Cholesterol

What Is Cholesterol?

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Cholesterol is actually a substance consisting of fats. It us found naturally in the brain, nerves, liver, blood and bile of both human and vertebrate animals. Cholesterol is necessary for proper functioning of the body and is produced mainly in the liver. It is used by the cells to build membranes and it is also used to produce sex hormones and in aiding digestion.

This natural cholesterol travels from the liver through the blood stream where it is delivered to the cells. the cells take what they need and the excess cholesterol remains in the blood stream. Excessive cholesterol forms plaque, which sticks to artery walls and may eventually cause heart disease and diabetes.Researchers have discovered that there are two types of cholesterol:

• Low Density Lipoproteins (LDLs) and
• High Density Lipoproteins (HDLs).

LDLs (Low Density Lipoproteins)

LDLs (Low Density Lipoproteins) are bad cholesterol and are obtained by means from animal products. The body cannot use this type of Cholesterol because it is a form that the body does not want and it often ends up as plaque formation on artery walls. No matter how much is obtained through the diet, the body continues to produce its own natural or serum cholesterol which it can use.

HDLs (High Density Lipoproteins)

HDLs (High Density Lipoproteins) are good cholesterol as which removes excess cholesterol from the blood and tissues.

Know Your Numbers

Heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of illness and death worldwide.

• According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, in 2003, 16.7 million people around the globe die of Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) each year. This is over 29 percent of all deaths globally. (www.who.int)
• 80 percent of chronic disease deaths occur in low and middle income countries and half are women. Cardiovascular disease alone will kill five times as many people as HIV/AIDS in these countries. (Chronic Diseases and Their Common Risk Factors, WHO, Oct. 2005)
• At least 20 million people survive heart attacks and strokes every year; many require continuing costly clinical care. (WHO. Cardiovascular Disease: Prevention and Control. 2006).
• Cardiovascular Disease accounted for more than 216,000 deaths in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2004. Thirty-seven percent of deaths are from, and 32 percent of premature deaths in men and 24 percent in women are from CVD. (British Heart Foundation. Coronary Heart Disease Statistics, 2006 Edition.).
• World Statistics on CVD (Heart Attacks & Strokes).
• USA Statistics on CVD (Heart Attacks & Strokes)

They account for more the of all deaths each year. An abnormal cholesterol level is the most common cause of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Are your cholesterol numbers good or bad?

NCEP – ATP III Classification of Total Cholesterol, HDL Cholesterol, Serum Triglycerides and LDL Cholesterol (mg/dl)*

Total Cholesterol

Total cholesterol is the number you often receive from your doctor. It is derived from your LDL, HDL and Triglyceride readings. For every 1% you reduce your Total Cholesterol, you lower your risk of heart attack or stroke by 1.5%.

HDL Cholesterol (HDL)

HDL is the Helper cholesterol and a high number is good. This “good” cholesterol can actually clear away the bad LDL cholesterol. For each 1% increase in HDL, the risk of heart attack and stroke is reduced by 3%.

Serum Triglycerides

Triglyceride levels should be below 150. Potential benefits of lowering triglyceride levels are not well studied as those of lowering LDL cholesterol. Causes of high triglyceride levels are obesity, lack of physical activity, smoking, excess alcohol intake, and high carbohydrate diet. Treatment is aimed at lifestyle changes. Levels above 500 may also require a drug therapy.

LDL Cholesterol (LDL)

LDL is the Lethal cholesterol and a high number is bad. High levels can lead to waxy build up on your artery walls (plaque) and can cause heart attacks. For each 1% decrease in LDL cholesterol, the risk of heart disease and stroke are reduced by 2%.

Cholesterol Treatment:

Statin drugs are usually used to treat high bad cholesterol levels. These <a statin drugs have some side effects. There is, however, a safe, natural, clinically proven, patented alternative to statin drugs.*

References:Adult Treatment Panel III. Adapted for patient education by Beauty Swe, M.D.Circulation 97-946, 1998 “Dysilipdemia Essentials” Ballantyne, O’Keefe, and Gotto Physicians’ Press, 2005.

© teamrich.wordpress.com – cholesterol

Eulogy for My Father

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This is My Eulogy to My Father

Dear Dad,

I’m so grateful to have such an understanding and loving father as you.

You did not have much of an education and you did not even know the day and month you were born. But I learned a lot of life lessons from you.

You suffered a terrible world war and lost both your parents but you were not mentally scarred by it.

