Good News!

Happy Wednesday!  Like much of the country right now, my state is in the grips of a winter storm today.  Since losing my layer of fat, staying warm is definitely more of a challenge now - but I've happily traded the fat for some wonderful Cuddle Duds and warm sweaters :-).

The weather report isn't necessarily good news today (unless you're either a skier or a polar bear), but I DO have some good news to share!  I read an article yesterday entitled "Never Have a Heart Attack" (it was in the latest issue of "AARP Magazine", but don't hold that against me!).  As I read the article, I realized that Take Shape for Life/Medifast is the answer to all but one of the risk factors for heart attacks.

Before I share the risk factors, I want to back up and share what the article said about the difference risk factors can make.  According to the article, "a 50-yr. old man with none of the risk factors has only a 5 percent chance over the next 45 years of ever having a heart attack," according to the director of the Framingham Heart Study.  "But if that man has even one risk factor, his change of having a heart attack soars to 50 percent.  For a woman with no risk factors, the chance of having a heart attack is 8 percent; with just one risk factor, it goes to 38 percent."  The article noted that twenty-five percent of Americans over age 50 have at least two risk factors and only ten percent have every risk factor under control.

The six steps in reducing your risk are: 
1) Keep your cholesterol in check.  Take Shape for Life/Medifast can have a very impressive positive impact on cholesterol, and it often happens quite quickly.  Even before significant weight has been lost, individuals often see their cholesterol levels return to normal because eating six small nutrient-dense meals per day helps to normalize blood chemistry.

2) Lower your blood pressure.  Again, blood pressure often begins to drop shortly after an individual starts on the program, even before there has been a big drop in weight.

3)  Stop smoking.  Take Shape for Life/Medifast doesn't directly help with this, but often once people start losing weight and getting healthier, they find new motivation to kick their smoking addiction, too.

4) Control your blood sugar.  Take Shape for Life/Medifast's diabetic program has helped many diabetics reduce or eliminate their medication while, at the same time, bringing blood sugar into a normal range.  This program eliminated my own diabetes, and I saw my blood glucose return to normal in the first week on the program.

5) Control your weight.  Everyone who goes on the program and follows the program loses weight, and if you stay on the program, you WILL get to a health weight.

6)  Exercise regularly.  An important part of this program is incorporating activity into our lives, and it is essential to maintain a healthy weight and as we continue moving towards optimal health.

Maybe you're only on this program so you can fit into your favorite pair of jeans, but even if that's your motivation (and there's nothing wrong with that!), while you're getting into those jeans, you're also getting healthy.  What you're doing right now is reducing your risk for a host of disease later on, including heart disease.  Pretty good deal, don't you think?

If you started on this program because of health concerns, then be encouraged to know that you really ARE getting healthier, one day at a time.

Reducing risk for heart attack and other diseases happens one day and one choice at a time.  Choose wisely :-).