Ten Ways to Prevent Heart Disease And Cardio

Your Heart…..Your Most Important Organ!

Heart disease is the 1 cause of death in America. Don’t you think you might want to know how you can reduce your chances of dying of heart disease???!!!

1. First one’s a no brainer……..stop smoking!

2. Reduce your blood cholesterol - cut down saturated fat, dairy products, and increase c0nsumption of vegetables.

3. Exercise - weight train, which builds lean body mass which lowers your blood pressure.

4. Reduce your salt intake.

5. Increase your calcium intake - calcium citrate supplement and fruits and vegetables.

6. Take one 81 mg. aspirin daily. (check with your doctor first)

7. Eat fish. Eating fish (salmon is great) and reduce your chance of heart disease from 40% to 50%!

8. Supplement with vitamins C, E and Enzyme CoQ10.

9. Make sure you eat 30 grams of fiber daily. It lowers blood pressure, cholesterol. and blood sugar.

10. Men, having two drinks a day (women; one drink) is more heart healthy than having none! It helps raise your good cholesterol, HDL.

Aerobic means “with oxygen.” Aerobic exercise is low to medium intensity repetition training done over an extended time; it promotes overall cardiovascular fitness. If you are looking to burn calories, aerobic activity is the best way to do it. One can look fit but be in poor cardiovascular shape.

Being lean and muscular is one part of fitness, but cardiovascular fitness is just as important. Cardiovascular disease is one of the top killers of American men. Studies have shown that cardiovascular fitness is perhaps a greater factor than body fat for those at risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. It was found that men who were lean and unfit had double the risk of dying than men who were lean and fit.

Besides being a great way to rapidly burn calories and help shed excess body fat, cardio work’s healthiest benefits are in reducing blood pressure, lowering the risk of heart disease, and improving lung function and lessening stress. Cardiovascular fitness should be part of everyone’s regimen.

Homocysteine Support Formula

Many people waste their efforts when performing aerobics. They get on the same machine or jog the same course all the time. Their body adapts to the constant routine, like the muscles adapt to the same weight training routine. At this point progress comes to a standstill. The body becomes energy efficient at the routine and expends less and less effort to perform it. You must “shock” your body aerobically, just like you must “shock” your muscles to stimulate further growth. You should get your cardio through as many sources as possible. A variety of activities is the key. The great part about aerobics is, there are many activities you can do to achieve cardiovascular fitness. You can bicycle, walk, run, swim, climb stairs, hike, dance, play basketball, tennis, racquetball, etc. The most effective cardio is when you physically have to move your body around with you—as in the above activities. Don’t exclusively use gym cardio machines for your aerobics. It’s a lot less boring, tedious and monotonous playing tennis, basketball or swimming than walking on a treadmill for 40 minutes.

If you want to do cardio work in the gym, there are stationary bikes, treadmills, stair climbers and elliptical cross trainers—and most gyms and health clubs have plenty of them. Most of these machines are low impact, and should be used with medium to moderate intensity. They all have various degrees of difficulty, so whether you are a beginner or advanced, each machine will serve your purpose. Some machines with their multi-function keypads, can be a bit intimidating. Any employee will be glad to show you how to use one. Don’t be embarrassed to ask an employee of your gym to show you how to use a machine. It’s their job.

Most cardio machines focus on your legs because this burns the most energy. Some new machines have arm movements also, which is better than just using the legs. I don’t recommend using the stationary bikes. You are sitting on your butt, not burning many calories at all. Why do so many people use them? Because they aren’t hard to do. These are people you see in the gym for months and months, whose bodies never change. You’ve got to put in physical effort to change your body. As a rule of thumb, the machines you don’t like (the ones that are the hardest to perform) are probably the ones you need to be using.

High-intensity aerobics are activities such as kickboxing, sprinting and high-energy aerobics classes. For most of you who just want to be in good aerobic shape, I recommend low impact aerobic activity.

High-impact aerobic activity could cause potential muscle and joint injuries if not done correctly. I do not recommend running on hard surfaces; it can lead to shin and knee injuries. If you get into very good cardiovascular shape, you might want to try some high impact aerobics. Attaining cardiovascular fitness should be done like everything else in fitness ... in gradual steps. Start slow and build up. The body begins to burn a greater amount of fat than carbohydrates after 20 minutes of aerobic activity. Once you are in reasonable cardiovascular shape, your aerobic sessions should last from 20 to 40 minutes, for the best possible fat loss (and more importantly, heart health).

