How to Handle Heart Palpitations

Heart palpitations are a feeling that your heart is beating too hard or too fast, skipping a beat, or fluttering. You may notice heart palpitations in your chest, throat, or neck.

How to Handle Heart PalpitationsHeart palpitations can be bothersome or frightening. They usually aren’t serious or harmful, though, and often go away on their own.

Most of the time, they’re related to stress and anxiety or to consumption of stimulants such as caffeine, nicotine, or alcohol. Palpitations also often occur during pregnancy.

Some people may experience palpitations after eating heavy meals that are rich in carbohydrates, sugar, or fat. Sometimes eating certain foods with high levels of monosodium glutamate (MSG), nitrates, or sodium can also bring them on.

If you do have heart palpitations after eating certain foods, the problem could be a food sensitivity. Keeping a food diary can help you identify which foods to avoid.

Research shows that in about one out of seven cases, the cause can’t be identified. In rare cases, palpitations can be a sign of a more serious heart condition like a heart rhythm disorder.

If you have heart palpitations that you can’t reasonably tie to stimulants, stress or anxiety, it’s best to make arrangements to see your doctor. It is critical that you seek  immediate medical attention if along with palpitations you experience shortness of breath, dizziness, chest pain, or fainting as this can be an indication of something serious.

This video will show you steps you can take if you experience palpitations and when you need to seek medical help.

 

       

How to Take Your Pulse

We all know that our pulse is the rate at which our heart beats. Our pulse is usually called our heart rate and is the number of times our heart beats each minute (bpm or beats per minute).

How to Check Your PulseDid you know that the rhythm and strength of our heartbeat can also be noted, as well as whether our blood vessels feel hard or soft? Changes in our heart rate or rhythm, a weak pulse, or a hard blood vessel may be an indication of heart disease or another medical condition.

As our heart pumps blood throughout our body, we can sometimes feel a pulsing in some of the blood vessels close to the skin’s surface, such as in our wrist, neck, or upper arm. Counting our pulse rate is a simple way to find out how fast our heart is beating.

Your doctor will usually check your pulse during a physical examination or in an emergency, but you can easily check your own pulse by watching the video below. You can check your pulse the first thing in the morning, just after you wake up but before you get out of bed. This is called a resting pulse. Some people like to check their pulse before and after they exercise.

Checking our pulse is just another component of a healthy maintenance plan to ensure we preserve a healthy heart.

 

       

 

 


The Great Cholesterol Lie Revealed

It was discovered several years ago that inflammation in your artery walls is the real cause…not cholesterol…of heart disease. This discovery is now leading to a shift in how heart disease and other chronic diseases will be treated going forward.

Inflammation and CholesterolThis recent finding will mean reassessing old-school practices in the dietary recommendations we’ve received from health professionals in favor of more effective options.

Heart disease is still on the rise despite the fact that 25% of our population takes expensive statin drugs. This is without regard to the fact that many of us have reduced the fat content in our diets based off what we’ve been led to believe would actually provide us benefit.

The sad statistics from the American Heart Association shows that 75 million Americans currently suffer from heart disease, 20 million have diabetes and 57 million are pre-diabetic. These disorders aren’t exclusive to older adults and are affecting younger people in greater numbers every year.

Bottom line…without inflammation being present in the body, there is no catalyst for cholesterol to accumulate in the walls of our blood vessels and cause heart disease. Eliminate it and heart disease can be substantially reduced, prolonging and bettering our quality of life.

What Causes Us to Become Inflamed Internally?

Simply stated, it is a protective response by our immune system to fighting bacteria and other infectious agents in our bodies. But when this becomes excessive,  it’s then an indicator of chronic disease, for example,  atherosclerosis (clogged arteries).

Inflammation Immune System ResponseInflammation can develop in tissues such as blood vessel walls, lungs, and connective tissue partly through the activity of cells that can actually protect you by scavenging unwanted particles and invading organisms and toxins.

However, the bad side of this cell activity is the production of pro-inflammatory substances that can worsen atherosclerosis by causing cholesterol to “stick” thereby clogging your arteries.

Without this in your body, cholesterol would then be able move freely as nature intended.

Inflammation Means Mixed Messages

Benefits and Risks of InflammationYes, it is a protective immune system response to foreign invaders but if we chronically expose our bodies to injury by toxins or foods that our bodies were never designed to process, we can develop a condition called “chronic inflammation”. It’s this chronic inflammation that is just as bad for us as the “acute” version immune response is beneficial.

