Over 300,000 people in North America die each year from stroke. Another 700,000 die each year from heart attack. The most common type of both stroke and heart attack is ischemic disease, caused by a blood clot. Damage occurs when the blood clot reduces – and then totally blocks – circulation in an artery. The tissue nourished by that artery begins to die almost immediately.
The nature of blood clots
Blood clots are a miracle when they occur in the right place at the right time. If a blood vessel is injured it sends out chemical distress signals that cause platelets to seal the leak. Platelets are small, white cells that are normally very slippery. They become sticky when the lining of the blood vessel (the endothelium) is damaged.
The endothelium sends chemical messages to the platelets.
The platelets send chemical messages to attract fibrin proteins.
Fibrin proteins are like string that becomes very sticky and ties the groups of platelets together. This is an immature or “white” blood clot.
If the leak is not sealed by this “white” clot, larger red blood cells are tied to the platelets by fibrin to form a “red” clot.
Blood clots in the wrong place – at the wrong time
Problems occur when these clots happen in the wrong place at the wrong time. For example, one probable cause of migraine headaches is inappropriate communication between blood vessels and platelets. If a single blood vessel cramps or spasms it can signal platelets to become so sticky that they restrict circulation in the rest of the brain. Ischemic strokes and heart attacks are often caused by mature red clots breaking free of the injured area and blocking arteries in the heart or brain.
Interestingly, blockages from blood clots can occur in any area of the body. For instance, a person can have a “stroke” that injures the lungs or kidneys. Deep vein thrombosis in the legs is the exact same kind of vascular disease that causes stroke or heart attack.
The key to preventing damage is to make sure that the clots form only when and where they are supposed to. This is only possible with accurate communication between the endothelium in the blood vessels and the clotting mechanisms in the red blood cells, platelets and fibrin. Simple nutrients can have profound effects on improving this communication – and I make several suggestions later in this report.
Working smarter, not harder
Blood thinners force platelets and fibrin to ignore clotting signals from the endothelium. When a person is having a stroke these drugs are life-saving because the blood vessels, platelets and fibrin are getting the message to clot in the wrong place at the wrong time. One new class of drugs triggers the release of nitric oxide to open the blood vessels. Nitric oxide also helps the blood vessels, platelets and fibrin proteins communicate clearly. To prevent blood vessel miscommunication in the first place, high nitric oxide levels are needed.
Nitric oxide is made from nitrogen; nitrogen comes from fruits and vegetables. Eating up to nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day will make your clotting system very smart! Plant-based foods have been proven to improve your health – including the health of your circulatory system.
Smart nutrients
Adaptogen 10 Plus®
Dr. Nathan Bryan, cardiologist and specialist in nitric oxide communication, recommends Adaptogen 10 Plus to help increase nitric oxide. Adaptogen 10 Plus also helps protect against stress. Stress alone – without any help from cholesterol – causes blood vessel spasms which may result in blood clots. So, a good first step in improving the health of your circulatory system is to eat your fruits and vegetables every day and take whole-food supplements like Adaptogen 10 Plus.
OmegaPrime®Essential fatty acids such as those in OmegaPrime can help keep the platelets from getting sticky at the wrong time. Dr. Dwight Lundell, cardiologist and specialist in bypass surgery, recommends the Omega-3 EFA in OmegaPrime as a prime tool to help protect against inappropriate clotting. We need 1–4 grams of Omega-3 every day (2–6 OmegaPrime soft gels).
HCY Guard®Dr. Kilmer McCully, cardiologist and specialist in vascular health, recommends the protective nutrients found in HCY Guard to help your body reduce homocysteine (HCY). HCY is one culprit in forming clots at the wrong place and time. Taking a single HCY Guard sublingual lozenge daily can help your body reduce homocysteine up to 35% – in as little as 42 days!