You never got into a fight though you were no coward. Who would want to pick a fight with a tall guy like you?

You are a true entrepreneur even though you did not have any formal schooling and was left an orphan with two younger siblings to take care of all by yourself. After the devastating World War II, you started working as a Coffee Boy. By saving every cent you could, you managed to accumulate enough money to buy a second hand car and provide private transportation for schooling children and running errands for the people of our village. Even when we were not rich, we looked rich because we were one of the very few families in the village with a car (cars were a luxury item in the ’50s). Later from the earnings of the transport service, you managed to upgrade to a mini-bus as your business prospered. At some stage, you also acted as a broker – buying and selling houses and earning commissions from it. I have a vivid childhood memory of you as someone who had a good lifestyle – working just a few hours a day, and having lots of free time at home and indulging in a friendly game of mahjong (a chinese card game played with tiles). Without much money, no mentor, no education, you established a reasonably good lifestyle. I can imagine how successful you would be given the right couching environment. Your business experiences and lifestyle motivated me to want to start my own business later in life.

I was told that had many girlfriends before you were married, but you were totally faithful to mom and us and only remarried when mom had passed away in the ’80s.

You were an easy person to talk to and more importantly, you were a good listener. You always had time for the family.

I could hear your laughter across the room, though you spoke softly when we were close by.

You always saw the good in any situation. Nothing seem to let you down. Even when family expenses burnt a big hole in your pocket.

You took good care of mom, my brother and me when we were sick. Never complaining. Never begrudging.

You never raised your hand at us though at times I think we really deserved to be spanked.

You somehow managed to anticipate what food I was craving for that day and would come home with my favorite food without me even asking for it.

You gave us a childhood free of barriers. The world was ours to explore and enjoy.

If you had any vices, apart from a harmless game of mahjong, I never uncovered them. But I uncovered one deep dark secret that you tried to hide from me. I found out I was adopted by rummaging through your official documents. Sneaky me! Though I finally met my real parents, I knew you and mom were the best parents for me.

Though both my brother and I were adopted by mom and you, you loved us both as if we were your very own genetic children. Although we were very poor when I was growing up, you always made us so very happy.

Nothing seem to faze you. You were the Calm in the middle of a storm. You were the Quiet Man in this noisy and distracting world. You were the light when darkness befell us. You were the tower of strength.

I think I got a lot of your characteristics like fortitude, inner strength and kindness. To me, you were the best dad in the whole wide world, uncomplaining, uncomplicated and ever supportive.

You were the champion of the unwanted, the helpless and the weak.

I will miss you for many years to come. I will remember and celebrate all the good and bad times we’ve had. I love you and will miss you dearly, dad.

You are My Father, My Hero, My Friend and My Soul Mate.

Have a Good Life in the Next Life.

Hope you like my Eulogy to you, dad…..
Your Daughter,

♥Nancy♥

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The Circumstances of My Father’s Death and its Aftermath:

High Blood Pressure – Synthetic Drugs vs Natural Remedies

My father,

Long Chong Huat

passed away on October 23, 2007 at 5.33pm. He was 82 years old.

He had been suffering from high blood pressure or hypertension since he was 30 years old and had several near death experiences in the past 15 years. The last heart failure was in January and May 2007. Each time, the doctor told me that he would not survive the heart failure. But he did, thanks to Unicity products like COQ10, Cardio Essentials and BiosLife.

But this time, luck was not on his side – no amount of medical or non-medical intervention could have helped – given the circumstances of the incident.

He had just taken a bath and went to sit on his favorite office chair (the ones with a roller wheels). Unfortunately, he probably did not sit properly or accidentally kicked the chair and the chair rolled away behind him and he fell butt first onto the floor. He used his hand to break his fall and injured his left hand as a result. But this was not the cause of death.

The long term heart medication and heart bypass had left him with a very weak heart. In 2001, his arteries were blocked and he was not able to have heart bypass initially because his heart was too weak. Miraculously, after he took COQ10 for 3 months, he was able to have a heart bypass. Undergoing angioplasty, however, left him with an even weaker heart. The doctor said that after the last heart failure, his heart was working at only 10% capacity. Hence, any sudden burst of activity or trauma could result in another heart failure like a sudden large surge of electricity can damage an equipment.
The shock of the fall and the pain from the arm injury must have triggered a massive sudden heart attack and he fell unconscious. He could not move. He looked comatose.

