Your
heart is the hardest-working organ in your body and requires
a constant supply of nutrients. Cardiovascular health is enhanced
when the arteries supplying the heart muscle with blood remain
undamaged and open.
Conventional treatments for
maintaining a healthy heart can be risky and expensive. Natural
ways to prevent the need for such treatments in the first
place exist. Here are my recommendations for the foods, essential
nutrients and general exercise guidelines that support overall
cardiovascular health:
Foods
that help keep your heart healthy
Eggs: Despite the negative hype, egg yolks are one
of the richest sources of choline, which keeps the cholesterol
in the egg moving through the bloodstream so it can't build
up on arterial walls. Eggs are also rich in minerals, vitamins,
and essential amino acids.
Onions: If you want to help keep your blood pressure and
cholesterol levels in the normal range, start eating half a raw
onion every day.
Fish: Studies have shown that simply eating at least 2
ounces of fish a week (salmon and tuna in particular) helps promote
heart health.
Nuts: They contain essential fatty acids like omega-6 and
omega-9 monounsaturated fats that improve your blood-lipid profiles
(cholesterol and triglyceride levels), significantly reduce heart
problems, and help you lose weight. (Be sure to take adequate
amounts of omega-3 fats each day to counterbalance the omega-6
fats in the nuts you eat.)
Flaxseed and Lecithin:
Flaxseed and lecithin promote healthy circulation and maximum
energy. For years I've been adding lecithin granules and flaxseed
to my morning juice. For a great "pick me up" try my
Lecithin Power Shake Recipe, click
here.
Clean water: Some of the water that's coming out of taps
today may actually shorten life. Chlorinated water can destroy
vitamin E stores in the body, leading to mitral valve problems,
and other heart problems. To ensure you're getting only clean,
pure water, I recommend using a distiller for all of your drinking
and cooking water. To learn more about the one I recommend, click
here.
Carrots: These nutritional powerhouses contain pectin and
lecithin that help keep cholesterol levels in the normal range.
Fresh vegetables: Fresh produce—preferably organic
—should be the cornerstone of your diet. Vegetables are
rich in particular vitamins and minerals needed for overall
health.
Tea: Studies indicate that compounds called catechins in
tea slow the process of atherosclerosis and strengthen blood vessels,
"thin the blood," and help keep blood pressure in the
normal range.
Soybeans: Including soybean products like tofu, roasted
soy nuts, and tempeh in your diet keep your cholesterol in the
normal range and help support a healthy heart.
Oils: If you want to help keep your arteries clean,
you should be aware of some beneficial uses of oils:
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Oils for salads and cooking:
Use certified organic extra-virgin olive oil. |
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Oil for baking: As with
olive oil, buy unrefined, organic canola oil. |
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Frying oil: I'd suggest
that you try getting by without frying at all. Chicken
without skin and fish with skin can be dipped in a milk
and egg mixture and breaded with crushed bran flakes.
Cooking them on a cookie sheet in the oven at 275 to 300
degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes to an hour gives you
the fried flavor and texture without the grease. |
Essential
nutrients
Certain nutrients are crucial to ensuring that you're getting
the proper healthy heart essentials. In addition to the foods
listed above, I believe the best chance you have of supporting
basic cardiovascular health is by taking a good daily multivitamin
that includes the nutrients below.
The dosages given range from
the minimum daily amount to the maximum amount I recommend
for heart health. Since most multivitamins don't contain these
higher "heart health" dosages, I recommend supplementing
your existing daily multivitamin with some of these additional
nutrients or adding a targeted heart-health nutritional supplement.
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Magnesium (as oxide,
aspartate, ascorbate): 500-800 mg. Magnesium supports the
heart's ability to expand and contract and to pump blood efficiently. |
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Folic acid: 400-800
mcg. Folic acid helps maintain normal homocysteine levels.
Among other things, homocysteine accelerates the oxidation
of LDL ("bad") cholesterol and damages arteries. |
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Vitamin C (as ascorbic
acid, buffered ascorbates): 2,000-2,500 mg. Vitamin C helps
promote proper HDL ("good") cholesterol levels and
the production of collagen and glycosaminoglycans, which provide
structural strength to arterial walls. |
| • |
Vitamin E (as d-alpha
tocopherol, mixed tocopherols): 400-600 IU. Vitamin E acts
as an antioxidant that helps to lower LDL ("bad")
cholesterol levels. It also helps prevent blood platelets
from clumping together. It is most effective when taken with
selenium. |
| • |
CoQ10: 50 mg. One of
the most important functions CoQ10 performs is facilitate
the production of cellular energy. In every cell of your body
there are small "stations" called mitochondria.
