PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center’s community health seminar on Cholesterol and Your Heart Health by Dr. Thomas Oliver. Learn what cholesterol is, how it impacts your heart health and how to manage your cholesterol.

Duration : 0:14:46

Originally posted 2010-10-15 16:38:57.

An ounce of prevention towards wellness -

Learn the simple steps to living a healthier and happier life!

Concern over health and how to improve your health has become a topic more and more of us think about and try to implement in our lives. Advances in medicine have helped us live longer lives and have allowed us to overcome some of the ills and infections that used to kill many people. Vaccines have helped prevent illness and death. They have eliminated diseases like smallpox and have helped against rabies, diphtheria and the plague.

However, we have started to incur a new host of health problems due to the length of our life, the processed foods we eat, the fast paced lives we live and the chemicals that pollute our world. Every day we see new commercials on TV about the next great drug that will make your life better or healthier. But do you actually listen to the list of possible side effects. Are these drugs really helping or just creating different problems. Remember, no pharmaceutical company ever made money by curing you quickly so you could stop taking their pills.

Why wait until you feel poorly before you see a doctor that will only work on alleviating your symptoms and not on fixing the underlying problem. Start achieving wellness and begin improving your health before you get to the point you need to see a doctor. Work on improving your overall wellness.

As the old adage says “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Of the leading causes of death in the United States, many can be prevented. The likelihood of contracting heart disease, diabetes, and other health issues can be directly impacted by the choices we make every day. The choices about what we put into our bodies and the choices we make that affect our personal environment.

Here are some things you can do to increase your wellness and start down the path to improve your health:

Diet and Nutrition – Your diet does a lot in determining your overall health and wellness. What you put into your body does make a difference. “It’s easy to buy into some pretty popular nutrition misconceptions — myths and half-truths that ultimately find us making far fewer healthier food choices than we realize,” says New York University nutritionist Samantha Heller, MS, RD.

Read labels, don’t trust all the advertising and always try to get whole foods and not processed substitutes.

The same goes for your supplements. Get those that are made from natural ingredients and aren’t over processed. Every vitamin and mineral and phytochemical in our body works in concert with one another, and it’s easy to knock that balance off. Be sure the supplements you are taking are balanced and introduced to your body in a way that they are usable and work together as nature intended.

Some of the things you want to make sure you get enough of in your diet are fiber, antioxidants, soy, and water. These things along with a well balanced nutritional intake of whole foods and supplements can go a long way in improving health and increasing wellness.

Weight – Maintaining a healthy weight is critical to improving health. You don’t have to be as thin as a rail – this is actually just as unhealthy as being overweight – you just need to keep the excess in check.

It all begins with attitude. Start by changing how you feel about yourself, your body and your eating habits. Change to a can do attitude where you start to do what’s right for you. Simple moderate exercise, eating a healthy breakfast (no skipping allowed), reducing your calorie intake by not taking just one more are all small things we can do to get in better health by being at a better weight.

Don’t go for the fad diets that don’t work or at best get you to lose weight for a while but then just put it back on later. A slow and steady change will help you lose the weight and keep it off and it will be much healthier for you.

Get plenty of whole foods, protein (quite often a good soy protein can give you what you need without adding fat to your diet) and drink lots of water. Water is critical to the health and wellness of your body. It helps rid you of toxic build up and it is needed for normal cell processes to work. Another side effect of water is that it can make you feel full without adding the calories so you will eat less.

Exercise – Aerobic exercise is very important to maintaining your wellness and improving your health. It has been linked to cancer prevention, reduction of osteoporosis, helping with depression, lowering the risk of heart disease and diabetes, and of course obesity and weight control. It can also help with cognitive functions – meaning you can think more clearly and work more efficiently.