An ambulance was called and it arrived a few minutes later (at 4.20pm). In the ambulance, the paramedics tried their best to resuscitate him without much success.

The ambulance paramedics called me and asked me to rush to the hospital as this could be my last chance to see him alive as the situation looked dire. I reached the hospital at 5pm. I, unfortunately, did not have a chance to see him as the Emergency Unit was still doing their best to resuscitate him. At 5.33pm, the nurse from the Emergency room came to tell me that they were unsuccessful in their attempts to save his life. He was dead.

My heart sank, all hope had drained away: my dear poor father is dead. I had spoken to him recently when I got back from my holidays and he had said that he was fine. Now he is gone. I cried like I never cried before. I’ll probably cry some more before he is finally laid to rest.

I’m glad he did not suffer much during those final traumatic hours. Considering his medical condition, he had lived a good many years. Unfortunately, for him, he had out lived most of his friends, so there will be very few friends to grieve and pray for him.

Looking back at the circumstances of my father’s death, it could serve as a lesson for us all:

Firstly, people who have had a series of heart operations are very vulnerable to a massive, sudden heart attack. There are no warning signs of an impending heart attack particular if a fall is involved. It will happened so quickly you won’t even have time to think let alone react. The heart operations include heart bypass or angioplasty in which a heart stent in inserted into the part of the heart blood vessel that is blocked. This operation does not guarantee the problem will be solved by angioplasty. The arteriolosclerosis or plague may recurred at the same spot or at another location. It like a game of hide and seek (or should I say, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde?). If only I had known of the safe, natural remedies available for high blood pressure or hypertension earlier, my dad probably would have had a 50/50 chance of survival.

Secondly, the health of the heart may swing up and down and no amount of heart medication like statin drugs is going to help the patient, particularly if they are in the late seventies or older.

Thirdly, make the home as safe as possible for the heart sufferer. Remove all movable objects no matter how attached they are to the item. Sometimes we just want to make their last days on earth as comfortable for them as possible and try not to deny them of their long term possessions. But there is a price to pay for such indulgences.

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© teamrich.wordpress.com – eulogy to my father

List of Things to be Grateful for

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Tomorrow’s Sunday and we’ll get to do all the fun stuff that we usually do on Sundays like taking our kids to places they like, like having a nice lunch / dinner at our favorite restaurants, like meeting up with friends etc. Everyday can be a Sunday day too. If we believe it to be so.

We all have so much to be thankful for, no matter what is the circumstances of our lives. If we reflect on the things in our lives, we will be able to see many things that should be grateful for. Many of these things may seem thrivial compared to our seemingly pressing wants. But what we want is not necessarily what we really need. If we focus on what we really need rather than what we want (our wants are mostly the gratification of material possessions), we will see that we have had a bountiful harvest and have much to be thankful for. The best way for us to measure our true “wealth” is to write down all the things we should be grateful for and all the things we don’t have and therefore should be “grateful” for. A sort of “Assets” and “Liabilities” test. If we go through our list, we will see the greater value of true wealth compared to the transitional and often fleeting values of what we want.

Here is What some people say about being Grateful and Positive:

• “Gratitude is our most direct line to God and the angels. If we take the time, no matter how crazy and troubled we feel, we can find something to be thankful for”. – Terry Lynn Taylor
• “Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery. Today is a Gift. That is Why We Call it the ‘Present’ “ – Eugénie des Alpages.
  
• “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” - G. K. Chesterton
• “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” – W. Clement Stone.

To give you a Kick Start, I made up a list of things I should be grateful for. A sort of Happiness Index. Why don’t you do one for yourself? When you have done your own Happiness Index with a positive frame of mind, chances are you will see how fortunate you are. If everybody did an audit on the things they should to be thankful for, we could perhaps increase the Happiness Index throughout the world. So this is . . . . . .

