February 22, 2024

Heart Health: The Complete Summary

Heart Health: The Complete Summary

Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND

I hope this series on heart health has been both informative and interesting! While I took the time in this series to review some rather severe heart conditions I also wanted to do a quick summary on what steps you can take before these concerns develop or to help slow down their progression once you are diagnosed with them. Let’s start at the beginning shall we? Many of the risk factors for heart disease such as blood pressure, high cholesterol have few if any symptoms. That is why I always recommend going to your doctor and getting routine blood work as a first step to staying healthy. The next step in getting our heart healthy is to do a life style review. Do you smoke? Drink alcohol to excess? Have a standard American diet? Do you have poor sleep habits? Be honest when you write down the risk factors you may have. Remember we can only help you if you are completely honest with us. As we always say there’s no judgement here! The next step is to talk to family members and find out what may or may not run in your family. Lastly before you visit or call an Invite nutritionist it is a great idea to make a list of any and all supplements as well as medications that you are taking. Once you haves all this information an Invite nutritionist can help get you on a protocol made just for you. For now I’ll just review a few of my personal favorite tips to help heart health.

Life style changes! Working on our life style is never easy but it is one of the most important ways to positively affect both our heart health as well as our overall health. One of the best ways to help our heart is to stop smoking. It is also important to decrease alcohol intake. Reducing stress and increasing the amount/ quality of sleep you are getting can also help our heart. (1) L-Theanine has been found in studies to help with both stress and anxiety! When used at night it can also help to improve sleep. (2) Magnesium has also been found in studies to help with both cortisol (stress related hormone) and sleep. (3) Now I know what you are thinking – can I use both these things at the same time? Yes you can! The next life style change that can help our heart is maintaining a healthy weight. (1) For some amazing tips on this topic please check out Allie Might’s blog Weight loss tips and tricks.
Studies have found that a Mediterranean diet is very good for our heart health. In fact the more closely the diet is followed the better the outcome that was experienced. (4) During this series I wrote about Invite Reds and Greens Hx. If you look at my blogs on these 2 items you can easily see how these powders are full of heart health nutrients! In addition to Reds Hx and Greens Hx, we can’t forget my personal favorite, Beets Hx! These powders are chock full of fruits and vegetables which is a large part of the Mediterranean diet that has been studies for so many different health concerns.(5)
Resveratrol is one of my number 1 supplement recommendations for heart health. I know when most people think of Resveratrol they think of it for anti-aging. However Resveratrol has been studied and found to have numerous benefits when it comes to heart health. For example Resveratrol has been found to help with the symptoms of heart failure. Resveratrol has also been found to help with coronary artery disease and even atherosclerosis! According to studies Resveratrol can even help with our cholesterol and our blood pressure. (6)
CoQ10 is another amazing nutrient when it comes to our heart. Studies have found numerous benefits for CoQ10 for heart health. These benefits include helping with blood pressure, signs of heart failure, enlarged heart and it can even help with ischemic heart disease or poor circulation to the heart. (7)
Omega 3s are one of the first things I recommend for helping with our cholesterol. According to the Mayo Clinic there is strong evidence that Omega 3s can help with lowering triglycerides and even help raise our HDL! There is also strong evidence that Omega 3s can help with our blood pressure. (8)
The next item I want to mention is Ribose Complex. Since I already did a product highlight on this amazing supplement I will simply direct you to my blog that highlights all the ways that Ribose complex is a heart healthy supplement.
Lastly I want to point out how important it is to monitor your blood work. If you notice any consistent changes such as a slow but consistent increase in cholesterol it is important to start making changes before it becomes “high”. As I always say prevention is best!

I will be moving on from this topic, but I want to remind everyone that Invite nutritionists are always available to help answer any questions you may have.

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