Better Treatment After a Heart Attack

I like to focus on preventative medicine whenever possible. It’s always better to catch a disease in its early stages and do as much as possible to reverse it. Even better, making healthy lifestyle choices now can mean you don’t have to deal with devastating diseases later in your life at all.

But sometimes, the unexpected does happen. You get that diagnosis for cancer or you find yourself in the emergency room with a heart attack. Under those circumstances, I still advocate natural care in addition to traditional care, but the advances of modern medicine can be literal lifesavers.

Clot-busting drugs have long been the standard of care for people who’ve had a heart attack. If you had a heart attack, your emergency room doctor would administer these drugs, and the drugs would help to break up the clot that is blocking the flow of blood to your heart.

But new research shows that taking a second step beyond clot-busting drugs can improve your overall outcome after a heart attack. Canadian researchers studied the affects of emergency angioplasty done within six hours of treatment with clot-busting drugs. In an angioplasty procedure, the doctor uses balloons and stents to open a blocked coronary artery. For a long time, doctors believed that doing angioplasty too soon after giving a patient clot-busting drugs could increase the risk of bleeding, but this study shows different.

The researchers found that angioplasty soon after drug treatment reduced second heart attacks by 40 percent and other major complications by 36 percent. Patients who received the angioplasty were also more comfortable during their recovery, experiencing less chest pain.

If you or a loved one has heart disease, it’s worth calling around to the hospitals in your area to find which of them have angioplasty facilities on site. If the unthinkable should happen and you suffer a heart attack, that’s the hospital you want to go to if at all possible. It’s also a good idea to discuss treatment plans with your doctor and your spouse before something like a heart attack happens. The old adage says hope for the best and plan for the worst. If you have heart disease, that adage is definitely worth following.

Stay well,
Meghan Krohn

Laugh It Up

Of course, you’ve heard that laughter is the best medicine, but did you know that there is clinical evidence to support that old adage?

For people with diabetes, laughter could be lifesaving.

Researchers at Loma Linda University in California worked with adults living with diabetes. All participants were over 50 and had high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Researchers assigned half the patients to a laughter group. The other half served as the control group. Those in the laughter group had to spend at least 30 minutes a day enjoying something humorous.

After 12 months, the researchers measured a variety of heart disease risk factors and compared them to the baseline results gathered at the study’s outset.

They found that those in the laughter group increased their good HDL cholesterol by 26% and lowered their C-reactive protein levels by 66%. These two changes indicate an improvement in the heart disease risk profile. In other words, laughing helps diabetic patients lower their risk of heart disease.

So how do you bring more laughter into your life?

Funny TV shows and funny movies are a great place to start. With a Netflix subscription or a membership at your local movie rental store you can find whole seasons of your favorite funny TV shows like Seinfeld, the Honeymooners, or Soap.

Another option is to rent stand-up comedy routines. Check out Ron White, Ellen Degeneres or Steven Wright depending on the kind of humor you like. Or ask your friends for recommendations.

Don’t forget about funny books. I’ve found myself laughing pretty hard when I read through one of Dave Barry’s books. Comic strips are great, too.

Another good way to get a laugh is to just look for the humor in the situations around you. This is more fun with friends and can lead to all sorts of hilarious moments.

Laugher releases good, heart healthy chemicals into your body, and not surprisingly, it will also give your mood a boost. So make the time to laugh!

Stay well,
Danny Wallace

Is Your Love of Football Hurting You?

I happen to love football. During the season I try to catch a game a week, usually with some friends and some yummy snacks. And like any good football fan, I have my favorite team.

Now, I find out that if your favorite team makes it into the Super Bowl, it might have consequences for your health.

On the upside, when your team wins the Super Bowl, researchers of a study recently presented at the American College of Cardiology believe that it might actually protect fans’ health.

On the downside, when your team loses, it could put stress on your heart.

The affect is so pronounced that researchers were able to track the rise and fall of mortality rates in cities with winning and losing teams, respectively.

