Protect Your Coronary Arteries from Disease

Some of the most delicious "foods" are junk foods. There is something about having some Nacho Cheese flavored Doritos with a nice cold beverage...it's a flavor-fest! After a short time though, you start to realize by the shape of your body that you cannot continue down that road. Your friends may even remind you that you are putting on some weight. I hate when that happens! The pounds keep adding up and before you realize it you are in the worst shape of your life. Sadly, some just can't stop eating these foods that, in reality, are like a ticking time bomb in your body. Have you ever visited your doctor for a checkup and heard these dreadful words? "One of your coronary arteries is 90% blocked." That would be shocking news; to find out that you have coronary artery disease (atherosclerosis) which is now the leading killer in the U.S.A., Canada, and England.

What causes coronary artery disease (heart disease)? It stems from years of eating the wrong foods; most of which are high in fat and cholesterol. For example, If a person starts to eat the wrong foods at an early age, fat begins to develop on the inner walls of the arteries. Years pass, the bad eating continues, and fat continues to build along the artery walls. Now it gets to the point where the blood circulation is restricted; the artery is injured. As with any wound, the body begins to try and heal the wound. In its attempt to heal, chemicals are released to promote healing but it ends up making the vessel walls very sticky. Because of this negative process other foreign bodies, such as protein and calcium, begin to attach themselves to the artery wall forming a very hard substance called plaque. This is called atherosclerosis. The plaque grows to a point where it cuts off the oxygen rich blood flow to the heart causing a very sharp pain in the chest; a myocardial infarction (heart attack) which could ultimately lead to heart failure. Usually it takes invasive surgery like angioplasty, bypass, or stenting to alleviate this problem.

How can you reduce the possibility of getting heart disease? By cutting down on your intake of dietary cholesterol would be a wise course. Cholesterol is a natural part of foods derived from animals. Meat, eggs, fish, poultry, and dairy products all contain cholesterol. Now I'm not saying that these foods are all bad (they can be good for us) but we have to be more careful and limit our intake of these food sources. Interestingly, foods from plants are free of cholesterol. So we may want to include more fruit and green vegetables into our diet as well. Also, research has shown that taking Chromium Picolinate supports cholesterol control. Thermal Action by Immunotec is an effective source for Chromium Picolinate.

And we cannot forget about exercise. Why is it important? Exercise stimulates the body to produce enzymes that help move LDL (bad cholesterol) from the blood and the walls of the blood vessels to the liver. From there, the cholesterol is either converted into bile for digestion or excreted. So the more you exercise, the more LDL your body expels and the further we move away from getting heart disease. So try to avoid a sedentary lifestyle and stay active. If we implement these changes we will be heading down the road to better health.

Really, it's all about being balanced. An occasional Dorito now and again will not kill us but it's when we start to abuse the junk foods and revert back to eating foods that are high in fats and cholesterol that we can expect bad health to appear. Let's work hard and stay healthy because our life depends on it!