No person knowledgeable in immune responses would willing expose himself or herself repeatedly, to foods or other substances that are known to cause injury to the body. Smoking is a perfect example of something that would directly impact the development of chronic inflammation.

Many people will continue to follow the “healthy” recommended mainstream diet that is generally low in fat and high in polyunsaturated fats and carbohydrates based on the old school thinking about cholesterol. Continuing to maintain this type of diet can create the catalyst for chronic inflammation leading to heart disease. Without making changes, you are at risk!

Get Help in The Great Cholesterol Lie by Dr. Dwight Lundell

The Great Cholesterol Lie was written by Dr. Dwight Lundell as an accessible tool for consumers concerned about maintaining the best heart health possible. How many times have you heard a physician say they were wrong about a diagnosis? Well, Dr. Lundell, an accomplished heart surgeon realized the old information and research about cholesterol’s impact on heart disease was flawed and just plain WRONG. He made the decision to challenge the medical community and prove it.

Inflammation - The Silent KillerAs a cardiovascular surgeon of over 25 years with 5,000 plus surgeries to his credit, Dr. Lundell has been sharing his findings about cholesterol’s impact on heart disease for some time now. Over the last several years he’s communicated his message through books, interviews and even a health news segment of the television series, “Living in Style” aired on all the major networks as well as select cable channels.

Dr. Lundell’s goal, when he dedicated his life to healing the human heart, was to see an end to heart disease in his lifetime and has since committed himself to achieving that goal. What better way to get this message into circulation than through the media. What’s the likelihood of you getting this from your own physician directly?

In The Great Cholesterol Lie, you´ll learn how dietary recommendations, born of the faulty cholesterol theory, maneuvered  this nation of people away from real, wholesome foods in favor of low fat packaged foods. These foods laced with salt, sugar and Omega-6 oils are helping create the chronic inflammation, that is responsible for this nation’s obesity, heart disease, and high blood pressure.

Getting a handle on the causes of inflammation is the first step to getting it under control or eliminated altogether. This is what’s detailed in Dr. Dwight Lundell’s book. Here are just a few of the topics you will find covered in this detailed, fact supported book:

  • Why Everything You Learned About Cholesterol Is A Lie, How It Began in 1948 And Why It Continues… Pages 19-29
  • Why Statin Medications Will Not Reduce Your Risk Of Heart Disease, And What Will… Pages 40-56
  • The One Common Denominator Dr. Lundell Saw In Over 5,000 Patients-Inflammation, And How To Put The Fire Out… Pages 63-79
  • Extraordinary Simple Steps That Prevent And Reverse Heart Disease Without Medication… Pages 81-96

If you’re ready to make a change for the better and to take back control of your heart health, this book will set you on the right path. You’ll be surprised by the content and equally surprised by the results you can achieve.

CLICK HERE TO BUY THE GREAT CHOLESTEROL LIE OR TO LEARN MORE…

 


How to Reduce Inflammation in your Blood, Naturally

Protect Heart from InflammationMy recent posts have been on the dangers of an elevated C-Reactive Protein (CRP) count in your blood and how it contributes to both heart disease and heart attacks. We need to protect our hearts.

I’m passionate about getting the word out on the impact of hidden inflammation (the other Silent Killer) in your body so in this post I’ll offer steps you can take to reduce it naturally, without drugs.

While lifestyle changes are hard for some to implement, any steps you take that can reduce low-grade inflammation and your C-Reactive Protein (CRP) count and also reduce your need for costly drugs, will support your wellness and a healthier lifestyle.

Tips to help you lower inflammation in your blood

1.  Know your BMI (Body Mass Index) – Keeping your body mass index within the normal, healthy range for your size will go a long way to reducing your CRP levels. CLICK HERE to go to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to calculate (FREE) your current BMI. This will give you a pretty good idea of where you need to be. You may just find out that you’re already in the normal range!

2.  Reduce or avoid saturated fats – There’s a lot of us who love to eat cheeses, red meats, sausage, bacon, butter, and full-fat dairy products and I think most of us know moderation is the key here. Saturated fats contribute to inflammation in your blood.