This research doesn’t just apply to your favorite team winning or losing the Super Bowl. It can apply to any big or exciting event in your life. If things go your way, you’re likely to enjoy a health benefit. Disappointment can lead to trouble, though, especially if you’re already at risk for heart problems.

The researchers recommend that people with heart disease learn breathing and other relaxation techniques to help them cope safely with the excitement and stress that life doles out.

Frankly, that sounds like sound advice that everyone can benefit from.

Stay well,
Meghan Krohn

Hostile Behavior Equals Weight Gain in Men

We’ve all had those moments. You know the ones. Your colleague makes a decision that is so clearly the wrong one, and you blow up at him. Or you’re driving home from work and someone cuts you off, nearly hitting you. You shout at your windshield, angry at the lack of consideration in the world around you.

These moments of hostility may be completely justified, but they’re still bad for your health. New research published in the American Journal of Epidemiology shows that men who react with hostility to the people around them gain weight over time.

In addition to carrying around more pounds, if you tend to be hostile,you’re also putting yourself at higher risk for blood pressure problems and heart disease.

Taking steps to curb your angry reactions can improve your physique, your health, and your quality of life. Here are some strategies that can help…

1. Remember when your mother used to tell you to count to 10. She was right. Recognize when you’re about to react in anger, stop, and slowly count to ten in your head before you do anything else. If you’re at work, just ask your colleagues to excuse you for a minute. The ritual of counting to ten can help even out your breathing and help you become calm. It even gives you a moment to decide on a productive response rather than a hostile one.

2. Take your hostility out on a punching bag. When you get angry, your adrenaline production kicks in, and that can have lasting effects. It can make you feel you’re running on empty. It can throw off your sleep schedule. It can even affect your judgment. Take some time in the evening and do your workout with a heavy bag and a pair of boxing gloves. You’ll burn off excess adrenaline and vent your hostility in a healthy way.

3. Allow things to amuse you rather than make you angry. That sounds weird, I know. But if you can approach the poor decisions of others with bemusement rather than anger, you’ll be in a better position to help them set things right, or when it’s appropriate, to just let things go.

Hostility takes a real, measurable toll on your health. Finding ways to reduce it will make your healthier, and happier, too.

Stay well,
Danny Wallace

Trans fat is still a problem

I just read an article that said most Americans aren’t sure what foods they should pass up to avoid trans fats in their diets.

Honestly, that surprised me. I thought the trans fat horse had been beaten to death, so to speak. It turns out people know trans fats are bad, but they still aren’t sure what trans fats are.

Trans fats are created when food manufacturers force extra hydrogen into the chemical structure of vegetable oils. They do this for several reasons. It makes vegetable oils solid at a lower temperature, which can provide a nice consistency in baked goods and foods like peanut butter. It also increases the shelf life of goods. And it lets manufacturers use less fat overall, which for a long time people thought was a health benefit.

Turns out, the type of fat can be more important that the amount. Even a little bit of chemically-created trans fat does really bad things to your health. It increases LDL cholesterol levels and lowers HDL cholesterol levels. In contributes to inflammation. It triggers oxidation within your arteries that can lead to plaque build up. It interferes with sugar metabolism and insulin production. In other words, if you regularly consume trans fats, you’re putting yourself at risk for heart disease and diabetes.

Manmade trans fats only occur in processed foods. You don’t need to worry about trans fats in meats or vegetables, fruits or nuts. But anything pre-packaged, you should check the label.

Don’t trust packages that say “zero grams of trans fat” or “trans-fat free.” They can have half a gram of trans fat per serving and still make those claims. The same is true of the fat content on the nutrition label. If there’s a half a gram or less per serving, the food manufacturer can list that as zero.

If you’re really serious about eliminating trans fat from your diet—and you should be—you have to read the ingredient list. If the food contains partially hydrogenated, fully hydrogenated or interesterified oils, it’s got trans fats.

