Heart Diseases: Types, Causes And Treatments

We celebrate these days every year, Cancer day, diabetes day and tomorrow we have World Heart Day. Heart diseases lead to the most amount of suffering and deaths in India right now followed by diabetes and cancer. So what’s going wrong when we have hospitals, doctors, pharmaceuticals, medications, vitamins, Ayurveda, gyms and nutritionists? Why are we getting sicker and why are our parents suffering from cardiovascular diseases? Why are teenagers suffering from cardiovascular diseases? Why do we see heart attacks in young people at the age of 24 and 25?

Lifestyle Drug

The only drug that can prevent and heal heart disease is called lifestyle. When we start to make small changes in lifestyle you will find that you no longer have to be on the deadly medications that you’re on which is making you sicker and sicker and causing more diseases ranging from diabetes to kidney failure and even most cancers. Now I’m not here to tell you to get off your statins or get off your cholesterol drugs. I’m here to create awareness in the hope that it motivates you to understand what exactly causes cardiovascular disease and that that magic drug is in your hands. Make a change right now.

Demonizing Cholesterol

We live in a world where we believe that cholesterol is the number one cause of cardiac arrests and strokes. Let me tell you, you are completely wrong. That’s what the media and most doctors make us believe that cholesterol causes heart disease. Infact cholesterol has very little connection with most cardiac arrests, most strokes and most heart attacks .The leading cause of most cardiac arrests and heart diseases today is high blood pressure. Then you have chronic kidney disease and inflammation.

Statistical Deception

No one measures inflammation or CRP, that is C – reactive protein which is a protein molecule which is one of them best markers for cardiac arrests and poor heart disease but we have angiograms, angioplasties, bypass surgeries, cholesterol tests and all of these things. We look at these parameters on reports which help us benchmark our health but give us no cure to the disease that we’re going through. So you look at your total cholesterol and your doctor decides that you need to be on a drug and he puts you on a statin which has every connection with diabetes, muscular pain, fatigue, cardiac arrest, strokes and cancers as well.

Chronic Inflammation

The number one cause of most cardiac arrests today is chronic inflammation. What is inflammation? If you fall down and you bruise your knee, the area around your knee swells up. Now the blood is rushing towards your bruised area to repair you. The cells around your knee area multiply and divide rapidly to heal you and to form that scar. As you can see we require inflammation. But in case of Chronic Inflammation where inflammation doesn’t reduce it causes heart diseases and cancers. Smoking, alcohol or binge drinking, poor quality sleep will cause inflammation. Fast foods, processed food, food rich in sugar, high salt consumption will not only cause high blood pressure but will also cause the destruction of your arteries in your heart. So now we see the connection towards cardiac arrest is poorly managed high blood pressure and inflammation.

Acidity & Magnesium Depletion

If you are acidic, your body leeches’ calcium, vitamin d, magnesium and alkaline salts from your gallbladder increasing cholesterol production in your liver. Magnesium is being used to keep your blood alkaline. It is one of the most important minerals when it comes to your heart health. So here we are treating people with cholesterol medications but never looking at their magnesium and potassium levels when they have high blood pressure. Two minerals are enough to enhance the health of your heart.

Vitamin D3 & Cholesterol  

Cholesterol is required in the human body. It is so important that you understand this today. A statin works in your liver by blocking an enzyme that produces cholesterol. So you’re shutting down the production of cholesterol. Cholesterol is required for your cells to heal, to grow and to repair. You have cells in your body which will no longer heal and that’s the problem that can lead to cancer. We all know cancer originates in a cell which is sick, a cell which cannot kill itself. Cholesterol is also a precursor to your hormones. Vitamin d3 is a hormone that requires cholesterol to be produced. If you don’t have cholesterol you have low d3. So your doctor instead of helping you raise your d3 puts you on a cholesterol tablet. If I have low d3 my liver is going to produce more cholesterol because the body needs more cholesterol to produce more d3. Its is vicious cycle.

Prevention

Let’s discuss the solution. Look at your d3 levels even if your doctor doesn’t look at it. Maintain optimum d3 levels, optimum magnesium levels, potassium levels and blood pressure levels as well. You should have the right amount of calcium for d3 to get absorbed properly. Eat a high-fibre diet which includes three to four fruits in a day and a portion of raw vegetables at each meal. You will give your body the amount of enzymes it needs to repair and reduce the endothelial inflammation in your arteries and protect your heart. Just because you have good cholesterol levels because of your medication on your report doesn’t mean you have good inflammation. Check your H- CRP levels, your homocysteine levels and your CRP levels as well.

What’s the best way to keep your heart healthy?

Exercise. Every single day some movement. I’m not talking about overtraining because we all know overtraining and exercising has also become a fad and that is producing inflammation in people’s heart leading to cardiac arrests, thyroid problems, adrenal fatigue and many other problems. The best exercise for you and for your heart is walk. Your heart needs you to move. Your heart needs some amount of flexibility like yoga or Pilates with the right amount of breathing like pranayama. If you only walk and you do yoga that is enough for your heart.

Sleep & Stress: Most of the cardiac arrests of young people today are caused because of lack of sleep period. Everyone has fancy pictures on their Instagram and Facebook of them working out in the gym and showing the world who they are and what they’re doing and they’re sleeping for three to four hours. No one knows that side of their life and when they die of heart attacks people are like how could it happen and everyone runs to doctors to get their hearts checked and still omitting lifestyle, sleep and recovery. Stress has a direct connection with your cardiovascular health, Every time we keep raising our cortisol because we’re constantly stressed. We are making our liver produce more cholesterol because we need cholesterol to produce hormones. Every time you get stressed your heart is working harder.

Sitting is the new smoking. The more you sit the unhealthier your heart is going to be. It doesn’t matter if you work out one hour in the gym and you’re going to be sitting for the next nine hours. That is called a sedentary active. Your sedentary lifestyle will kill you. Aim for 8000 to 12000 steps in a day. It’s possible and easy and you can do it. Exercise will basically take care of cholesterol.

Improve HDL

Today doctors treat a figure called total cholesterol which is very wrong. They need to look up the break-up of your cholesterol. They need to look at the ratio between your HDL and your LDL. HDL is your good cholesterol. For the longest time the oil mafia removed saturated fats from India. Coconut oil, unrefined ground nut oil, peanut oil, mustard oil, and pure ghee was termed as a saturated fat and doctors moved us to refined vegetable oils which is the number one cause of inflammation in the country. If you have high cholesterol right now change your oil. Start using pure ghee or unrefined or raw coconut oil, mustard oil, peanut oil whatever it is. Get more raw food in your diet. Have three to four fruits and raw vegetables in your diet every single day with the right amount of water to keep your inflammation low.

Please share this information with others if it means anything to you. You don’t need to be a doctor to share knowledge and inspire other people who will change their health. All of us have that in us. We can share and inspire. We can change people’s health through knowledge, through motivation and by making ourselves an example to everyone else.