So What’s The Plan?

We’ll go into more detail on every aspect of the  Plan in the following four chapters. You’ll walk through the Plan week by week starting on click here, But here are the basics in a nutshell.

As you might expect, the cornerstone of the Plan focuses on how you eat. If you’re inicipating a draconian diet that limits you to lettuce and tofu, relax; you’ll still get plenty of enjoyment from food. In fact, the Plan enables you to get roughly one-fourth of all of your calories from fat, as long as it’s the heart-healthy kirk of fat. And it doesry’t restrict your intake of dietary cholesterol, (Yes, that’s right, eaggs and shrimp are back on the menu).

What’s more, there’s no focus on limiting calories unless you’re overweight, defined as a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 26 or higher (check Here). That’s because the best way to control your weight is to eat right and get more exercise, not count calories—even if you are overweight. In the end, exercise and a healthy diet are more Unportant lan wit the seale shows. Studies find that even people considered overweight can still have healthy cholesterol levels and other measures that indicate a low risk for CHD if they’re following a lifestyle like the one in the  Plan,

The rest of the eating strategy breaks down like this: 20 percent protein—that includes meat, poultry, eggs, soy, fish, and beans, with the greatest emphasis on the latter two—and 55 percent carbohydrates, primarily coming from complex carbohydrates like vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. We’ll help you follow this strategy whether you’re eating in or dining out.

Next, we want you to move. The type of exercise—walking, swimming, martial arts, digging in your garden—doesn’t matter, as long as you get your heart beating faster, stretch your muscles, and burn some calories so they don’t get stored as cholesterol-raising fat. The Plan includes a walking program that gives you just about all of the exercise you need in an easy, safe, and convenient form. You’ll also find a series of simple morning stretches along with two easy st renath-training routines (a 10-minute routine and a 30-minute routine) that will keep you toned and also pump up your metabolism to help you burn more calories

A few key dietary supplements can help slash your risk of heart disease, and you’ll be taking them on the Plan. The recommendations vary depending on your situation.

Everyone will take daily fish-oil supplements (for valuable omega-3 fatty acids) and a multivitamin/multimineral. Most people will take a daily baby aspirin. may add a natural cholesterol-lowering supplement like gugulipid , policosanol, or red yeast rice extract; the trace mineral chromium to enhance insulin sensitivity; or the antioxidant coenzyme Q10 if they are taking a statin drug to treat their cholesterol.

Finally, we’re going to teach you how to do something that’s more difficult for most Americans than bypassing a super-size meal: relax. From a new way to breathe to a new way of viewing the world, we’ll explain how you can bring a small island of peace and calm into each and every day.

Why?

Why try to lower your cholesterol through lifestyle when a pill can do the trick? Several reasons. First, while cholesterol-lowering drugs are a boon to people who really need them (you’ll discover after you take the quizzes later in this chapter whether you’re one of them), even the best drugs have side effects. And despite their effectiveness, no cholesterol-lowering medications will work as well as they should if you continue to eat a diet high in saturated fat, if channel surfing is your only form of exercise, or if you’re sinking your retirement funds into cigarettes.

Another major benefit of the  Plan: It helps disarm or defend against other CHD risk factors that cholesterol-lowering drugs don’t affect. We’re talking about everything from high blood pressure to diabetes, insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome. The Plan also attacks inflammation (remember, elevated C-reactive protein—a marker of inflammation—may be more dangerous than high cholesterol), and blood components like triglycerides and homocysteine.