Trans fats are worth avoiding. Even small amounts consumed on a regular basis can damage your health. Plus, when you commit to avoiding trans fats, you can’t help but reduce the amount of processed foods you’re eating. And that’s a good thing, too.

Stay well,
Meghan Krohn

Even Normal Salt Intake May be Too High

The government's recommended daily sodium intake for healthy adults is 2400 mg or less a day. That's the equivalent to a single teaspoon of salt. Now new research shows that even that amount may be too much.

The main concern with sodium has long been its effects on blood pressure. Too much sodium in your diet can lead to high blood pressure, and that will put you at higher risk for heart disease.

But sodium may contribute to heart disease in other ways, as well. The results of new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that even normal sodium intake might impair the function of your endothelium.

The endothelium is the lining on the inside of your blood vessels. When it functions properly, it allows your blood vessels to remain flexible and adaptable—key traits to good cardiovascular health and preventing heart attack and stroke.

In this study, participants who did not have high blood pressure adhered to either a normal sodium or a low sodium diet. The researchers found that at the end of the study those on the low-sodium diet had better endothelial function than those eating normal amounts of sodium.

What's alarming is that most Americans eat twice the recommended amount of sodium every day.

This study clearly shows that lowering your sodium intake even below daily recommendations can provide significant health benefits. Here are three tips to help you control your sodium intake:
1. Read labels and choose foods that are low in sodium—140 mg per serving or less.
2. Avoid processed and pre-packaged foods—they are nearly always loaded with sodium.
3. Choose your seasonings wisely. You can make flavorful dishes with herbs and pepper or other spices. You don't have to use salt.

Reducing your salt intake is a good way to give your cardiovascular health a boost—and chances are you'll make healthier choices when you choose lower sodium foods.

Stay well,
Danny Wallace

Traffic Hurts Your Heart

There are few things I dislike more than traffic. I hate sitting in stop-and-go freeway traffic moving about five miles an hour. I hate taking an hour to get somewhere that should only take fifteen minutes. I hate the waste of time. I hate it when other drivers are rude.

There are a lot of reasons to hate traffic. It turns out that health reasons are among them.

A study recently published in Circulation shows that traffic emissions contribute to heart disease. It's particularly bad if you live near high traffic areas. People living within with 50 meters of a major thoroughfare are 63 percent more likely to develop heart disease than people who live over 200 meters away.

So what can you do to cut down your exposure to car emissions?

Well, if you're considering a move right now, you can limit your search to places that are distance from major traffic areas.

If you're not planning to move and you already live close to traffic, it's a good idea to use a good air filter in your home. Also, check on the air quality rating each day. It's typically published in your local paper or on a local news station's website. If the air quality is bad, choose indoor activities that day as much as possible.

When it comes to air quality and heart disease, your best defense is a strong immune system. That means exercising regularly, eating well, taking a good multivitamin, and getting an annual check up with your doctor.

Air quality has a real affect on your heart health. Unfortunately, it's one of the more difficult risk factors to control. You can counter the effects of poor air quality by making a real commitment to the positive health choices you can control.

Stay well,
Danny Wallace

Omega-3s: The Source Matters

You already know that omega-3 fatty acids are good for you. In the last decade extensive research has verified that omega-3s protect you from heart disease, lower inflammation, and even improve your mood.

New research reported this month in Cardiovascular Research shows that when it comes to getting the most from your omega-3 supplement, the kind of supplement you take matters.

Omega-3 supplements are typically derived from fish oil or from flaxseed oil. Fish oil supplements contain two types of omega-3s (EPA and DHA) that are not found in flaxseed oil supplements.

Researchers took a closer look at the affects of both kinds of omega-3 fatty acids and found that fish oil supplements are far superior to flaxseed oil supplements. The fish oil supplements helped prevent cardiac dysfunction, reduced inflammation, and fought plaque formation in the arteries much better than flaxseed oil supplements did.

If you take an omega-3 supplement, that's great. You're doing a good turn for your heart and your overall health. But make sure you're getting the most benefit by checking to see that your supplement contains DHA and EPA omega-3s.

