The smartest plan for attacking a heart attack is, of course, preventing one from ever happening. Choose at least three of the following preventive strategies that you’re currently not doing (though doing them all is even better!). Make them a habit. They will help you keep your heart healthy for life!

1. Convince Your Wife to Stop Smoking
Nonsmoking husbands of smoking wives face a 92 percent increase in their risk of heart attack, according to a report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Breathing secondhand smoke boosts LDL (”bad”) cholesterol levels, decreases HDL (”good”) cholesterol, and increases your blood’s tendency to clot.

2. Walk, Run, or Lift Weights for 30 Minutes Four Times a Week
Middle-aged men who exercised vigorously for 2 or more hours cumulatively per week had 60 percent less risk of heart attack than inactive men did, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.

3. Lose 10 to 20 Pounds
If you’re overweight, dropping 10 to 20 pounds could lower your risk of dying from a first heart attack by 16 percent. Being overweight drives up cholesterol and blood pressure, the precursors to coronary disease. A 10-year Mayo Clinic study found that overweight people had heart attacks 3.6 years earlier than normal-weight people did, and that obese heart-attack patients tended to be 8.2 years younger than normal-weight victims.

4. Drink Five Glasses of Water a Day
In a study at Loma Linda University, men who drank that many 8-ounce glasses were 54 percent less likely to have a fatal heart attack than those who drank two or fewer. Researchers say the water dilutes the blood, making it less likely to clot.

5. Switch from Coffee to Tea
A Dutch study found that people who drank 3 cups of tea a day had half the risk of heart attack of those who didn’t drink tea at all. Potent antioxidants, called flavonoids, in tea may provide a protective effect.

6. Grill Salmon on Saturday, Have a Tuna Sandwich on Tuesday
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health say that eating fish at least twice a week can lower your heart-disease risk by more than 30 percent. The magic ingredient is the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish. In another study, men without heart disease were 10 percent less likely to die suddenly when their blood levels of omega-3s were high.

7. Say Hello to Ribose
The heart’s ability to maintain energy is limited by one thing: the availability of ribose. Ribose is one of the most fundamental energy sources your body can have. Your body makes ribose naturally, but in times of stress the need is greater than your supply to satisfy the loss of energy from your cells. Unless your heart has an adequate supply of ribose, it simply cannot satisfy the astonishing energy demand. Supplementing with ribose can:

• increase tolerance to cardiac stress
• improve exercise tolerance and physical function
• provide cardiac energy needed to maintain normal heart function
• increase cardiac efficiency and lowers stress during exercise
• maintain healthy energy levels in heart and muscle

AMARC offers the highest quality ribose product available for $39.99. Click here to order or for more information.

8. Ask Your Doctor About Vitamin E and Aspirin
Men who took the antioxidant and the blood thinner daily cut the plaque in their clogged arteries by more than 80 percent, according to a recent University of Pennsylvania study.

9. Eat a Cup of Total Corn Flakes for Breakfast
This cereal contains one of the highest concentrations of folate (675 micrograms) of any cold cereal. Taking in that much folic acid daily (the recommended amount is 400 mcg) cuts your risk of cardiovascular disease by 13 percent, according to researchers at Tulane University. Folate works by reducing blood levels of artery-damaging homocysteine.

10. Count to 10
Creating a 10-second buffer before reacting to a stressful situation may be enough to cool you down. Men who respond to stress with anger are three times more likely to be diagnosed with heart disease and five times more likely to have a heart attack before turning 55, say researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

11. Eat Watermelon
It contains about 40 percent more lycopene than is found in raw tomatoes, and a new study by the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service shows that your body absorbs it at higher levels due to the melon’s high water content. Half a wedge may boost heart-disease prevention by 30 percent.

Based upon genetics, individuals are born with one of three body types. We are divided into these categories as a general rule and people may vary in small ways within these groups, but we are significantly one of the three. Ectomorphs have long, lean bodies; mesomorphs are more triangularly shaped; endormorphs have round or pear shaped bodies. Women tend to look at models (who have predominately ectomorph body types), in magazines, TV and other media venues and base their weight goals around those images. However, in order to look your best, you should workout according to your body type and accept that genetics plays the major role in determining how you look.

An effective workout, regardless of body type should include strength and resistance training because it increases muscle cells and decreases fat cells, resulting in bodies that are firm and toned. Walking and running alone will not increase muscle strength or endurance in the upper and lower body, which is necessary for weight loss. If you are interested in adopting an exercise routine based upon your body type, here are some suggestions:

Ectomorphs are lean, angular and usually small chested with limbs that are longer than their torsos. They tend to have lower back problems and are prone to osteoporosis. This group of people may try to focus too much on running or other aerobic exercise at the expense of strength training. Ectomorphs need to spend about 30 minutes 2-3 days per week engaging in weight training utilizing dumbbells (2 pounds up to 12 pounds), lots of stretching, push-ups and pull-ups using your own body weight, and limit cardio work to no more than 3 days per week for 20-30 minutes.

