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Natural Choices Newsletter
February is Heart Month – Are You Keeping Yours Healthy?
Heart disease is the number cause of death in the United States. What are you doing daily to prevent its occurrence in your life? Now we know that heart disease is caused by inflammation, so following the Anti-Inflammatory diet is always recommended. You can download this diet at Anti-Inflammatory Diet
But how do you know if you have underlying inflammation? Many people who have had heart attacks do not have high cholesterol or triglycerides levels. But they have chronic inflammation somewhere in their system. This inflammation level can be tested by a couple blood tests. These are not standard tests and may have to be requested to your doctor. Have your doctor test your CRP, or C-reactive Protein level for inflammation, and/or have your homocysteine level checked. Ideally your homocysteine level should be under 10, under 7 is ideal. If your homocysteine level is over 14 you are at a high risk of heart disease and even Alzheimer’s disease.
Prescription drugs do not change homocysteine levels; that is why many cardiologists still do not do the test. It is difficult without making dietary changes to reduce homocysteine levels. Certain specific nutrients are needed in combination to do it. Antioxidants are number one, but also a combination of certain B-complex vitamins and minerals are needed with the antioxidants.
Antioxidants found in plants – from fruits and vegetables, and herbs – are needed to reduce inflammation that come from excess free radicals. Without enough antioxidants free radicals cause your tissues to deteriorate much more quickly, often showing up as chronic health challenges like diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other auto-immune diseases. But these symptoms often take years to appear. The time to take action is now, before any of these diseases take hold. Another test you can do at home is the Free Radical Urine test that will show you your own level of free radicals. You can order this test at Free Radical Test Kit Page
Remember that it is not good enough to get antioxidants from vitamins such as vitamin C, E, or A. They are just 3 of thousands of antioxidants (also known as phytochemicals, or beneficial plant chemicals) that provide the full complement of what we need. When we try to get by with just these few antioxidant vitamins our digestive system, it will create more work for our liver to find the other nutrients necessary from foods that you eat, or these fragmented vitamins will create even more free radicals. It has been proven many times that taking just vitamin E alone will cause more free radicals to occur, so it is not longer recommended to use it by itself.
Also remember that the American Heart Association is telling us to get 4 to 5 fruits per day, and 4 to 5 vegetables per day in our diet to prevent high blood pressure that can lead to heart disease. Are you getting these amounts from your food on a daily basis? I know I have difficulty in my own life that is why I have taken Juice Plus+ for the past 12 years. It has the antioxidants we need to reduce homocysteine, and also has the minerals and B-complex vitamins found in the vegetables to make the antioxidants work even better.
Published research studies done with Juice Plus+ prove that it lowers homocysteine levels, which means lower inflammation. You can find out more about this at my Juice Plus+ page in the The Science of Juice Plus tab. A Cardiology Study at the University of Maryland shows that taking Juice Plus regularly can reduce the bad effects of eating a high fat meal by 62%. If you are not one of the millions of people who are already taking Juice Plus+, look into adding it to your daily regime. You can order Juice Plus at the above website and I can give you specific directions so that you can get the full benefit from it. Two fruits and two vegetables capsules per day in the right combination and at the right time can really reduce your level of free radicals and improve homocysteine levels.
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