Once again, each one of you will have your own personal goals. If you are starting from scratch, or haven’t done cardio for a while, you should start with 15-minute sessions. After your body has adjusted and you have built up some endurance, you can lengthen your sessions. You might want to try five-minute increases per week.
A general recommendation from organizations such as the American Heart Association, the American College of Sports Medicine and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is from 90 to 120 minutes per week, in 3 to 4 half-hour sessions of moderate to high intensity, non-impact, aerobic exercise. This is an excellent guide.

I do not recommend going cardio crazy. Lean is healthy; skinny is not. If you are a larger individual who has attained some cardiovascular endurance, and are still trying to burn fat, you might want to do two to four hours of aerobics per week.
Let me give an example of why good health is a combination of diet, aerobic exercise and anaerobic exercise (resistance training). Have you ever seen long distance runners? Good long distance runners don’t do any kind of resistance training. They take one-fourth of the equation for optimum health out of the picture. This is why they are all frail and skinny looking. Whatever muscle mass they would have had has been eaten up by their overload of aerobic activity. They are in unbelievable cardiovascular shape (lungs and hearts), but their muscle has been cannibalized for energy. To endure their large amount of aerobic activity, their bodies shed both lean and adipose tissue. This is why you should do cardio in moderation. The right amount of cardio helps you lose that fat, but too much can strip away any lean muscle you may be trying to build. These three components have to be balanced to achieve maximum fitness.

What Is Homocysteine?

Homocysteine is an amino acid in the blood. Epidemiological studies have shown that too much homocysteine in the blood (plasma) is related to a higher risk of coronary heart disease, stroke and peripheral vascular disease.

Other evidence suggests that homocysteine may have an effect on atherosclerosis by damaging the inner lining of arteries and promoting blood clots. However, a direct causal link hasn’t been established.

Plasma homocysteine levels are strongly influenced by diet, as well as by genetic factors. The dietary components with the greatest effects are folic acid and vitamins B6 and B12. Folic acid and other B vitamins help break down homocysteine in the body. Several studies have found that higher blood levels of B vitamins are related, at least partly, to lower concentrations of homocysteine. Other recent evidence shows that low blood levels of folic acid are linked with a higher risk of fatal coronary heart disease and stroke.

Several clinical trials are under way to test whether lowering homocysteine will reduce CHD risk. Recent data show that the institution of folate fortification of foods has reduced the average level of homocysteine in the U.S. population.

Recent findings suggest that laboratory testing for plasma homocysteine levels can improve the assessment of risk. It may be particularly useful in patients with a personal or family history of cardiovascular disease, but in whom the well-established risk factors (smoking, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure) do not exist.

Although evidence for the benefit of lowering homocysteine levels is lacking, patients at high risk should be strongly advised to be sure to get enough folic acid and vitamins B6 and B12 in their diet. Foods high in folic acid include green, leafy vegetables and grain products fortified with folic acid. But this is just one risk factor. A physician taking any type of nutritional approach to reducing risk should consider a person's overall risk factor profile and total diet.

Arterial Pressure And Fluid Retention

If you're someone who has gotten a blood pressure reading that has made you and your doctor both frown, you may have already been warned about the connection between sodium and blood pressure problems. Just how does this tasty little additive affect your blood pressure this way, and why is it important to avoid it when trying to correct your situation? This article will take a quick look at this issue, and hopefully convince you of the connection between sodium and blood pressure so that you'll be more prepared to watch your diet for the sake of your health.

Arterial Pressure and Fluid Retention
Salt is constructed in such a way that it holds fluid. In very olden times, it was used as a preservative for meats before there was refrigeration, because it held the fluids of the meat in its natural state, not allowing it to be affected by outside air and contaminants.

In the body, the connection between sodium and blood pressure seem to be that when you have a lot of salt or sodium in your diet, you retain water. Your kidneys do not work as efficiently as they normally do, and when you have more fluid in your body, your heart needs to work harder to pump blood.
Sodium and blood pressure also seem to be linked by how salt causes the arteries to constrict; again, it holds in those natural fluids and does not allow them to move freely. When the arteries are constricted, the heart works harder to push the blood through them.