My List of Things to be Grateful for:

• For Being Able to Wake Up at Any Time I Choose.
• For Being Able to Laugh at the Silly Things I’ve done.
• For the Chance to Celebrate another Birthday.
• For the Reassurance of Family Ties.
• For the Power of Prayer.
• For the Release of Closure and Moving On.
• For the Opportunity to Pay the Price and Make My Dream Come True.
• For the Fulfillment of Motherhood.
• For Getting a “Thank You” from Someone.
• For the Love Lost and the Love Won.
• For Every Setback that Made Me Stronger.
• For the Courage to be Persistent but Not Overbearing.
• For the Feel of the Wind and the Smell of the Rain.
• For the Promise of all My Tomorrows.
• For Being Able to Keep in Touch through the Internet.
• For the Will to Excel and Getting Others to Excel too.
• For the Knowledge to Help People Make Money rather than Giving Them Cash.
• For the Courage to Admit When I’m Wrong.
• For Not Being too Proud to Learn New Things.
• For Not Being Embarrassed for Who I Am.
• For a Cool Night Under the Stars.
• For Having a Nice, Warm Bed to Sleep in.
• For Being Able to Learn New Things Each and Everyday.
• For the Smile I Received.
• For the Help I Got.
• For the Food I Ate Today.
• For My Favorite Drink.
• For a Roof Over My Head.
• For Peace in the World and Peace of Mind.
• For Freedom of Every Kind.
• For the Joy of Positive Music.
• For the Motivational Books.
• For Movies of Good Values.
• For the Gift of Overcoming My Fears and Failures.
• For Never Replaying Mental Images of Disappointments and Regrets.
• For the Bliss of Going On-Stage and Delivering My Speech.
• For the Deliverance in Being Able to Forgive and Forget.
• For the Happiness of Helping Others.
• For the Rewards of Good Health.
• For the Love of My Loved Ones.
• For Having Good Friends and Relatives I Can Rely On.
• For Strangers Who Will Become My Friends Tomorrow.
• For the Gift of Sight.
• For a Good Pair of Arms and Legs.
• For Standing Up when I Stumble and Fall.
• For Being Able to Stand Up for My Rights.
• For Being Able to Reflect on My Greatest Weakness, and Realize how it is My Greatest Strength.
• For the Ability to Think and Act.
• For Being Able to Recognize Long Term Benefits and Values.
• For the Bounty of Happiness.
• For Not Sweating over the Small Stuff.
• For the Payoffs of Time Management.
• For the Joy of Sharing My Life Story with Others.
• For the Fulfillment of Mentoring.
• For Being Able to Spend Money without Counting the Cost.
• For Saving Enough Money for a Rainy Day.
• For Having Sufficient Investments in My Retirement Account.
• For Being Able to Support Worthwhile Charities.
• For Good Weather and Clean Air.
• For the Sun – the source of all our energy.
• For all the Good Things I have Done in My Life.
• For the Great Many Things I am Going to Do Tomorrow.
• For Living the Dream.
• For Being an Open, Caring and Sharing Person.
• For Not Giving Up.
• For Being Able to See the Good and the Value in other People.
• For the Opportunity to Stand on Top of a Mountain.
• For Seeing the Positive in a Negative World.
• For the Blessings of a Great Career and Business.
• For Being in a High Growth Industry.
• For Being Able to Help Others Start a New Business.
• For Keeping My Cool Today.
• For Not Taking Myself Too Seriously.
• For the Opportunity of Doing Something New.
• For Being Able to Finish What I Started.
• For Being Able to Cry when I’m Happy.
• For Being Able to just Be Myself.
• For Having a Nice Warm Bath.
• For Being Able to Cruise in My Car.
• For Being Able to take annual Vacations in Interesting & Exotic Places.
• For Qualifying for Many Awards and Conventions.
• For All the Mistakes I Made, which made me none the wiser.
• For Knowing the Difference between Gratitude, Thankfulness, Appreciation, Perspective and Joy, and the Wisdom to Give it.
• For the Incomparable Beauty of Being Unique.
• For Being True to Myself.
• For All The Little Blessings I Take For Granted.
• For My Sense of Humor.
• For My Goals, My Hopes and My Dreams.
• For My Faith in Myself.
• For Every Breath I Take.
• For Living in an Blue Oasis encircled by the Infinitesimal Voidness of Space.
• For the Unseen Force that Guides Me.

When I think of new things to be grateful for, I will add them to the top of the list.
Make Your Own List of Things To Be Grateful For. Make Your Happiness Index Long, Make it Personal, and please do Share it with the World.

Watch YouTube video: The Gratitude Dance

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So, here is the List of Things you have to do:

1. Make a List of the Things To Be Grateful For
2. Turn on the Video
3. Do the Gratitude Dance Every Single Day!
4. Spread the Message
5. Share Your List.

The World is Waiting . . . . .

More Things To Be Grateful For.

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© teamrich.wordpress.com – list of things to be grateful for