Other nutrients such as Vitamin E, turmeric and ginger, and Vitamin C all provide information for your blood clotting system to work smarter. Smart nutrients are the key to making good decisions about where and when to activate this miraculous system!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
The Unexpected Benefits of Vitamin C
The Unexpected Benefits of Vitamin C
A professor of mine once told me that newly graduated doctors have 100 cures for every disease. Experienced doctors often use one remedy for 100 diseases. It seems that this is proving to be quite true with our old friend, Vitamin C.
The best Vitamin C
There are many types of Vitamin C. Some supplements contain diverse minerals while others contain related ingredients like bioflavonoids. There are good reasons for each of these additions. Yet, time has not proven the fancier forms to be superior to the natural, non-acidic form of Vitamin C (sodium-L-ascorbate).
The primary pathway for Vitamin C transport into the bloodstream is through the sodium transport channel. Now, sodium has a really bad reputation because many of us put too much salt (sodium chloride) on our food. But, the fruits and vegetables we eat are naturally very high in sodium. Our blood is naturally high in sodium. In fact, the sodium content of our blood is about 32 times greater than the potassium level in our blood. It is comparable to the sodium content in sea water.
Dr. Libby’s Vital C has the best profile for absorption of this important nutrient.
New uses for an old remedy
Three articles in medical literature recently caught my attention.
Toxins
The first one was a two-year-long discussion about the protective effects of Vitamin C against pesticides and other environmental toxins. This is important because we dump 2.5 million tons of pesticides into our biosphere every year (Environmental Medicine part 4, Dr. Walter Crinnon).
The discussion of Vitamin C and pesticides was published in 2007 and 2008 in the journal Toxicology and Industrial Health. It clearly shows the protective effect of large amounts of Vitamin C against common environmental toxins.
Cholesterol
The second article appeared in the February 2008 edition of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry. It demonstrated another benefit of Vitamin C in people with elevated cholesterol. You see, Vitamin C in the liver binds excess cholesterol and drains it through the bile ducts into the intestines. Fiber in the intestines soaks up the cholesterol and carries it out of the body. If our diet does not have enough fiber to eliminate the cholesterol we will likely reabsorb it. In fact, most of the cholesterol in our bloodstream has been excreted and reabsorbed numerous times.
Vitamin C binds cholesterol and takes it out of the liver. Vitamin C also helps protect the lining of blood vessels – making them like Teflon to sticky LDL cholesterol. Instead of damaging the blood vessels, oxidized LDL slides off the walls of your arteries and is carried back to the liver by HDL cholesterol.
Blood pressure
The third article came from the October 2008 Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypertension. It clearly showed how large reservoirs of Vitamin C can help reduce high blood pressure. Antioxidants (especially Vitamin C) may reduce poisons in the tissues called aldehydes – think of the poison formaldehyde as a good example. Poisons drive up blood pressure; Vitamin C helps drive down poisons and can result in blood pressure reduction.
Conclusion
Health is built one habit at a time. The more we learn and live the 10 Essentials for Health and Wellness, the healthier we become. Essential #4 tells us to eat nutritiously – including the proper use of supplements. Science is firmly behind using nutrients and nurturing to improve the quality of our lives.
A professor of mine once told me that newly graduated doctors have 100 cures for every disease. Experienced doctors often use one remedy for 100 diseases. It seems that this is proving to be quite true with our old friend, Vitamin C.
The best Vitamin C
There are many types of Vitamin C. Some supplements contain diverse minerals while others contain related ingredients like bioflavonoids. There are good reasons for each of these additions. Yet, time has not proven the fancier forms to be superior to the natural, non-acidic form of Vitamin C (sodium-L-ascorbate).
The primary pathway for Vitamin C transport into the bloodstream is through the sodium transport channel. Now, sodium has a really bad reputation because many of us put too much salt (sodium chloride) on our food. But, the fruits and vegetables we eat are naturally very high in sodium. Our blood is naturally high in sodium. In fact, the sodium content of our blood is about 32 times greater than the potassium level in our blood. It is comparable to the sodium content in sea water.
Dr. Libby’s Vital C has the best profile for absorption of this important nutrient.
New uses for an old remedy
Three articles in medical literature recently caught my attention.