Aerobic exercise makes most of us think of joining a gym or having to run several miles every day. This is just not the case. You can keep it very simple and still achieve benefits. Walking is one of the best exercises out there. It is simple, easy on the joints, doesn’t cost us a lot of money and it can be done pretty much anywhere. To get a benefit from walking, you just need to make sure that it is aerobic. That means you want to walk at a pace that leaves you feeling “warm and slightly out of breath”. One good way to start is the 5 out 5 back plan. Just walk 5 minutes away from the house and then you are force to walk 5 minutes back. Increase the time out as your health and fitness increase.

Stress Management – Most of us live with some type of stress every day. It has just become part of our lives. It has also become one reason we don’t always feel our best and why we are susceptible to feeling run down and ‘sick’.

Reducing stress can help now and our long term health. Stress keeps our bodies from functioning at their best and slowly wears on us. Find way to relax, to have that ‘me’ time where the pressures of the day can be pushed aside.

Try to simplify your life. Our world has become so fast paced and ‘in your face’ – ‘do it now’ that we just don’t have time to sit and watch the clouds or the rain or…. One simple way to gain a little sanity is to disconnect from the fast pace, try just turning off the cell phone. Just leave it behind for an hour.

But, no matter how much we work on getting rid of the stresses in our life there will always be something that causes us stress. Luckily, there are ways to help us overcome the stress nutritionally.

Avoiding Toxins – With all of our advances and science and technology, man has come up with many great things to improve our quality of life. However, we are learning that some of these things that are there to improve actually produce side effects that can hurt us and our health – now and in the future.

The EPA has warned that indoor air pollution is more of a concern than the pollution we find outside. Many cleaners as well as skin and beauty products actually contain harmful toxins.

There are companies out there that do produce green cleaners that are safe for people and for the environment. Read labels and know what your beauty and cleaning products contain.

One of the best ways to maintain your health is to wash your hands. We touch so many different things with our hands things that might have been cleaned with toxins or touched by something unhealthy that by just washing, you can cut down on many unwanted health effects.

Adequate Sleep – Giving your body the sleep it requires is a great way to keep it healthy. During sleep your body regenerates and rejuvenates. It is absolutely imperative to get enough sleep, but getting more doesn’t always mean you are getting better quality sleep.

Quit Smoking – Despite the many warnings and the known health risks smoking is still prevalent around the world. Quitting this habit can not only improve your health drastically and improve your chances of preventing future disease; it can relieve you of a financial burden. Just think if you applied all the money you spend on cigarettes on healthy nutritional supplements how much you could increase your health and wellness.

Its not always the difficult path that is required for change. Quite often making a few simple changes in our lives can make dramatic results.

Think about it!

Michael Tomberlin
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/improve-your-health-716139.html

Originally posted 2010-08-30 02:01:20.

Omega 3 Fish Oil

Omega 3 Fish Oil

Researchers in the early 1980′s noticed cultures that consumed a lot of deep cold water fish had very little occurrence of heart disease despite their high fat diet. After much research it was discovered that fish are rich in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids or Omega 3 Fish Oil. (1,2) In this article, we will discuss how Omega 3 Fish Oil is can fight heart disease and how it can help strengthen the heart. Furthermore, we will discuss other benefits of omega 3 fish oil may have on the body and how you can obtain Omega 3 Fish Oil benefits with out eating fish. Also, determine weather the brand of fish oil you are consuming contains toxins or not.

Most of us think that all fats are bad for your health, but in fact there are actually good fats out there. Omega 3 Fish Oil contains good fats. All natural fats are mixed with various kinds of fatty acids. The fatty acids in Omega 3 Fish Oil are made up of both short and long chain carbon atoms. These short and long chain atoms look like arms reaching out. If the carbon atoms are bound with hydrogen the fatty acid is considered saturated. (3,4) Long carbon chains that are double bonded to other carbon atom chains are considered unsaturated. Fatty acid chains have at least two or more double bonds are called polyunsaturated. Polyunsaturated fatty acids are classified as linoleic acid when there is a double bond at the sixth carbon atom from the omega end. When this happens the polyunsaturated fatty acid is called an omega-6 fatty acid. (4,5) Linolenic acid has a double bond at the third carbon atom from the omega end and this is called omega 3 fatty acid. Both linoleic and linolenic acid are needed to sustain life. Even though some fatty acids can be manufactured by the body, omega 3 and omega 6 can not be manufactured and must be consumed in our diets. That is one of the reasons that including Omega 3 Fish Oil in your diet is important.

