Heart Healthy Foods and Herbs at Letha’s Health Secrets

September 19, 2007

http://www.asianhealthsecrets.com/letha/?p=285

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Ilanit Tof - Signature

Ilanit

Ms Ilanit Tof

B.A. (Psychophysiology/Psychology)

Advanced Diploma Healing with Wholefoods

PhD Holistic Nutrition (candidate)

Little Tree Oriental Healing Arts

Helping you grow to new heights of wellbeing

with Oriental Traditions and Modern Nutrition

ilanit@...

www.littletree.com.au

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Heart Healthy Foods and Herbs

Published by Letha September 19th, 2007 in Foods for Health & Beauty.

Â Vermont’s quiet, deep green, damp woods have given us a summer of rest. Several times a Mama dear and her baby played near the driveway. Wild turkeys roamed the yard in search of seeds. A bear or other friend raided our garbage cans regularly. In autumn as leaves turn bright yellow orange, everyone is seeking food to increase warm layers of fat against the coming winter. We found colorful lettuces, squash, carrots and parsnips, corn, bright peppers and fresh goat cheeses at the farmers’ market. It’s easy to eat well in the country. Farmer’s markets sell what’s in season. Try steamed red peppers, zucchini, tomato and eggplant. Add garlic, cayenne, and rosemary and you have a heart-healthy dish.

A Tired Heart

Sam found it hard to walk during the early part of July. He gasped for breath climbing stairs and slept with 3 pillows. He had not had a complete physical for over 20 years and decided to give the medicos a try. He watched his heart pump during his echocardiogram and had to take many blood tests to check the health of his kidneys, liver and signs of infection. Over 70 and overweight, he guessed that his cholesterol was high.

Hitchcock Clinic at Dartmouth Medical Center in Hanover, New Hampshire is like a fancy shopping mall. Inside are large sunny windows, oil paintings on the walls, elegant winding staircases and on several floors a musician played a piano to add to the relaxed elegant atmosphere. Sam, a native New Yorker found it shockingly clean, well-organized and oddly efficient. No waiting in crowded rooms next to people who sneeze in your face and yell into cellphone arguments.

The test results were not good. My friend’s heart muscle is weak. That results in insufficient action to clear blood from the heart so that fluid can back up and cause congestive troubles and edema (water retention.) Stress on the heart increases fatigue and shortness of breath. His cholesterol was OK but the heart function was low.

Possible Causes:

He told the confused doctors, who continued to search for an infection: “Fifty years sitting at a desk and worrying. That is a writer’s life.” That applies to any of us who sit for hours at a time watching computer screens for fun or profit. Sam had also lost a bundle during two weeks when the stock market had dipped. His hypertension hovered around 170/100 –way too high.

Common Heart Symptoms

â€¢ Heart Failure (AKA congestive heart failure) - weakness and profound fatigue, swollen ankles or feet and hands; Swollen waterlogged abdomen; possible chest pain; difficult breathing or talking while walking, difficulty breathing or chest pain especially when lying down; overweight especially in the middle, diabetes, sleep apnea (waking up coughing and choking); chronic hacking cough; broken or congested blood vessels; swollen veins in the neck; possible kidney weakness

â€¢ Arrythmia (irregular heart beat)

â€¢ Heart Attack –sudden mild to severe chest pain or tightness, shortness of breath; upper body pain (teeth, jaw, shoulder, left arm); anxiety; sweating. . . .More often for women: pain in neck, jaw, shoulder, or abdomen; shortness of breath; nausea or vomiting; heartburn; sweating; dizziness; unexplained fatigue

In most cases reducing excess harmful cholesterol improves the heart and circulation. Reducing water retention with a diuretic can lower blood pressure and sometimes weight therefore reducing stress from the heart.

Medical Treatments:

Since the underlying causes of heart failure are not known, most medicines treat the symptoms - chest tightness, water retention, narrow blood vessels. In severe cases an artificial stimulation device is inserted below the surface of the skin to help the heart pump. Other treatments include inserting a stent - or a support for narrow or collapsed blood vessels.