Toxins
The first one was a two-year-long discussion about the protective effects of Vitamin C against pesticides and other environmental toxins. This is important because we dump 2.5 million tons of pesticides into our biosphere every year (Environmental Medicine part 4, Dr. Walter Crinnon).
The discussion of Vitamin C and pesticides was published in 2007 and 2008 in the journal Toxicology and Industrial Health. It clearly shows the protective effect of large amounts of Vitamin C against common environmental toxins.
Cholesterol
The second article appeared in the February 2008 edition of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry. It demonstrated another benefit of Vitamin C in people with elevated cholesterol. You see, Vitamin C in the liver binds excess cholesterol and drains it through the bile ducts into the intestines. Fiber in the intestines soaks up the cholesterol and carries it out of the body. If our diet does not have enough fiber to eliminate the cholesterol we will likely reabsorb it. In fact, most of the cholesterol in our bloodstream has been excreted and reabsorbed numerous times.
Vitamin C binds cholesterol and takes it out of the liver. Vitamin C also helps protect the lining of blood vessels – making them like Teflon to sticky LDL cholesterol. Instead of damaging the blood vessels, oxidized LDL slides off the walls of your arteries and is carried back to the liver by HDL cholesterol.
Blood pressure
The third article came from the October 2008 Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypertension. It clearly showed how large reservoirs of Vitamin C can help reduce high blood pressure. Antioxidants (especially Vitamin C) may reduce poisons in the tissues called aldehydes – think of the poison formaldehyde as a good example. Poisons drive up blood pressure; Vitamin C helps drive down poisons and can result in blood pressure reduction.
Conclusion
Health is built one habit at a time. The more we learn and live the 10 Essentials for Health and Wellness, the healthier we become. Essential #4 tells us to eat nutritiously – including the proper use of supplements. Science is firmly behind using nutrients and nurturing to improve the quality of our lives.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Multivitamins are Important
Why Multivitamins Are So Important
As you review your diet of the past week, ask yourself, “Did I eat the right amount of fruits and vegetables every day?” (Five servings for children, seven servings for women and nine servings for men.) If you can say “yes” – congratulations! If you are like most people you did not reach that goal. And, if you are like most of us, you did not eat all of your fruits and vegetables from an organic source; so, the fruits and vegetables may have been lacking in nutrition. This is why I suggest TriVita NutraFruits. It's the quick and easy way to help you reach your goals.
Staying on top of our nutrient reserve is important. Our bodies make millions of new cells every day: heart cells, brain cells, bone and blood cells. Every time a cell dies it should be replaced. If you do not have the right amount of nutrients to construct a new cell you will either make an incomplete cell or none at all. The outcome is bad in either case, so we really need to keep all nutrients on board at all times. This is why we suggest a multiple vitamin and mineral supplement.
Supplements
The word supplement means in addition to something – to make up for a deficiency. Vitamin and mineral supplements should be taken in addition to a healthy diet. They make up for the deficiency we face due to the poor nutrient density in our foods. They also help out when our diet is less than perfect.
However, supplements won’t make up for bad dietary choices. We simply must commit ourselves to eating healthier foods, especially fruits and vegetables. Still, most of us realize that we don’t always attend to our diet perfectly. We get busy and don’t always think ahead. After all, we eat to live; we don’t live to eat!
Balance
A multiple vitamin and mineral supplement should reflect the nutrient levels of a normal, healthy diet. In other words, if a nutrient normally appears in the diet at a particular level, this level should be reflected in the vitamin. Vitamins C and B-12 are notable exceptions because our ability to absorb them decreases with age. Even more important than the level of the nutrients is the balance of nutrients. The correct proportion of nutrients needs to be maintained. Otherwise, the supplement will create a greater imbalance than it was meant to solve.
A good example of this is the Norwegian Vitamin Trial for heart health (NORVIT). This trial involved a vitamin cocktail that had the right ingredients. But it was so horribly out of balance that it resulted in the deaths of some of the participants by creating severe nutrient imbalances.
