Inflammation and Heart Disease

It turns out that you can fight inflammation in the body more effectively with the right foods than with prescriptions drugs. Our immune systems are marvelously designed to attack anything that they don’t recognize such as plant pollen, germs, toxins, pollutants, microbes, or chemicals. Inflammation is the end result of this process; it’s a protective measure in our programming but it can cause a lot of other complications. It’s your body’s natural response to threats and involves immune, vascular and cellular biochemical reactions which work to remove the offenders and protect tissues from damage. So, let’s talk about why you want to avoid Inflammation in the body. This natural defense mode works to shield your body’s systems and initiate the healing process. But when your body is in a chronic state of inflammation, it can have serious effects on your cellular health. It can greatly contribute to towards diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, cancer, Alzheimer’s and even depression.

Foods you definitely want to avoid or limit are refined carbohydrates like white bread or pastries. Also try to limit fried foods. You want to try and eliminate or limit sugar, red meat, processed meats, shortening and margarine. This “avoid” list is pretty common as it seems to affect many things in the body negatively. These foods seem to be linked with diabetes as well as heart disease.

Now for the good foods. A few foods that are beneficial and have been shown to help reduce inflammation in the body are tomatoes, olive oil, canola oil; which is rich in Omega-3, poultry, legumes nuts such as walnuts , pistachios or almonds. Nuts contain arginine which is an amino acid that can aid in calming inflammation. You also want to eat plenty of green leafy vegetables like collard greens, kale and spinach. Fish is great for your heart and also helps to fight inflammation. Salmon, tuna, herring, sardines and mackerel are all great examples of fish to start incorporating into your diet.

Fruits are wonderful, they contain Vitamin C, fiber and help fight inflammation. You should have things like strawberries, cherries, oranges, blueberries, grapes and apples. The antioxidant resveratrol found in the skin of grapes and red wine also fights inflammation and even cancer. Drinking concord grape juice may lower inflammatory markers in the blood of people with stable coronary artery disease. Even coffee in moderation, contains polyphenol which has anti-inflammatory properties as well.

Inflammation can also exacerbate asthma, acne and obesity and can even cause your moods to fluctuate. The more natural, and less processed your foods are …..the better for your body. Aren’t you glad to know you can play such a part in avoiding all of these health conditions just with your food choices…..it’s very empowering.

Letting go of those bad habits

We have already talked about bad and good habits in another blog post earlier. We all have a habit of some sort. Your habit may be a good one and you may have a bad one that will somehow affect your heart. But, the good thing is that we can change those habits and become the heart healthy person we want.

Smoking and heart problems go hand in hand and it effects more than your heart. Chemicals in tobacco can damage your heart and blood vessels, leading to narrowing of the arteries, which can ultimately lead to a heart attack. Physical activity helps you control your weight and can reduce your chances of developing other conditions that may put a strain on your heart, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. Also, monitoring your blood sugar levels can reduce your chance of diabetes. Diabetes can quadruple your risk of heart disease or stroke, so keeping blood sugar levels under control is crucial to preventing medical problems involving the heart. If left untreated, diabetes can also cause many other health complications.

It’s never too late to make positive, proactive changes to avoid heart disease. Think of making yourself your own project. Just be more mindful of how your day to day behavior can affect your health. Get support and encouragement from those close to you.

The American Heart Association can be a great resource and motivator for tips and suggestions to battle heart disease. Start with reasonable goals and you will achieve them and your heart will thank you.

It's ok, there are a few habits you don't have to break!

Everyone seems to have some kind of habit and some even have more than one. Good and bad habits, we all have them. Research shows that there are certain habits that can be very destructive and really play havoc with your heart. Being overweight, poor diet, alcohol in excess, smoking and not exercising and being active are all pretty bad habits. These habits can also affect blood pressure, cholesterol and even blood sugar levels. They can also lead to a long list of heart complications such as stroke, heart attack, heart failure etc. Long-term excessive drinking increases your risk of developing problems with your heart as well. Check out this statistic, being a nonsmoker who is at an average healthy weight, who exercises and eats right would be 83 percent less likely to have a heart attack or heart disease. That’s very encouraging.

