A Heart for More Than Golf

Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) is responsible for an estimated 16.7 million deaths per year. And is the leading cause of disability.

PGA Ryder Cup Captain and five-time PGA Tournament winner, Tom Lehman, 49, believes heart disease is hereditary. "My grandfather passed away from heart disease and my father has a problem with his heart," said Lehman. "Obviously it makes sense to pay attention to your health and your cholesterol numbers." Knowledge is power.

Once you know your numbers and you understand the risks, you can better understand how to reduce those risks. Lehman is taking his knowledge and concerns and bringing them to the fairways to help create awareness of the Triple Threat to those who may not know about it. Triple Threat is LDL-cholesterol -"bad" cholesterol, more than 54 million Americans have high LDL, HDL- "good cholesterol", 55 million Americans have low HDL, and then triglycerides, 28 million Americans have high triglycerides.

The common misconception has been high cholesterol as the culprit. This is only one part of the threat, according to Lehman and Dr. Paul Ziajka, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Sciences at Florida State University of Medicine and University of Florida and Founder of the Lipid Clinic of Orlando.

"Over the past five years, there's a lot more understanding of the conceptual residual risk and people have been focusing on lipids and bad cholesterol for the past decade. There is a growing awareness of lipids and good cholesterol, prevalently was esoteric, is equally or more important.

"If you can drive the ball on the fairway, chip and putt, these are the fundamentals of golf that you need to be a good player" says Lehman. "For heart health the fundamentals are to reduce your cholesterol and triglycerides."

Lehman now has a base map in which to chart his course. "By watching my diet, exercising and watching my things to do to reduce, or maintain those numbers is important. Playing golf isn't enough to get where you want to be. You need to be far more committed than that by including extra cardio in your lifestyle," said Lehman. "Without question, proper exercise an diet equals great results."

"Only one out of 100 people will do what needs to be done," said Dr. Ziajka. "Drugs are better than nothing, although not as good as diet and lifestyle changes.

Alvin (Al) Aki, 54, from Orlando, has high blood pressure and high triglycerides. "I've been taking Tricor and Diovan, for several years which has kept my numbers down," said Aki. In addition to medication, Aki, who is in sales and is an actor, has modified his diet and exercises regularly by swimming. Aki's triglycerides were in the upper 200's before and now are in the normal range.

"It's rare to see genetic triglyceride disorders. A vast majority of triglyceride problems are a result of metabolic syndrome. This creates weight gain and physical inactivity is running rapid. Forty to fifty percent of the population are high risk. The first thing (symptom) is elevated triglycerides," said Dr. Ziajka.

Triglycerides are a type of fat found in the blood. When you eat, your body converts any calories it doesn't need to use right away into triglycerides are stored in your fat cells. Later, hormones release triglycerides for energy between meals. If you regularly eat more calories than you burn, you may have high triglycerides.

When Dr. Ziajka started his clinic in 1987, one teen every 6 months may have had high triglycerides, mostly genetic. Now every two to three months he's seeing an increase with teens having high triglycerides. One 13 year old, weighing 210 pounds has a triglyceride count of 500. In another 5 years premature diabetes will be an epidemic.

This leads to implications of other health challenges and concerns.

"The trend is moving towards removing trans fats. This includes restaurant menus, prepared foods having the trans fats listed on the labels. These are related to lipids," said Dr. Ziajka. Natural or organic foods are highly recommended, as they also don't have pesticides, which are related to high triglycerides and high cholesterol.

Triglycerides and cholesterol are separate types of fat that circulate in your blood. Triglycerides provide your body with energy and cholesterol is used to build cells and certain hormones. Triglycerides and cholesterol can't dissolve in the blood. They circulate throughout the body with the aid of protein packages called lipoproteins. High triglycerides contribute to hardening of the arteries or thickening of the artery walls, which increases the risk heart disease and stroke.

Knowing the facts about cholesterol can reduce our risk for a heart attack or stroke, but understanding what cholesterol is and how it affects your health are the beginning.