Mesomorphs tend to be muscular and athletic. They are medium boned and have shorter torsos. Their weight is evenly distributed throughout the body and they have a higher ratio of muscle to fat. Mesomorphs usually build up weight in the waist, upper arms and in the back near the bra line. Since most of the fat accumulates at the midsection, they can be more prone to heart disease and stroke. Aerobic exercise is key to burning fat and keeping the cardiovascular system healthy, so mesomorphs should incorporate at least 30-40 minutes of aerobic (running, bicycling, cross-training) 3-4 times per week. Strength training should be included 2-3 times per week focusing on lower weights with higher repetitions to enhance muscle tone. Since this group of people has tight, short muscles, as well as a tendency to shin splints, they should stretch every day in order to avoid injury.

Endomorphs have round, curvy bodies. They tend to have a higher percentage of body fat and gain weight in the stomach, buttock and thigh area. Their metabolism tends to be slower so weight loss is more difficult to achieve. Low to moderate intensity aerobic exercise is most effective for this group of people at a frequency of 4-5 times per week for 30-45 minutes per session. This can include power walking, low-impact aerobics, bicycling with no incline or using the treadmill. Weight training should be incorporated 2-3 times per week with lower weights and higher repetitions. Stretching is very important because it helps to elongate the muscles and keeps them flexible.

So no matter your body type, try to incorporate strength, resistance and weight training as well as aerobic exercise in the right proportions in order to maximize the time you spend working out.

The Better Life Experts - March 16, 2009

It has been hard to ignore lately, the ads running on television trying to dispel the negative reputation that high fructose corn syrup has gained over recent years. It’s part of an 18-month campaign launched by the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) in effort to give high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) an image makeover. The message: High-fructose corn syrup is made from corn, has no artificial ingredients, has the same calories as sugar and is okay to eat in moderation.

There is only one problem: High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is an ingredient in so many products on the market…how could you possibly eat it in moderation? I have found it listed as an ingredient in vitamins, bread, soda, English muffins, yogurt, cereal, ketchup….the list could go on. So unless your diligently reading your labels…to moderate your consumption of high fructose corn syrup is nearly impossible.

So how did we get here? Why is the use of high fructose corn syrup so pronounced? HFCS has been used as an inexpensive sweetener since the 1970’s and we saw a dramatic increase in its use throughout the 1980’s as a result of the high prices of sugar import (the U.S. has a high tariff on any sugar brought into the country and very little sugar is actually produced in the United States….companies looked to HFCS as an alternative to the expensive, high taxed natural sugar). To them it’s simply a product that people buy so they want to make it as cheap as they possibly can to increase their own profits at the expense of public health.

So if HFCS is “good for you”, “natural” and made from corn, what could possibly be the drawback? Let’s take a look at corn. Contrary to popular belief…it is NOT a vegetable, it is a grain. Grains are metabolized by our bodies into sugars very rapidly and cause a huge spike in blood sugar, thus requiring an outpouring of insulin from the pancreas further straining this already so overworked organ. This is one of the major contributors to the massive increase in type II diabetes, obesity and systemic inflammation. Not to mention that several disease states from high cholesterol, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and osteoporosis have also been linked to HFCS.

Just because something is touted as being “natural” does not mean that it is healthy. HFCS is in actuality an entirely man-made substance. Nearly indestructible and stable. That is why it is used often as a preservative for foods, not only a sweetener.

We are all well aware that sugar itself is not a purely healthy food. Moderation IS the key. But, unlike with HFCS, many of us know which products contain sugar. It is not hidden as a preservative in food products. In the end, it is much easier to moderate in our diets and is naturally sweet not laboratory made.

In the end, read your labels. Eat natural, whole foods. For those who wish to sweeten foods and beverages without the effects of HFCS, and are also concerned about the impact of using sugar regularly, I would recommend the all-natural sweetner, stevia. For more information, start here.

Over the course of two decades, vitamin D levels have dramatically decreased among Americans, a new study finds.

Low levels of vitamin D have been associated with rickets in children and lower bone mineral density in adults. Recent research has also linked insufficient vitamin D to cancer, heart disease, infection and poorer health overall. Optimal levels range from 30 nanograms per milliliter to 40 nanograms per milliliter, the researchers said.

