Garlic, Inflammation and Atherosclerosis

Garlic, Inflammation and Atherosclerosis

Recent studies have shown that garlic extract is helpful at preventing inflammation which is a leading cause for atherosclerosis.

Before a person suffers from heart disease, stroke, or vascular disease, they generally suffer from atherosclerosis first. Atherosclerosis is the slow build up of either hard or soft plaque within the wall of the arteries. The buildup of hard plaque can cause the artery wall to become thick and hard leading to constriction of blood flow. A formation of soft plaque can actually end up breaking free from the arterial wall and become a clot within the blood stream.

One of the precursors to atherosclerosis as well as problems with the heart and circulatory system is inflammation. Inflammation is the body’s response to infection or the invasion of foreign substances in which white blood cells and certain chemicals in the body kick into overdrive and attack the invader causing swelling, redness and pain. Inflammation helps get plaque buildup started by causing cells to adhere to the walls of the blood vessels. These stuck on cells then migrate into the lining of the vessel thanks to cell adhesion molecules and facilitate the progression of atherosclerosis. Therefore, researchers believe that the key to preventing atherosclerosis and the subsequent heart and vascular disease is to prevent inflammation.

This is where garlic can come in handy.

Garlic has been grown and consumed by humans for more than 5000 years and during those 50 centuries, it has always been valued for it medicinal and beneficial properties. Garlic is loaded with antioxidants that help prevent free radical damage and it is also a powerful antimicrobial capable of killing off viral, fungal and bacterial infections. It has been used not only as something that adds a little pungent zing to food, but also as a means to prevent dysentery and gangrene in hospitals during the turn of the century.

In a recent study, artery cells were exposed to garlic extract in various concentrations then exposed to a protein that is known to cause inflammation for one day. Researchers found that garlic helped inhibit the cells from sticking to the cell walls. They also found that garlic helped decrease the number of cells that migrated to the blood vessel walls.

Because of these two factors, scientists now know why people who eat garlic on a regular basis have less inflammation related pain problems and are generally more heart healthy. Garlic helps decrease inflammation and by doing so helps prevent the onset of atherosclerosis.…

Surviving Critical Illness, But at What Cost?

Surviving Critical Illness, But at What Cost?

There is a significant increase in the chance of being diagnosed with critical illnesses such as cancer, heart attack, or stroke than dying under the age of 75.

There are more than 160,000 new cancer cases, 70,000 heart attacks and 40,000 strokes in Canada every year. It is estimated that approximately 10% of the population will be diagnosed with a critical illness.

Can you afford to be very sick?

According to a study by the CBCN (Canadian Breast Cancer Network) patients with long term cancer face serious financial difficulties, leading to use of all their savings in 44% of patients and rising debt levels in 27% of cases. The study claims that unemployment insurance only covers 15 weeks of the average 38 weeks of treatment.

Most people have contracted a life insurance, yet very few think of contracting critical illness insurance. This type of insurance is an interesting protection against unexpected outcome in life. It is a form of health insurance that provides a lump-sum payment should you become seriously ill.

How does one get insured? Quite easily. It is the insured person that decides on the required amount that will be provided by the insurance company in case of critical illness. Unfortunately, a number of low cost options are offered by some financial institutions, that only cover 3 or 4 illnesses and additionally the premiums are not guaranteed. Most products offered by known insurance companies’ covers up to 24 different critical illnesses, such as cancer, heart attacks, stroke, heart surgery, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer, paralysis, loss of vision or speech, and others.

As with life insurance, critical illness is offered as renewable term, whole life, or up to 75 years of age. Premiums are guaranteed in the contract and cannot be modified.

Certain insurance companies will even refund all premiums at the end of the contract if there were no claims after 15 or 20 years, or at the age of 75.

Now, this is what I call a win-win situation. You are insured for a many years and then you get your money back, tax-free.

Other companies offer partial cancellation, where the insured keeps 50% of his insurance at half the cost and gets reimbursed for the other 50% of premium paid.

