Clinton On South Beach Diet
By Laura Ciocan, Thu Dec 8th
Clinton's
recent quadruple bypass surgery has been largelydebated. Being on
the South Beach Diet made everybody wonder howthe former president's
illness advanced so much as to need to besurgically corrected. Some
even blame it on the diet. Somewonder why the diet didn't help avoiding
surgery.
Fact
is that, first of all, being on the South Beach Diet for arelatively
short time or being on any other diet couldn't workmiracles and
suddenly reverse atherosclerosis. It is true thatrecent clinical
trials have indicated that with a reducedcholesterol level, reduced
weight and regular exercise heartdisease may regress but a longer
period of time is required torestore what was built in decades.
Studies show that coronaryartery disease starts as early as childhood
progressingthroughout adolescence and childhood.
Then, there were other factors sure to worsen Clinton'scondition. In
heart disease there are several risk factors thatcannot be changed:
age, heredity, gender. Older males with afamily history of heart disease
are more likely to suffer fromit, and Bill
Clinton
fit the profile.
Stressful life
contributed
to a great extent to his illness,although he is known to exercise regularly.
Among otherbenefits, exercise helps relieving of stress. But the formerpresident
overlooked other important aspects. His fondness forsmoking and unhealthy
foods worsened the situation. Since hestarted the South Beach diet
he lost weight. Probably if dietinghad been one of his priorities earlier
in his life, his healthwould have improved substantially. Unfortunately,
it seems thathis doctors were not that persuasive! The result was thatsurgery
was needed to prevent a heart attack.
Following
the South Beach Diet (in a low-sodium version) on along term basis,
accompanied by an exercise routine and quittingsmoking would be
likely to help the former president to improvehis health after
his release from the hospital.
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