February 9, 2018
By Debbie Janak, RN, FNP-C
Heart health begins with a healthy diet and stable blood sugar. We are what we eat. For many of us, our diet gets a bit off course during the holidays and we indulge in too many sweets and starchy carbohydrates. Then we step on the scale and oh my goodness, we know for sure how far our normally healthy diet has strayed. Some of us have a hard time getting “Sister Sugar” back under control because our brains like the taste and the easy energy source. Does this sound familiar?
Cleaning up the diet by repeating Yeast-Free With Me every January helps us get back on track. Too many starchy carbohydrates and refined sugar not only sets us up for weight gain, but raises our blood sugar. Elevated blood sugar or glucose leads to inflammation. Inflammation is a main key to heart disease.
The blood marker we check for inflammation is the C-reactive protein and a healthy level is less than 1. Other lab tests that show how our body is handling sugar and carbohydrates: the fasting glucose, which for real health should be below 75; the Hemoglobin A1c, which is a 90 day average of the blood sugar, should be less than 5.3; and fasting triglycerides should be less than 100. Lab ranges are much higher than healthy levels because we are a nation of insulin resistant individuals and many have progressed to Metabolic Syndrome or the Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. A broad range of people are used to make up the statistical norms for the lab ranges.
Inflammation can also occur if the animal protein source you are eating is corn fed. Corn fed protein sources increase the proportion of omega 6 to omega 3 fatty acids. This is why omega 3s from fish or fish oil, flaxseed, hemp seeds or walnuts are recommended. Omega 3s block inflammation and also act as appetite suppressants.
1. To summarize heart health, we want a higher protein diet with healthy carbohydrates from richly colored vegetables and limited starch intake.
2. We want a stable blood sugar and should strive for a fasting level less than 75.
3. We should exercise at least 30 minutes most days of the week.
4. We need vitamin C to prevent microfissures from forming in the endothelium of the arteries and to prevent cholesterol from starting plaque formation. Cholesterol thinks a microfissure is a fire and does its best to smother the fire.
5. We need to take vitamin K2 to keep calcium in the bones and out of the vasculature.
6. We need periodic carotid ultrasounds done to see if plaque is present, because if plaque is seen in the carotid arteries, it is also present in other arteries in the body.
7. Lastly, get a heart scan done every 5 years to monitor for the beginning of calcification or more frequently to monitor calcium progression. If there is calcification, we have a supplement program to help slow progression
Functional Medicine Facts
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