The holiday season and especially Christmas is associated by most with a relaxed mood, the opportunity to sit with family and friends, an abundance of food.

Despite the festive atmosphere and good mood, changing lifestyle habits during the holiday season can be accompanied by deviations in healthy eating that “hide” the risks, says EKPA School of Medicine President, Professor of Cardiology Gerasimos Siassos.

“Increased intake of calories, glucose, meat, alcohol, and, in some cases, reduced physical activity can increase body weight, impair sugar regulation in patients with diabetes, and, of course, disrupt the overall cardiometabolic profile,” he notes. in APE-MEP.

Holistic approach to prevention

In the area of ​​cardiovascular disease prevention, in recent years attention has been focused on reducing overall cardiovascular risk, says Mr. Siassos.

The total cardiovascular risk is calculated based on ready-made applications that take into account age, gender, smoking, arterial hypertension and cholesterol levels.

In the presence of documented cardiovascular disease or diabetes for more than 10 years, cardiovascular risk is very high and requires special attention and more aggressive regulation-reduction of risk factors.

The reduction in overall cardiovascular risk is achieved by reducing each individual risk factor so that the overall cardiovascular risk is small.

“Therefore, it is important to fight smoking, hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia. “Particularly for hyperlipidemia, target LDL cholesterol levels (or otherwise “normal values”) are assessed on a case-by-case basis depending on the overall cardiovascular risk,” he adds.

What products should we prefer?

He adds that “the best way to achieve a good lipid profile is a Mediterranean diet rich in legumes, fish, olive oil, fruits and vegetables. It is also important to avoid foods containing saturated fatty acids and limit alcohol intake to less than 100 grams per week or no more than one glass per day. Leisure time while on vacation can also give us the opportunity to start some kind of activity that can promote both calorie loss and body weight regulation, as well as change in risk factors, especially serum glucose and lipid levels.”

Mr. Siassos explains that “Lipid tests include measuring LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides and apolipoprotein B. We are mainly interested in LDL or ‘bad cholesterol’.” Depending on how many risk factors a patient has, the values ​​should be below 100 when they are at medium risk, below 70 when they are at high risk, and below 55 when they are at very high risk, or have documented cardiovascular disease.

For triglycerides, when they are >200mg/dl, we usually prescribe LDL-cholesterol drugs first, and only if they remain high, we also prescribe specific triglyceride drugs (fibrates).

In recent years, the role of Lp(α) lipoprotein in cardiovascular risk, the levels of which are largely genetically determined, has been emphasized. Individuals at high risk should be measured at least once (high levels are considered > 50 mg/dL or > 125 nmol/L).”

It turns out that the holiday season can be an opportunity to check our health, review our goals and habits, and switch to a healthier lifestyle and diet.

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