If you're not taking an omega-3 supplement, you should start today. The benefits to your heart are invaluable.

Stay well,
Heather Robwell

Think Happy Thoughts

You've heard before that your outlook—especially your levels of stress—have an affect on your heart health. It turns out that how happy you are as you age also affects your cancer risks.

A recent study indicated that as people age, if they tend to be happy and optimistic, they are less likely to develop cancer.

Saying that you need to be happy and figuring out how to be happy are two different things. Hopefully, you already rate yourself as a happy person and this just serves to affirm that happiness is good for your health.

If you wouldn't rate yourself as a happy person, there are steps you can take that can increase your happiness. In many ways, happiness is like a good habit. If you get in the habit of being positive, then you're likely to feel happier more often.

Here are some good happiness habits:
• Start your day off with a good thought. It can be about the sunrise, about something you're excited about that's happening that day or even just about the breakfast you plan to have. When you wake, focus your thoughts on something positive. This will help get your day off on the right foot.
• Be more active. You don't have to do hours of grueling exercise, but physical activity does enhance your mood. If you get in the habit of going on a long walk every day or taking a bike ride, you'll give your mood a lift as well as your fitness levels.
• Be thankful. It's hard to be unhappy when you're feeling grateful for the good things in life. Take a moment each day to consider the things you are grateful for.

Happiness is something you can learn if you're willing… and learning to be happy can benefit your health in many ways, and that includes reducing your risk of heart disease and lowering your risk of cancer.

Stay well,
Heather Robwell

Western Diet is Bad for Your Heart

They typical western diet that is high in processed foods, fat, and sodium takes a real toll on your heart. That's no surprise. You might be surprised, though, to discover that 30 percent of heart disease cases around the globe can be chalked up to poor, westernized eating habits.

On the other hand people who eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables lower their heart disease risk by 30%.

Heart disease is such a big problem around the globe that it can sometimes seem like an impossible problem to tackle. But on the individual level, it's really just a matter of simple choices.

The first easy change you can make to reduce your risk of heart attack is to eat more fruits and vegetables. Have a piece of fruit with breakfast. Enjoy cut up veggies as a midmorning snack. Have a salad with your lunch or drink a glass of vegetable juice. Eat some fruit and yogurt for a late afternoon snack and serve one or two different kinds of vegetables with your dinner.

When you do this, a lot of good things happen. First, you'll find that you're eating less junk food because you've filled up on good things. You'll also be getting five to seven servings of fruits and vegetables a day. That will give you a big boost in the amount of fiber, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals in your diet.

The next good thing you can do for your body—and this will follow naturally from the first—is to eat less packaged foods. The easiest way to do this is not to buy packaged foods in the first place. Other changes you can make are to pack your lunch for work and to plan a menu for dinner so you're not tempted to eat fast food on a regular basis.

Another great change is to pay more attention to the types of fats you eat. Protein is great for your body, but if you choose poor sources, you end up with a lot of fat in the bargain. Instead choose lean cuts of meat like skinless chicken, trimmed steak, and fish. These will give you lots of protein without adding too much saturated fat. Also choose oils that are rich in monounsaturated fats like olive oil and nut oils.

By making simple changes to your diet you can help to protect your heart from disease and that will mean a longer, healthier life for you.

Stay well,
Heather Robwell

Your Eye Doctor Might Save Your Life

Heart disease continues to be the leading killer among both men and women. It claims more than half a million lives every year.

With any chronic disease, whether its heart disease or cancer, the earlier you realize there is a problem, the better off you're going to be. Early detection gives you and your doctor a chance to make lifestyle changes that can make a big difference in how long and how well you live.

With heart disease, it may be your eye doctor who finds the first clue that there's a problem. A certain eye condition called retinopathy may actually point to the very early stages of heart disease.

In retinopathy, the tiny blood vessels within your eye become damaged. It may just be a matter of time before other vessels and your arteries are under attack. In fact, early research suggests that people with retinopathy are twice as likely to die from heart disease over the course of 12 years than people without the condition.