These products are truly exceptional as they are relatively new in Canada and are still offered at relatively affordable rates.…

Ask Your Doctor About Vitamin E As a Blood Thinner

Ask Your Doctor About Vitamin E As a Blood Thinner

There is no doubt that vitamin E can be an important part of a healthy, daily diet.

There have been many research studies that have indicated the potential of vitamin E as blood thinner. This information may have significant implications on the use of vitamin E for helping to support a healthy heart.

Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin that is naturally found in nuts, oils and seeds. It is highly regarded as a natural antioxidant, although the actual metabolic function of this vitamin hasn’t been clearly determined as of date. However, there are reports of the possibility of vitamin E as blood thinner, which makes it of interest to the studies regarding healthy arteries and healthy cardiovascular circulation.

Vitamin E and Its Antioxidant Abilities

Vitamin E has been studied for its helpfulness in promoting heart health. Its anti-oxidant properties are widely publicized and they are thought to help in the potential prevention of the formation of free radicals, which can lead to health problems.

As an antioxidant, vitamin E is also known to potentially help prevent substances like cholesterol from undergoing a process called oxidation. Oxidation in bad LDL cholesterols causes them to stick to the linings of the arteries and build up, forming blockages (a condition called atherosclerosis) and clots.

Deposition of oxidized cholesterol and fat onto the arterial walls can cause the blood vessels to narrow down preventing the normal flow of blood. Other substances like calcium and fibrin can also deposit onto the walls, which may result in the hardening of the arteries. When a blood clot occurs in the blocked area, flow of blood may be stopped, which could lead to a heart attack.

Vitamin E as a Blood Thinner

Vitamin E is also thought to have some natural anti-coagulant properties – which means that it may help to thin out the blood. The hope is that this blood thinning potential might help to keep blood thin so it can freely flow in the blood vessels, even in areas where minor arterial narrowing has occurred due to plaque build-up. Moreover, with vitamin E, substances dissolved in the blood might become more mobile so they could be less likely to stick to arterial walls.

Blood Thinning Isn’t Always Ideal

Note though that blood coagulation should only fall within a definite, reasonable range. Blood thinning is ideal to a certain extent but when the clotting ability of the blood is reduced to a minimum level, excessive bleeding (nosebleeds), bleeding strokes, hemorrhages, hematuria (blood in the urine), and heavy menstrual periods in women may occur. Remember that blood clotting is a very important function of the cardiovascular system as it helps prevent too much blood loss when cuts and wounds happen.

The role of Vitamin E as potential blood thinner has two sides. On one side, vitamin E might help promote cardiovascular health and support the reduced risk for heart diseases. On another, care must be taken to …

Canine Heat Stress

Canine Heat Stress

It is very important that you pay attention to your dog in the hot months. I know from experience that dogs being field tested during the summer months occasionally slow down and if you are not aware what is happening, you may cause the dog irreparable harm or even death. One of my friends had that happen to her Springer Spaniel. This dog was an eager retriever that loved to fetch tennis balls. You could throw the tennis ball, as far into the woods as possible and the dog would bring it back within minutes and drop it at your feet. You could literally keep throwing the ball until your arm got tired. If you feinted as if you were throwing the ball into the woods towards east, the dog would charge into the woods while you threw the ball unseen by the dog into the woods towards west. The dog would search and search and even if it took the dog 45 minutes, she would eventually come back with the ball, because she trusted you that the ball was somewhere and she wanted to bring it back. Her owner did a lot of retrieving with the dog, and one summer when the temperatures were about 95 degrees F and the relative humidity at 90%, she took the dog for its normal run and threw balls for the dog and kept doing it until the dog collapsed. The dog got its leg caught on a ground vine, flipped over and never stood up again. The owner thought that the dog had broken her neck and since she couldn’t carry it out of the woods, she came to get Vibeke and me and we brought a spade with us and buried the dog in the woods where she had loved to run. She had clearly died of heat stroke, but we never had the heart to tell our friend the real reason the dog died.

