My favorite detox techniques -- for the body

My favorite detox techniques -- for the body

Preventing heart disease — the natural approach

by Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP & Dixie Mills, MD
Remember that everything in your body is connected to everything else. And guess what’s at the center? Your heart. So nurturing your heart, even in the smallest ways, is vital to your health. Yes, you may have genetic factors linked to heart disease or a family history, but that is not a death sentence for you, and addressing your lifestyle holds the greatest promise for lifelong heart health.

Lifestyle and heart disease

Sometimes I have a patient who just won’t change her lifestyle. Such women are in a kind of denial about their health risks. Sometimes they just don’t feel they have the energy to make changes. I have a simple message for them: if you don’t change your life, your life will change you — and the changes may be regrettable ones. When that happens, you’ll regret it. But the second half of my message is that as we age, a turn for the worse in heart health is far from inevitable, and making changes in your life is easy if you take it one step at a time.
Try to see it this way. If you can take ownership for the choices you make regarding smoking, junk food, excess alcohol, lack of exercise, and many of the stress factors in your life that can exponentially increase your risk of cardiovascular disease, you put yourself directly at the driver’s wheel. And that is where you hold the power to point yourself in a heart-healthy direction.
As for diet, simply switching to “low-fat” food products is not the answer — in fact, they can accelerate development of a heart condition. Confusion about fat is rife in this country. Let me say this simply: you have to eat fat to have a healthy metabolism, which in turn supports a healthy heart. But you need to eat a diet rich in “good” fats, the unsaturated oils that comes from plants. Essential fatty acids are vital — without them you can’t metabolize cholesterol, control insulin and blood acids, or reduce inflammation. You also need relatively moderate amounts of the saturated fats found in dairy products, meat and some vegetables. You should avoid trans fats at all costs — such as the partially hydrogenated oils in processed foods.
And you need to stop smoking. There are many health risks associated with this habit, but smoking and heart disease go hand in hand. Smoking, among other things, irritates the lungs, diminishes oxygen uptake, incites inflammation and exacerbates atherosclerosis.

Heart disease prevention

Let’s look at some other specific ways you can reduce your risk of heart disease. Here’s our seven-step approach.

• Eat well. What you eat affects your insulin levels, which drives your metabolism and the synthesis of cholesterol. What’s more, it’s been proven that a diet high in vegetables and soy, and low in simple carbohydrates and saturated fat can reduce cholesterol levels as effectively as statin drugs — without side effects! We have seen our patients lower their cholesterol and their insulin resistance significantly by following our common-sense dietary guidelines.


• Take a medical-grade vitamin–mineral supplement daily to bridge any nutritional gaps that could lead to inflammation, elevated homocysteine levels, or inefficient metabolism. (To learn more, read our article on nutritional supplements.) We also add fish oil, evening primrose oil, and folic acid in a therapeutic setting to soothe cardiac inflammation.


• Exercise. Your heart is a muscle — treat it like one! The only way to build muscle strength is to exercise. Current guidelines recommend at least 30 minutes of moderate daily activity. Start slowly if you need to, say 5–10 minutes a day, and work your way up. Mindfulness exercises such as yoga and t’ai chi bring additional heart-healthy benefits by simultaneously reducing stress.


• Reduce stress and emotional conflict. Take an inventory of the sources of stress in your life. Then list what you can do about them. Pay particular attention to negative patterns and how to break them. There are lots of small things you can do to reduce stress. If you can afford it, I highly recommend you invest in therapy, which (with the right therapist) can be the most effective way to get at the emotional legacy that lies at the root of so much stress. (We recommend the therapeutic method outlined by the Hoffman Institute.)


• Increase your joy and self-love. There are many ways to open your heart, maximize joy, and bring balance and love back into your emotional life: meditation, massage, yoga and other alternative treatments all work to this end. (For more information, read our listing of alternative and complementary therapies.) Find something you love to do. Take a class that interests you. Treat yourself like your own best friend.


• Check in with yourself. Make a list of the steps you’re going to take, then put a reminder in your calendar each month to review how you’re doing. At the clinic we call this holding yourself accountable. It will help you make continued progress.


• If your condition warrants it, investigate what modern medicine has to offer you.
  If your blood tests reveal extremely high levels of CRP and LDL, you may want to consider medication. Taking a statin drug like Lipitor, especially over the short term, can help protect you ‘til your dietary and lifestyle changes take effect. Recent findings are convincing that these drugs effectively reduce cholesterol and inflammation. However, we recommend taking them at the lowest possible effective dosage, and in combination with selenium, Co-Q10, L-carnitine, and ribose supplements to reduce side effects. If you are on a statin, be sure to have your liver enzymes tested regularly to watch for side effects. And remember that small-dose aspirin (80–100 mg daily) can have significant preventative effects.

There is another more recent gift of modern science that is worth mentioning, the 64-slice CT scan of the heart. If you have a strong family history of cardiovascular disease or your risk factors of coronary heart disease are otherwise high, ask your physician about this non-invasive, virtually pain-free procedure. This imaging technique delivers full 3-D images of the heart and other organs in a matter of moments, allowing easy diagnosis and treatment planning — whether that just constitutes prevention for you or immediate surgery. Though the 64-slice CT scan is not available in all areas and most insurance policies do not cover it, the cost can in some cases be justified by the knowledge and options it newly affords us.

