| Show Fighting the Fat War The American Heart Association steps up its fight against heart disease with a new health program By Nick Perkins Staff Writer Now listed as one of the cheif risk factors leading to heart disease disease disease dis dis- dis- dis ease The American Heart Association gives new life to an anold anold anold old program The American Heart Association is offering a new program called Simply Fit For Life The program is an updated version of the AHA AHAs s former fonner program called Slim For Life Simply Fit For Life emphasizes the importance of eating earing healthy and exercising to help prevent heart disease this new program helps to deal with obesity a factor leading to heart disease and partly because the heart is a muscle and exercising makes it stronger and more resilient The program has been updated in many ways from the Slim For Life program It is now current with the newest AHA dietary and cholesterol cholesterol cholesterol choles choles- terol guidelines One of the most promising changes is the switch from calorie counting to portion control Portion control is a very important issue in hi the industrialized industrialized industrialized industrial industrial- nations where there is an enormous overabundance of food There is now more emphasis sis on exercise and more tools for setting and achieving goals The new program is targeted at atthe atthe atthe the whole family instead of the individual Basic food records are essentially the same tables that show the values of foods The program now offers more options Heart disease is the number one cause of death worldwide accounting for approximately 35 of all deaths in the US for healthy eating choices Previously there were only calorie calorie calorie calo calo- rie counting diets such as the 1200 1400 and 1600 calorie per day diets Now the program stresses healthy eating patterns There are patterns for Women and men over 55 small women men and women ages 55 18 and the no milk pattern The no milk pattern offers those who are lactose lactose lactose lac lac- lac- lac tose intolerant dietary replacements replacements replacements replace replace- ments for recipes that call for dairy products The Simply Fit For Life program program pro pro- program gram instructs participants how to better choose what they eat by teaching them how to read and understand food labels and to modify existing recipes to make them healthier These skills will help people reduce their fat intake Weight reduction is promoted promoted promoted pro pro- as being an added benefit to the core philosophy but is not meant to be the primary goal of the program The program also covers the roles of physical activity activity activity ity stress reduction and social eating management in the prevention prevention prevention pre pre- of heart disease The program program program pro pro- gram does not cover methods to reduce or quit smoking which is considered to be one of the most significant contributing factors to heart disease Heart disease is the number one cause of death worldwide according according according accord accord- ing to many different sources It accounts for approximately 35 of all deaths in the US Most sources maintain it is the leading cause of death and disabilities inthe inthe in inthe the industrialized nations of the world partly because people living living living liv liv- ing in wealthier nations tend to eat more foods high in fat and See Fat on pg 6 Fat continued from pg 3 cholesterol Some studies assert death from heart disease is every bit as prevalent in developing nations as well In fact the majority of heart attack victims live in the Third World Men are higher risk than women until menopause although statistics have shown that more women die from heart disease than men People who are obese are at greater risk than those who are active and physically physically physically cally fit Smokers under age 50 are five times more likely to die of coronary heart disease than non Women who smoke and take birth control pills should be aware that smoking smoking smoking ing and taking the pill increases I c lr J the risk of heart attack The Slim For Life program now called Simply Fit For Life has been in Utah since 1976 created for Utah actually And it has been a very successful program program program pro pro- gram says Lynn Program Specialist for the AHA The program covers most of the bases when it comes to heart disease disease disease dis dis- dis- dis ease prevention The updated program starts the second week of September the Classes are offered at numerous locations throughout Utah The classes are held for one hour per week for 10 weeks The cost is 60 per person For more information call C J H Hf f r. r |