3.  Include deeply-colored fruits (like blueberries, raspberries, and pomegranates) and vegetables (such as spinach, green peppers, red peppers, tomatoes, etc.) in your diet. Flavenoid-rich foods are known for their anti-inflammatory properties and in addition, contain antioxidants which fight signs of aging.

4.  Omega-3 superstar – If you’re not already taking fish oil capsules for their anti-inflammatory Omega-3 fatty acids, this is something to consider. We’ve all heard Omega-3 is essential for optimal heart health. It is found in salmon, flax seed, sardines, tofu, walnuts, soybeans and halibut. Omega-3 can reduce your CRP by up to 30%.

5.  Add more fiber to your diet. Healthy fiber, particularly raw almonds, walnuts, ground flaxseed, and green vegetables is relatively easy to include and is a powerful suppressor of inflammation.

6.  Ramp up your physical activity. Exercise, of almost any kind, leads to a modest reduction in inflammation and CRP.  Once again, the more you do the better the effect. We all know we’re supposed to get plenty of exercise but this gives you another reason to do it.

7.  Make sure you are getting enough Vitamin D.  Vitamin D is a very powerful anti-inflammatory agent. You can get Vitamin D in something as simple as daily doses of sunshine. It can also be found in dried mushrooms, sardines, eggs, tuna and salmon. If you can stand the taste, a tablespoon of cod liver oil has about 1,360 IUs. You can also get Vitamin D in fortified milk and orange juice…be sure to read the product label.

Before you make any serious lifestyle changes, you should always consult with your doctor. Starting slowly and with purpose will make healthier choices easier to stick with.

 


This Protein Test May Save Your Life

CRP is a protein made by your liver in response to inflammation, which occurs when your body is exposed to a major trauma or infection. CRP is not only produced within the liver, but also appears to be produced in both your visceral fat (abdominal fat) and within your heart’s blood vessels. In general, the greater the inflammation the higher your C-Reactive protein will be.

Cell Inflammation - CRPResearch shows that too much inflammation in your body can sometimes have bad effects on the blood vessels which transport oxygen and nutrients throughout our bodies.

Atherosclerosis (heart disease), which involves the formation of fatty deposits or plaques in the inner walls of the arteries, is now considered an inflammatory disorder of the blood vessels, similar to how arthritis is an inflammatory disorder of your bones and joints.

Inflammation has ties to heart disease

Elevated C-Reactive ProteinInflammation in your body not only affects the thickening of the artery wall from fatty deposits, but also the rupturing of plaques which can then travel and interfere with blood flow, causing you to have a heart attack.

You may have other sources of inflammation, things not quite so obvious like pneumonia or an abscess or swollen joints, lurking within your body. The presence of CRP in blood is a telltale sign of inflammation because it is normally not present in moderate amounts in the blood of healthy people.

Why you want a CRP test

Not only is elevated CRP more accurate than cholesterol in predicting heart attack risk, but high CRP levels have turned up in people with diabetes and pre-diabetes and in people who are overweight, smoke, do not exercise and make poor lifestyle choices.

In addition to measuring your cholesterol, your doctor may order a protein test to measure the level of C-Reactive Protein (CRP) in your blood.  You may have also seen this test labeled as “hsCRP” or High-Sensitivity CRP.  CRP has emerged as a practical, and accurate measure of low-grade, hidden inflammation. The “high-sensitivity” method is capable of measuring elevated inflammation at far lower levels and therefore earlier, in determining your heart disease risk, than previous CRP tests.

CRP Blood TestA CRP level greater than 0.5 mg/l can be a signal that low-grade inflammation may be contributing to coronary artery disease in you.  Even more dangerous is the fact that inflammation is also regarded as a potential trigger for a possible heart attack. Reducing the levels of C-Reactive protein secreted by the body may be as powerful a tool in slowing heart disease in you and preventing heart attacks and cardiac-related death as lowering cholesterol as reported by researchers.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The C-Reactive Protein test is generally not part of a normal blood panel when you get tested during a regular check up.

Some insurance carriers do not cover this test and because it is generally outside your insurance coverage, it may not be ordered by your doctor due to the added cost.

You will need to ask for this protein test when you get your blood checked if your doctor does not request it. I have it done annually and it costs me about an additional $35.oo outside my co-pay. The knowledge and benefit gained from getting this test becomes invaluable if it can save your life. Remember, a heart attack doesn’t just affect you!


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