Learn How to Love Your Heart

The heart is a muscle and is the only muscle that works 24 hours a day. It beats approximately 72 beats per minute, which equates to 100,000 beats per day and 38 million beats per year. Thus, it requires a tremendous amount of fuel in order to work. With all that work the heart must heal and repair quickly.

We spend the most of any country in the world on healthcare, yet 50% of all American will die of heart disease. With all the medications, treatments, physicians and education, how is this possible? It is due to the perpetual myths and dogma surrounding heart attacks, high cholesterol, stroke, high blood pressure and heart arrhythmia.

What is Heart Disease?

Heart disease, also known as cardiovascular disease, describes a range of conditions that affect the heart. This includes coronary artery disease which involves narrowing or constricting of blood vessels that can lead to heart attack, stroke, and chest pain (angina). Other forms of heart disease are heart arrhythmia and defects.

We will address the myth and dogma that:

1. Having high cholesterol indicates increase risk for heart attack. So everyone with high cholesterol should take cholesterol-lowering medication.
2. Eating meat, eggs and butter cause high cholesterol and eating whole grains decrease cholesterol.
3. Everyone who has high blood pressure should take blood-lowering medications.
4. Toxic Heavy Metals do not cause high blood pressure.
5. Thyroid dysfunction does not cause high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

The Myth:

High blood cholesterol values are an indicator for future heart attacks and eating meat, eggs and butter cause high cholesterol.

The truth is individuals with low cholesterol blood values have just as many heart attacks as individuals with high cholesterol blood values. Thus, using cholesterol as an indicator to predict future heart attacks is fruitless. More importantly, you are taking a medication which is well documented to cause diabetes, dementia, muscle pain, fatigue and other health problems.

Your physician is prescribing you cholesterol-lowering medication, getting your annual blood cholesterol values and  marketing of consuming low fat, 2% fat, no fat milk, no butter, cream or fatty meat has you confused. Well! You should be confused.

I know you do not believe me, but a study that was published in March of 2014 in the Journal of Annals of Internal Medicine stated that there is NO link between saturated fats and heart disease. The researchers reviewed over 72 studies trying to link fat as a cause for heart disease but could NOT find any correlation between fat consumption and the predication of future heart attacks.

The Truth:

• Cholesterol is NOT an indicator for future heart attacks
• You can eat up to seven eggs a week
• You can drink whole milk
• You can use butter
• You can eat meat

This does not mean that we over indulge in these foods and do not look at our blood cholesterol values. As in anything in life. your diet and cholesterol must be balanced. A balanced diet should consist of:

• A large amount of good fat
• A large amount of protein
• A small amount of carbohydrates

The Myth:

Eating whole grains will reduce your cholesterol blood values.

The Truth:

The truth is eating whole grains is prudent but eating too many can increase your blood pressure and blood cholesterol.  Whole grains are made up of carbohydrates and break down into sugar. We as a nation consume too many carbohydrates in the form of grains.

This does not include the carbohydrates found in the candy, cookies, doughnuts, potato chips and ice cream that is obvious. It is the not-so-obvious carbohydrates found in grains that is very common in our diets. Some examples of the not-so-obvious grains are: pasta, pretzels, crackers, rolls, croissants, muffins, granola, pizza, bread, bagels, rice and honey. The other not-so-obvious carbohydrate is fruit.

For example, most Americans eat cereal, toast and orange juice for breakfast. This is high cholesterol, weight gain, diabetes, fatigue, lack of concentration, hormonal imbalance, decrease immune function and many other health concerns in the making.

That breakfast alone consists of 66 grams of carbohydrates.  One slice of bread is 15-20 grams of carbohydrates.  Cereal, depending on the brand and if sugar is added or not, is approximately 20-30 grams of carbohydrates.  Eight ounces, or one cup, of orange juice is about 26 grams of carbohydrates.

Research proves consuming more than 72 grams of carbohydrates per day causes high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

40% of individuals who have their first heart attack will not survive. Strokes can be debilitating. You can lose your ability to talk, walk, think or just about any function in life. Once an aneurysm bursts, your chance of survival is small.  Those are pretty scary consequences to high blood pressure.

