Looking good, Bill! That was the sentiment of many people who saw a slimmed-down Bill Clinton in the months before his surprising bypass surgery. So what went wrong? Local experts gave Q some tips on taking better care of your ticker:
Yo-yo dieting is a downer. “It makes it more difficult to keep the weight off permanently,” said Ivan Pacold, director of preventive cardiology at Loyola University Medical Center.
Change takes time. Clinton’s workouts and use of the South Beach Diet were too little, too late. “Hardening of the arteries is 20 years in the making in most patients,” Pacold said.
Fad diets are risky. “Any time you avoid certain food and nutrients, you run the risk of weakening your immune system,” said Linda Van Horn, who’s on the national nutrition committee for the American Heart Association and is a Northwestern University medical professor.
Exercise won’t kill you; lack of it will. “Who among us can’t walk 10 minutes three times a day?” said Van Horn.
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Fiber is good. Van Horn says fruit, vegetables and whole-grain products have been shown to lower blood cholesterol.