This is our last article on cardiovascular disease. We have looked at what exactly it is, in all its different dynamics, how it begins and who may be the culprits.
Now, its time for something practical. Many of you are living under the shadow of heart disease. You have either suffered through and are recovering or you can feel it sitting on your shoulder waiting for an opportune time to strike.
What do we put in our mouths tonight that will give our bodies a fighting chance?
Much of it is simple actually.
Just as Heart Disease developed over time, and many poor choices, one on top of the other. Reversing it will come the same way.
Day in and day out, making choices that give life to your body.
The first step would be to remove all the offending culprits that have contributed to putting you where you are. We mentioned these last time; white flour, white sugar, processed foods, and processed fats.
Showing posts with label CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE. Show all posts
2009-09-27
Heart Disease The Signs are Clear
Heart Disease is an umbrella term that encompasses many different health conditions of the heart, including heart attack and Arteriosclerosis.
But put all together, Heart Disease is a top killer, slick and stealth and in many cases, predictable and completely preventable.
We never think it could happen to us. But could it? Is it on its way?
Many early indicators have been identified which we should be aware, and attentive to.
Some risk factors for heart disease are out of your control, such as genetics, sex and age.
However, an INTER-HEART study, one of the largest studies of its type ever conducted, leveled the playing field and identified the majority of risk factors which are very much self induced.
This study looked at more than 29,000 individuals from around the world, roughly half of whom had had prior heart attacks. The other half had never had heart attacks. Indeed, these risk factors appeared responsible for over 90% of the heart attacks seen in these patients. The risk of heart attack for individuals who had all of these factors, amazingly, was almost 130 times higher than for somebody with none of them
Further, these same risk factors "worked" in predicting heart attacks for every racial and ethnic group in every region of the world.
The telltale indicators were as follows~
¨ Increased LDL/HDL ratios.
¨ Smoking
¨ Diabetes and Sugar Intake:
Diabetes was considered a "controllable" risk factor on this list because, while type I diabetes is not preventable, the much more common type II diabetes is absolutely preventable with proper diet and exercise.
¨ Abdominal obesity:
Interestingly, obesity itself was not a high concern, however where you store that extra fat was. That spare-tire you carry around increases you risk of heart attack dramatically. In the Nurses' Health Study of nearly 50,000 subjects, women who had larger waists had more heart attacks. Women with a waist-to-hip ratio (waste measurement divided by hip measurement) of 0.76 or higher, or a waist circumference of 30 inches or more, had a 200 percent greater chance of developing heart disease. The waist to hip also applies to the men, the larger the difference between the two measurements, the greater the risk. For most men, the risk factors for heart disease and other diseases increase with a waist size greater than 40 inches.
¨ Psychosocial (increase in stress level or depression)
¨ Failure to eat fruits and vegetables daily
¨ Physical inactivity - Regular, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity helps prevent heart and blood vessel disease. The more vigorous the activity, the greater your benefits. However, even moderate-intensity activities help if done regularly and long term. With over half of North Americans, and now children, classified as living sedentary lifestyles, this is playing a far greater role than ever.
Although, the signs are crystal clear heart disease does not appear over night. It is something that is developed over 20, 30, 40 years of putting yourself at risk with poor health choices.
If you found yourself falling into to many of the above categories, take heart (pardon the pun) it is never to late to slam the brakes on this speeding vehicle and turn it around.
Dramatic results have been obtained in a very short time.
Next time we start with “where do I go from here”.
What you can do, today, to reverse and repair heart damage and protect yourself for the future.
But put all together, Heart Disease is a top killer, slick and stealth and in many cases, predictable and completely preventable.
We never think it could happen to us. But could it? Is it on its way?
Many early indicators have been identified which we should be aware, and attentive to.
Some risk factors for heart disease are out of your control, such as genetics, sex and age.
However, an INTER-HEART study, one of the largest studies of its type ever conducted, leveled the playing field and identified the majority of risk factors which are very much self induced.
