Arteries & heart
Atherosclerosis
Plaque hardening of the arteries
The healthy design
A healthy artery has a smooth endothelium and steady, laminar blood flow. Perfect health depends upon perfect circulation. Smooth flow actually switches on "atheroprotective" genes — the body is built to keep its own arteries clear.
What prepares the way
The habits behind this condition — and the law of health each one breaks.
Excess cholesterol injures the endothelium and accumulates inside the vessel wall.
Breaks: Proper DietRaises serum cholesterol and feeds the inflammation that starts the lesion.
Breaks: Proper DietDamages the arterial lining and inflames the blood, starting the whole cascade.
Breaks: TemperancePoor, turbulent circulation injures the lining where vessels branch — plaques form there first.
Breaks: ExerciseCorrecting the cause
How the body is invited to heal
Plaque can recede — even advanced heart disease can be helped. Eat high-fibre fruits, vegetables, and grains; leave off animal fat, refined sugar, tobacco, and coffee; exercise daily to restore the smooth circulation the arteries were designed for. A heart attack's dead muscle, however, is a warning past which prevention — not repair — is the work.
The remedies this calls on
Natural remedies for this condition
Supportive and educational — always used with the counsel of a health professional.
Diet & eating
- Eat high-fibre foods low in fat and cholesterol — mainly fruits, vegetables, grains; dark leafy greens matter.
- Do not eat animal protein or fat; avoid processed, dairy, white-flour, fried, and sugary foods.
- Use only cold-pressed oils (flaxseed, soy, wheat germ) and never heat them — add at the table.
- Eat foods rich in vitamin E: nuts, seeds, whole grains.
Herbs & nutrition
- Garlic (fresh, raw) lowers cholesterol, reduces platelet stickiness, and normalizes blood pressure.
- Flaxseed oil supplies Omega-3 and lowers cholesterol.
- Lecithin helps the body use fat and cholesterol; soy protein lowers cholesterol.
- Brewer's yeast with chromium, and alfalfa, are noted to help plaques recede.
Daily habits
- Exercise daily — perfect health depends upon perfect circulation.
- Leave off tobacco, alcohol, and coffee.
- Drink enough water; "sludged" blood is a real cause of vessel trouble. Avoid constipation.
- Sunlight lowers blood cholesterol and blood pressure.
Water treatments
- Out-of-door exercise with sunbaths measurably lowers blood cholesterol and blood pressure.
“Perfect health depends upon perfect circulation.”
Healthful Living, 30.1
Continue tracing
Gastroesophageal Reflux (GERD)
Chronic acid reflux
Acid meant to stay in the stomach washes up and burns the food-pipe — day after day the lining is forced to change.
Hypertension
High blood pressure — the "silent killer"
Pressure through the arteries stays higher than it should — quietly straining the heart, arteries, kidneys, and brain.
Type 2 Diabetes
Adult-onset diabetes mellitus
Years of sugar, refined food, and overeating overwhelm the body's handling of glucose until sugar floods the blood.
Arthritis
Joint inflammation & rheumatic disease
Acids and wastes from a poor diet collect in the joints until the lining inflames, the cartilage wears, and movement hurts.
Hiatal Hernia
Hiatus hernia
The stomach slips up through a weakened opening in the diaphragm, and acid escapes upward into the throat.
Educational only. Not intended to diagnose, prescribe, or treat disease. Use in cooperation with a qualified medical or health professional.