Simple Lifestyle Hacks for Stronger Arteries and Healthier Blood Flow
Simple Lifestyle Hacks for Stronger Arteries and Healthier Blood Flow
As you read this, every minute, there are people across the country and world, especially those with comorbidities like Type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, dying of cardiac arrest, heart attack, paralytic strokes, brain strokes, and more. There isn’t enough limelight in the media about this.
The unfortunate and bitter truth is that this will continue to happen unless we decide that enough is enough and make a change. We cannot wait until the next person dies. It could be your loved one, a family member, a friend, or even you!
Where is the gap?
Looking back on my experience, I realize this boils down to a lack of simple knowledge. Most of us are stuck in a world where our thinking is programmed by what pharmaceutical and medical lobbies want us to know.
There is a constant fear of blockages and heart attacks like a sword suspended in the air. Yet none of us question how despite advancements in medicine why heart attacks and cardiac problems skyrocket each day.
Most of us are wired to think, “If I get heart disease, I know the best cardiologist and hospital. I will just get treated.” But the point is there’s a lot that can be done to avoid these issues in the first place. And the answer to it lies in – lifestyle.
Does this mean you shouldn’t get a medical procedure? No. You should definitely get it if you need it. But you also need common sense to understand what caused your cardiac issue in the first place.
Many people blame their health issues on genetics. And that’s the biggest lie. Only 5 to 6 percent of diseases are out of your control or influenced by your genetic predisposition. But the rest are caused largely by a poor lifestyle.
It only takes a little more effort to understand the working of the human body. When you do this, it can save you from many deadly diseases and a ton of money!
Today we will discuss the correlation between heart disease, erectile dysfunction, inflammation, bypass surgery, strokes, high blood pressure, and more. We will understand the root cause and talk about one solution, among many others that can help.
The connection between high blood pressure and cardiac issues
1 out of 5 people has high blood pressure today. Most of them do not understand that high blood pressure can be fatal to them. Just because you are on medication doesn’t mean it will save your life.
Did you know blood pressure + diabetes may lead to chronic kidney disease?
If you have a combination of uncontrolled high blood pressure and diabetes – the next thing you will be vulnerable to is chronic kidney disease (CKD). Many people are unaware that diabetes is also a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, cardiac failure, and heart attacks. You cannot think that just being on medication and having access to the best endocrinologist is enough. It is not unless you are all also making lifestyle changes. But before we get into that, let’s understand how your blood vessels work.
Breaking down the working of a blood vessel
What does a blood vessel do? It carries blood, oxygen, and nutrients to trillions of cells throughout your body. Think of them as little pipelines. If these pipelines are blocked, it can be disastrous for your health. Your blood pressure rises and it can even result in a cardiac episode.
Imagine a pipe in your garden. If mud clogs this pipe, the amount of water flowing through is less because the diameter is narrower. The pressure builds up. It is what happens in the heart – in your arteries.
The importance of your endothelial lining and nitric oxide
The inner part of your blood vessels has an endothelial lining. This lining is made up of trillions and millions of cells. In your endothelium, there are different amino acids. You have L-Arginine which synthesizes into another amino acid or gas called nitric oxide.
What is the importance of nitric oxide? Nitric oxide allows your blood vessels to relax and widen up so that blood can flow freely. When a blood vessel constricts and becomes hard – your blood pressure increases. You have a plaque buildup. Your blood vessels become hard and that’s where you have heart disease, strokes and so on.
What happens when your endothelial lining is damaged?
If your endothelial lining is not healthy and has inflammation – it cannot produce the right amount of nitric oxide.
Imagine a tire in a car. If it is not full of air – you have a flat tire. The car cannot move. In the blood vessel, you need nitric oxide to dilate, relax, and maintain their elasticity so they can efficiently contract and relax.
When these harden, your blood pressure spikes and you have fatty cells and inflammation which can lead to a heart attack or a complete collapse of the blood vessel. When it collapses, oxygen cannot flow anymore. You have severe hypoxia which can further lead to cardiovascular breakdown or disease.