Linoleic acid is very abundant in American diets, found in commercial baked goods, prepared foods, vegetable oils, and margarine. What most Americans lack is Omega 3 Fish Oil or simply omega 3.

Fish oil contains eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), two components of fish oil derived from linolenic acid. Both EPA and DHA have impressive health benefits. For starters, fatty acids are important for healthy cell membranes. Cell membranes control what enters and exits the cells in our body and protect the cell from danger. Depending on our diets (American diets are high in saturated fats), our cells can be comprised of mostly fatty acids saturated with hydrogen. Saturated fatty acids membranes are usually packed closely together with other cell membranes and becomes rigid and stiff.

If your diet consists of a lot of polyunsaturated fatty acids, your cell membranes will be more flexible and curved in structure and have a more elastic nature. This is because polyunsaturated fatty acids have double bonds between carbon atoms and the carbon atom chains have lots of space between them. When a cell membrane is more flexible it is healthier than the stiff and rigid saturated fatty membrane.

Omega 3 fish oil has been studied in depth in the area of heart disease. With impressive results fish oil has shown to lower the risk of heart attack and reduce blood pressure. One recent study examined men who lived in Finland. These men consumed a fairly high level of EPA and DHA in there diet and experienced a 44% reduction in risk of acute heart attacks compared to men who consumed very little EPA and DHA.

Another study of blood pressure and omega 3 fish oil determined that supplementation with EPA and DHA helped individuals with hypertension. Blood pressure dropped by 6 points during the experiment. (6)

Omega 3 fish oil has shown to reduce other risk factors such as lowering serum triglyceride levels and total cholesterol levels which are both heart attack risk factors. A study showed that postmenopausal women can reduce there risk of heart attack by 27% when taking omega-3 fish oil. (7,8)

EPA and DHA in fish oil can also combat some diseases such as asthma, multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and cancer. Studies have shown that omega 3 fatty acids can help improve asthma in children and increase survival rate in cancer patients. (9,10) Fish oil can also fill nutritional gaps and increase weight in cancer patients. Low levels of DHA have been linked to depression; people who have supplemented omega 3 fish oil have noticed an increase in mood and relief from symptoms of depression. Omega 3 fish oil may even help with mental illnesses like bipolar disorders. One study suggests that fish oil can help with rheumatoid arthritis. (11)

With all these benefits you might be considering fish at every meal. Not all species of fish have high levels of EPA and DHA. Anchovies, Herring, Mackerel, Salmon, Sardines, and Tuna have the highest levels of omega 3 fatty acids per ounce of meat out of any other sea bearing animal.

The people who were initially studied on fish oil were the native Inuit; they consumed more than 4 to 5 grams of EPA each day. That’s equivalent to 1.5 – 3 pounds of fish each day. Even the most avid fish eater might find it hard to eat that much fish each day on a consistent basis.

With all the illegal dumping going in the ocean, one might be worried about the fish that is harvested for omega 3 fish oil could contain the toxic chemicals that are dumped into the ocean every year. Purity in a fish supplement is important. Because of the rising concern about toxins in fish oil, manufacturing companies have refined there fish oil processing plants and now distill the fish oil which removes all of the heavy metals like lead and mercury, and toxic insecticides such as DDT. Look for a supplement that claims its product is made from a 12 step distillation process to remove toxins, dioxins, and furans as well as PCB’s and other contaminants.