Another connection between sodium and blood pressure seems to be the types of foods that a person eats when they consume sodium. Rarely does anyone put salt on a salad or piece of fruit, but it's often canned foods, junk foods, processed foods, bagged snacks, and red meats that contain salt or sodium.

All of these foods are very difficult for the body to digest, which causes your blood pressure to rise. The heart needs to send more blood to the stomach and intestines when you eat something harsh and unnatural, so that those two organs can do their job better. The connection between high sodium and blood pressure is not just salt on its own, but the fact that all these unhealthy foods usually contain salt. People often don't realize that salty bagged snacks are actually deep friend, including potato chips, pretzels, and so on. Fast foods are also very high in salt, and very low in fiber and other ingredients that make them healthy for the system.

What's the Risk?
Some have argued against the connection between sodium and blood pressure, believing it to be something of an urban myth or that it's really other minerals in salty foods that cause this rise in pressure. However, it is scientific fact that those who cut down on sodium and salty foods when battling a blood pressure problem seem to do better than those who do not.
If your doctor has warned you against the connection between sodium and blood pressure, you do well to heed his or her advice. High blood pressure is dangerous and even deadly, and not worth the taste of salt at all.

Peripheral Vascular Disease

At this point, I passed out again and don't remember the trip to the emergency room, the time in the emergency room or travel to my bed there in the hospital. This memory will never come back and I feel a great void in my life becxause of just that. A stroke is so scary it is not unusual for a full grown man to cry, knowing he could have just lost his life or been seriously handicapped. I was very lucky. Minimal damage but a very very big warning sign.

There are many sources that you can find out more about a stroke. Learn about strokes BEFORE one occurs to you or a loved one. I can not emphasize how important it is to help the stroke victim recover. Talk to your doctor and find the facts out. You can also go online and find more about this terrible problem and what leads up to the disease. The more that you know means that you can protect yourself better and put your mind at rest about a stroke interrupting your life when you least expect. No time is right for a stroke but location can make a big difference. Treating stroke within 2 hours of it happening is crital to minimizing the damage a stroke can cause.

There are some warning signs of a stroke that you should know about. I will try to cover at least the ones I experienced and hopefully more. I was very lucky and had minimal damage. You have to be careful and realize that you may not be completely safe from having a stroke and even though you are healthy, you might be at risk. You would not believe what the risk facotor are for a stroke and how easy it is for even healthy people to have one. You have to make sure that you are taking the right precautions so that you are not putting yourself at risk for having the devastation of a stroke happen to you.

There are warning signs of a stroke that you have to know about. If you think that you are having any of these symptoms, you need to seek medical attention at once. It is better to be safe than sorry later on down the road. Pay attention and make sure that you think hard about these signs so that you or anyone that you know can get the attention that they need fast. I want to stress that it is with fast intervention, that the seriousnous of a stroke can be minimized. I was lucky enough to have mine occur while I was at a hospital for an outpatiant visit with my cardiologist. I was put into a wheel chair and taken to emergency right away, which really helped minimize my after effects.

* Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm, or leg on one side of the body only.
* Sudden confusion or trouble speaking or understanding when others talk around you.
* Trouble seeing in one or both eyes.
* Problems with walking or being dizzy or losing your balance or coordination.
* Sudden or severe headaches with no reason that you can think of.

You should call 911 immediately if you or someone that you know has these symptoms. You need to make sure that you are doing what you can so that you are able to keep yourself or your friends or family living as long as you can. A stroke is a very serious problem and anyone that thinks that they may have signs of having one need to pay attention and keep in mind that this is your life and body and you should not take it too lightly. My gosh man, YOUR LIFE!

When I had my stroke I was visiting with my cardiologist and my wife and the cardiologist both recognized my speach was really baddly slurred. Being diabetic, they thought maybe I had high blood sugar (which causes similar effects) and just needed to take a shot of insulin.

We left the cardiologist annd walked down the hall to the elevator. I walked a good 50 yards and then my legs, mostly the left, got really heavy and I could barely lift it. I knew something was wrong and called my wife's name. We were 10 feet away from the elevator. I do not remember taking that last 10 foot walk, but I did it and fell into my wife's arms. Good thing she was strong enough to catch me or I would've gone down. My wife "carried" me out of the elevator into a chir right beside the elevator. She ran to get my cardiologist and they tested my blood suger. It was high, but not enough to cause what was happening to me.

