Did you know that your blood vessels are lined with the same kind of tissue as your skin? People commonly spend considerable time, money, and effort on keeping their outer skin attractive, but most fail to realize the far greater importance of keeping the inner skin smooth and healthy.
How We Damage Our Vessels
The lining of our blood vessels is called endothelium and it becomes thickened and covered with hardened plaque over years of poor diet and insufficient physical activity. The arteries become stiff and the heart has to work much harder to push blood through these narrow, inflexible channels.
It Gets Worse
The result is rising blood pressure and the increased pressure further stiffens the vessels. These hardened and encrusted arteries are very liable to crack and leak as a consequence of the normal swelling and relaxing as blood is pumped through them. Also, a chunk of plaque can flake off, causing bleeding. Either one creates a blood clot which can result in a heart attack or a stroke.
Good and Bad Cholesterol
To prevent heart disease such as this we need to control our cholesterol levels through diet and exercise. There are two primary types of cholesterol. The harmful one attaches to the lining of the arteries and it’s called low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.
The good one, high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, is actually a cleaning agent. You want your level of HDL to be as high as possible: definitely above 40, 60 is great, and 80 is super. HDL travels around grabbing LDL’s and takes them out of the body.
You Can Do This
The most effective way to increase your HDL cholesterol is through aerobic exercise and intense will have more effect than moderate. But work up to heart pumping levels of exertion gradually if you’re not accustomed to it.
To decease your LDL cholesterol, reduce saturated fats to as low as possible and eat primarily whole, plant-based foods: fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, and nuts. Exercise will help considerably as rising HDL will work to clear the blood stream. There’s additional information on this topic in the post titled, How to Lower Your Cholesterol.
True Beauty
Although no one sees our inner skin, when the endothelium is in poor health, it is reflected in the rest of the body, including our outward appearance. The best beauty treatments are inner peace, having a positive and cheerful attitude, and possessing the vitality of a healthy body. With all those attributes, anyone can be attractive.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, November 24th, 2007 at 11:06 pm and is filed under Exercise, Nutrition and Disease, Preventive Health.
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