A supplement rich in omega 3 fatty acids is the simplest way to attain the proper amounts of EPA and DHA we need in our diets. By taking 1000mgs of omega 3 fish oil one can ward off a wide rang of disease. Look for a fish oil supplement that blends a little vitamin e with the oil which is an antioxidant that preserves the fish oil and prevents it from going rancid. Fish oil supplements provides powerful health benefits and can help those with asthma, multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus, erythematosus, and cancer and is a good choice as a preventive supplement even if you don’t suffer from these diseases. Omega 3 Fish Oil and other great supplements can be found at your local health food store or internet health food store.

References:

1. Kromhout D, Bosschieter EB, de Lezenne Coulander C., et al. The inverse relation between fish consumption and 20-year mortality from coronary heart disease. N Engl J Med. 1985 May 9;312(19):1205-9.

2. Kromann N, Green A. Epidemiological studies in the Upernavik district, Greenland. Incidence of some chronic diseases 1950-1974. Acta Med Scand. 1980;208(5):401-6.

3. Pleuss J. Fats. In: Porth CM. Pathophysiology: Concepts of Altered Health States. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Lippincott; 1998:1249.

4. Galperin C, German BJ, Gershwin ME. Omega fatty acids. In: Shils ME, Olson JA, Shine M, Ross AC, Eds. Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease. 9th ed. Baltimore, Md: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 1999: 1346-1347.

5. Fats: saturated and unsaturated. In: Grodner M, Anderson SL, DeYoung S. Foundations and Clinical Applications of Nutrition: A Nursing Approach. St. Louis, Mo: Mosby; 2000:118-122.

6. Prisco D, Paniccia R, Bandinelli B, et al. Effect of medium-term supplementation with a moderate dose of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on blood pressure in mild hypertensive patients. Thromb Res. 1998;91:105-112.

7. Torres IC, Mira L, Ornelas CP, Melim A. Study of the effects of dietary fish intake on serum lipids and lipoproteins in two populations with different dietary habits. Br J Nutr. 2000;83:371-379.

8. Stark KD, Park EJ, Maines VA, Holub BJ. Effect of a fish-oil concentrate on serum lipids in postmenopausal women receiving and not receiving hormone replacement therapy in a placebo-controlled, double-blind trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2000;72:389-394.

9. Iso H, Rexrode KM, Stampfer MJ, et al. Intake of fish and omega-3 fatty acids and risk of stroke in women. JAMA. 2001;285:304-312.

10. Nagakura T, Matsuda S, Shichijyo H, Hata K. Dietary supplementation with fish oil rich in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in children with bronchial asthma. Eur Respir J. 2000;16:861-865.

11. Volker D, Fitzgerald P, Major G, Garg M. Efficacy of fish oil concentrate in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. J Rheumatol. 2000;27:2343-2346.

Darrell Miller

http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/omega-3-fish-oil-benefits-the-heart-and-much-more-112580.html

Use Omega 3 Fish Oil for Benefits The Heart And Much More.

Omega 3 Fish Oil

Originally posted 2011-02-20 10:32:34.

The health benefits of turmeric may be numerous. Research is still being conducted concerning the turmeric health benefits, although the plant has been used since ancient times as a natural medicine.

Currently, the US National Institutes of Health are conducting studies concerning the health benefits of turmeric for treating cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and liver disorders. When news of these studies was reported, supplement sales increased by 35%. We all want to feel better and reduce are risk of chronic diseases.

Some of the known turmeric health benefits concern its antibacterial activity. Many plant compounds have anti-bacterial activity. Turmeric, and the curcumin that it contains, is just one of the more active varieties.

Some of these plants act as antioxidants, which is why they may be beneficial for preventing or treating cancer. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals, preventing them from turning a cell into a cancerous growth.

Many plant extracts have natural anti-inflammatory activity, which is important because chronic inflammation plays a role in cancer development and heart disease, as well as general aging. Some of your favorite food may cause chronic inflammation.

Fighting inflammation and acting as an antioxidant are two of the turmeric health benefits. If this all sounds good, there are other beneficial nutrients and plant extracts that may sound even better.