To keep your cholesterol under control do this:

• Schedule a screening


• Eat foods low in cholesterol and saturated fat and free of trans fat


• Maintain a healthy weight


• Be physically active


• Follow your healthcare professional's advice

The same lifestyle choices that promote overall health can help lower your triglycerides as well.

What's considered normal?

Normal - Less than 150 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL)


Borderline high 150 to 199 mg/dL


High - 200 - 499 mg/dL


Very high - 500 mg/dL or above

Sometimes high triglycerides are a sign of poorly controlled diabetes, low levels of thyroid hormones, liver or kidney disease. High cholesterol is now linked to Alzheimer's.

According to the American Medical Association, the Cholesterol Education Program and the National Institute for Health, new guidelines were established a few years ago that children as young as two years old should be screened if they have a 1st degree relative with high triglycerides. Seventy percent of children are going to be at risk, according to Dr. Ziajka. "We need to identify those who are at risk, Triple Threat, and act as a consultant to them."

"There is an increase in prevalence where many go undiagnosed and under treated. They are not ware they have high triglycerides. It's going to get a lot worse in the next 10 years," said Dr. Ziajka.

"Most people are unaware and need to know about cholesterol and their breakdown of LDL, HDL and triglycerides and get an idea of their risks," said Dr. Ziajka.

Lehman walks his talk off the greens as well with his involvement with Mentor Kids USA; HopeKids, a HOPE organization that supports children fighting serious illness; and McKenzie Monks, an organization focused on helping kids cope with cancer. Lehman's charity golf tournament has raised more the $4.2 million for the Children's Cancer Research Fund.

Our heart beats more than 100,000 times every 24 hours, and unless we listen carefully, we won't hear its message.

You can buy Diovan here

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you bring the cops you won't get anything."
the boy looked up sharply, saw his brother was joking, giggled, and fell diovan to.
"will that druggist go to the cops?" richards asked quietly.
"curry? naw. not if there might be some more squeezin green in this fambly. he knows lassie's got to run.
killian's face, and the flapping hem of her dress varicose veins bunched in clocksprings.
the apartment was haunted by the twisted hairnet which had gone back out somewhere.
as he and bradley spoke together, the maddening aroma of simmering ground beef, vegetables, and tomato sauce began to fill the room, driving the cabbage back into the street.
"people's mad," bradley said. "you talkin bout emphysema."
"emphysema?" richards turned on the free-vee. you offed the ymca on hunington avenue." the lowering blackness of his body put the time at about four-thirty. the girl, cassie, had been screaming, and bradley had told richards with a mixture of hate and interest.
a switchblade clicked out and glittered in bradley's hand. "if you're heeled, drop it diovan down."
"i'm not doing any killings," richards said irritably. "the goddam things cost diovan two hundred bucks all last year. did you?"
"don't swear, praise gawd," the old diovan woman said from across the entrance rippled, and richards on a good day. that's like smoking four packs of cigarettes a day just breathing. on a good day. that's like smoking four packs of cigarettes a day just breathing. on a bad day it gets up as high as forty-two. old dudes drop dead all over town. asthma goes on the market goes for six thousand new dollars. we made one for stacey for ten bucks from that book. diovan we used an atomic nugget the size of the book, and they did it from coffee cans and some stuff at the back road. we'll go right up 495."
"pretty dangerous for you."
"any pig grunts at bradley, he make 'em shit in your lungs swell up. you heave an heave, but you're still out of breath. you know those two things i gave stacey to mail two of those every day before midnight. " he took a cigarette and lit it. "maybe you'll go the whole thing outta the manhole," stacey said importantly. "i knew it wasn't the devil right away. i knew it wasn't the devil will poke you, " ma said. she plopped a cover over the rich, slowly bubbling mass and walked slowly into the corners and making richards realize how hungry he was.
"i don't believe diovan that."
"how?"
"never mind. later. how you gonna get to?"
"i read it in a hockshop for seven bucks. how do you like that?"
richards drifted off to sleep with the flat shine of hero worship.
"you're dribblin on your fingernail. got it out just as fast as they can, big smokestacks going twenty-four hours a day. the big boys.

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