Many times the standard treatments for heart problems include:

â€¢ A diuretic to reduce water retention (Lasix)

â€¢ A vaso-dilator to make the opening in blood vessels larger (ACE inhibitor such as Lisinapril, Elanapril or other)

â€¢ A blood thinner to help decongest blood vessels and make blood flow more easily (Coumadin)

â€¢ A drug to help regular irregular heart beat (a Beta blocker medicine)

Dangerous Side-effects

Most of these sorts of drugs have to be monitored closely with blood tests because they can cause liver or kidney damage, gout, or worsen symptoms. The doctor may ask the patient to take his/her blood pressure and check weight gain daily. If a person gained 2 - 3 pounds in a week it could indicate increased water retention - a worsening condition.

Sam tried Lisinapril, an ACE inhibitor drug, that the doctor had prescribed. Such drugs are supposed to dilate the blood vessels, which brings down high blood pressure and eases the action of the heart. Instead Sam’s legs blew up very swollen like an elephant’s leg from the knee to ankle and turned purple. The drug has warnings against its use in older people with kidney trouble. It gave him serious water retention in the legs and he stopped the drug after only 3 days. Sam refused other treatments and asked for herbal help.

It was time for me to take action with herbs to strengthen the heart, reduce water retention, thin the blood; treatments to help reduce blood pressure and a diet cholesterol in check. For the best results see your local Chinese or Ayurvedic herbalist for a personalized brew. But here are some valuable suggestions to add to your diet today.

Dietary and Herbal Adjunct Therapies or Substitute Treatments for Common Heart Problems

Foods that reduce cholesterol:

Tea; zucchini; red bell pepper; garlic; red onion; red grapes; hawthorn berry; healthy Omega oils (salmon, herring, tuna, sardines, hemp oil, flaxseed oil); Shirataki Japanese highfiber no-calorie noodles; a diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and whole grains instead of animal meats and cheese; Red Yeast Rice pills and Co-enzyme Q10 taken with coffee to help digest it the yeast pills.

Spices to stimulate a weak heart

Use in cooking and teas:

Cardamom, hawthorn berry capsules, rosemary, cayenne, raw and steamed garlic; pepper; A liquid combination called Strauss Heart drops contains garlic, cayenne, bilberry, motherwort, hawthorn, and white willow bark and fruit.

Raw tienchi ginseng powder from Chinatown or your healthfood store is a wonderful herb and cooking ingredient to reduce cholesterol and chest pains. Add 1/2 teaspoon per pot of green tea or add 1/4 teaspoon to water as a tea. When cooking add 1 level teaspoon of raw tienchi to cook with stews.

Pills to protect the heart:

Abana is my current favorite pill to protect the heart. It is made by Himalaya. It is a complicated and sophisticated formula in a pill that helps reduce blood lipids (fat) and strength and normalize heart function. Its main ingredients include arjuna, also ashwagandha, trifala, guggul, and many others. For reducing discomforts and protecting the heart they recommend 2 pills twice daily until cholesterol returns to normal then 2 daily to help maintain heart health

Guggul is a treasure that comes from India. You can find the capsules in healthfood stores and online. It’s like tree sap or myrrh. It reduces fat, cholesterol, phlegm and fibroids. You can take quit a bit of it as needed.

Blood-thinning foods/herbs

â€¢ Tea 5 - 6 cups daily has been proven by Harvard Univ. to reduce heart trouble by at least 40%.

â€¢ Cloud ear (AKA tree ear fungi) this commonly used Chinese healthfood, according to Dr. Weil, thins the blood like Coumadin without side-effects.

Here are recipes for Cloud Ear/Tree Ear

Soak a handful of dried tree ear in water until soft

Cut them into pieces with a scissor

Drop them into boiling water and cook them with pasta, soup, or oatmeal

Diuretics:

â€¢ Tea

â€¢ Cook for 3 hours at high heat in a crockpot full of water:

A handful of parsley

Corn silk

Used corn cobs

1 tablespoon of Punarnavi powder

Punarnavi (Hog Weed) is a slightly bitter but pleasant tasting weed powder recommended for obesity, gout, sciatica, ascites. It is diuretic and cleansing.

Pills:

See your healthfood store for diuretic herbs such as K.B. 11, Diurtabs and others. Make sure you replace your minerals.

AVOID THESE

Salt, licorice root (it causes water retention) alcohol, smoking (Don’t be an idiot.)

Get Acupuncture

Get acupuncture treatments for reducing blood pressure, stopping smoking and alcohol habits; weight loss, and poor circulation. I will show you a few in upcoming articles. You can stimulate them with cooling essential oils like sandalwood or ylang ylang.

Until Soon warm loving greetings and best wishes from my heart to yours!

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