How can you tell if your multivitamin supplement is imbalanced?
One way is to notice your urine after you take the supplement. If it turns bright yellow or orange after taking a vitamin you can suspect that this supplement is imbalanced. Now, to be fair, the person taking the vitamin may be imbalanced instead. This happens if someone has eaten an imbalanced diet for some time. Still, it is more often the supplement that is imbalanced, not the person.
Conclusion
So, was that discussion about supplements valuable to you? I hope so. Remember, there are a lot of voices speaking to you about everything from which toothpaste to use to which car to buy. You simply must find a voice you can trust. My ultimate hope in writing the Weekly Wellness Report is to give you reliable, trustworthy information you can use to make the best choices!
As you review your diet of the past week, ask yourself, “Did I eat the right amount of fruits and vegetables every day?” (Five servings for children, seven servings for women and nine servings for men.) If you can say “yes” – congratulations! If you are like most people you did not reach that goal. And, if you are like most of us, you did not eat all of your fruits and vegetables from an organic source; so, the fruits and vegetables may have been lacking in nutrition. This is why I suggest TriVita NutraFruits. It's the quick and easy way to help you reach your goals.
Staying on top of our nutrient reserve is important. Our bodies make millions of new cells every day: heart cells, brain cells, bone and blood cells. Every time a cell dies it should be replaced. If you do not have the right amount of nutrients to construct a new cell you will either make an incomplete cell or none at all. The outcome is bad in either case, so we really need to keep all nutrients on board at all times. This is why we suggest a multiple vitamin and mineral supplement.
Supplements
The word supplement means in addition to something – to make up for a deficiency. Vitamin and mineral supplements should be taken in addition to a healthy diet. They make up for the deficiency we face due to the poor nutrient density in our foods. They also help out when our diet is less than perfect.
However, supplements won’t make up for bad dietary choices. We simply must commit ourselves to eating healthier foods, especially fruits and vegetables. Still, most of us realize that we don’t always attend to our diet perfectly. We get busy and don’t always think ahead. After all, we eat to live; we don’t live to eat!
Balance
A multiple vitamin and mineral supplement should reflect the nutrient levels of a normal, healthy diet. In other words, if a nutrient normally appears in the diet at a particular level, this level should be reflected in the vitamin. Vitamins C and B-12 are notable exceptions because our ability to absorb them decreases with age. Even more important than the level of the nutrients is the balance of nutrients. The correct proportion of nutrients needs to be maintained. Otherwise, the supplement will create a greater imbalance than it was meant to solve.
A good example of this is the Norwegian Vitamin Trial for heart health (NORVIT). This trial involved a vitamin cocktail that had the right ingredients. But it was so horribly out of balance that it resulted in the deaths of some of the participants by creating severe nutrient imbalances.
How can you tell if your multivitamin supplement is imbalanced?
One way is to notice your urine after you take the supplement. If it turns bright yellow or orange after taking a vitamin you can suspect that this supplement is imbalanced. Now, to be fair, the person taking the vitamin may be imbalanced instead. This happens if someone has eaten an imbalanced diet for some time. Still, it is more often the supplement that is imbalanced, not the person.
Conclusion
So, was that discussion about supplements valuable to you? I hope so. Remember, there are a lot of voices speaking to you about everything from which toothpaste to use to which car to buy. You simply must find a voice you can trust. My ultimate hope in writing the Weekly Wellness Report is to give you reliable, trustworthy information you can use to make the best choices!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Don’t Be Slowed Down by Weight Loss Speed Bumps
Don’t Be Slowed Down by Weight Loss Speed Bumps
This is the perfect time of year for an encouraging article on keeping your weight loss goals. Why? Because nearly half of all people in North America make New Year’s resolutions – and the most common resolution is to lose weight.
Within a few weeks the number of people sticking to their resolve declines dramatically. Given the importance of improving our behavior, an encouraging word from an ally may be just the thing we all need to keep our resolve!
Mechanics of weight loss
Let’s review the best advice for weight loss that we have gathered from expert sources over the last several years.