Green tea extract, for example, has been shown to reduce the risk of breast and prostate cancer, stomach cancer and throat cancer. It is believed to explain the Japanese paradox, lower than expected incidences of heart disease, despite a heavy smoking rate. Thus, it may help to prevent heart disease.

Gingko biloba extracts have been shown in numerous trials to increase the oxygen content of the brain and other bodily tissues. It promotes mental clarity, alertness and concentration, without acting as a stimulant.

You can get the health benefits of turmeric, green tea, gingko biloba and many others, if you choose a supplement that contains a variety of different ingredients, instead of just one. Most naturopaths and other practitioners feel that striving for optimal nutritional intake is one way to live a longer, disease-free life. There are some good supplements on the market that provide the minimum daily requirements of standard vitamins and minerals, as well as many plant extracts, like those mentioned in this article.

You can also get more of the turmeric health benefits by suing it as a spice for cooking. The flavor is similar to ginger. It is available in the fresh and powdered form and is the primary ingredient in curry.

Many people want the health benefits of turmeric, but don’t like the flavor. That’s why the supplement sales have increased recently, but some of the better companies have been providing the turmeric health benefits, along with others, for many years.

Look for a supplement that was developed by a doctor of naturopathic medicine for your specific age group and physical condition. Focus on eating a varied diet and try to eat more fresh, rather than processed foods. If you follow a healthy lifestyle whenever possible, then you are more likely to see the health benefits of turmeric in your own life.

Valerie Rosenbaum
http://www.articlesbase.com/anti-aging-articles/turmeric-health-benefits-can-a-spice-stop-the-aging-process-779294.html

Originally posted 2010-05-20 19:41:17.

(January 19, 2010) Daniel Bernstein, Stanford Director of Cardiology, discusses the evolution of technology and cardiology.

Stanford Mini Med School is a series arranged and directed by Stanford’s School of Medicine, and presented by the Stanford Continuing Studies program.

Stanford University:

http://www.stanford.edu/

Stanford Continuing Studies:

http://csp.stanford.edu/

Stanford Channel on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/stanford

Duration : 1:50:26

Originally posted 2010-08-10 06:03:18.

Green Tea

There are hundreds of studies concerning green tea and health benefits that may accompany the beverage.  The whole thing started with what researchers like to call the “Asian Paradox”.

Green Tea

There are lower rates of heart disease and cancer in Asia, despite high rates of cigarette smoking.  Researchers have theorized that this could be due to the polyphenols and other antioxidants found in the average 1.2 liters of green tea that many Asians drink, every day.  Depending on the variety, that amount would provide 42 to 340mg of caffeine per day.

Other researchers have argued that it is not the polyphenols or other antioxidants found in the tea leaves, but the caffeine that conveys the derived benefit.  As a stimulant, caffeine increases blood pressure, heart rate and stimulates the production of gastric acid.  It prevents blood platelets from sticking together and forming clots or sticking to the arterial walls.

But, recent studies concerning long-term health benefits of caffeine from other sources, primarily coffee, have only showed a decreased incidence of Alzheimer’s among regular coffee drinkers.  But when it comes to studies concerning green tea and health effects, it has been shown to improve cognitive function, decrease the risk of heart disease and inhibit the growth of cancerous tumors.

The most compelling evidence is in the area of cancer prevention.  In the US, the FDA has ruled that companies may claim that the beverage or supplements containing the extract may help prevent prostate and breast cancer.  Don’t allow the claims to mislead you; remember to look at the word “may”.

Most people that have a family history of breast or prostate cancer want to do everything that they can to reduce their chances of getting the disease.  In order to do that, natural health experts advise that we avoid toxins of all kinds.  In order to do that, you need to try to eat more natural foods and fewer prepared ones.  The artificial preservatives, flavorings and colors that are found in packaged and processed foods are not good for you.

When it comes to green tea and health, drinking the bottled beverages is not the best choice, because they contain many of those artificial additives.  There is also a problem with the plastic bottles that most companies use.  The compounds used to create them will seep into beverages stored in them.  Some of those compounds act like hormones in the human body, which means that they may increase our cancer risk.

