Part 2 of 8 of ”Medicine Cabinet in Your Kitchen”
Heart disease is the No. 1 killer in the United State…But did you know it can be reversed? I didn’t either until I started researching it for this little piece. Dr. Dean Ornish, M.D. of California amazed the medical community by reversing heart disease using a combination of exercise, yoga, meditation, support groups and low fat vegetarian diet.
So let’s dissect why this would work…
- Exercise – This is a given. As your heart is a muscle it needs to be exercised to keep it strong. The same as with any muscle in your body, if it’s not exercised it will get flabby.
- Yoga – yoga is a stress reliever. Some people like it, some don’t, it’s your choice…BUT do something that helps relieve the stress.
- Mediation – again another stress and tension reliever. Use some type of stress and tension reliever to keep your heart healthy. In today’s world, this can be very hard. If you don’t want to mediate then try gardening. It not only helps reduce stress but it can put food on your table too, thus removing more stress about the cost of food going up. You can read a book, go for a walk, clean your closets (yuk!) or any number of things. Try not to use alcohol or drugs to help you out – it will only make your stress worst.
- Support groups – this in itself is a great stress reliever. It amazing how, just talking to someone who understands how you’re feeling, can take that burden off your shoulders.
- Vegetarian diet – a vegetarian diet can help get your body back under your control. Digesting protein (meat) is hard on the body; however we need protein to survive. That’s just how the body works. It’s a medical fact we need protein as well as vegetables and fruits to make our bodies work properly.
Protein comes in many forms. Nuts, seeds, some fruits and vegetables and of course, fish and meat are all proteins we need. It’s your choice to be vegetarian or not - it does help your body heal itself faster. AND the body will heal itself but sometimes it needs a helping hand. That’s where natural herbal remedies come in.
Natural herbal remedies aren’t drugs; they’ll help give your body a boost to fix any problems you have including heart disease. I have always maintained the body will take care of you if you take care of your body. Using herbal remedies like prescription drugs will do the same thing prescriptions drugs do. They will be less effective the more you take them - just like herbal remedies. Your body won’t work properly if you use the same herb all the time. That’s why we have a variety of foods and herbs to eat.
Using natural herbal remedies can prevent and reverse heart problems. To prevent heart problems use lots and lots of garlic. Garlic lowers blood pressure and reduces cholesterol. It also acts as a natural blood thinner. They have tested garlic in medical studies for over 10 years and they all report the same thing - garlic helps the heart and reduces cholesterol. Try a couple of cloves a day.
Hawthorn is another natural herb that helps the heart. It strengthens weak blood vessels, and stabilizes capillaries. Capillaries are the bloods vessels that connect to smaller blood vessels that go throughout your body. Hawthorn has been in studies at some of the biggest hospital in the United States and clinical trials have confirmed hawthorn helps in the early stage on congestive heart failure. Take 100 mg per day.
Keeping your heart healthy is easy as making a batch of soup and having it two or three times a week. It’s the reason old timers ate minestrone soup - they just didn’t know it!
Here’s a great recipe for keeping your heart healthy as recommended by several doctors and the reason it’s an “old wives tale”.
Minestrone Soup or Vegetable Soup
Ingredients:
Herbs that prevent clots that trigger heart attacks…
Garlic
Onions
Ginger
Red Peppers
Other herbs that prevent and treat heart disease…
Rosemary
Chicory
Hawthorn
Grape
Purslane (it’s like spinach)
Willow
Pigweed
Olives
Peanuts
Saffron
Vegetable that help prevent heart problems…
Tomatoes
Rice
Celery
Artichokes
Barley
Beans
Carrots
Egg plant
Spinach
Asparagus
Broccoli
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Potatoes
Mix and match any of the above in a pot and cook until tender. Don’t boil; just let them simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how done you like your vegetables. You can use water, chicken, beef, pork, ham, or any type of stock you want for the liquid.
Just so you know: I’m not recommending becoming a vegetarian-I find it helps the body heal faster and the body gets more nutrients from vegetable than when eating meat. I am not a big meat eater but I have tried a vegetarian eating plan.
I decide to be vegetarian for one month to see what it was like. So I ate just fruits and vegetables - no meat, no tofu, no soy, no dairy, and no nuts or seeds. It made it to 12 days before I craved meat so bad I ate a pound of shrimp before I knew what I was doing. I pigged out on them!
I had this anxiety that I didn’t know what it was-kind of like a tight feeling in the pit of my stomach that wouldn’t go away. It was there from about the 6th day and didn’t go away until I ate the shrimp.
Just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke I tried vegetarian eating several times since and it was always the same. The anxiety started on day 6 and stayed until I ate meat. Weird! I felt good but the craving for meat was terrible. Since I’m not a big meat eater anyway, I only have it twice or three times a week, craving it that bad told me my body needs that protein.
I tried one eating plan of vegetables, berries and nuts and still had the craving for meat but I went longer (16 days) before it became uncontrollable. So give it a try and let me know what happens with you.
Read the first part of this series–Immune Booster Superstars
What do you think about a vegetarian eating plan? Leave me a comment…
Enjoy!
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Some other heart health herbs include flaxseed oil for the Omega 3s and red yeast rice to help reduce cholesterol. Red yeast rice may be as effective as the statin drugs. Gugulipids is another effective herb for lowering cholesterol. All of these herbs avoid the side effects of medication while they help heart function or reduce cholesterol.