Nitric oxide acts as a vasodilator. It dilates your blood vessels allowing blood to flow and allowing cleanup. You need a certain amount of pressure to clean up. If you have mud caked on the inside of the garden pipe, what do you think can flush it out? More pressure right? Sometimes our hearts will create more blood pressure to clean out the arteries that are getting blocked with plaque. But it cannot do properly when your arteries have become constricted.
Did you know nitric oxide is excellent for muscle building?
Are you struggling to build muscle? Nitric oxide will allow more blood flow to your muscles. What does blood carry? Nutrients – amino acids from your protein to build your muscle. It helps enhance your muscle quality.
If you have constant muscle soreness after workouts, don’t choose to just straight onto L-glutamine, pause and analyze. Maybe you don’t have the right amount of nitric oxide which is why your muscles don’t get what they need to recover. The right amount of nitric oxide will boost your energy, endurance, and stamina during your workouts and throughout the day. A lot of people sleep well but they’re tired throughout the day. This also could be an indicator of less nitric oxide.
Why addressing the root cause matters
Let me illustrate this for you. A leading reason why those with cardiovascular problems should avoid smoking is that it causes inflammation in the endothelium lining. When you smoke, you cannot produce the right amount of nitric oxide. It hampers the intelligence of your artery. It cannot relax and your blood pressure shoots up. It is why smoking and high blood pressure are directly correlated, and so are heart attacks.
If you have angina, a type of chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart – your doctor may suggest you get an ECG and an angiogram. Why? For the right reasons because they’re trying to check if you have a problem with your endothelial lining and you cannot produce nitric oxide.
You may then undergo surgery or bypass. You can put the first, second, or fifth stent. The number will only increase unless you take care of the root cause of the problem – the health of your endothelial lining and adequate nitric oxide production.
Your endothelial lining also controls electrolyte flow. You need electrolytes for survival, heart health, brain health, the function of various other organs, and most importantly energy levels. If you have endothelial dysfunction, you affect the flow of electrolytes in your body.
You cannot rely on the bag after bags of saline, consuming electrolytes, and intravenous injections to fix this. You need to address the problem at its root.
Can blood clots be dangerous?
When your endothelial function is inflamed, or you have constant damage in your arteries, your platelets start aggregating to fix the problem. When you have too many platelets aggregating, you have possible blood clots which can become so dangerous they can kill you in a second. It can give you a brain hemorrhage, brain stroke, heart stroke, and so on.
Your body forms blood clots to protect you because of the constant damage in the arteries due to refined oils, overconsumption of omega-6, vaping, smoking, substance abuse, sleep deprivation, partially hydrogenated fats, refined sugar, refined carbohydrates, overconsumption of carbohydrates, and so on. Forget about it making you fat, these constantly creates inflammation in your arteries which is much more dangerous for your heart health.
When you have too many platelets aggregating, you are also put on medication now to break this down. After a while, you will find yourself on a laundry list of medications, trying to treat the symptom but never addressing the root cause.
Erectile dysfunction and its correlation with your heart health
There are many reasons why men can have erectile dysfunction but the main one is an indicator of your heart health. Today we have young people struggling with erectile dysfunction problems. The first aspect we check is their heart health because there’s a direct correlation. Erectile dysfunction can be a predictor of heart disease.
The penis gets hard or erect when there’s proper blood flow. If there’s a lack of nitric oxide, the chambers of the penis and arteries cannot carry sufficient blood to keep the penis erect.
There are psychological and psychosomatic reasons for erectile dysfunction like when someone’s consuming too much pornography and real life cannot excite them anymore.
But men, your morning erections or morning wood is an indicator. Check if you are getting them. You won’t get them if you’re sleep deprived and tired. But if you are noticing that it has been a long time since you got your morning erection, get your heart checked. It is a huge predictor of possible heart disease. Catch it early.
Blood flow is everything.
If blood cannot flow, you cannot live.
Why are smoking and vaping dangerous?
If you are stuck on smoking and vaping – forget about lung cancer, you are creating hypoxia and inflammation. You are damaging your blood vessels which are required for survival. It is as simple as that.
