Flora Pro-Activ Spread

...has helped a lot is Flora Pro-activ spread. To know how it works you have to understand a bit about cholesterol. There are two kinds in the human body. ‘Good’ cholesterol, or HDL (high density liptoprotein), is harmless. The body gets rid of excess naturally. The bad guy is low density, LDL, and that stays in us, gradually furring up our arteries and leading to heart attacks and general ill health. This is not just a condition of old people. After ...
...the body shift it painlessly. Flora Pro-activ contains substances called plant sterols. These come from plants and wood pulp, and are similar in structure to cholesterol. They seem to work by binding the bad stuff to themselves so that the body doesn’t absorb it and it goes down the loo. Flora contains enough to lower your cholesterol significantly. This has been proved beyond any doubt at all in independent laboratory tests.

But how ... more

Heart disease is on the increase. Our lives today make that inevitable. We walk less, our homes have labour saving devices, we eat high fat convenience foods, and spend too long sitting watching television or at our computers. A cardiologist has described modern man as being like a polar bear in the desert. We just aren’t equipped to cope. In evolutionary terms, we should still be hunting our food, and running miles to do so.

I don’t think my life was all that unhealthy after I stopped smoking, but after my high blood pressure fright, which I’ve written about elsewhere, I did rethink my lifestyle, and found that some simple changes were quite easy to carry out. A product which has helped a lot is Flora Pro-activ spread. To know how it works you have to understand a bit about cholesterol. There are two kinds in the human body. ‘Good’ cholesterol, or HDL (high density liptoprotein), is harmless. The body gets rid of excess naturally. The bad guy is low density, LDL, and that stays in us, gradually furring up our arteries and leading to heart attacks and general ill health. This is not just a condition of old people. After the Gulf War, autopsies were carried out on some of the dead American soldiers, ‘fit’ young men, and the incidence of diseased arteries was alarmingly high. What we need to do is maintain the good cholesterol and cut down the bad. The liver produces most of it from the fats we eat, and we must have some to manufacture hormones, bile, vitamin D and cell membranes.

Until fairly recently the only way to cut down the bad cholesterol was to watch your diet very carefully indeed. But now science has come up with a way to help the body shift it painlessly. Flora Pro-activ contains substances called plant sterols. These come from plants and wood pulp, and are similar in structure to cholesterol. They seem to work by binding the bad stuff to themselves so that the body doesn’t absorb it and it goes down the loo. Flora contains enough to lower your cholesterol significantly. This has been proved beyond any doubt at all in independent laboratory tests.

But how does it taste, with that sterol stuff in it ? Very good indeed, creamy, buttery, with a smooth texture. It is the same buttercup yellow as butter. I prefer it to butter, and it spreads easily straight from the fridge, which many dairy products do not. You need very little to make a significant change : only 4-5 teaspoonfuls a day. You could use that up on your morning toast. If you don’t eat toast, it can be put on baked potatoes, in mashed potatoes, pasta, rice, couscous, bulgar wheat, on vegetables, in sauces. Hot food seems to bring out the taste even more. This amount, about 1 ounce or 20-25 grams, is all you need. Eating more does not have any effect in improving your cholesterol levels. The good results will show after about three weeks. It’s not suitable for baking or frying.

Pro-activ comes in a green and white pack. So do other spreads/margarines, so you have to hunt for it, and there are other Flora products which look similar, so make sure you see the words ‘Pro-activ’. It costs £2.02 for 250 grams, £3.78 for 500; Tesco’s current price. If you think that’s expensive, well, it’s under 20p a day, which I think is a fair price for improved health. How much chocolate or beer will 20p buy you ? How many cigarettes ? Of course, watching what else you eat will still be necessary.

Pro-activ is fine for people on medication, including diabetics, but it’s always advisable to check with your doctor if you have any health problems. You can test your own cholesterol level with kits bought from a chemist. The one I found entails pricking your finger and squeezing a fair amount of blood onto a test paper. It’s a bit of a fiddle, and people with blood or needle phobias wouldn’t like it. The cost of the kits varies enormously, so shop around. Alternatively, you can have your blood pressure and cholesterol checked at your doctor’s. Most group practices have this done by a nurse.

Having had a scare myself, my advice would be :
Try to take more exercise, if it’s only using stairs instead of the escalator or lift and dumping the remote control.
Cut right down on salt. I don’t add salt to anything, and I don’t miss it now. Things like crisps taste nasty.
Eat high fat foods sparingly.
Watch the booze intake.
Try to stop smoking.
Use vegetable oils for cooking. I love really good olive oil.
Eat oily fish twice a week. I hate it, but can manage sardines on toast mashed with vinegar for a quick lunch.
Eat your five servings of fruit and vegetables every day. If you don’t like them, juices count.
Eat Flora pro-activ every day.
If this sounds like a miserable life then yes, some of it is difficult for a week or so. When you get used to it, which you do very quickly, you’ll have taken out a fine insurance policy for a healthier life. You will also have done a lot to help your blood pressure if you have hypertension.

The Pro-active website is one of the best on the Net, colourful, fast, easy to navigate, stuffed with useful information, written in a way which is easy to follow without being at all patronising. There are tips on healthy living, recipes, a newsletter, and a very worthwhile club. You can read the notice board and see how this product has helped others. I’ve tried some of the recipes, and really enjoyed the plum and hazelnut crumble, and the bulgar wheat salad.

Most people agree that this spread tastes delicious. I really can’t recommend it too highly.
www.floraproactiv.co.uk
 

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