Canine Heat Stress – Prevention

Although any dog may suffer from heat stress, certain dogs are more vulnerable. They include puppies and geriatric dogs. Overweight dogs are especially susceptible because the fat insulation reduces the dog’s ability to radiate heat. Dogs with a history of heat stress are short-nosed breeds like bulldogs and pugs, which normally have difficulty breathing and panting, but as the saying goes: “It can happen to you” – so look out. Dogs with cardiovascular or respiratory disorders may be more easily affected than other breeds. Some basic guidelines:

1. Never leave a dog in a closed automobile, an unventilated garage or other enclosure for any length of time in hot weather.

2. Kennels should have adequate ventilation to provide adequate air circulation in summer months.

3. When dogs are outdoors, some type of shade cover should be provided.

4. Avoid excessive exercise during hot weather.

5. Keep plenty of fresh drinking water available at all times for dogs.

Canine Heat Stress – Treatment

In heat stroke cases, high fever …

Should You Consider a Sugar Free Life Style? Part I

Should You Consider a Sugar Free Life Style? Part I

If you have a sweet tooth, a sugar free life style simple doesn’t make sense or does it? For you it makes the best sense. Perhaps the biggest reason to consider a shift in eating would be for your good health and to fight chronic health diseases, i.e. heart attack, stroke and diabetes. Although sweets add great taste and zest to your life, the empty calories are slowly killing you.

When you consider a sugar free life style, you come one step closer to becoming the best you that you can be. Why? By eliminating sugar and foods that become sugar in your gastrointestinal tract (GI tract), you will begin to feel like your old self within a matter of weeks. A brand new you will emerge. Most people feel bad daily without really knowing the cause. Most often, you feel bad because of your eating habits.

So it becomes pretty simple, change your eating habits and change the way you feel! Your decision to go sugar free can’t be just an “I’ll try it to see if it works” decision. To change your eating habits to a sugar free dietary program will require a quality decision on your part. You will need to determine if the change is right for you. Do research, read everything you can find about the benefits and then make your decision-one way or the other.

Your sugar free lifestyle, coupled with a daily caloric intake, will help you lose weight. America is overweight! Obesity has reared its ugly head even among middle school aged youngsters. Recent research has confirmed a direct correlation between the size of your waist to chronic heart diseases. Men with a waist size of larger than 39″ is at risk for heart disease and diabetes even more so than those with smaller waist sizes. So a really sensible plan in addition to a sugar free life style is a lower caloric intake. Part II of this article will discuss the daily caloric intake and how to determine the teaspoons (tps) of sugar you can consume each day.

When you consume more calories than you burn with your daily activities, your body stores these calories as fat. So the ideal situation is to burn all the calories you consume. A sugar free lifestyle goes hand in hand with a good daily exercise plan. Before you begin an exercise program, consult your physician to be sure you are healthy enough to exercise. The exercise and daily calorie plan will be discussed in a Part II article.

Yes, you should consider a sugar free life style. It will take some planning, you will need to be devoted to your plan but above all you will need to make a quality decision to stick with your sugar free life style plan. Maybe it is not too late to reverse the damage already done to your body. You may be able to get off some …

Catie’s Whole Food Vitamin C Plus

Most of us don’t stop to think what we are putting into our bodies. For achieving the required potency for nutrients, you only need a food material with some synthetic food base. Further, there is some emerging science that suggests our bodies do not absorb nutrients from supplements nearly as well as it does when those same nutrients come from whole food.\n\nEvery individual’s needs are unique in terms of nutritional and supplemental support. And the fruits and vegetables they come from are organically grown, without pesticides and other harmful chemicals. The unfortunate truth is that many of us don’t eat a properly balanced diet any more, and the need for specialized pregnancy nutrition makes this even more evident.\n\nSome of the whole food products today are made from fresh, high quality fruits and vegetables and then tested carefully to make sure that no pesticides or other contaminates are affecting the pureness of the product. It is important however to do your research into the companies providing these whole food supplements to ensure that they are reputable and have a track record of success.\n\nBut when I am over the crisis, I want to learn and do everything I can to use diet and nutrition that will take me the rest of the way to health and keep me there. In the first part of the 1900’s most Americans ate a healthy, whole food diet because they had no choice.\n\nAnyhow to make a long story short, my urine was fluorescent whenever I used it. This was because all the B vitamins were being excreted by my kidneys, meaning they were not being absorbed by my body. Whole food vitamins are all natural. Whole food multivitamins will list most of the ingredients with the names of the real whole fruit or vegetable, like broccoli or pineapple.

