Heart Health, Diet and Lifestyle

Why is hormonal balance and heart health so important in both middle-aged adult females and males? It’s because heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States. According to Dr. Thierry Hertoghe, M.D., Twenty-one million cases are reported each year, nearly three-quarters of a million people die of it. I would like to share with you that as hormone levels decrease in middle age, heart disease and it’s risk factors increase. I don’t know how many woman I know that go to their annual gynecology appointment in their fifties and out of nowhere have high blood pressure. Most mainstream doctors jump right to blood pressure medicine without ever taking into consideration hormone decline, diet and lifestyle as causative factors.

Healthy Heart, Healthy Diet

First thing to consider is, are you getting a diet rich in fruit and vegetables? The body needs to stay in an alkaline state to remain in good health and ward off many diseases. It is also important to note that although you want to eat a diet low in fat you do not want to eat a no fat diet. Your body needs a moderate amount of healthy fats to stay healthy itself.

Supplements

B Vitamins
Even with a superior diet you still need nutritional supplements for heart health. B-vitamin deficiency can be an important part of heart health. B-vitamin deficiencies of folic acid, riboflavin and vitamin B6 raise the blood levels of homocysteine, which increases the risk of heart disease.
Vitamin-C
Most particularly in combination with vitamin E, lowers blood pressure and raises HDL (good cholesterol). Vitamin E also lowers LDL (bad cholesterol) These days I have been using a high performance Vitamin C supplement called LypriCel. It delivers the C via maximum bioavailability.
Cholesterol
Cholesterol levels tend to rise as we get older. It is not a coincidence that this coincides when our hormonal levels are declining mid age. Since the risk of having heart disease rises in direct proportion to our cholesterol levels we cannot ignore this warning sign.
Up to Eighty percent of the overall cholesterol in our bodies is not from what we eat, rather it is produced internally from our bodies. That is why hormones are much more important than we are led to believe. The major influences in woman are thyroid levels and estrogen. In men it is testosterone levels. Thyroid hormones keep the artery walls more flexible, which in turn stabilizes blood pressure.
Melatonin
Melatonin also fights high blood pressure. Studies show that people who have high blood pressure have too low of levels of melatonin. Melatonin is best used and absorbed in the evenings. I personally take 2mg per night.
For men, treating a testosterone deficiency is the key for preventative heart health. The heart muscle is very sensitive to testosterone. It accumulates in the heart twice as much as in normal muscle.
For women, estrogen plays a similar and protective role. Estrogen dilates coronary arteries. It also increases the blood flow to the heart. In addition, estrogen calms the heart by lowering the heartbeat. According to Dr. Thierry Hertoghe, M.D. a woman taking estrogen has two times less risk of a heart attack than a woman her age who is not supplementing with estrogen.
Summary list of nutrients for heart health

• Vitamins
• Folic Acid
• Riboflavin
• B6
• C
• E
• Minerals
• Zinc
• Cooper
• Magnesium
• Trace Elements
• Chromium
• Manganese
• Selenium
• Phosphatidylcholine

A more comprehensive description of some of these nutrients can be found in my ebooks The Power of Anti-Aging Herbs and Vitamins and The Secrets of Weight loss, Diet, and Staying Lean Forever ($10 each). Of course these books are also available as part of my Health & Beauty Bundle.
(Photo by Bradley Stemke)