February 23, 2018
Over 600,000 Americans die of heart disease every year. The mortality rate from heart disease is equal for men and women. Half the people who experience their first heart attack die from it.
As you know, February is Heart Health Month. When you hear about someone who has had a sudden heart attack, open heart surgery or a stent placement due to a blocked artery, you probably wonder, “How does something like a heart attack sneak up on you?” I like to say that it takes about 20 years to cook a heart attack. You may wonder whether there is anything that you can do naturally to prevent this from happening. You are probably aware that it is important to eat healthy and exercise, but there are other risk factors that you don’t hear about in the media or from conventional medicine. There is a condition that greatly increases one’s chances of having heart disease.
Ask the average person what they believe is the cause of heart attacks and you will likely hear the following typical answers: diet, obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, trans fatty acids found in margarine, heredity, or smoking. While these all may play a role in heart disease, it may be surprising to learn that an unrecognized cause of heart disease is hypothyroidism. Yes, hypothyroidism increases your risk of a heart attack.
What is behind hypothyroidism’s relationship with heart disease? The suspected culprit is mucin, a glue-like substance that is a normal part of your immune system and is present in your tissues. With hypothyroidism, high levels of mucin cause swelling which eventually spreads to all of your connective tissues, including the arteries and cells of your heart. As tissues become engorged with mucin, heart function slows, which leads to a weak and wounded heart, unable to pump blood efficiently.
The solution? Supplement with desiccated thyroid hormone. It has been documented that treatment of an enlarged heart, using natural thyroid supplementation, can often improve heart function and reduce it to its normal size. Treatment with desiccated thyroid returns the tissues to normal, but if the treatment is halted, mucin again increases rapidly.
Everyone is fixated on lowering high cholesterol levels, but in truth high cholesterol is not the underlying cause. The cause of heart disease is inflammation and damage that causes weakness in the blood vessels, and hypothyroidism causes inflammation. Conventional doctors often recommend that patients with an increased risk for heart attack take a daily aspirin, a cholesterol-lowering drug such as Lipitor, and beta-blocker blood pressure medication to reduce their incidence of heart attacks. These drugs have negative and harmful side effects. Why not consider using daily, natural, desiccated thyroid hormone supplementation, which reduces cholesterol and decreases the risk of heart attacks?
Additionally, high dose Vitamin C is essential for the production of collagen to heal your arteries that become inflamed when exposed to the petrochemical and metallic toxins in our air, food, drinks and lotions. Collagen is the protein glue that holds our cells together. The primary mechanism to repair inflamed arteries is the production of collagen. Inflamed arteries deteriorate, so the body must heal them. If Vitamin C levels are low and inadequate amounts of collagen are produced, then the body’s backup mechanism is to band-aid the arteries with lipoprotein A, a form of cholesterol. This causes plaque buildup in the arteries. Calcium is absorbed into the plaques to provide rigidity to the deteriorating arteries. This is the cause of atherosclerosis, hardening of the arteries. Over time, the arteries narrow and this can lead to a plaque or clot blocking the blood flow to the heart, leading to a heart attack or congestive heart disease.
All mammals make Vitamin C internally except for humans, monkeys and guinea pigs. These mammals produce approximately 1000 mg. of Vitamin C per 25 lbs. of body weight. Animals do not have heart attacks. Mathias Rath, M.D. has written the book entitled, Why Animals Don’t Get Heart Disease, But People Do. It is well worth reading and will help you understand the importance of Vitamin C. I have taken over 10,000 mg Vitamin C daily for over 25 years.
Here are a few things you can start doing to help prevent and reverse heart disease:
1. Paleo Eating Lifestyle – Eat a diet of meat, fish, fish oil and other healthy oils, green vegetables, nuts and seeds. Minimize sugar intake which creates inflammation in the arteries. Cut out simple carbohydrates, bread, pizza, pasta and other grain products, which are quickly converted to sugar.
2. Natural Hormone Replacement – Optimize your hormones with natural bio-identical hormones.
3. Exercise Program – Stay physically active. Set a goal and exercise at least 3 times a week.
4. Take vitamins that promote heart health: Vitamin C, CoQ10, Vitamin K2, magnesium, l-arginine, l-lysine, l-proline, vitamin D, garlic, and omega 3 essential fatty acids, such as found in fish oil.
5. Detox regularly to remove toxins from your body. Toxins increase your risk of atherosclerosis,high blood pressure and heart attack.