How
Reduce your caloric intake to match your basal metabolic rate (BMR). BMR represents the number of calories your body needs at rest; in other words, your body burns these calories through basic functions. So, BMR represents the ideal number of calories you should eat in a day.
Increase your activity to burn one to two pounds of fat per week.
When
Never eat within two hours of bedtime.
Morning exercise is a bit better than evening exercise.
Never consume more than 400 calories in an hour.
What
Eat according to an organized plan. For example, the South Beach, Ornish and Mediterranean diets all provide customized dieting tools.
Do both aerobic and resistance exercises most days of the week.
Why
Your sense of purpose will help drive your success.
Speed bumps
Somewhere along the way you are going to experience discouragement, disappointment or despondency. It may be when:
You hit a weight loss plateau.
You see others doing what you used to do and the old habits pull at your heart.
Your inner voices – I call them my “council of critics” – start to tell you lies about failure and success.
What do you do when you hit a speed bump?
The answer to this question does not lie in the “how, when, what” of weight loss. The answer lies in the “why.” Your personal “why” gives you energy. It inspires you, motivates you, and drives you to complete your goal.
Remember to let your desire fuel your action; let your actions harmonize with your sense of purpose. Simply be resolved to live a life of purpose and you will have the energy to get beyond the speed bumps.
Common setbacks
Unsupportive family: Losing weight with an uncooperative family is very difficult. In fact, diet failure is far more common among people with kids at home than among empty-nesters. A great solution is to turn those sources of distraction into cheerleaders. Recruit your family into your support group. Ask them for help and you may be surprised how helpful a supportive family can be.
Parties and gatherings: Parties and family gatherings are another trigger for setbacks. Food and a festive environment are catalysts for overeating and skipping exercise. Careful planning in advance can really help with food selection and an exercise schedule. And if you do overindulge, remember the “calories in, calories out” rule and increase your exercise for a week or two to burn off the extra calories.
Emotional speed bumps: Depression, discouragement and despondency are also common triggers for diet failure. Remembering the 10 Essentials for Health and Wellness can be a good antidote. For instance, Essential #6 teaches us that we need to give and receive love for excellent health. Love moves us to commit ourselves to a life of purpose. Purpose is the reason for action. Therefore, love can help us avoid fear, shame and doubt.
Conclusion
When we commit ourselves to such noble pursuits, do they not deserve our very best attention? We need to define our purpose as the foundation for success. Purpose is an important motivation to help us reshape our thinking. Purpose is the antidote to self-sabotage.
Ponder each of these 10 life-changing essentials for healthy living. You will soon see that each of these gems reflect the light you need to see beliefs that no longer serve your best interests. You can confront self-sabotage and slay the dragons that keep you from reaching your goals. Also, learning and living the 10 Essentials provides you with powerful tools to reshape your attitudes into the very ones that can help you to reach your goals, live the life you want and fulfill your purpose.
Take Control of Your Health
Plan a balance of calories and activity for lifetime weight control
Eat the optimal amount of fruits and vegetables daily
Men: 9 servings
Women: 7 servings
Children: 5 servings
Plan 30 minutes of aerobic activity most days of the week
Do resistance training 2-5 times per week
Supplement to support the four stages of weight loss:
Energy and Metabolism: Leanology Weight Loss Capsules help increase metabolism and energy to support your body’s ability to burn more calories at rest.
Cortisol and Stress Management: Leanology Weight Loss Capsules help to limit cortisol production in your body – cortisol is the stress-induced hormone that can lead to abdominal fat.
Appetite Control: Leanology Appetite Control Chews help reduce the natural hunger signals in your body, minimizing cravings.
Blood Sugar Control: Leanology Nutritional Shakes help your body use the nutrients you eat as energy, rather than storing them as fat.
This is the perfect time of year for an encouraging article on keeping your weight loss goals. Why? Because nearly half of all people in North America make New Year’s resolutions – and the most common resolution is to lose weight.