At this point, I passed out again and don't remember the trip to the emergency room, the time in the emergency room or travel to my bed there in the hospital. This memory will never come back and I feel a great void in my life becxause of just that. A stroke is so scary it is not unusual for a full grown man to cry, knowing he could have just lost his life or been seriously handicapped. I was very lucky. Minimal damage but a very very big warning sign.

There are many sources that you can find out more about a stroke. Learn about strokes BEFORE one occurs to you or a loved one. I can not emphasize how important it is to help the stroke victim recover. Talk to your doctor and find the facts out. You can also go online and find more about this terrible problem and what leads up to the disease. The more that you know means that you can protect yourself better and put your mind at rest about a stroke interrupting your life when you least expect. No time is right for a stroke but location can make a big difference. Treating stroke within 2 hours of it happening is crital to minimizing the damage a stroke can cause.

Warning Signs Of A Stroke

There are some warning signs of a stroke that you should know about. I will try to cover at least the ones I experienced and hopefully more. I was very lucky and had minimal damage. You have to be careful and realize that you may not be completely safe from having a stroke and even though you are healthy, you might be at risk. You would not believe what the risk facotor are for a stroke and how easy it is for even healthy people to have one. You have to make sure that you are taking the right precautions so that you are not putting yourself at risk for having the devastation of a stroke happen to you.

There are warning signs of a stroke that you have to know about. If you think that you are having any of these symptoms, you need to seek medical attention at once. It is better to be safe than sorry later on down the road. Pay attention and make sure that you think hard about these signs so that you or anyone that you know can get the attention that they need fast. I want to stress that it is with fast intervention, that the seriousnous of a stroke can be minimized. I was lucky enough to have mine occur while I was at a hospital for an outpatiant visit with my cardiologist. I was put into a wheel chair and taken to emergency right away, which really helped minimize my after effects.

• Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm, or leg on one side of the body only.
• Sudden confusion or trouble speaking or understanding when others talk around you.
• Trouble seeing in one or both eyes.
• Problems with walking or being dizzy or losing your balance or coordination.
• Sudden or severe headaches with no reason that you can think of.

You should call 911 immediately if you or someone that you know has these symptoms. You need to make sure that you are doing what you can so that you are able to keep yourself or your friends or family living as long as you can. A stroke is a very serious problem and anyone that thinks that they may have signs of having one need to pay attention and keep in mind that this is your life and body and you should not take it too lightly. My gosh man, YOUR LIFE!

When I had my stroke I was visiting with my cardiologist and my wife and the cardiologist both recognized my speach was really baddly slurred. Being diabetic, they thought maybe I had high blood sugar (which causes similar effects) and just needed to take a shot of insulin.

We left the cardiologist annd walked down the hall to the elevator. I walked a good 50 yards and then my legs, mostly the left, got really heavy and I could barely lift it. I knew something was wrong and called my wife's name. We were 10 feet away from the elevator. I do not remember taking that last 10 foot walk, but I did it and fell into my wife's arms. Good thing she was strong enough to catch me or I would've gone down. My wife "carried" me out of the elevator into a chir right beside the elevator. She ran to get my cardiologist and they tested my blood suger. It was high, but not enough to cause what was happening to me.

Lipid Lowering Drugs For Treatment Of Cardiovascular Diseases

Lipids are biological molecules that are soluble in organic solvents and insoluble in aqueous solution. Lipids include triglycerides and cholesterol. Cholesterol is divided into two groups: Low density protein (LDL) or bad cholesterol which causes hardening of arteries and high density lipoprotein (HDL) or good cholesterol which clears cholesterol from the arteries.

The term dyslipidemia is used to describe disruption of lipid level in the blood. Most people in western countries suffer from hyperlipidemia which means elevated level of lipids in the blood caused due to faulty diet and lifestyle. Lipid and lipoprotein abnormalities are very common in general population and are regarded as high risk factor for cardiovascular diseases due to influence of cholesterol which is most prominent constituent of lipids, which in turn causes atherosclerosis. High level of bad cholesterol (LDL) is one of the major cause for various cardiovascular diseases.