6. Reduce stress – Make time to relax and get a good night’s sleep.
7. Eliminate smoking, because cigarettes raise blood pressure, reduce the amount of oxygen to the heart, increase risk of blood clots and cause inflammation in your arteries.
8. Avoid excessive alcohol intake which can increase risk of blood clots and weaken the heart. Limit alcohol consumption to 1 drink per day.
9. Eliminate unnecessary prescription drugs. Nearly all pharmaceutical drugs are toxins which must be detoxified by your liver. Many cause damage to the heart.
Be sure to have your thyroid function properly evaluated. Thyroid hormones enable your cells to produce energy. They govern your metabolism. Thyroid production declines as you age, as do all your natural hormones. Some common symptoms of low thyroid within your cells are fatigue, difficulty with weight, cold body temperature, decreased mental sharpness, poor sleep, joint and muscle pains, poor bowel function, headaches, loss of libido, and recurrent infections. Elevated cholesterol levels can be a sign of low thyroid. Additionally, women can have irregular menstrual cycles, infertility and recurrent miscarriages. Physical signs of low thyroid can be loss of the lateral 1/3 of your eyebrows, enlarged tongue with scalloped borders, puffy face, dry skin and ridging of your finger nails. I believe that if you are experiencing symptoms of hypothyroidism, even in the face of so called “normal lab values,” that you deserve a therapeutic trial of natural desiccated thyroid hormone. It saddens me to think of how many early deaths could have been prevented with proper assessment for and treatment of hypothyroidism.
Also make sure that you and your family and friends over the age of 40 get a CT Heart Scan. A heart scan is the only non-invasive way to determine if you have calcification of your coronary arteries. This is known as atherosclerosis, hardening of your arteries, and indicates coronary artery disease. A CT Heart Scan is a quick, non-invasive procedure that will let you know about your risk for having a heart attack. Coronary artery disease can be arrested and reversed with a healthy eating lifestyle and proper hormone replenishment and vitamin and mineral supplementation. If your calcium score is zero, then you can have peace of mind, knowing that your heart is healthy, and you can prevent coronary artery disease from developing. If you have mild, moderate or severe calcified arteries, then you can take charge of your heart health and reverse coronary artery disease.
Coronary artery disease can be prevented, naturally. You do not have to be a guest or member of the Hotze Health & Wellness Center to be scheduled for a CT Heart Scan. You owe it to your spouse and your family, as well as to yourself, to determine the status of your heart’s health.
Don’t wait, take our symptom checker to find out if you have symptoms of hypothyroidism and hormone imbalance. Take action to protect your heart today. You are worth it.
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Since 1989, Hotze Health & Wellness Center has helped over 33,000 patients get their lives back using bioidentical hormones that restore hormones to optimal levels, strengthen immune systems, and increase energy levels. Our treatment regimen addresses the root cause of hypothyroidism, adrenal fatigue, menopause, perimenopause, low testosterone, allergies, and candida.
Led by best-selling author, radio host and leading natural health expert, Steven F. Hotze, M.D., our medical team has over 100 years’ combined medical experience backed by a staff of nearly 100 caring professionals who provide an environment of hope and extraordinary hospitality for each of our patients, who we call our guests. It is our deepest desire to help you obtain and maintain health and wellness naturally so that you may enjoy a better quality of life, pure and simple.
Do you want to live a healthy, happy, purpose-driven life? Do you want to restore your health so that your loss of energy, weight gain, joint pain, depression and lack of drive or motivation won’t hold you back from achieving your personal and professional goals?
Dr. Steven Hotze wants that for you, too. In fact, in his powerful and passionate video entitled, “What I Believe”, Dr. Hotze shares how his Christian worldview and pivotal experiences have ignited a deep desire to offer the message of hope and optimal health to all who need to hear it.
At Hotze Health & Wellness Center, our doctors are changing the way women and men are treated through the use of bioidentical hormones. Our natural treatments have helped over 33,000 individuals with hypothyroidism, adrenal fatigue, menopause, perimenopause, low testosterone, allergies, candida, detoxification and nutritional deficiencies.
Meet our doctors"After a traumatic accident, I was told that I was in early menopause in my 20s and could never have children, however after restoring my hormones, I am now expecting baby #7!”
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Why are you recommending meat, or the paleo eating style? According to many doctors Michael Greger MD(How Not To Die); Neal Barnard MD (Power Foods, Get Healthy, Go Vegan, The Cheese Trap); Garth Davis MD (Proteinaholic) and many others who show evidence that in order to have optimal health and avoid arteriosclerosis, heart disease, arthritis, cancer, diabetes and other diseases stay away from meat….why do you recommend it?