Do Diabetes and Heart Disease Really Go Hand in Hand?

December 1st, 2010

Is Your Diet Entering the Season of Sugar Plums, Fairy Tales and Holiday Food?

By Jennifer Ashley-Earl, RD, LD This month reinforces how integrated food is within our own health.   Food is medicine. Food is emotional. Food is delicious. Food is sustaining and let’s face it… food is Festive! Knowing more about the correlation between Diabetes and Heart Disease can make your holiday eating a healthy adventure. Whether you are 20 years old or enjoying your Boomer Years, American’s are finding diabetes is becoming quite a common word. Not as common in every household, is the understanding of how heart disease is associated with diabetes. Heart conditions such as high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides (cholesterol), and low HDL cholesterol are correlated to diabetes due to increasing cardiovascular risk factors.   Even though you can’t change whether heart disease runs in your family, you can take steps to control your risk.

Make sure that your holiday diet is as “heart-healthy” as you can make it. Meet with a registered dietitian to plan a diet that meets these goals:

1. Include at least 14 grams of fiber daily for every 1,000 calories consumed. Foods high in fiber may help lower blood cholesterol.
2. Cut down on saturated fat. It raises your blood cholesterol level. Saturated fat is found in meats, poultry skin, butter, dairy products with fat, shortening, lard, and tropical oils such as palm and coconut oil. Keep the cholesterol in your diet to less than 300 milligrams a day. Cholesterol is found in meat, dairy products, and eggs.
3. Minimize the intake of Trans fat. Limit your intake of crackers, cookies, snack foods, commercially prepared baked goods, cake mixes, microwave popcorn, fried foods, salad dressings, and other foods made with partially hydrogenated oil. Check for Trans fat in the Nutrition Facts section on the food package.
4. Enjoy foods and beverages such as BeneVia’s Heart Health which include PHYTOSTEROLS.  Phytosterols are typically derived from plant sources. Two 8 oz serving of BeneVia’s Pineapple Lulo Heart Health Beverage offers 1.3 grams of Phytosterols.  Up to 1.5 g/day of Phytosterols can help increase the good cholesterol (HDL), reduce the bad cholesterol (LDL), reduce total Cholesterol and improve your total cholesterol ratio.

Research Findings: Cardiovascular disease/prevention and Nutrition

Phytosterol at (1.5g/day) can help positively effect plasma lipoproteins.

Jones et al. AJCN 1999;69:944-7

Holidays, Heart Health and Diabetes can go hand in hand.  Use these tips to make your holiday as Festive as Possible and create your own Real Food Fairy Tales of Health!

Tags: diabetes, diet, food, heart disease, heart health, nutrition
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8 Healthy Heart Tips for Women

September 27th, 2010 By Sara LeBrun-Blashka Ever since I was young, the heart has amazed me with it’s power to keep us alive and moving.  When I was 6, my grandmother had quadruple bypass surgery and then went on to continue to live an active life for 10 more years. As a mom, my son was born premature with a PDA, Patent Ductus Arteriosus, and a murmur.  His PDA was repaired by drug therapy, Indomethacin, and he out grew the murmur.  Now he is an active 6 year old, playing soccer and speed skating. These two events remind me of why we need to take good care of our hearts.  In 2006, heart disease killed over 316,000 women. (National Vital Statistics Reports. 2009) Women at all ages need to take good care of their hearts.

Getting Started With Healthy Heart Tips

1. Exercise. Just get moving.  May be around the block or running a race.  Set small goals every day and aim for 2.5 hours/wk.
2. Maintain a Healthy Weight. Eat foods in Moderation remember the rule: Calories in: Calories Out.  You need to consume the same amount of calories that you burn to maintain your weight.  You need to burn more calories then you eat to lose weight.
3. Reduce the Fat and Cholesterol in your diet: a.     Choose lean meats and poultry without skin and prepare them without added saturated and trans fat. b.     Select fat-free, 1% fat, and low-fat dairy products. c.     Cut back on foods containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils to reduce trans fat in your diet. d.     Cut back on foods high in dietary cholesterol. Aim to eat less than 300 mg of cholesterol each day. www.cdc.gov/features/heartmonth/
4. Consume High Quality Proteins with Luecine: Moderate Activity combined with High Leucine Essential Amino Acid Supplement can help increase and maintain muscle mass and avoid increase of fat mass thus maintaining energy levels, supporting normal blood glucose and blood lipid levels    (Clin. Nutrition,2008)
5. Stop Smoking!
6. Manage Your Stress. Find outlet’s like yoga, other forms of exercise or other actives that take your mind off of stress
7. Drink Alcohol in Moderation if at all: 1 drink for women/day and 2 drinks for men/day
8. Get Your Self Checked Out Regularly. Have your cholesterol, blood pressure and triglycerides measured annually.

Tags: healthy hearts, heart health, heart tips, nutrition, women's health, women's heart health
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A Whole New Way to Buy BeneVia

July 12th, 2010

Check Out Our New Online Nutrition Drink Store

There’s a whole new way to buy BeneVia online and the team here is very excited to announce our new, easy to use online store which enables customers to customize the way that they use BeneVia in their diets. Whether you are just starting out with trying BeneVia or you are incorporating it into your every day regimen of keeping up your health diet, there’s something for everyone in our new store.

• BeneVia Sample Packs

  Our new sample packs includes 2 four pack bottles of the BeneVia flavor of your choice.  This is a great way for anyone new to BeneVia to try our great nutrition drink and experience what kind of impact it can make for your own healthy living.

• BeneVia Trial Plans

  The new trial plans include 4 four pack bottles of the BeneVia flavor of your choice.  The great thing about this trial plan is that when you buy the 4 four pack, you GET ONE FREE!  This special trial plan is perfect for those who enjoy BeneVia and want to make sure you keep enough on hand & now run out too quickly.

• Subscriptions

  For our die-hard BeneVia users who have incorporated BeneVia into their everyday lives & exercise regimens we have a subscription plan just for you.  The great value about this subscription plan is that over one year, you end up getting 6 weeks free when compared to the Trial Plan.

So check out our new plans in all four of our great tasting nutrition drink flavors:

• Strength & Energy:  Cranberry Lemon Flavor
• Hearth Health:  Pineapple Lulo Flavor
• Memory & Focus:  Peach Mango Flavor
• Immune Protect:  Blueberry Pomegranate Flavor

Tags: benevia, focus, heart health, immune, memory, nutrition drink, nutrition drinks, strength & energy
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