The Myth:

The medical community knows the cause to your high blood pressure.

The Truth:

The truth is the medical community only knows 10% of the cause to high blood pressure.  Did you know that over 90% of individuals are diagnosed with essential hypertension?  This means their physician does not know why the person has high blood pressure. Yes! That is right.

Essential hypertension means the medical community does not know the cause of a person's high blood pressure in 9 out of 10 patients.

But what is the medical treatment over 90% of the time for high blood pressure? Yes! You are correct, high blood pressure lowering medication. When I educate my patients about this information they are usually upset, cannot believe it, do not know what to do or want to know if I can help.

I explain to them that I might be able to help by educating them on how the whole food form of Vitamin C is imperative to heal and repair blood vessels, not the synthetic ascorbic acid that is made from genetically modified corn that everyone buys in the store.The whole complex of vitamin C from Standard Process is made from organically grown foods can help heal and repair damaged blood vessels as well all other cells in the body.

Some signs that you are Vitamin C deficient are gum bleeding when brushing, varicose veins, hemorrhoids, spider veins, bruising easily, unexplained sore, achy muscle and joints, fatigue,  weakened tooth enamel, chronic colds, decreased healing time, dry skin, brittle hair and nose bleeds.  These are the signs that you can see.

What you CANNOT see is the damage to your blood vessels.  Blood vessels are supposed to be elastic. Without the proper amount of Vitamin C, your blood vessels will become stiff and inelastic. When the blood flows through your vessels; the blood vessels are supposed to flex and bend with the motion of the blood. When the blood vessels are stiff and inelastic, the pressure within the vessel will increase. Can you now understand how this will cause high blood pressure?

Aneurysms are created when a portion of a blood vessel is damaged beyond repair and balloons outward. The aneurysm can rupture usually causing immediate death. Call to make an appointment to see if your high blood pressure can be helped with a personally designed nutrition program.

The second way I might be to help is checking to see if heavy metal toxicity is causing their high blood pressure. It is well documented that heavy metal toxicity can cause high blood pressure. An article in the Journal of Toxicology reports that arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury are the most common heavy metals to cause high blood pressure.

The heavy metals cause inflammation and in the end damage the blood vessels. This leads to high blood pressure and many other health related problems. The heavy metals also interfere with enzyme, vitamin and mineral activities which can cause digestive problems, inability to heal, brain dysfunction, hormonal imbalance and all the symptoms, problems and health concerns that come with vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

Most tests for heavy metal toxicity are inaccurate at best.  You can have all the symptoms of heavy metal toxicity, but your blood, urine, saliva, hair or other tests are normal. What are you to do?  Your physician cannot find what is wrong with you, so you go home and continue to suffer.

This is where I might be able to help you.  I would perform a Nutrition Response Testing assessment to determine if your health problem or high blood pressure is caused by heavy metal toxicity. The beauty of this technique is that it is effective, non-invasive, simple but quite scientific.

The third way I might be able to help is checking to see if you have thyroid dysfunction. Thyroid dysfunction is when your thyroid blood values are normal but you have symptoms of fatigue, anxiety, sleep disturbances, heart pounding, sweating, unable to relax, inability to focus, calf cramping, menstrual cycle, feeling down, feel cold, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, headaches usually around the eyes or temples and eyebrows falling out.

It is well documented when the thyroid is not functioning properly it will release an increase in a hormone that will cause the heart to beat more quickly and more strongly. This, In turn, will cause the blood pressure to rise.  The blood pressure does not increase immediately but over time.

Thyroid dysfunction can also cause high blood cholesterol. A 2012 study in Clinical Thyroidology found individuals with upper or lower normal blood thyroid values had high cholesterol. When the thyroid numbers were in mid range, the blood cholesterol normalized. A Nutrition Response Testing assessment can be done to determine if thyroid dysfunction is the cause of your high blood pressure, high cholesterol or health concern.

Dr. Donna Sergi is a leading Brooklyn Chiropractor who specializes in finding custom natural remedies for heart health. Learn more by visiting her website at http://www.healthieruny.com