Did you know that heart disease – that is the #1 killer of men and women – is something like 80% preventable? This is what current statistics say and it’s good news for everyone who wants to target physical wellness.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention published statistics that 715,000 Americans have heart attacks each year and that 600,000 people die as a result.
If you can reduce your risk of having a heart attack or lower your risk of vascular disease, would you do it?
The first thing you need to understand is that the heart is not a single organ operating on its own in your body. It is attached to your vascular and lymphatic systems and is controlled by your nervous system.
If there is something wrong with your blood vessels, it is going to affect your heart. What kinds of things get into your blood stream?
- Food from your digestive tract
- Environmental toxins
- Anything absorbed through your lungs or skin
Heart Disease: A Disease of Choice?
- Are you a smoker?
- Is your cholesterol high?
- Are you overweight?
- Do you have high blood pressure?
- Is your diabetes out of control?
- Do you exercise on a regular basis?
All of the above are lifestyle choices. You have to choose to exercise. You have to choose to stop smoking. You have to do what it takes to lower your blood pressure or cholesterol or get to a healthy weight.
Cholesterol levels are usually the first thing assessed in evaluating heart health. WebMD states that: “Abnormal cholesterol levels such as high LDL cholesterol or low HDL cholesterol are a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.”
Doctors use two primary indicators of heart disease: homocysteine and C-reactive Protein (CRP) levels. High blood homocysteine can cause a sudden-death heart attack or stroke. CRP levels measure inflammation and high levels put you at risk for heart disease as well as many other diseases.
Your diet plays a big role in heart disease prevention. It can help you control cholesterol and your weight. Eating the right foods helps give you the energy for physical activity and can prevent diseases like diabetes.
So the food you eat and the lifestyle choices you make every day do matter. If you smoke, stop smoking NOW. And if you don’t want to develop heart disease, make the right choices.
Wellness Supplements and Your Heart
There have been many clinical studies of supplements and heart health. Most don’t provide conclusive results and many are what I call doomed from the start. That’s because the trials primarily use aged individuals who are already sick.
Diseased tissues and cells in your body lack nutrients that would keep you healthy. Every day your body replaces millions of cells – in your skin, muscles and organs. If you don’t feed your body all the nutrition it needs, the new cells are going to be weak and unhealthy.
I believe pretty strongly in a multi-vitamin as a foundation supplement. It can help you fill the gaps in the food you eat every day and provide your body with the nutrition it needs in addition to the food you eat.
Other all-natural supplements associated with heart health are:
- Vitamin E
- Coenzyme Q10
- Selenium
- B Vitamins
- Omega-3 Fatty Acids
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin D3
- Carotenoids
- Bioflavonoids
You can find an abundance of data about how these nutrients help reduce your risk of heart attack, stroke, vascular disease and have cross benefits for preventing many different illnesses and diseases. Research shows a direct association with healthy nutrients and lowered health risks.
Heart disease is not the only disease that is more about lifestyle than it is about genetics. It is up to you to want good health, to make the choices every day to stay physically well.
A nice fly-over of an important topic. It is something I am at risk for and I appreciate the compassionate but firm reminder that I have CHOICES.