Within a few weeks the number of people sticking to their resolve declines dramatically. Given the importance of improving our behavior, an encouraging word from an ally may be just the thing we all need to keep our resolve!
Mechanics of weight loss
Let’s review the best advice for weight loss that we have gathered from expert sources over the last several years.
How
Reduce your caloric intake to match your basal metabolic rate (BMR). BMR represents the number of calories your body needs at rest; in other words, your body burns these calories through basic functions. So, BMR represents the ideal number of calories you should eat in a day.
Increase your activity to burn one to two pounds of fat per week.
When
Never eat within two hours of bedtime.
Morning exercise is a bit better than evening exercise.
Never consume more than 400 calories in an hour.
What
Eat according to an organized plan. For example, the South Beach, Ornish and Mediterranean diets all provide customized dieting tools.
Do both aerobic and resistance exercises most days of the week.
Why
Your sense of purpose will help drive your success.
Speed bumps
Somewhere along the way you are going to experience discouragement, disappointment or despondency. It may be when:
You hit a weight loss plateau.
You see others doing what you used to do and the old habits pull at your heart.
Your inner voices – I call them my “council of critics” – start to tell you lies about failure and success.
What do you do when you hit a speed bump?
The answer to this question does not lie in the “how, when, what” of weight loss. The answer lies in the “why.” Your personal “why” gives you energy. It inspires you, motivates you, and drives you to complete your goal.
Remember to let your desire fuel your action; let your actions harmonize with your sense of purpose. Simply be resolved to live a life of purpose and you will have the energy to get beyond the speed bumps.
Common setbacks
Unsupportive family: Losing weight with an uncooperative family is very difficult. In fact, diet failure is far more common among people with kids at home than among empty-nesters. A great solution is to turn those sources of distraction into cheerleaders. Recruit your family into your support group. Ask them for help and you may be surprised how helpful a supportive family can be.
Parties and gatherings: Parties and family gatherings are another trigger for setbacks. Food and a festive environment are catalysts for overeating and skipping exercise. Careful planning in advance can really help with food selection and an exercise schedule. And if you do overindulge, remember the “calories in, calories out” rule and increase your exercise for a week or two to burn off the extra calories.
Emotional speed bumps: Depression, discouragement and despondency are also common triggers for diet failure. Remembering the 10 Essentials for Health and Wellness can be a good antidote. For instance, Essential #6 teaches us that we need to give and receive love for excellent health. Love moves us to commit ourselves to a life of purpose. Purpose is the reason for action. Therefore, love can help us avoid fear, shame and doubt.
Conclusion
When we commit ourselves to such noble pursuits, do they not deserve our very best attention? We need to define our purpose as the foundation for success. Purpose is an important motivation to help us reshape our thinking. Purpose is the antidote to self-sabotage.
Ponder each of these 10 life-changing essentials for healthy living. You will soon see that each of these gems reflect the light you need to see beliefs that no longer serve your best interests. You can confront self-sabotage and slay the dragons that keep you from reaching your goals. Also, learning and living the 10 Essentials provides you with powerful tools to reshape your attitudes into the very ones that can help you to reach your goals, live the life you want and fulfill your purpose.
Take Control of Your Health
Plan a balance of calories and activity for lifetime weight control
Eat the optimal amount of fruits and vegetables daily
Men: 9 servings
Women: 7 servings
Children: 5 servings
Plan 30 minutes of aerobic activity most days of the week
Do resistance training 2-5 times per week
Supplement to support the four stages of weight loss:
Energy and Metabolism: Leanology Weight Loss Capsules help increase metabolism and energy to support your body’s ability to burn more calories at rest.
Cortisol and Stress Management: Leanology Weight Loss Capsules help to limit cortisol production in your body – cortisol is the stress-induced hormone that can lead to abdominal fat.
Appetite Control: Leanology Appetite Control Chews help reduce the natural hunger signals in your body, minimizing cravings.
Blood Sugar Control: Leanology Nutritional Shakes help your body use the nutrients you eat as energy, rather than storing them as fat.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
New Year New You
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