromium and magnesium supplements along with multivitamins and consuming as many mineral-rich soy products and fresh vegetables as possible.

(7) Strengthen aerobic exercise: Scientists have found that aerobic exercise can greatly improve the muscles' ability to absorb glucose, which helps lower blood sugar. Importantly, the timing of exercise should be chosen correctly. Exercising 1-2 hours after a meal is most suitable. After eating, blood sugar levels increase, and physical exercise helps to consume the sugar.

(8) Jogging: Studies on people over 40 years of age with high blood sugar have shown that insulin levels tend to normalize during jogging or brisk walking. Therefore, jogging or brisk walking for half an hour every day can prevent both infarction and diabetes.

(9) Lose excess weight. Most diabetic patients are 10-20 kg overweight. Numerous studies have shown that a weight loss of 3 kg can significantly lower blood sugar levels.

(10) Building Muscle: American medical experts believe that trained individuals have increased insulin sensitivity, thus reducing the amount of insulin needed to maintain normal blood sugar levels. However, it is advisable to consult a doctor before attempting to build muscle.

(11) Don’t be afraid to seek support from friends: When you are stressed, worried or irritable, your blood sugar level will rise sharply. In this situation, you should ask your neighbors, friends or family for help to get rid of your psychological burden as soon as possible.

(12) Regularly check blood sugar and adjust insulin dosage according to blood sugar levels. This is the main and most reliable way to control diabetes.

For obese patients with coronary heart disease, special attention should be paid to their diet. Coronary heart disease is a heart disease caused by atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries, and it is a common disease among middle-aged and elderly people. Current research has found a close relationship between this disease and diet.

It has been proven both domestically and internationally that the main cause of coronary heart disease is an unbalanced daily diet, with excessive saturated fatty acids (over 40%), excessive calories, and insufficient fiber. Key points for a healthy diet include:

① Carrot dishes: such as braised carrot strips, steamed carrots, shredded potatoes, shredded celery, carrot flower tea, carrot sauce, and carrot juice. Benefits: Carrots are sweet, pungent, slightly warm, and non-toxic. They have effects such as lowering blood pressure, strengthening the heart, and lowering blood sugar.

② Wheat germ oil: Made from wheat germ, it can prevent and treat arteriosclerosis and coronary heart disease.

③ Sweet and Sour Garlic: In summer, remove the stems and hard outer skin of fresh, tender white garlic, wash it, put it in a jar, add rice vinegar to submerge the garlic, add as much ginger slices as you like and appropriate amounts of MSG and sugar (honey is even better), seal the jar, and after a month, eat it as a side dish, once in the morning and once in the evening.