Abbott Nutrition

With so many nutrition, protein and weight loss bars on the shelves today, how do you know what your really getting? Fresh foods such as fruits and vegetables and water are also beneficial to your oral health by making you use your teeth and gums to chew and to initiate saliva production. The remainder of the total calories in each diet was supplied by fat. As a matter of fact, these are the times when our bodies need more food to have an uninterrupted stream of nutrients that are needed for increased metabolic demands.\n\nLike your body, your mouth, particularly your teeth and gums, need certain vitamins and minerals to work and function properly and to fight the inevitable accumulation of cavity and gum disease causing plaque and tartar. He never asked himself, “Why is nutrition important?” He didn’t care about eating healthy.\n\nHeidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel of Eating Well When You’re Expecting suggest 3 to 4 servings of green leafy and yellow vegetables and yellow fruit. Some people say that if you want to lose weight, you simply need to create a calorie deficit. • Avoid those foods that deplete your body of vitamins.\n\nDiet is the stage you want to spend most of your time focusing on improving, as it’s the stage you’ve got most control over (the other stages are under indirect control, whereas diet is under direct control, although the way that most people eat – mindlessly – would make you suspect there’s not much control at all!).\n\nYou need to make sure that every meal that you take contains adequate minerals, carbohydrates, protein, and less of the dangerous fats but load up on the good fats. When you eat carbohydrate rich foods, they will be broken down into smaller molecules called glucose as they reach the bloodstream, which is the usable source of energy that powers each and every cell in your body.…

Does Your Diet Need a Potassium Make-Over?

Does Your Diet Need a Potassium Make-Over?

As both a dietitian counseling private patients and a college level nutrition course instructor, I have become concerned that both my patients and students consistently have difficulty consuming enough dietary potassium. Given that the daily dietary recommendation for North Americans is 4700 mg., it’s not that surprising that people fall short of meeting their potassium requirements. Although many health care providers think it is an easy process to eat this much potassium on a daily basis, Americans eat too few servings of unprocessed foods which leads to this problem. Additionally, as chronic dieters edit out calories to lose weight, they may also be editing out potassium rich foods in the process. With that stated, consuming enough potassium does not have to be as difficult as one would think. The key is knowing the best food sources of potassium, and making sure these foods are consumed on a regular basis.

Why is potassium so important for our health and well-being? Potassium is necessary for healthy nerve and heart function. Evidence also suggests that diets low in sodium and ample in potassium seem to prevent or correct some types of high blood pressure and lessen the likelihood of stroke.

With these health benefits in mind, it is crucial to know how we can increase our dietary intake of potassium. Potassium comes mainly from unprocessed foods, like fruit and vegetables- something that all Americans need to incorporate more regularly in their diets. Consider the following options when specifically trying to target your levels of potassium intake:

-1/2 cup navy beans, lima beans, and soybeans all have about 450 mg.

-1 cup cooked spinach has 466 mg.

-1 small can low sodium V-8 juice has 700 mg.

-6 prunes have about 290 mg.

-1 cup orange juice has about 500 mg.

-1 cup of skim milk has about 400 mg.

-1 banana has 420 mg.

-1/2 cup uncooked oatmeal has about 335 mg.

-3 oz. salmon has about 380 mg.

-3 oz. chicken or beef has about 290 mg.

-1/2 cup cooked carrots has about 185 mg.