This study looked at more than 29,000 individuals from around the world, roughly half of whom had had prior heart attacks. The other half had never had heart attacks. Indeed, these risk factors appeared responsible for over 90% of the heart attacks seen in these patients. The risk of heart attack for individuals who had all of these factors, amazingly, was almost 130 times higher than for somebody with none of them
Further, these same risk factors "worked" in predicting heart attacks for every racial and ethnic group in every region of the world.
The telltale indicators were as follows~
¨ Increased LDL/HDL ratios.
¨ Smoking
¨ Diabetes and Sugar Intake:
Diabetes was considered a "controllable" risk factor on this list because, while type I diabetes is not preventable, the much more common type II diabetes is absolutely preventable with proper diet and exercise.
¨ Abdominal obesity:
Interestingly, obesity itself was not a high concern, however where you store that extra fat was. That spare-tire you carry around increases you risk of heart attack dramatically. In the Nurses' Health Study of nearly 50,000 subjects, women who had larger waists had more heart attacks. Women with a waist-to-hip ratio (waste measurement divided by hip measurement) of 0.76 or higher, or a waist circumference of 30 inches or more, had a 200 percent greater chance of developing heart disease. The waist to hip also applies to the men, the larger the difference between the two measurements, the greater the risk. For most men, the risk factors for heart disease and other diseases increase with a waist size greater than 40 inches.
¨ Psychosocial (increase in stress level or depression)
¨ Failure to eat fruits and vegetables daily
¨ Physical inactivity - Regular, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity helps prevent heart and blood vessel disease. The more vigorous the activity, the greater your benefits. However, even moderate-intensity activities help if done regularly and long term. With over half of North Americans, and now children, classified as living sedentary lifestyles, this is playing a far greater role than ever.
Although, the signs are crystal clear heart disease does not appear over night. It is something that is developed over 20, 30, 40 years of putting yourself at risk with poor health choices.
If you found yourself falling into to many of the above categories, take heart (pardon the pun) it is never to late to slam the brakes on this speeding vehicle and turn it around.
Dramatic results have been obtained in a very short time.
Next time we start with “where do I go from here”.
What you can do, today, to reverse and repair heart damage and protect yourself for the future.
Defining the Heart Break
Unfortunately many of us are introduced to heart disease the hard way, suddenly, with a shock. The shock may involve a friend, family, co-worker or maybe even yourself.
Maybe the shock found you sitting in your doctor’s office hearing words that were, once upon a time, just generic terms. Long, dark, words like “coronary artery disease”, or “arteriosclerosis”.
Maybe the shock came when you found yourself laying in a hospital bed.
Now all those words that we’ve been overhearing in news reports, TV commercials, and coffee shops step into a new place of reality for us.
Heart disease is the number one killer of Canadians. Stealing the life of one Canadian every 7 minutes.
But the greatest heartbreak of this killer is the preventability. Over 80% of cases are preventable.
Yes, Nutritional Health offers real help for those wanting protection against heart disease. It also offers real help to reverse heart disease.
Over the next few weeks we will put some very substantial tools into your hands, simple solutions that make sense.
But first, I wanted to get a clearer understanding of what we are talking about.
Although, heart disease (also referred to as cardiac disease) is a term we hear alot, it actually is not a specific condition at all.
Maybe the shock found you sitting in your doctor’s office hearing words that were, once upon a time, just generic terms. Long, dark, words like “coronary artery disease”, or “arteriosclerosis”.
Maybe the shock came when you found yourself laying in a hospital bed.
Now all those words that we’ve been overhearing in news reports, TV commercials, and coffee shops step into a new place of reality for us.
Heart disease is the number one killer of Canadians. Stealing the life of one Canadian every 7 minutes.
But the greatest heartbreak of this killer is the preventability. Over 80% of cases are preventable.
Yes, Nutritional Health offers real help for those wanting protection against heart disease. It also offers real help to reverse heart disease.
Over the next few weeks we will put some very substantial tools into your hands, simple solutions that make sense.
But first, I wanted to get a clearer understanding of what we are talking about.
Although, heart disease (also referred to as cardiac disease) is a term we hear alot, it actually is not a specific condition at all.
