The Great Diet Debate

Cardiovascular disease is one of the major killers in today’s society. There are many risk factors that contribute to cardiovascular disease, some that are modifiable and others that are not. One of the major factors that are modifiable is obesity and hypercholesterolemia. Prevention and treatment for heart disease are very important and sometimes go hand in hand. The South Beach Heart Program is a diet that claims to ‘detect, prevent and even reverse heart disease.’ Studies of this program however did show that LDL levels did not go down and with that in mind high LDL levels is a major factor for cardiovascular disease. So what do the people on this diet do if the diet is not lowering there LDL levels, they take statins, cholesterol lowering drugs. Here is were I believe the problem lies, and that is with the idea that we as a society want a drug or pill to take to help us when there is a cheaper and just as effective way to obtain our optimal health and that is diet and exercise. Diet and exercise can help an individual so much to achieve a healthy life but they need to be done together and be a part of a lifestyle. People who have made intensive changes to their lifestyle with diet and exercise for a year have dropped their LDL levels 40 percent and that is equal to the statin Lipitor. I have no problem with statins and I know that the results that statins get are desired ones, yet I think this falls in line with us as a society being lazy and wanting pill to help us and us not wanting to do physical labor as exercise. Diet and exercise can do so much more than just a pill can do and just help with LDL levels; it can help with the other risk factors for cardiovascular disease as obesity, which can lead to many other problems like diabetes and hypertension. The underlying factor that I believe is and should be is that diet and exercise are vital for us to live and maintain a healthy life as individuals.