This sounds daunting, but it's actually good news. Knowing what retinopathy means gives you a very early warning about your heart health… and it gives you plenty of time to make important changes that can reverse heart disease before it starts affecting your health.

To take advantage of the early detection that retinopathy can give you, you should visit your eye doctor for an exam each year. You should be doing this anyway—plenty of eye diseases can silently steal your sight. You can protect your vision by catching these diseases early. And now it turns out, you can protect your heart, too.

Of course, you should continue seeing your regular doctor, as well. Between the two of them, you're better equipped than ever to catch and respond to early signs of heart trouble.

Stay well,
Danny Wallace

When Fat Matters… and When it Doesn’t

People obsess over their body size. Whether they are worried about their weight because of how they look or because of how it affects their health, people everywhere are concerned about weight loss.

When it comes to fat though, some fat matters more than others. Many people—maybe you—rely on the body mass index to determine if they are at a healthy weight. But the body mass index isn’t reliable for everyone. If you have a low percentage of body fat, even if your body mass measurement is high, you are healthier than someone with high body fat and a “healthy” BMI.

Researchers have found that some of the most dangerous fat in your body is the fat that collects around your organs. Especially your heart.

Researchers from Wake Forest University found that people with the highest amount of fat around their hearts were more than four times as likely to show signs of heart disease, including hardening arteries.

So how to you get rid of fat deposits around your organs?

Well, diet isn’t enough. You have to exercise. To reduce fat, high intensity exercise is best. The easiest way to do a high intensity workout is to do an interval workout. Warm up for five minutes or so. Just a walk around the block will do. Then exert yourself hard for a minute or two. Jumping jacks, jumping rope, or sprinting are all easy, free ways to get your heart rate up. After working hard for a minute or two, go for another walk around the block—a little more briskly than your warm up. Repeat the exertion period followed by a walk two or three more times, and then cool down for two or three minutes. That’s it. Your done. In all, this kind of workout only takes fifteen or twenty minutes, but it can make a huge difference in the health or your heart… and your other organs, too.

Stay well,
Meghan Krohn

Supplements to Lower Your Blood Pressure

Lowering your blood pressure is one of the best things you can do for you body. Lower blood pressure puts less stress on your arteries and that means your arteries are less likely to become damaged. Healthier arteries mean a healthier heart and brain.

If you lower your blood pressure you'll reduce your risks for heart disease, stroke, and Alzheimer's.

You can lower your blood pressure by taking three natural supplements.

The first is potassium. People who eat the most fruits and vegetables have the highest levels of potassium. They are also very unlikely to have high blood pressure. The American Heart Association recommends that you get 4.7 grams of potassium a day. Most people get about 2.5 to 3 grams from dietary sources. You can boost your potassium levels by eating more fruits and vegetables and by choosing a multivitamin that includes at least a gram of potassium.

The second supplement is garlic. A review of research found that garlic supplements are as effective at lowering blood pressure as many prescription drugs. Six hundred to 900 mg a day of garlic can reduce your blood pressure by more than eight points. The active ingredient in garlic is allicin. This supplemental dose contains the same amount of allicin as a half of clove of garlic.

The third supplement you can take to lower our blood pressure is hawthorn berry. Hawthorn berry extract is an overall heart tonic. It helps to open your blood vessels. More blood reaching your heart gives your heart more energy. It encourages your heart to maintain a normal rhythm, and of course, it helps to control blood pressure.

Taking these three supplements can help you maintain normal blood pressure. And that can help you avoid high blood pressure—and dangerous high blood pressure medications—in the future.

To your good health,
Danny Wallace

Take Control of Your Heart Health the Natural Way

If you've been diagnosed with heart disease—or even if you'vebee told you're at high risk—you know how scary it is. You're facing a major life change… and not for the better. In these moments of crisis, it's perfectly understandable if you begin considering prescription medications as a solution to your health problem.