Making Sense of the Heart Break
To be honest with you, the health statistics sometimes boggle me.
I research hundreds of them, but to make sense at times can be a mind bender.
An article released just last month had me looking twice.
Apparently, Canada appears to be making progress in preventing heart attacks.
The Health Indicators 2009 report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information suggested the rate of heart attacks in Canada dropped 13 per cent between 2003-2004 and 2007-2008.
There were 251 hospitalizations for heart attacks per 100,000 people the first year, which dropped to 219 hospitalizations per 100,000 last year.
The rate of deaths from heart attack within 30 days of being admitted to hospital also dropped, decreasing by 11 per cent between 2003 and 2008.
Lets just look for a minute here, shall we? Do you notice that these numbers are for hospitalized heart attacks?
The Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation report about 40,000 Canadians experience heart attacks, every year, 17,000 will die. Every 7 minutes someone dies from either a heart attack or stroke.
The majority, 70%, of heart attacks and cardiac arrests (when the heart stops pumping blood) occur in homes and public places. And, less than 5% of those who have a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital survive.
Strangely enough a study, also published last month, in the June, 2009 Canadian Medical Association Journal reports the prevalence of heart disease as increasing in all age groups and most income groups in Canada.
In 2005, the most recent report available from Stats Canada, cardiovascular disease accounted for:
· 31% of all deaths in Canada
· 30% of all male deaths
· 31% of all female deaths
Now, just to clarify, cardiovascular diseases are defined as diseases and injuries of the cardiovascular system: the heart, the blood vessels of the heart and the system of blood vessels (veins and arteries) throughout the body and within the brain.
Previously mentioned heart attacks, definitely fall into this category, but CVD is not limited to only heart attacks. A stroke, for example, is the result of a blood flow problem in the brain.
It also is considered a form of cardiovascular disease.
So what do all these numbers really mean? Is Canada getting healthier or is heart disease on the increase, but people are enduring longer ?
A study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, claims a 30% decline in rate of death and hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease over a 10-year period in Canada,
Is this encouraging?
I research hundreds of them, but to make sense at times can be a mind bender.
An article released just last month had me looking twice.
Apparently, Canada appears to be making progress in preventing heart attacks.
The Health Indicators 2009 report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information suggested the rate of heart attacks in Canada dropped 13 per cent between 2003-2004 and 2007-2008.
There were 251 hospitalizations for heart attacks per 100,000 people the first year, which dropped to 219 hospitalizations per 100,000 last year.
The rate of deaths from heart attack within 30 days of being admitted to hospital also dropped, decreasing by 11 per cent between 2003 and 2008.
Lets just look for a minute here, shall we? Do you notice that these numbers are for hospitalized heart attacks?
The Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation report about 40,000 Canadians experience heart attacks, every year, 17,000 will die. Every 7 minutes someone dies from either a heart attack or stroke.
The majority, 70%, of heart attacks and cardiac arrests (when the heart stops pumping blood) occur in homes and public places. And, less than 5% of those who have a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital survive.
Strangely enough a study, also published last month, in the June, 2009 Canadian Medical Association Journal reports the prevalence of heart disease as increasing in all age groups and most income groups in Canada.
In 2005, the most recent report available from Stats Canada, cardiovascular disease accounted for:
· 31% of all deaths in Canada
· 30% of all male deaths
· 31% of all female deaths
Now, just to clarify, cardiovascular diseases are defined as diseases and injuries of the cardiovascular system: the heart, the blood vessels of the heart and the system of blood vessels (veins and arteries) throughout the body and within the brain.
Previously mentioned heart attacks, definitely fall into this category, but CVD is not limited to only heart attacks. A stroke, for example, is the result of a blood flow problem in the brain.
It also is considered a form of cardiovascular disease.
So what do all these numbers really mean? Is Canada getting healthier or is heart disease on the increase, but people are enduring longer ?
A study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, claims a 30% decline in rate of death and hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease over a 10-year period in Canada,
Is this encouraging?
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