“We found a marked increase in vitamin D deficiency over the past two decades,” said lead researcher Dr. Adit Ginde, an assistant professor of surgery at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine. “Over three out of every four Americans now have vitamin D levels below what we believe is necessary for optimal health. African-Americans and Hispanics are at particularly high risk — nearly all have suboptimal levels.”

The report was published in the March 23 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

For the study, Ginde’s group collected data on vitamin D levels in 18,883 people collected between 1988 and 1994, and 13,369 people collected between 2001 and 2004. All the data came from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
The researchers found that average vitamin D levels were 30 nanograms per milliliter from 1988 to 1994, but decreased to 24 nanograms per milliliter between 2001 and 2004. Moreover, vitamin D levels of less than 10 nanograms per milliliter increased from 2 percent to 6 percent over the study period. There were also fewer people with vitamin D levels of 30 nanograms per milliliter or higher (45 percent vs. 23 percent).

The greatest drops in vitamin D levels were seen among blacks, where levels of vitamin D of less than 10 nanograms per milliliter rose from 9 percent to 29 percent, and levels of more than 30 nanograms per milliliter or higher dropped from 12 percent to 3 percent, the researchers found.

“Increases in vitamin D deficiency in the population may have reduced the overall health of the population,” Ginde said. “Since sunlight is the body’s major source of vitamin D, increases in sunscreen, sun avoidance, and overall decreased outdoor activity, while successful in reducing skin cancers, has probably reduced vitamin D levels in the population.”

Ten minutes of sunlight on exposed arms and legs two to three times per week would significantly improve vitamin D production, but must be weighed against the risk for skin cancer, Ginde noted. Vitamin D supplementation is another way to increase levels. However, current recommended doses of vitamin D supplements are outdated and inadequate, he added.
Right now, recommended levels of vitamin D supplements are 200 international units per day from birth to age 50, 400 international units (IU) per day from age 51 to 70, and 600 international units per day for adults aged 71 and older. These recommendations are primarily for improving bone health.

“Vitamin D is an important and underappreciated public health issue and may be responsible for some racial differences in health outcomes,” Ginde said. “Most Americans could use more vitamin D. Higher doses of vitamin D supplementation than currently recommended, at least 1,000 to 2,000 IU daily, are likely needed to raise vitamin D levels for many people.”

Another report in the same journal highlights the importance of vitamin D for bone health. In the study, Swiss researchers conclude that 400 IU of vitamin D supplements per day are associated with a reduced risk of fractures in older adults.

“Given the frequency, severity and cost of non-vertebral fractures, everyone age 65 and older should take vitamin D in a dose close to 800 IU per day,” said lead researcher Heike A. Bischoff-Ferrari, an assistant professor at the University of Zurich.

To reach their conclusion, Bischoff-Ferrari and colleagues reviewed the findings of 12 clinical trials of looking at the benefits of vitamin D supplements in reducing fractures in adults aged 65 and older. In all, the trials involved 42,279 participants.

The researchers found that vitamin D supplements decreased the risk of non-vertebral fractures by 14 percent and of hip fractures by 9 percent. In trials where people were given doses of more than 400 IUs a day, fractures were reduced by 20 percent and hip fractures by 18 percent.

In addition, for people taking high doses of vitamin D, calcium supplements did not appear to have any additional protective effect against fractures, the researchers reported.

“At the higher dose, this benefit is not restricted to frail older individuals, but is also present in community-dwelling older individuals,” Bischoff-Ferrari said. “In the subgroup of community-dwelling older individuals, vitamin D at the higher dose reduced non-vertebral fractures by 33 percent.”

Dr. Michael F. Holick, director of the Vitamin D Laboratory at Boston University, noted that the recommended levels of vitamin D are under review and likely to be increased.

“An Institute of Medicine panel is planning to have new recommendations out by mid-2010,” Holick said. “It’s pretty clear that you need a minimum of 1,400 and up to 2,000 IU a day, and if you are obese, you probably need at least one and a half to two times as much, because the fat sequesters the vitamin D,” he said.

Holick said people are drinking less milk and staying out of the sun, which are the main reasons for the decreasing vitamin D levels in the population.

One way to combat the problem is to increase vitamin D supplementation in foods, Holick said. New recommendations that increase vitamin D levels will let the food industry increase vitamin D levels in foods and add vitamin D to more foods, he said.

“We are in desperate need to have a marked increase in the adequate intake recommendation, and hopefully, that will be 1,000 to 2,000 IUs per day and raise the safe upper limit to at least 10,000 IUs a day,” Holick said. “The plan would be to increase the amount per serving and increase the number of foods fortified with vitamin D.”

To support your body’s daily vitamin D needs, AMARC offers a high quality vitamin D3 product for $14.95! Click here to order or for more information.

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By Steven Reinberg, HealthDay Reporter
URL: http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100235096