While there is no doubt that the medical field has made great strides in treating heart disease over the last century, it’s only been in recent decades that the focus has started to shift from cure to prevention.
Unfortunately, change in the medical establishment is a slow process. Despite best efforts, heart disease still remains the leading cause of death in America – according to recent statistics from the CDC, heart conditions are still responsible for approximately 25% of all deaths. This holds true for both men and women. No longer does a heart attack seem like the domain of the hard charging middle aged male executive. We now realize that heart disease is a threat to us all. Even if it doesn’t cause death, once heart disease afflicts a person it will cause a great deal of damage to one’s quality of life. Who wants to live with low energy, reliance on prescriptions with unpleasant side effects, severe restrictions on activities and diet? Most of us dread this. We want to do everything possible to remain healthy and able to enjoy life.
Some General Recommendations for Heart Health
We are all aware of the general recommendations for heart health. Most of them apply to disease prevention in general and are just a matter of consciously adopting an healthier lifestyle overall. We are constantly reminded to have regular checkups, exercise, maintain our ideal weight, eat a balanced diet with less animal fats, avoid smoking and excess alcohol, etc. Our physicians know to aggressively treat high cholesterol and high blood pressure. We dutifully switch to light margarine, light beer and low fat milk. We reach for skinless white meat chicken and fish over a big, juicy steak. We swallow those prescription pills and hope they work. While these may all be positive steps, we still worry if they are enough. Heart disease is so frightening and the medical industry takes so long to catch up to the research, many justifiably search for even more to do to protect themselves.
Nutrition for Healthy Heart Support
Much of our most recent research has been directed at nutrition, beyond just cutting fat and salt. The long held assumption that the Standard American Diet is nutritionally adequate is giving way to awareness that for much of the population, it may indeed be S.A.D. It may keep us alive, but may not make us feel nearly as good as we would like. While scurvy and rickets may have faded into history, we are far from having the energy and vitality we need to really enjoy life. The effects of more minute deficiencies in certain vital nutrients are just beginning to be understood. Studies are showing that certain body systems and organs require more than just a standard diet to perform their functions at optimum level and still have resources left to fend off toxins and fight disease.
The cardiovascular system is no exception. Scientists are just discovering that the heart relies on large quantities of specific nutrients to stay strong and keep our vast network of veins and capillaries feeding our entire body and brain. Additionally, we are learning that substances derived from certain foods help to keep our cholesterol down and our arteries clean to begin with. Just within the last few years, for example, there has been a mainstream medical acknowledgment of the value of fiber in oatmeal and Omega 3 fatty acids in fish oil. We are obviously heading in the right direction – no doubt we are on the brink of discovering and accepting many more exciting ways to support heart health. Unfortunately for many who suffer, traditional conservative physicians may continue to take years to become familiar with and accept new treatments and strategies beyond what they were taught ten, twenty or even forty years ago in medical school.. Many people may fall ill or even die needlessly in the meantime because their doctors simply don’t have the time or interest to keep up with current research.
Choose Good Health With Healthy Heart Support
If we want to truly support heart health and avoid disease, we may be smart to do more than just what standard minimum medical protocol currently suggests. To maintain optimum health and vitality, we can choose to become more proactive before we fall victim to preventable disease. There is no reason to resign ourselves to heart disease just because it’s part of our family history. There is no reason to accept disease just because it seems so common. We don’t have to view heart disease as inevitable. We can educate ourselves and take control of our own well being. We can choose good health.
Enlarged Heart Symptoms and Solutions
When the muscles of the heart thicken, the heart pumping becomes inefficient and complications often follow. Some of these complications include: heart failure, heart murmurs, blood clots, cardiac arrest and even sudden death.
This thickening comes from the heart doing extra work due to the extra stress, or from muscle damage from other causes such as anemia, thyroid disorders, obesity, too much exercise, cardiomyopathy, or other heart conditions. An enlarged heart can result in the heart valves not opening or closing properly.
Doctors usually prescribe tratment by drugs or surgical procedures. Some of the medications used are ACE inhibitors, beta blockers, Digoxin and Diuretics. These act by lowering blood pressure, improving pumping ability and removing excess sodium from the body.
From the Chinese perspective, “Healing is always possible.” There are some cases documented where natural alternatives have been used successfully. With these natural remedies there are less dangerous side effects. Nattokinase has been used to prevent blood clots and CoQ10 has been used to strengthen and rejuvenate heart muscles.
Supplements such as Seanol have been developed and designed to support a healthy heart, cardiovascular function and normalize blood pressure levels. It contains an amino acid called Arginine which boosts the body’s production of Nitric Oxide. As this happens, it can have a dramatic and positive effect on your cardiovascular health.
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