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Please read our Golden Rules of self help before considering the information on this page.
Heart
KEEP YOUR TICKER SLICKER!
We live on the side of a hill, when my husband asked the tractor
salesman if we could use a certain tractor on our slopes he replied:
“Depends how good your heart is”!
Many people don't know how good, or bad, their heart is and heart disease comes as a shock. In Australia, cardiovascular disease kills more people than any other disease and creates enormous costs for the health care system not to mention the pain and grief. In 1998 cardiovascular disease accounted for 40% of all deaths, half of these deaths were mainly heart attacks, and stroke was the second greatest killer at 9% of all deaths.
So why is it that people look after their cars better than their heart? Telling people to eat less fat and more vegetables is obviously not enough; let's have a look at the cardiovascular system so that you can be convinced to look after it. The heart is a hollow muscle about the same size as your fist. It beats about 100,000 times a day, that makes it an average of 3000 million times in a lifetime. This little trooper pumps 30 000 litres through your body each day! That's right, that's a small swimming pool worth of liquid the heart has to get going round and round. In fact the blood travels over 19,000 kilometres every day. That's almost half the earth's circumference!
Now do you think your heart needs a little help?
Here is why the following are bad for the heart:
Smoking hardens and shrinks the blood vessels,
Cholesterol coats the blood vessels and makes the blood thick so it moves with difficulty in a narrowed passage,
Hypertension makes the blood go faster and causes damage at damaged points
Stress increases the risk of hypertension
Obesity gives more work for the heart as the blood has to cover more than half the earth's circumference
Lack of exercise makes the blood stagnant, so body parts don't get their nutrients.
Poor diet usually starts the whole thing: fatty foods create cholesterol, stimulating foods such as sugar, caffeine and alcohol make the blood want to move faster through the narrowed vessels. A recipe for disaster.
So now that you know how it all works, I am sure you are going to be
very keen to do all the things that are good for your heart and will
keep it ticking along smoothly and like my husband you will be able to
drive a big tractor down the hill, no sweat!
ONE GOOD FRIEND FOR YOUR HEART
Exercise is a must, but did you know that gentle exercise is actually better for cardiovascular health? So walking, yoga, tai chi, swimming and dancing will get the heart better toned than more extreme exercise which is in fact harmful if you already have a heart condition.
THREE ENEMIES
- Fatty foods, such as deep fried foods, high fat meats, remember commercial pastries and biscuits are 30% saturated fat.
- Stimulants: cigarettes, caffeine (that includes diet cola drinks), alcohol and drugs
- Too much sitting around.
FIVE GOOD FOODS
- Unsaturated oils such as olive or macadamia.
- Vegetables and fruit: these are full of bioflavonoids that keep your arteries and veins soft and open. They also provide the nutrients the heart needs.
- Fish because they are rich in the EPA/DHA ‘good oils'
- Vitamin E to prevent damage to the blood vessels.
- Lecithin keeps fat levels down in the blood, you need at least 1 TBsp / day
SEVEN GREAT HERBS
- Chilli peppers
- Ginger
- Onion and garlic
- Green tea
- Hawthorn berries
- Lime flowers
- Ginkgo biloba
TOO MUCH JOY CAN KNOCK YOU OUT!
In Traditional Chinese Medicine emotions are linked to the organs of the body. For instance grief is associated with the lungs, fear with the kidney, etc… The emotion associated with the heart is Joy and an excess of joy is deemed to be detrimental to the heart. How is this possible?
Well, it's actually easy to explain this from the point of view of western physiology:
When you get really excited you get an excess of adrenaline pumping through your blood vessels. If your circulation is not what it is supposed to be because of high cholesterol or hard arteries… poof! Goodnight Irene! This is why people can have a heart attack when they find out they've won lotto: excess of joy!
DID YOU KNOW…?
That the ancient Romans actually took the liver to be the seat of
the emotion we call love, not the heart? Gee, that would mean that
agony aunts would have to call their columns “Problems of the Liver”
and can you imagine changing the words in all these love songs and
finding new rimes, like “ I lost my liver in Denver” or “You're in my
liveeeer, foreveeeer!”
IS IT AN ATTACK?
These are the most common signs, if they occur together, that a heart attack might be imminent. If they threaten you, DON'T SOLDIER ON! Take yourself to a doctor or a hospital.
- Uncomfortable pressure, fullness, squeezing or pain in the centre of the chest lasting longer than two minutes.
- Pain in the shoulder, arm, neck or jaw
- Pain extending from the armpit to the small finger
- Sweating.
- Nausea and vomiting.
- Shortness of breath, dizziness or fainting.
For a personalised treatment please contact me here.
The information on this website is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. None of the products mentioned on this website are intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
The information on this website is not intended to provide personal medical advice, which should be obtained from a medical professional.
This information is made available with the understanding that the author and publisher are not providing medical, psychological, or nutritional counseling services on this site. The information on this website does not cover all possible uses, actions, precautions, side effects, and interactions.
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