To get green tea and health improvement, the extracts that are found in the best dietary supplements are the right choice.  While some supplement manufacturers are simply trying to sell product and make profits by using the cheapest ingredients and the least costly testing, others test each raw ingredient for purity and potency.  They check the finished batches for contamination that can occur during processing.

They know that green tea and health may go hand in hand, but they also know that other nutrients and antioxidants are just as, if not more important.  Shop for the best and you’ll feel your best. If you have two minutes to spare, please take a look at my website now.

Gordon Hall

http://www.articlesbase.com/supplements-and-vitamins-articles/do-green-tea-and-health-go-together-734612.html

Green Tea

Originally posted 2010-07-11 16:03:19.

Methods & techniques to getting to the core of
feelings."FOR YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART"
www.wholeheartpath.com Distributed by Tubemogul.

Duration : 5 min 49 sec

Originally posted 2010-02-02 10:21:17.

Heart Health

Heart Health

I have a question regarding the thickness of blood. I recently had eye surgery, and my doctor said that I have thin blood, and that’s why I bruised to much.

they’re both quite bad really, having thick blood is worse for your Heart Health as there is a higher chance of getting a clot, but, if you have thin blood, like your doctor said, you can bruise easily, and if you get a cut it can take a lot longer to heal as a clot will take longer to form a scab.

Your Heart Health can be affected by blood thickness. It has been reported that almost half of heart attack deaths occur in people who have none of the classic warning signs.  No previous heart problems; no elevated blood pressure; and no high cholesterol.  The risk factor is blood viscosity. All of the other heart factors such as blood pressure, high cholesterol levels are just symptoms of the blood viscosity factor.

When your blood becomes too thick it requires more pressure to move it through your blood vessels. This affects your heart health because this pressure leads to damage of your arteries. caused by friction and the lining of the blood vessels  are eroded . To protect  itself from erosion, your arteries patch themselves with plaque which in turn narrows the arteries and thereby increases the pressure  which leads to more damage, and the vicious cycle of poor Heart Health is repeated over and over again.

Seven other risk factors related to blood viscosity which contribute to poor Heart Health and heart disease.

Smoking which increases fibrogen and inflammation and thickens the blood.
Obesity increases blood viscosity and fibrogen.
Diabetes stiffens red blood cells making the blood thicker.
Cholesterol. High LDL equals thicker blood, High HDL makes blood thinner.
Blood Pressure. More friction, more injury to arteries.
Age and Blood count. Young red blood cells are more flexible than older damaged cells.
Gender. Women are protected by monthly loss of blood which leads to more young flexible blood cells.

Some of the factors involved in blood viscosity;

Composition of the blood. More fluid makes thinner blood.
High red blood cell count increases viscosity.
Fats circulating in blood increases thickness.
Temperature. Low temperature makes blood more sluggish.

Thinner blood moves more smoothly throughout the body while higher viscosity blood can lead to adhesions and possibly even blood clots in the veins. This makes it necessary for the heart to work harder. This increases the possibility of heart failure.

Physicians may prescribe medicines to help thin out the blood which can improve Heart Health.

One of these is coumadin which requires periodic monitoring. As with most medicines there are risks and side effects involved. The Mayo clinic states that “Warfarin (a.k.a. Coumadin) can have dangerous side effects or interactions that place you at risk for bleeding.”

There are various herbs and supplements that may have an effect on blood viscosity. One of these, Nattokinase, a supplement made from Soy beans has been touted as an effective means to prevent blood clots.  However any supplements that you would use to improve Heart Health should be used under guidance of a health care professional and after consultation with your doctor.

Heart Health

Originally posted 2010-05-29 12:34:23.

No, and there are many people that think it actually helps you. It won’t bother the liver at all.

Originally posted 2010-04-20 09:52:45.

www.shopherbalife.com/randyt
www.sutiendaherbalife.com/randyt

Duration : 0:3:12

Originally posted 2010-09-24 04:16:44.