![]() Happy (belated) Valentine's Day! I hope everyone had a chance to get out there and spread some love. Last week we covered food. I get asked so often if there's something natural people can take to fix the cholesterol or the insulin resistance or the blood pressure. Today we'll go over the three magic bullets to keep your heart healthy. Unfortunately, you have to do some work and they don't come in pill form. Hey, why not stand up while you're reading this? 1. Stress less. We have two modes of our nervous system. Our sympathetic mode is our fight-or-flight response when cortisol production ramps up, adrenaline gets going, blood pressure increases, blood sugar increases, and we're prepped for fighting or running for our lives. Except these days, we're fighting traffic, deadlines, grocery lines, etc. This leaves our parasympathetic system (aka your rest-and-digest response) struggling to get your body repaired and fuelled properly. It's hard to repair all of that vascular damage from consistent high blood pressure when, well, you don't get a good change to repair it. Signs you're over-stressed: you're reaching for coffee when you're tired, you're reaching for the sleeping pills because you can't sleep, you're slathering the cortisone cream on your eczema, you have IBS, your hair is falling out, your periods are wonky, you're having a smoke at any time... to name just a few. Breathe. Don't sweat the small stuff. Practice gratitude. Leave earlier. Ask for help. Quit smoking. Sloooooowwww doooowwwnnn. 2. Eat well. Not sugar. Sugar, especially fructose, gets metabolized into the bad cholesterol in your liver. This clogs arteries. Sugar is pro-inflammatory. This oxidizes cholesterol in your arteries. This creates a perfect storm for a heart attack and some really bad times. These clogs also create a perfect storm to throw a clot out into your circulation and cause a stroke. Again, really bad times. Eat whole, real food. Can you pronounce that ingredient? Is it from a package? Will it go bad? Ask yourself all of these questions when prepping for meals. I get it - you're busy. You're tired. It's been a long day. That's okay. Please know that there are really easy swaps and excellent, tasty choices out there to keep you risk for heart disease low, you just need to know where to look for them. Talk to a nutritionist or a licensed ND about what easy swaps you can make. You don't need to overhaul anything. If you'd like a place to start, eat more fibre by adding an extra 2 servings of fruit or veggies each day. 3. Move your body. Sedentary lifestyles put you at a high risk for cardiovascular problems. Set an alarm in your phone to do a lap or two around your office every hour. Get exercising. It doesn't have to be running an hour a day - do something slow and relaxing if you're predisposed to anxiety or stress. Yoga is just as effective as other exercise for reducing cardiovascular risk. Get out the door, walk for 10 minutes, then turn around and come back. Get some buddies on your team and do it together. The point is you just need to move your body. Did you stand up while you read this? High five to you! I know these seem quite obvious and we've all heard them a thousand times. Unfortunately, there's no lazy way around these 3 magic bullets, but they are proven to work again and again. Now get out there, take some deep breaths, grab an apple, and move! References: Yang Q, Zhang Z, Gregg EW, Flanders WD, Merritt R, Hu FB. Added Sugar Intake and Cardiovascular Diseases Mortality Among US Adults. JAMA Intern Med. 2014;174(4):516-524. Xiao Q, Keadle SK, Hollenbeck AR, Matthews CE. Sleep duration and total and cause-specific mortality in a large US cohort: interrelationships with physical activity, sedentary behavior, and body mass index. Am J Epidemiol. 2014 Nov 15;180(10):997-1006. Xiao Q, Keadle SK, Hollenbeck AR, Matthews CE. Sleep duration and total and cause-specific mortality in a large US cohort: interrelationships with physical activity, sedentary behavior, and body mass index. Am J Epidemiol. 2014 Nov 15;180(10):997-1006. Chu P, Gotink RA, Yeh GY, Goldie SJ, Hunink MM. The effectiveness of yoga in modifying risk factors for cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2014 Dec 15. Eaton RJ, Bradley G, Morrissey S. Positive predispositions, quality of life and chronic illness. Psychol Health Med. 2014;19(4):473-89.
0 Comments
![]() There's tons of information out there when it comes to what to eat and when. Is butter good? Saturated fat? Egg yolks? If you're still stuck on the egg-white omelettes, read on. When it comes to heart health and researched diets, the Mediterranean Diet is king, but its buddy, the DASH diet, is also a winner. Let's go over the best stuff to eat for keeping your heart happy! The Mediterranean Diet Breakdown:
What it does:
The DASH Diet Breakdown:
What it does:
Busting the Myths: Please, don't waste those egg yolks!
Adding a pat of butter is fine.
Cholesterol and sugar are connected. Strongly. Minimize your sugar.
So, now we cheers with our one glass of red wine to these amazing, risk-reducing, delicious-tasting menus! References: Turati F, et al. Glycemic load and coronary heart disease in a Mediterranean population: The EPIC Greek cohort study. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2014 Dec 11 Sofi F, Macchi C, Abbate R, Genuine GF, Casini A. Mediterranean diet and health status: an updated meta-analysis and a proposal for a literature-based adherence score. Public Health Nutr. 2014 Dec;17(12):2769-82. Alkerwi A, et al. Cross-comparison of diet quality indices for predicting chronic disease risk: findings from the Observation of Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Luxembourg (ORISCAV-LUX) study. Br J Nutr. 2014 Dec 5:1-11. Martinez-Gonzalez MA, et al. Empirically-derived food patterns and the risk of total mortality and cardiovascular events in the PREDIMED study. Clin Nutr. 2014 Sep 16. Siervo M, et al. Effects of the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet on cardiovascular risk factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Nutr. 2014 Nov 28:1-15. Saneei P, Salehi-Abargouei A, Esmaillzadeh A, Azadbakht L. Influence of Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet on blood pressure: a systematic review and meta-analysis on randomized controlled trials. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2014 Dec;24(12):1253-61. Stradling C, Hamid M, Taheri S, Thomas GN. A review of dietary influences on cardiovascular health: part 2: dietary patterns. Cardiovasc Hematol Disord Drug Targets. 2014;14(1):50-63. Kelishadi R, Mansourian M, Heidari-Beni M. Association of fructose consumption and components of metabolic syndrome in human studies: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutrition. 2014 May;30(5):503-10. ![]() It’s always the right time to give your ticker a little TLC. From hemp hearts to happiness, this month I’ll be giving you some weekly tips on the best ways to keep your cardiovascular system healthy. I would say at least half of my patients over 40 are on at least one medication for a cardiovascular-related health concern: blood pressure and cholesterol are the biggest ones. There are some great herbs and supplements with lots of research behind them that can help these meds to work best and support the rest of the cardio system, but we won’t discuss those here since it’s quite individualized. Plus, if you’re on meds, talk to a licensed ND who will make sure there’s no contraindications. Beyond meds and supplements, what else can be done? LOTS! First, review your risk factors for heart disease to see where you can make some best-bang-for-your-buck changes. Here’s the biggest, changeable factors according to the Heart and Stroke Foundation:
There certainly are some things that we can’t do much about: genetics and health history are two of them but they certainly aren’t a guarantee. If you have a strong family history of heart disease, there’s lots you can do to change your fate. Stay tuned: up next week, we'll go over the best foods for your heart. Hint: they're (unfortunately) not cinnamon hearts. |
Archives
June 2017
Categories
All
|