Ninety-five percent of the total energy created within your
body comes from these mitochondria, which cannot take place
without CoQ10. |
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Tocotrienols: 10 mg.
Preliminary research suggests this antioxidant may decrease
LDL-cholesterol oxidation and maintain arterial health. |
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Gynostemma pentaphyll:
150 mg. This herb from China has been used for years in traditional
Chinese medicine. It has been shown to support blood pressure
levels that are in the normal range, help to relax blood
vessels, reduce free radicals, and increase blood flow. |
| • |
Vitamin B12: 100-200
mcg. Vitamin B12 works along with folic acid and vitamin B6
to convert homocysteine into a harmless compound that the
body can eliminate through the urinary tract. |
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L-carnitine: 100-150
mg. Increased levels of the amino acid-like compound L-carnitine
promotes more efficient heart function. |
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L-taurine: 200-400
mg. L-taurine helps support proper heart function by normalizing
potassium flow in and out of the heart muscle and aiding in
free-radical elimination. |
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Green Tea: 50-100 mg.
Green tea contains several active bioflavonoids, which promote
capillary and small vessel strength. |
| • |
Quercetin (a bioflavonoid):
50-100 mg. The bioflavonoid quercetin helps to stop oxidization
of LDL cholesterol and reduce the stickiness of platelets
in the bloodstream. |
| • |
Cayenne: 50 mg. Like
other chili peppers, cayenne contains the compound capsaicin,
which helps maintain healthy cholesterol and triglyceride
levels. |
| • |
Garlic: 600 mg. Garlic
supports the heart's healthy fat metabolism and helps maintain
proper cholesterol and triglyceride levels. It also helps
raise good HDL cholesterol blood levels. |
| • |
Vitamin B6: 110-120
mg. In addition to helping to keep homocysteine levels in
check, Vitamin B6 helps promote healthy adrenal function and
maintains proper potassium balance. Potassium helps support
normal heart rhythms and regulate blood pressure levels. |
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Hawthorn Standard Extract:
160 mg. The active compounds in hawthorn have been shown to
help promote healthy endothelial lining of the heart cavities
and blood vessels, and the smoothness of artery walls. |
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Bromelain: 100 mg.
Bromelain supports the conversion of plasminogen to plasmin,
which in turn helps break down fibrin clots. |
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Alfalfa Leaf Powder:
100 mg. Alfalfa helps support healthy fat metabolism and normal
cholesterol and triglyceride levels. |
In addition, increase your
intake of amino acids like L-arginine (3 grams twice daily).
Substances like L-arginine will allow the smaller arteries
to open up and flush more life-sustaining blood through an
area. Opening up an artery just a small amount can make a
huge difference in the amount of blood flow. Note: Toxicity
to L-arginine is around 40 grams or more a day.
Taking Siberian ginseng (180
to 300 milligrams) to increase the conversion of L-arginine
to nitric oxide can also help the heart in two ways: First,
it improves blood flow to the muscle in times of low oxygen.
Second, the Chinese have found that nitric oxide is a potent
antioxidant that combats free radical injury to the heart
muscle.
Exercise
Every single day of our lives, we need to do something that specifically
makes our heart work harder and beat faster.
Not only does exercise strengthen the heart muscle itself, it
causes the blood vessels to dilate and expand. If you can expand
these blood vessels every day, they'll retain their elasticity.
If you're sedentary, they'll become rigid and hard. Then, when
you need to call upon them (like during a stressful situation),
they won't be able to do their job.
And that's when heart attacks strike.
The
golden rule of exercise
The only "rule" regarding effective exercise is
that you must get your heart pumping. For real cardiovascular
benefits, you have to increase your pulse rate up from its
normal working rate and keep it up for long enough for the
blood vessels to dilate.
Almost any exercise can be
used—walking, swimming, riding a bike, jogging in place.
It doesn't have to be for a long or intense period of time,
but it should be on a regular basis.
Concentrate on activities that
are simple and inexpensive, and don't require excessive travel.
If you're able, take the stairs instead of an elevator. Taking
a vigorous walk is a good, if not the best, form of exercise
for you. Above all, turn off the computer and TV set and get
out there and do something!
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