Q: What is atherosclerosis?

A: Atherosclerosis is the development of plates in the body of arteries, leading to loss of elasticity and hardening of the arteries. The plate build-up resulted in a reduction of blood flow to vital organs, including heart and brain.

Q: How does this plate build-up occurred?

A: This is main cause of injury / Trauma in arteries from all sources, including some free radical damage, smoking, trans-fats, refined sugar, and chlorinated water, among others. Repair of the injured “field is caused by Trauma, the body signals phospholipids causes an inflammatory response, fibrin (and other clotting factors) and the accumulation of cholesterol in the damaged area. This is the plate is developed.

Q: So the real culprit in atherosclerosis is injury caused by free radicals and other elements that you mentioned?

A: Exactly. Photo and cholesterol build-up is only natural body defense mechanism to repair what is broken. If you remove the injury, the plate construction (or scar formation) does not appear. Think about it this way - if it makes a cut finger sloughy form? Obviously not!

Q: What are some early signs of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease?

A: When it comes to cardiovascular disease, often the first symptom is a heart attack! However, some early signs that may identify potential cardiovascular problems. For example, angina (chest pain from stress), cold hands and feet, sleeping on your feet and hands, and urinating more than twice during the night are all warning of potential cardiovascular problems and heart.

Q: So what can we do to stop eating and / or reverse arterial plaque formation and development of cardiovascular disease?

Answer: This is a big issue. Nutrition and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is absolutely critical to health and longevity of the heart and cardiovascular system. Here are some guidelines for healthy eating on his clock is ticking:

1. Do not smoke, because the toxic ingredients in cigarettes to cause damage to arterial walls!

2. Reduce exposure to free radicals and delays flavonoids and antioxidants (vitamins A, C, E and zinc), which is easily achieved by eating more green leafy vegetables (cabbage, collards, spinach, etc. .. .) and the colorful fruit and vegetables (citrus fruits, berries, peppers, carrots, etc …)

3. Reduce the use of saturated fats (animal fats) and increase the use of monounsaturated fats (olive oil, avocados) and polyunsaturated fats, particularly end-3 fatty acids in fish oil.

4. Avoid chlorinated water for chlorine becomes carcinogenic metabolism and further compromises the integrity of the arterial wall.

5. Moderate intensity exercise at least 30 minutes a day, 3 times a week.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 17th, 2009 at 1:17 pm and is filed under Menu to Lower Cholesterol, health food. Tags: angina, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, fish oil, heart attack, olive oil. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.