-1 cup of honeydew melon and cantaloupe have about 400 mg.

-1/3 avocado has about 360 mg.

-6-oz. baked potato has about 850 mg.

-1/2 cup sweet potato has about 400 mg.

-1/2 cup sliced strawberries have about 250 mg.

The beauty of this list? These potassium rich fruits and vegetables are also the foods with high levels of cancer-fighting antioxidants, and the foods least likely to add pounds to your waistline! Yet one more reason to make sure you get five or more servings of fruits and veggies per day. Bon appetit.…

5 Ways To Improve Your Vitamin Nutrition

Whole food nutrition helps to fill the gap between what we should eat and what we actually eat. Fortunately you can do your bit to ensure you don’t get a traffic jam by eating the right diet for you, exercising properly for your needs and paying attention to the indicators of good circulation. Eating food that is artificial like processed and fast foods can bring a sense of being dull-witted and a feeling of wanting to just go to sleep.\n\nVitamin B12 is used in making DNA, the building block of genes, and in maintaining healthy nerve and red blood cells. You will soon realize that preparing food at home allows you to use fresher ingredients and get extra nutritional value from the food that you eat.\n\nA healthy and consistent diet plan draws wide-ranging nutrition from the different food groups within caloric limits. However, know that healthful eating is a lifelong pursuit and one that is easy to begin by taking small, incremental steps. In particular, a nutritional eating plan will definitely improve your chances of fast weight loss.\n\nFresh foods such as fruits and vegetables and water are also beneficial to your oral health by making you use your teeth and gums to chew and to initiate saliva production. The remainder of the total calories in each diet was supplied by fat. As a matter of fact, these are the times when our bodies need more food to have an uninterrupted stream of nutrients that are needed for increased metabolic demands.\n\nAs a certified herbalist, and a student of this science for over 14 years, I have come to realize that eating healthy means eating foods that are rich in natural nutrients that come from planet earth to nourish our bodies. While proper nutrition may be hard to fit into one’s schedule and it may take effort and discipline, it is more than worth it for not only producing a beautiful smile, but also helping your body stay strong and healthy.…

Recognizing the Signs of a Stroke

Recognizing the Signs of a Stroke

A stroke occurs when a blood vessel within the brain is blocked or ruptures. When a stroke occurs the parts of the brain that are deprived of oxygen start to die. The parts of the body that are controlled by the damaged part of the brain do not function properly. Recognizing the symptoms of a stroke and getting medical treatment quickly can help limit the damage and increase the chance of recovery.

There are two types of strokes, ischemic and hemorrhagic. An ischemic stroke occurs when a blood clot blocks a blood vessel in the brain. The clot may have traveled to the brain from another part of the body, or the vessel itself may be clogged due to a buildup of fatty deposits. Ischemic strokes are the most common type of strokes. A hemorrhagic stroke occurs when an artery in the brain leaks or bursts, causing bleeding in the brain. The artery may have become weakened due to an aneurysm or other disorder affecting the blood vessels. This is a less common type of stroke, but is more difficult to treat and more deadly.

Recognizing the signs of a stroke and getting prompt medical treatment are essential to the person’s chance of recovery. The following list of symptoms indicates that a stroke may be occurring.

A� Sudden numbness, tingling, weakness, or paralysis on one side of the body

A� Sudden trouble speaking

A� Sudden vision changes

A� Sudden problems with walking or balance

A� Sudden confusion or difficulty understanding simple statements

A� Sudden severe headache that is different from past headaches

According to the National Stroke Association, an easy way to evaluate for stroke is to remember the acronym FAST.

A� F- (Face) Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop?

A� A- (Arms) Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?

A� S- (Speech) Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase. Is their speech slurred or strange?

A� T- (Time) If you observe any of these signs, call 9-1-1 immediately. Note the time you experienced the first symptoms.

A stroke is a medical emergency. Seek medical help immediately. Do not wait to see if symptoms go away. Every minute counts. If treated quickly, there are medications that can help the stroke patient have a better recovery.…