Drugs that lower lipid levels are prescribed to patients suffering from high lipid levels. These drugs are known as lipid lowering drugs. These drugs are also called as anti-lipid drugs.
Broadly these anti lipid drugs are classified into five categories: Statins, fibrates, anion exchange resins, fish oils and nicotinic acid. These drugs are prescribed for patients who are suffering from coronary artery disease, heart diseases and have not responded to dietary changes and also lifestyle change

If a person has very high levels of lipids, initial therapy with one of the above category may not be sufficient; in that case combination of categories may be used as lipid lowering drugs; however combination of statin with fibrates or nicotinic acid may have increased side effects.

Statin is the class of drugs prescribed to treat high cholesterol (hyper cholestermia). Stain drugs include atoravastatin (lipitor), simvastatin (Zocor), Rosuvastatin (crestor), pravastatin (lipostat). Statin class of drugs is very effective in treating high cholesterol but less effective than fibrates. Fibrates are more effective in lowering LDL and increasing HDL, but they have their own associated side effects. In general they are effective in lowering heart strokes, atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular diseases.
The metabolism of statin in liver is similar to that of protease inhibitors using P450 CYP3A4 pathway. These protease inhibitors are dangerous and cause muscle damage and hence lot of side effects with drug interactions.
In contrast to other members of the drug class, rosuvastatin is not metabolised by the P450 pathway, hence less potential for drug interactions.
Ofcourse as they say prevention is the best cure. Proper diet and lifestyle prevents most of the cardiovascular diseases.

Heart Disease Symptoms

The purpose of this article is to bring to the reader various heart disease symptoms. Each set of symptoms is related to the condition being suffered.
Heart disease can produce a number of different symptoms depending on which kind of heart disease a person is afflicted by. As well, the severity of your heart condition plays a role as well. It is important to be aware of what the symptoms of heart disease are and to take action as soon as you recognize them in yourself or another person.

The most commonly noted coronary heart disease symptoms include angina (an uncomfortable, feeling of pressure or squeezing in the heart), shortness of breath, a quickening heartbeat, palpitations, dizziness or weakness, sweating and nauseas.
The symptoms of a heart attack (otherwise known as myocardial infarction or simply MI) include pain in the chest area or the arm or the area below the breastbone, or else a feeling of discomfort, heaviness or pressure; discomfort that is in the back and continues up into the jaw area, throat or arm; a feeling of fullness, or choking that might mimic heartburn; dizziness, vomiting, sweating and/or a feeling of nausea; shortness of breath accompanied by a strong sense of weakness; and rapid or irregular beats of the heart.

The most common symptoms of arrhythmias include fatigue or weakness; shortness of breath; discomfort in the chest area; fainting; dizziness or a feeling of being lightheaded; a feeling of your heart pounding in your chest and palpitations (or skipped heartbeats). One form of arrhythmia is atrial fibrillation (AF) and the most noted symptoms of this heart condition include a lack of energy or feeling of extreme fatigue; feeling faint; discomfort, pain or pressure in the chest area; heart palpitations and shortness of breath.
The most common symptoms of heart valve disease include dizziness; shortness of breath; pressure or discomfort in the chest area; and palpitations. If heart valve disease is left untreated and leads to heart failure then the ankles, abdomen or feet may swell and the person might notice a rapid weight gain (sometimes as much as one to two pounds per day).

When it comes to heart failure, the symptoms include shortness of breath when a person is being active or in some cases, when their body is at rest; rapid weight gain; dizziness; weakness or excessive tiredness; a cough that produces white mucus; swelling in the areas of the belly, ankles or legs; nausea; pain and pressure in the chest area; heart palpitations; and finally either a rapid or an irregular heartbeat.

The symptoms of congenital heart disease when diagnosed in babies and children include fast breathing; poor feeding; an inability to put on weight; constant infections of the lungs; cyanosis (which is a bluish tint that appears on the lips, fingernails and skin) and the inability to exercise for any length of time. When this disease is diagnosed in childhood or adulthood it may show some or all of the below symptoms or in some case, no symptoms at all. These symptoms include a shortness of breath, a limited ability to engage in physical activity and the symptoms of heart failure or heart valve disease.
The symptoms of cardiomyopathy include pain or pressure in the chest; swelling in the legs, ankles or feet, fainting, extreme fatigue, palpitations and the symptoms of heart failure. Pericarditis will show the symptoms of pain in the chest, a quickening heart rate and a low-grade fever.