Just how much does exercise and a good (and I mean good) diet help a persons general health (Choestorol, Tryglycerides, Blood Pressure, Blood Sugar, etc)? I know everyone is different, but _usually_ how much does it help a person who is on a good exercise/diet for a long period of time (2 or more years). I'm 17 years old and I would like to get on a good strict diet and exercise routine to get very healthy and maintain in. How long does it generally take to see these great improvements and do they just keep getting better as you go on?

I hear of people who get on a diet/exercise plan and their problems don't go away and that discourages me.

Thanks :)

Naes, some people just have naturally high cholesterol levels, nothing they do affects them. Dietary cholesterol has minimal effect on endogenous cholesterol levels (the type our body makes) but exercise and lifestyle choices can have an impact.

The quickest way to effect your levels is to cut out refined sugars and excessive alcohol; this will impact triglyceride levels.

Cardio vasuclar exercise to the tune of a 1200 calories deficit a week, moderate consumpton of wine, eating fatty fish 3x a week and quitting smoking will all help raise your HDL, which can be preventative of CVD.

Avoding trans fats and taking nonflushing niacin can help lower LDL levels.

It can take up to 3 months to see the benefits of such lifestyle changes initially - and yes, you tend to continue to see them as the years go by.

Keep in mind that simply having high cholesterol does not mean you're going to develop CVD, it is merely a risk that must be weighed in conjuction with other risk factors.

Nat

Also, if you're living unhealthfully right now, if you make a lot of these changes right away, you will literally feel better within a week or two. Higher energy, clearer mind, better moods and such. Definitely an impetus to keep it up, imo. :)

Do you mean why the non instead of the regular or why the niacin at all?

Niacin can cause serious flushing of the skin in doses larger than 100mg, hence the non-flushing type.

Niacin in general has been shown to reduce LDL, and to a degree triglycerides. It is often "prescribed" to help lower cholesterol. Here is a link to the National Institute of Health's Medline Drug Interaction database with information on niacin : http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/medmaster/a682518.html

Well, I haven't taken a blood test for a long time, I have taken blood pressure recently and it was like 114/64 relaxed and when I first sat down it was like 125/72. I'm always afraid of it rising slowly and then getting out of control on me, so.. I'm starting to exercise and eat better.

Do you mean why the non instead of the regular or why the niacin at all?


I misread the comment the first time through. I thought it said to *avoid* it, and I thought that was weird. :) my bad.

*lol* I came back and reread the post and was even more confused than you can imagine.