When it comes to chronic diseases, it can feel like you don't have any good alternatives. You know that prescription drugs come with side effects, but you don't know what else to do.

Well, research now shows that an alternative approach to lowering heart disease risk can be more effective than prescription drugs. There are no side effects, unless you consider losing weight and having more energy a side effect.

In a study comparing statin drug treatment combined with traditional diet and exercise recommendations versus daily supplements of red yeast rice, fish oil, and weekly educational meetings with healthcare professionals, the alternative treatment outperformed the drugs.

Patients in the alternative group took a single daily dose of red yeast rice and 6 fish oil capsules daily. They also adapted a Mediterranean diet and had the opportunity to meet with a variety of alternative and traditional healthcare professionals during the study. On average, these patients lowered their LDL cholesterol by 42.4 percent. Those following conventional treatment saw similar results at 39.6 percent. (Study appears in the July 2008 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.)

Participants in the alternative group also lost weight and lowered their triglyceride levels—gains that the conventional group didn't make.

When it comes to heart disease and lowering your risks, you do have options. It's refreshing to see that your options can actually outperform traditional drug therapies without dangerous side effects.

Stay well,
Danny Wallace

Your Outlook Matters

Winston Churchill once said that attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. When it comes to matters of the heart, it turns out he was right… or at least in matters of heart health.

Researchers performed a fifteen year heart disease study. One of the things they looked at was how attitude affected the development of heart disease. At the beginning of the study, they asked men how much risk they thought had for heart disease. They also did an objective measure of risk factors for each participant.

After fifteen years, the men who expressed the most optimism early on were 33% less likely to die of heart disease than those who had a dimmer view of their health… no matter what the original objective risk assessment was.

Researchers aren't sure how to explain these results. It would seem that people with the highest risk according to objective measurements would be at the highest risk for heart attack, but that wasn't the case. The men with a positive attitude just fared better.

Researcers don't want men to believe that all they have to do is think positive thoughts, but it's also clear that those patients who felt the most positive about the condition of their heart do better in the long run.

The take away lesson, I think, is that you should eat well and exercise and quit smoking… and that you should also try to be happy and grateful each day. Those powerful emotions not only increase your quality of life—they may also stop your from having a heart attack.

Stay well,
Heather Robwell

Lowering Your Heart Disease Risk is Just a Cup of Tea Away

It's not often you find something that can immediately improve your health. Most health-enhancing lifestyle choices have a cumulative effect over time.

You exercise once and you don't notice much difference. Exercise three times a week for three months and you'll lose some weight and improve your heart health. Eat more fruits and vegetables for one day and you'll boost your vitamin and fiber intake for that single day. Do the same for months and you'll noticeably improve your health in many ways.

Most changes you make to benefit your health take months to deliver result. But drink a cup of green tea and your heart will experience an immediate benefit.

Your blood vessels are lined with a thin layer of cells that make your arteries flexible and supple. If the lining becomes damaged your arteries become hardened and stiff and you begin to develop heart disease.

Within 30 minutes of drinking a cup of green tea, your endothelial lining begins to function better. The tea contains powerful antioxidants called flavonoids that help protect against heart disease—that's been understood for quite some time. But now, scientists have found that the benefit delivered by flavonoids begins to take effect immediately.

Drinking green tea regularly will also provide long term benefits, reducing your risk of heart disease and improving your insulin sensitivity. But a little instant gratification for your health is nice, too.

Stay well,
Heather Robwell

Caregivers at Risk of Health Strain

If you care for a loved-one—an aging parent, a sick spouse, or a disabled child—chances are high that you're putting your own health at risk. This isn't to say that you should stop what you're doing… I wouldn't dream of suggesting that.

But I do want to make some suggestions to help you better care for yourself. After all if your health fails, it puts both you and the one you care for in a difficult spot.

A recent study shows that caregivers often eat an unhealthy diet. They also struggle with feelings of depression and isolation. The combination of poor foods and psychological stress ups the risk of heart disease.

