Tag: Heart disease (Page 5 of 5)

Cholesterol my ass!

By the mid 1950?s, CVD became our number one killer and remains the leading killer today. It was around this time that the lipid hypothesis started to gain popularity. The lipid hypothesis, which was proposed by Ancel Keys in the late 1950?s, is a theory claiming there is a direct relationship between the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol in the diet and the incidence of CVD. This theory however, is simplistic and unfounded; the biggest health scam in American history.

Today in the United States one person will die from CVD every 37 seconds.6 This year in the U.S. an estimated 1.26 million people will have a new or recurrent heart attack, and just short of half will die.7 Approximately 80,000,000 people or more than 25% of The U.S. population has one or more forms of cardiovascular disease.7 In 2002 CVD mortality was nearly 60% of ?total mortality? in the U.S.6 This means that out of 2.4 million deaths from all causes, CVD was listed as a primary cause on about 1.4 million death certificates. CVD causes more deaths than the next 7 causes combined. It?s safe to say CVD had a meteoric rise from the 1930?s to the 1950?s to become number one and to this day the incidence is still rising. (We’re a Fat Unhealthy Nation. part I)

Did you know…

…cholesterol is a substance vital to the health of all cells in your body?

…your body produces 3 to 4 times more cholesterol than you eat?

…when you decrease your consumption the body increases it’s production and visa-versa?

…despite the same amounts of cholesterol flowing through them, veins never become sclerotic?

…arteries that pass through the bony channels of the skull and the few branches that pass through heart muscle never become sclerotic?

…studies of the hearts of people who have died from heart attacks showed approximately 1/5th of the victims had no evidence of coronary atherosclerosis?

…oxidized cholesterol is what accumulates in vessels not normal cholesterol?

…3/4’s of the lipids found in plaque is polyunsaturated?

…in Japan more people die of cerebral hemorrhage than in most other countries, and is greatest in those with the lowest cholesterol levels.

…there is no correlation between saturated fat consumption and cardiovascular disease? In fact, many societies have decreased their animal fat consumption with a corresponding increase in cardiovascular disease.

…there are countless scientific and observable contradictions to the Lipid Hypothesis? Only one scientific contradiction is needed to disprove a hypothesis.

Do your homework and judge for yourself.

Five Foods to ward off Cardiovascular Disease

According to NewsMax Health Alerts, the five foods proven to fight cardiovascular disease are:

  1. Spinach — Spinach is high in folate which helps prevent the accumulation of homoscysteine in the blood. Homoscysteine is a major risk factor for heart disease.
  2. Salmon — Salmon is high in omega-3 fatty acids which reduce inflammation and help prevent plaque from blocking arteries.
  3. Tomatoes — Tomatoes are rich in lycopene which lowers cholesterol.
  4. Oatmeal — Oatmeal is a great source of soluble fiber which absorbs excess cholesterol and removes it from your body.
  5. Pomegranates — Pomegranates are rich in polyphenols, which are antioxidants that keep hearts healthy by neutralizing cell-damaging free radicals, and may also reduce LDL “bad” cholesterol.

The above foods although nutritious,??are going to do very little in the way of warding off heart disease.? There are other foods wich are literally poisons that need to be avoided if one is trying to eat heart healthy.? Conversely, there are also foods and nutrients which you need to add to your diet that are much more heart healthy than the above list.

Despite what you have learned, high cholesterol is not your enemy. Our enemy in this battle against heart disease is vegetable oils.? That’s right, the very same oils that are promoted as heart healthy.? Studies using rabbits in the early 1900’s are often touted as proof positive that a diet high in cholesterol, which raise cholesterol, promote heart disease.? If you look up these studies you’ll find that the researchers used corn oil or partially hydrogenated oil.?

One study used corn oil with the same amount of cholesterol people normally consume.? The rabbits in this study like all the others developed rampant atherosclerosis.? As we’ve known for decades through past, as well as recent studies, vegetable oils and hydrogenated oils facilitate atherosclerosis without adding cholesterol.? Only God knows how many people have died or suffered as a result of the mass marketing of vegetable oils as heart healthy over the last 7 decades.

Did You Know?

In his latest edition of ?Did You Know??, Mike Furci tackles such topics as anabolic steroids and their link (or lack of a link) to dangerous side effects, muscle contracting while working out and low testosterone levels and whether or not they can be associated with heart disease, diabetes and decreased libido.

BLF?all the actual data and medical studies on healthy individuals (adults) show no conclusions that physiological replacement doses of testosterone or other anabolic steroids are dangerous or cause side effects that do not reverse with cessation?

Moreover, in males who maintain physiological high normal levels, there appears to be health-promoting benefits associated with steroids. All the evidence contradicts the anti-steroid media blitz that started in the 80?s and continues today.

Approximately 25 years ago, Dr. Bob Goldman took a ride on the media feeding frenzy train and wrote a book, ?Death in the Locker Room.? This book puts steroids in the same class with alcohol and other recreational drugs as far as the dangers of usage. Since its release and despite the enormous increase in their use and dosage, there has not been one death attributable to steroids. (Planet Muscle Aug/Sept 2008: 72)

(Read the entire article here.)

Statins and inflammation

Results of the JUPITER study seemed to show that the statin drug Crestor lowers the risk of heart attacks and strokes in those with high levels of inflammation. Some believe this will lead to even more people being put on statin drugs.

In reality the benefits are actually insignificant. Aproximately 0.72 percent of the statin takers in the trial had a heart attack or stroke, compared with 1.5 percent of those taking placebos.

Instead of taking statin drugs that come with dangerous side effects, there are things you can do to reduce inflammation naturally.

Stop smoking. Smoking increases inflammation and your risk of cardiovascular disease. But research shows you can reverse all the damaging effects to your arteries within 10 years of quitting.

Olive oil and fish. Consuming olive oil and omega-3 fatty acids fight inflammation.

Get of the couch. Exercise a great way to lower stress and inflammation without any of the side effects associated with medications.

Get your sleep. Some research shows that both too little and too much sleep increases inflammation. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine says most adults need between seven and eight hours of sleep each night.

Reduce stress. High levels of stress hormones can lead to the release of excess inflammatory chemicals.

Good Calories, Bad Calories By Gary Taubes

For decades we have been taught that fat is bad for us, carbohydrates are good, and that the key to a healthy weight is eating less and exercising more. Yet with more and more people acting on this advice, we have seen unprecedented epidemics of obesity and diabetes. With seven years of research, Taubes argues persuasively that the problem lies in refined carbohydrates (white flour, sugar, easily digested starches) ?via their dramatic effect on insulin, the hormone that regulates fat accumulation?and that the key to good health is the kind of calories we take in, not the numbers. There are good calories, and bad ones. Taubes traces how the common assumption that carbohydrates are fattening was abandoned in the 1960’s when fat and cholesterol were blamed for heart disease and then?wrongly?were seen as the causes of a host of other maladies, including cancer. He shows us how these unproven hypotheses were emphatically embraced by authorities in nutrition, public health, and clinical medicine, in spite of how well-conceived clinical trials have consistently refuted them. He also documents the dietary trials of carbohydrate-restriction, which consistently show that the fewer carbohydrates we consume, the leaner we will be.

Good Calories Bad Calories is the end of the debate about the foods we consume and their effects on us.

Newer posts »