The Center For Disease Control states that heart disease is the number 1 cause of death globally. The actual stats are frightening. Someone has a heart attack every 40 seconds in the United States alone. 1 out of 4 people will die of heart disease. If you add vascular disease you can move that to 1 out of 3 people. Heart disease is now affecting more and more middle aged people, so it is no longer affecting just the elderly population. It is our stance that if our current method was working, heart disease wouldn’t still be the #1 killer. Basic cholesterol testing is incomplete, lifestyle intervention is overlooked and people are suffering strokes and heart attacks without getting to the bottom of why. Advanced cholesterol testing along with inflammation reduction and improved blood sugar regulation is the key to changing the trends.
Year after year, heart disease and its complications, including heart attacks and strokes, continue to be the leading cause of death in the US. Blood pressure medication usage is on the rise. Cholesterol continues to receive the blame. Something has to change. Commonly known as the “silent killer”, heart disease often comes without obvious symptomatic warning signs. It is for this reason a proactive approach is the best approach. Don’t give up hope if heart disease has already made its presence known!
The best approach is to identify the cause of the disease. What is contributing to the problem? Lifestyle is a known contributor to these increasingly bad numbers that we are seeing. One of the major reasons is because of old myths we are continuing to be told regarding heart disease. For example, for years we have been told all fats are bad for us. Many of us have been told by our doctors, even by the American Heart Association, to eat a low fat diet, and that cholesterol is the devil. This, contrary to what the science shows, that healthy fat reduces heart disease. We have only been given the partial truth. Damaged fats such as vegetable oil, trans fats, and processed, inflammatory foods are damaging, but adding healthy fats such as avocado oil, coconut oil, nuts, seed, and healthy fish are very beneficial when it comes to our heart. All fats are not created equal. Our non inflammatory diet plans at Peak Health Center are full of these good, healthy fats.
It is interesting what has happened over the years when it comes to dietary recommendations. While the focus has been put on fats, sugar has made it abundantly into the standard American diet. Some people consume up to 25% of their daily caloric intake from sugar. A good portion of the SAD diet is loaded with sugar for taste. You see a lot of low fat foods on the shelves of our grocery stores, but they are loaded with sugar to make up for the loss of taste due to removing fat from the product. This fuels inflammation and contributes to cardiovascular disease.
Another myth that you have been told is that calcium and high calcium foods like milk are good for you. Calcium supplementation can actually be detrimental if your body is building heart disease. Studies have shown that taking calcium, or excess calcium in your blood can contribute to atherosclerosis and clotting. Add this to the sedentary lifestyle and add a little stress in there, and you are a recipe for disaster when it comes to heart health.
Stress is one of the biggest things we need to address when we look at heart health. Heart disease, just like every other chronic illness out there, is fueled by inflammation. Stress sets the stage for inflammation. Stress not only encourages the body to produce inflammation, but stress also increases muscle tension, heart rate, and blood pressure. Managing your stress is one of the smartest things you can do, not only for your heart, but any health condition.
When you take this approach to heart health, you will see that the basic blood work, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure check doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of what is truly necessary to get an understanding of the underlying causes of heart disease. Medicine has not deviated from its reliance on medication to cover up the symptoms. What is truly behind the atherosclerosis, the blood pressure, the stroke or the heart attack? The Peak Method digs deeper into advanced blood work that looks into the details of cholesterol, blood sugar and the function of major organs that play a role in blood pressure regulation. It is never too late to make a change.
By looking at your heart health through a different lens, we are able to determine what lifestyle modifications are necessary to stop building heart disease. If we can determine the cause, we can determine what approach to take.