Chuck Baldwin -- "Come Out of Her, My People"

Chuck Baldwin -- "Come Out of Her, My People"

THIS IS WRITTEN BY THE NETDOCTOR MEDICAL TEAM.  TO ME, THIS IS A VERY TRUSTWORTHY SOURCE.
I HAVE BEEN EXPERIENCING THESE STRANGE PAINS AND THEY SEEM TO BE GROWING. THIS IS A GOOD THING TO KEEP IN MIND.
WE ALL NEED TO PAY ATTENTION, WHEN OUR BODY IS IN PAIN... IT IS TELLING US, "THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG"

Intercostals myalgia. It is not a serious condition, but it is a nuisance.
Sometimes it is caused by a viral infection of the muscles, sometimes by repetitive activity or a strain, but often there is no particular cause.
It is usually self-limiting, and goes away on its own, eventually. I must say you have had it for longer than normal, so it might be time to go and speak to your doctor again, as some anti-inflammatory treatment, ultrasound or physiotherapy may help it to settle down.
There are other possibilities, such as a trapped or damaged nerve and if there is local tenderness near the front of your chest, it could be due to inflammation of the joint between the end of a rib and the breastbone.
This is called costochondritis, and has similar causes to intercostals myalgia.
None of these things are serious, so I think you can be reassured about that. But if you find it continues to be troublesome, do go and discuss it with your GP again.
Yours sincerely
The NetDoctor Medical Team

The Dangers of Vitamin D Deficiency

The Dangers of Vitamin D Deficiency

MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT VITAMIN D DEFICIENT

I THOUGHT I WOULD POST THIS DUE TO ME JUST FINDING OUT FOR THE SECOND TIME THAT I WAS VITAMIN D DEFICIENT. IT IS NOT GOOD TO BE DEFICIENT IN YOUR VITAMIN D. IT CAN CAUSE YOU TO HAVE SO MANY PROBLEMS  IN THE BODY OR THE DEFICIENCY CAN BE CAUSED BY SOMETHING EVEN AS BAD AS CANCER THAT IS MAKING YOU BE DEFICIENT. IT PROBABLY IS THE ROOT OF MY PROBLEM, BUT NOT SURE YET, JUST WAITING IT OUT LIKE I HAVE FOR THE PAST 5 OR MORE YEARS...IT IS HARD TO JUST LAY HERE AND SUFFER...WITH NO DIAGNOSIS.

I FEEL THAT I MAY BE ONTO SOMETHING HERE. THIS IS VERY SERIOUS. SO, IF ANY OF YOU FEEL FATIGUED OR HAVE MUSCLE PAIN OR JUST HAVE PAIN IN YOUR BODY...GET YOUR VITAMIN D CHECKED ASAP. TAKE CARE ALL AND GOD BLESS ALWAYS.:)))<3 Karen

 

 

by skeetelmore65 , less than a minute ago

To: laura1967

Hey Laura and CatieC, How ru yall doing? I have been reading @ what ur going through with the Vit.D and I just found out for the second time that my Vit.D is deficient. I know that I am suffering some strong pain that feels like it goes down to the bone,my muscles HURT ALL OVER, especially in my knees, my feet stay sore and can't walk on them, I hurt in my neck, back and my brain even hurts. I have been feeling a lot of confusion, and even some altered state or something...IT IS BAD.
I am afraid to take the prescription because of what docs are saying. I am on a site that says it acts as a immunosuppressive and that it could be worse taking it than not. SO, I am in a dilema and don't know what to do. I feel like it could be MS,Parkinson's or something to do with my Thyroid, but after 5 or more yrs. I still have yet to be dx with something that I know what to do @. I am so miserable and stuck in bed mostly because I can walk on one leg..u know. IT is tough, but I am very driven and have always been active, but NOW I am stuck here in this bed. I sure would like to know what to do.
I went to get a physical to rule out whatever I could and they sent me a prescription for the Vit.D of 50,000 IU to start immediately, they said, but I have yet to take it and it has been another month. They also stated that I should take a supplement with it of 1000mg. of Vit.d and 1200 of Calcium a day or vise versa on those numbers..I don't know.I know this is serious and am wondering what has me,but am praying that it doesn't kill me.
I am interested to know why I am feeling the way that I am. I am numb and it is like a shake or tremor that is in my whole body. My face on the left side stays numb now and in my mouth at the roof of it is staying numb. IT IS CREEPY and I want it to stop, but am afraid to take the prescription. SHOULD I? OR SHOULDN'T I TAKE IT?...that is the question, but I know I get SUN everyday. I go outside and just sit in it for as long as I can, but I don't think it is enough and I do take the supplements,just not the presc. The supplements I take are Vit.D chewables of 1200mg. a day and I do take another one that is powder vitamins called Isotonix(they seemed to have helped me a lot to move more). What do u guys think? I am researching it and so far it says that it can make matters worse because it says that taking it could make the disease worse, but I don't know if IT could get any worse...WELL, I AM NOT SURE @ that one, but I know I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING..HERE. I found this is on sciencedaily. IT is interesting and would like to know if I should do it or not. Help me out ladies to do what is right if u know what this could possibly be that I need to do here, but u can't argue with Scientist can we? I donno....I just know I am miserable and got to do something to change HOW I AM FEELING....BAD.:((
Take care and I do hope u 2 r better. God Bless always.:)))<3 Karen