By knowing you're at risk, you can take steps to help you stay healthy so you can make sure the person in your care stays healthy, too.

Your first step to staying healthy is to make sure you are eating well. Often, time constraints force caregivers to turn to prepackaged foods just to get a meal in. Instead, try to keep easy and healthy options on hand. Fruits make quick snacks. So does yogurt or whole-wheat toast. There are many canned soups available that are vegetable-rich don't contain additives. Pair these with a salad or some cheese and whole grain crackers and you have a quick, healthy meal.

If you can, set aside one afternoon to precook several meals. You can then pull these from your freezer when you need them, knowing you're getting a home cooked meal and treating your body well.

Aside from eating, caregivers need to make sure they have good social support. If you have friends and family close by, make arrangements for someone to come in and be with your loved one once or twice a week so that you can run errands and spend some time doing things you enjoy.

Often caregivers feel selfish doing this, but it's so crucial to your mental health—it will actually improve the quality of care you give. So put your guilt aside and make sure you get out a little each week.

Finally, consider joining a support group. Being able to share your feelings and concerns with people in a similar situation can make a big difference.

Being a caregiver is an important role, but it can also take a toll on your health. Follow the steps here and you'll keep your mind and body healthy so that you can give your loved one the very best care.

Stay well,
Meghan Krohn

A Good (Tasty) Turn for Your Heart

You've already heard, I'm sure, that berries are one of the richest sources of antioxidants you can find. Blueberries especially pack a powerful antioxidant punch. You probably think, "Hey, that's good." But what does it really mean?

Antioxidants have a well-earned reputation as cancer-fighters and immune boosters. They also play an important role in your heart health.

A study in the most recent issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition demonstrates just how powerful berries are. Middle-aged participants at higher risk for heart disease either ate a moderate amount of berries each day or they didn't.

After eight weeks, those eating berries had lowered platelet activity by 11%. Platelet aggregation is responsible for blood clotting, which can lead to heart attacks. HDL cholesterol—the good kind—went up for the berry-consumers. They also experienced a significant drop in blood pressure.

That's quite a difference for eating a serving or two of berries each day.

Berries are easy to integrate into your diet. I buy bags of frozen berries and mix them in with yogurt… or I just eat them plain.

Fresh berries are wonderful by themselves or served with salads. You can also make a sauce with most berries that's really good with salmon or pork or even beef. Finally, you can find a lot of juice choices that include blueberry and raspberry juices, another good way to up your berry intake.

Eating more berries is a simple way to improve your heart health. And it's tasty, too. Talk about a win-win situation.

Stay well,
Heather Robwell

Anxiety is Bad for Your Heart… especially if You’re a Man

Hostility, anger, depression. Recent research has linked all of these emotions—when you experience them often—to heart disease.

Now researcjers are adding anxiety to the list.

Men who are often nervous and anxious have a 30 to 40 percent higher risk of having a heart attack than people who stay on an emotionally even keel. That's a significant increase.

Like hostility and anger, anxiety causes a number of physiological responses that have a negative effect on your heart. Anxiety raises your blood pressure, it increases hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, and it makes your heart work harder. Over time, these symptoms all take their toll, leading you toward heart disease.

To ease anxiety, try one of these strategies:
• Take a brisk walk in the evening each day. During the walk, focus on letting go of the things you worry about that you cannot control.
• Join a yoga class or a guided meditation group. The social connections are very healthy for someone who feels anxious a lot of the time, and the activities are very relaxing.
• Retrain your thought process to be more positive. Try to catch yourself in the moment when you are having negative or worried thoughts. In that moment, find something that you are grateful for or some positive action that you can take. Or just recognize that the negative thoughts are not helpful and consciously reject them.

Reducing anxiety is somewhat of a trial and error process. Some strategies will work better than others for you. Keep at it until you find something that helps to calm you in those anxious moments.

