Hold the salt to help your heart
The Food and Drug Administration outlined new, voluntary guidelines to lower sodium levels in food. But those with high blood pressure or who are at risk for heart disease may want to consider simply saying no to sodium.
The FDA recommendations, rolling out gradually over the next 21/2 years, would steer daily sodium intake from 3,400 to 3,000 milligrams still higher than the 2,300 milligrams recommended by health experts. Dr. Amy Pollak, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, says a majority of salt intake in U.S. diets comes from processed or prepared foods.
Sprinkling salt can add flavor to food, but too much can raise our blood pressure too high.
“Having high blood pressure is a major risk for heart attack, for stroke, for heart failure even for things like dementia,” says Pollak.
Curbing salt use at the dinner table or when going out to eat can reduce blood pressure by up to 10 points.
“If you go out to eat and someone is preparing your food, just ask them, ‘Hey, don’t add any salt to my food, please,’” says Pollak.
When it comes to cooking at home, try adding more herbs, spices or sodium-free flavorings to replace salt.
“It takes a while to reset your taste buds to get used to that lower-salt diet, but you can really make up for any flavor deficits by using more spices or more herbs,” says Pollak.
Maintaining a healthy weight or losing weight can lower your blood pressure.
“Certainly, some people can have a more dramatic effect on blood pressure with weight loss, but where you can see the most bang for your buck is really in the low-salt diet,” says Pollak.
Q. One of my girlfriends had eye surgery and said they did it from the inside out. Is that even possible?
A. Yes, it’s possible. Your girlfriend probably had a trans-conjunctival blepharoplasty. She is likely talking about her lower eyelid surgery; the upper eyelid is generally done with an external incision.
Blepharoplasty, or eye surgery, can be done both externally and internally.
Upper eyelid surgery is straightforward in that the incision is made on the external skin in the normal crease. The idea is to remove extra skin and if there is bulging near the nose, remove parts of the medial fat pad. Most surgeons who perform this procedure do it in similar method.
The lower eyelid surgery is done externally when skin and some muscle needs to be removed along with three of the prominent fat pads. I generally start with the most lateral fat pad to remove the necessary fat so that the eye looks rejuvenated. Care must be taken not to take too much or leave extra fat.
When a surgery is done externally, a surgeon must not take too much skin or else you can change the shape of the eye or cause an ectropion or malposition. These occur when the lid doesn’t sit against the eye, creating a medical and cosmetic deformity.
When a patient is young, has had previous surgery and has some residual fat, the trans-conjunctival incision — inside the eye — is done. This means you can remove the extra fat without an external incision.
Another reason to do this is when a patient has a malposition of the lid where some of the white part of the eye is seen between the iris and the lower lid. By making the incision inside the eye, a cut is made through some of the lid’s depressor muscles. This way, you get some elevation so that the eye looks more normal after surgery.
When looking to have your eyes done, you should pick a facial plastic surgeon, oculoplastic surgeon or plastic surgeon who does facial surgery.
Dr. Carlos Wolf is a partner in Miami Plastic Surgery and is board certified. Email questions to him at Cwolf@miamiplasticsurgery.com