We have young people today who cannot get an erection. It destroys their marriages and self-confidence. By only giving up vaping and smoking, you can get better. Another leading issue is alcohol binge drinking. It all comes down to certain things we should steer clear of, and ones we can do in balance.
The connection between inflammation and heart health
Science is showing us the correlation between COVID-19 and heart attacks. A lot of explanations for the heart attacks happening today because COVID creates inflammation in the endothelial lining.
Remember the word cytokine storm that everyone learned during COVID? The cytokine storm creates inflammation in the endothelial lining and now because there’s damage in the endothelial lining you cannot produce the right amount of nitric oxide. This means the intelligence to dilate your blood vessels is compromised.
Everything comes down to the root cause and lifestyle. Take your meds if you must. But people who think medicine alone will fix their lives get stuck in a vicious cycle of chronic sickness and are always on medication.
Tips to increase nitric oxide production
Eat foods rich in nitrate. Your body will convert the nitrate in them into nitric oxide.
- Beetroot
I am a huge fan of beetroot. Whether it is dry beetroot powder or fresh beetroot juice, add it to your routine. If you have ever worked out with beetroot juice you will know what I mean. Many athletic supplements have beetroot extracts for nitric oxide. Your energy levels will be incredible. It boosts blood flow and oxygen. Because beets are rich in nitric oxide, all of our cardiovascular patients without complications are on either beetroot juice, powder, soup, or sabzis that incorporate it in various forms. Shop for beetroot powder here. - Other nitrate-rich foods include
- Green leafy vegetables especially spinach
- Asparagus
- Lettuce family
- Arugulas
- Nuts
- Seeds
- Pomegranate and citrus fruits
- Dark chocolate 75% and above
- Meat (red meat like steak, mutton, and so on)
- Raw or lightly steamed garlic
Shop for some of these ethical products here.
These are not a replacement for your medication. But these can help.
Whether you have blood pressure issues or not, these foods could be excellent for you. If your stress is causing blood pressure issues, you need to manage it better. Having a diet rich in nitrates will drop your systolic and diastolic readings when paired with lifestyle changes.
What else can improve endothelial function?
Exercise and movement.
When your endothelial lining is healthy it will automatically produce the right amount of nitric oxide. Lifting weights, and body weight exercises like push-ups, squats, lunges, aerobics, and plyometrics are great for endothelial function.
If you are a type 2 diabetic you need to understand you already have damaged endothelial lining. When your blood sugar levels are high, the sugar that stays in your blood creates inflammation in your blood vessels. What does that inflammation hurt? Your endothelial linings and then it affects the production of nitric oxide. This is why when you’re looking at a diet plan or an ecosystem of food for diabetes and lifestyle, it has to include the nitric oxide mechanisms. It is to ensure that your type 2 diabetes does not make you a candidate for cardiovascular disease.
It is preventable. Reverse or manage your type 2 diabetes number. If you cannot reverse your type 2 diabetes by at least making sure you’re producing the right amount of nitric oxide.
The bottom line
Lifestyle is everything.
When you’re a diabetic, cardiovascular, or bypass patient it’s not about just jumping back into your life. Your sleep, movement, and managing stress are important. Your food also becomes medicine. Your diet needs to have the right amount of bioavailable vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin E (antioxidants) that can repair the endothelial lining.
You do not have to accept as humans that cardiovascular health has to get worse. Most of this is preventable. Cardiovascular disease is an inflammatory disease. If you are willing to make these little changes in your lifestyle, your life, and your health is a choice you make, in most cases.
For anyone reading this. If you hear yourself or anyone say, “I’m on statins and got an angiogram,” here are a few critical questions for you.
- How much nitric oxide do you produce?
- Is your endothelial lining working for your arteries?
- Today, if you are 30 with heart problems, my question to you is, what will the quality of your life be when you are 40, 50, 60, 70, or 80?
Reflect well. You will find the answer in your lifestyle.
ALSO WATCH: Easy Lifestyle Habits for Stronger Arteries and Healthier Blood Flow
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Set up a one-on-one call with our integrative team of experts on 1800 102 2053, reach out to us on WhatsApp here, or write to us at info@lukecoutinho.com.
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