Don’t get discouraged if you struggle in some of these areas, you can always make some positive changes. Start exercising. Find something you enjoy doing. Mix it up. Try to do something for at least 30 minutes a day. You can always work your way up to some serious cardiovascular exercise that will really benefit your heart. You don’t have to exercise strenuously to achieve benefits, but you can see bigger benefits by increasing the intensity, duration and frequency of your workouts. Physical activity helps you control your weight and can reduce your chances of developing other conditions that may put a strain on your heart, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.

Excess weight can really put a strain on your heart. Change your nutritional plan. Add fruits and vegetables, lean proteins and fiber to you diet. Try to really limit processed foods, simple carbohydrates and sugar. Pay close attention to the kinds of fats in your diet.

Watch the good and bad cholesterol; LDL is the dangerous kind of cholesterol and HDL is the beneficial kind to your heart. You can produce more of the HDL cholesterol by exercising regularly and limiting saturated fat, and cholesterol by avoiding too many animal products such as red meats and full-fat dairy, and including healthier fats such as certain vegetable oils. It’s also important to limit trans fats (like palm oils, fried foods, and what you find in a lot of processed foods).

Watch those habits everyday and read more on our Living for Zachary blog about all kinds of habits; good and bad.

Send the Dear John letter to Smoking!

It IS totally possible to quit smoking. Don’t be intimidated about it either. There are some great tips for quitting smoking that will help you on the road to freedom from nicotine. Also, take heart, the worst of the physical withdrawal symptoms will be over within the first 2 weeks of quitting.

Since nicotine is a very strong and addictive drug, some find that using the nicotine gum or the patches very helpful to sort of ease them into the process of quitting. They release small amounts of nicotine into your system to slowly wean you off of it. You can save money by using the generic brands of these products, there are even prescription drugs that can help – if you want to go that route. There are lots of different things that can assist you in kicking this addictive habit for good.You will be healthier and so will your heart.

Let’s talk about other quit smoking tips that will help.

• Your body is going to be working really hard to expel all of the toxins during the withdrawal process. You’ll want to make sure you start taking extra vitamin C and other multivitamins. You will also want to eat a very nutritional diet. Keep small bags of bite-size vegetables, fruit, cheese and nuts. Carrot sticks and celery with some low-fat ranch dressing will help. Pineapple chunks, strawberries, blueberries and melons will also help to satisfy your sweet tooth and are so much healthier than candy. There is a certain oral fixation about smoking that causes some people to eat a lot and gain weight when trying to quit- this is especially helpful to try and avoid that.
• Drink lots of water. This will help to flush residual toxins from the smoking out of your body a little more quickly. It will also aid in not giving in to so many cravings for unhealthy foods. Keeping yourself well-hydrated will keep you feeling better in general. Be sure to keep things with you, like some hard candy and healthy drinks around. You might even keep cinnamon sticks or straws to chew on.
• Get plenty of sleep. It can be very taxing on your body kicking the nicotine habit. You can even do some deep breathing exercises …part of why smokers crave smoking has to do with the deep breathing they do while smoking. Nicotine is actually a stimulant, but many smokers say smoking relaxes them, most of this has to do with the deep breathing they engage in while smoking. If you will do the deep breathing exercises regularly, they will help to relax you and also help to address the cravings and urges to smoke. 
• You will want to make sure to surround yourself with a group of “cheerleaders” and friends that will support and help you on your endeavor. Places you used to go, people you used to hang around may need to change a little. You want to try and have a plan to circumvent “triggers” that would make you want to smoke. So, for instance if you used to smoke on your breaks or lunches at work, find a new cool little past-time or hobby, something positive that you enjoy to replace smoking. Be patient with yourself, everyone is different and some of these suggestions may work more effectively than others for you.
• Remember the body has amazing regenerative powers, it’s very forgiving and you can totally turn around a lot of the damage that smoking can do. After a while you’ll be amazed at how much better you feel and I will just bet your immune system will get a super big dose of power too. Have a game plan in place to ensure your success.

Remember, kicking this habit is going to improve the quality of your life and will certainly help you live longer and you can get discounts on your health and life insurance. So many benefits to going ahead and putting down those smokes today!