What this recent research underscores is that your heart health and your mental health are intertwined. This means you shouldn't hesitate to take time to relax and enjoy yourself, that you shouldn't be embarrassed if you need help dealing with an emotional event, and that the support of friends and family is an important part of your overall health.

Stay well,
Danny Wallace

Common Prostate Cancer Treatment Trigger Other Health Issues

On the one hand, you have prostate cancer. On the other hand, you have heart disease. Neither is a good option. Facing both at the same time or one after the other gives misery a new meaning.

Unfortunately, men who receive a common treatment for prostate cancer are more likely to face this very situation.

Many doctors prescribe androgen-deprivation therapy to men with prostate cancer. This treatment lowers the testosterone levels in the body. It's a proven way to slow tumor growth in prostate cancer treatments.

It also increases your chances of developing insulin resistance, diabetes, and high cholesterol. And it can make you fatter. All of the above make it more likely that you'll develop heart disease. A man's relative risk of developing heart disease is three times higher if he opts for androgen deprivation therapy than if he doesn't.

Researchers aren't sure what to do with this information. How do you deny a proven treatment to a deadly disease? But how soon should you reach for that treatment when you know it can lead to a different deadly disease?

There's no easy answer to this one, folks. But it is important to be aware of the risks. Discuss them with your doctor and examine how they relate to your specific situation. Then make an informed choice and take whatever steps you can to lower your other risks.

Stay healthy,

Danny Wallace

A Surefire Way to Boost Good Cholesterol

Three weeks ago, my colleague Heather told you about how negative emotions like hostility and anger drag down a man's health.

Today, I want to flip that on its head and tell how good emotions are the most natural, surefire way to boost your HDL cholesterol. HDL cholesterol is the good kind of cholesterol. It's a better marker of heart disease risk than LDL cholesterol. Higher levels of HDL cholesterol protect you from heart disease and lower your risks of metabolic disorders.

The problem is that most strategies to fight heart disease focus on lowering LDL cholesterol and ignore HDL cholesterol.

Well, fortunately there's an easy way to raise your HDL cholesterol--find better ways to beat stress.

Stress is unavoidable. If you let it build up and beat you down, you'll be struggling against those negative emotions that damage your health. However, if you work on coping with your stress in a positive way, you'll actually improve your health.

Researchers studied 716 men and how they coped with stress. Researchers expected to find that the men who choose positive coping strategies like remaining calm and focusing on solutions would have lower LDL cholesterol. They were surprised to find that men who used positive coping strategies actually had significantly higher levels of HDL cholesterol than men who became hostile and angry in the face of stress.

Just one more reason to pay attention to your emotional health… it does affect your physical health.

Stay well,

Danny Wallace

Belly Fat Worse Than Other Body Fat

There are different ways to be overweight. Some people pack the pounds on all over. Some people find that they tend to store fat in their hips and thighs. Still others have a problem with weight sticking around their middle.

It turns out that this last form of weight gain is hardest on your health. When younger people in their 20s and 30s begin packing pounds around the middle, they also begin building plaque in their arteries. Fifteen or twenty years later they have full-blown heart disease.

Researchers have found a strong correlation between belly fat and hardening arteries. The researchers compared several ways of measuring weight. They looked at the body mass index, simple weight statistics and the waist-to-hip ratio.

The winner as a predictor of heart disease is the waist-to-hip ratio. If your waist is growing to be larger than your hips, it's important for you to take note that your risk of heart disease is also on the climb.

Fortunately, you aren't helpless. There are many things you can do to begin toning your tummy... and even small improvements in your level of abdominal fat will lower your heart disease risks.

Here are two steps to get you started.

First, go for a walk each day. Take your time. Move at a pace that is comfortable. But keep walking until you've gone a mile. You'll find it gets easier and easier.

Second, don't eat everything on your plate. Dish up your meals as you normally would and then either leave a few bites of everything or put a little back before you start eating. (Hint: Buy smaller plates--they're an enormous help when it comes to reducing portions.)

These two steps will start you on your way toward less body fat--especially around your middle.

Danny Wallace