“Tu cita de salud” with Telemundo Reno and Community Health Alliance: Cholesterol Education Awareness Month

Learn tips on how to have healthy cholesterol levels.

Luis Latino: Good afternoon, friends! Thank you for joining us once again for Tu cita de salud (Your Health Appointment) with Community Health Alliance. With me today is Marcos Cota, a physician assistant at Community Health Alliance. How are you?

Marcos Cota: Very good!

Luis Latino: And today we’re going to talk about cholesterol. What is cholesterol?

Marcos Cota: Cholesterol is a part of our health that reproduces in the liver, and we evaluate it because there is a connection with heart attacks and cardiovascular health issues. There is also a connection with the number one cause of death in the United States which is heart disease.

Luis Latino: Perfect! In addition, it’s National Cholesterol Education Month. There is good and bad cholesterol, can you tell us the difference between the two?

Marcos Cota: There are several numbers we look at to evaluate cholesterol. We want good cholesterol that is high. Good and high cholesterol adds protection over vascular brain activity or heart attacks. We want cholesterol under 100 and if it’s over 100, it’s the one that has connection to heart problems.

Luis Latino: What is the main cause of cholesterol issues?

Marcos Cota: There are several cholesterol issues. One is food, typically, a diet high in fats. Lack of exercise is related to high cholesterol levels and causes bad cholesterol. And occasionally, we have high bad cholesterol. In this case, we change the diet and exercise. If it’s still high and results are not normal, it may be because of genetics and there’s a family member that has high cholesterol. At that time, it is not necessarily diet or exercise, and we must consider medicine.

Luis Latino: What can we do to avoid problems with cholesterol?

Marcos Cota: If cholesterol is not the result of genetics, then exercise, and a low-fat diet with many fruits and vegetables. Also, low-fat protein chicken and fish are good examples. We recommend 150 minutes of exercise five days a week or 30 minutes a day, where one is sweating.

Luis Latino: What is Community Health Alliance doing to prevent high cholesterol among its patients?

Marcos Cota: We do various things. The number one thing is to do testing to evaluate their cholesterol. Then we start the conversation of what they need to do. Exercise, change the diet, if it doesn’t work then we must prescribe medicine. We have pharmacies at three Community Health Alliance locations where we offer low-cost medicine. We also have prescription food pantries that offer balanced food for people who don’t have the resources.

Luis Latino: Thank you very much, Marcos, for being here with us at Tu cita de salud (Your Health Appointment).

Community Health Alliance is accepting new patients. To make an appointment, call (775) 329-6300 or pre-register online.