The Safe Way to Prevent Heart Disease

By Shane Ellison

High cholesterol leads to heart disease, right?

Wrong!

Heart disease is not a disease of high cholesterol. If cholesterol were the culprit, this ubiquitous substance would clog up the entire 100,000 miles of adult veins, arteries and capillaries. Instead, 90 percent of heart disease cases are caused by the narrowing of the spaghetti-sized coronary arteries. The rest of the arteries, veins and capillaries that nourish the body remain perfectly healthy, despite being rich in cholesterol and fat. This observation alone renders the cholesterol theory of heart disease obsolete.

Yet the medical system pushes cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins as the answer to a nonexistent problem-even though the treatment can be worse than the disease.

As a former drug chemist, I saw first-hand how drug side effects are hidden from patients and doctors by Big Pharma. Statins serve as poignant examples of how these side effects may actually cause more damage than they prevent.

1. Cholesterol-lowering drugs decrease CoQ10 levels within the heart. This essential energy-producing molecule is crucial to proper cardiovascular function. Without it, you can develop congestive heart failure -- the heart literally fails.

2. Cholesterol-lowering drugs can destroy memory. Cholesterol works to ensure the integrity of the myelin sheath. This coating within the brain is responsible for encouraging the passage of electrical messages. It is needed for memory and focus. As the cholesterol-lowering drugs deplete cholesterol, the myelin sheath breaks down and memory deteriorates.

3. Cholesterol-lowering drugs can increase the risk of cancer. Studies show they mimic a growth factor responsible for cancer's proliferation. The growth factor is known as VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor). VEGF is "cancer fertilizer." Thus, cholesterol-lowering drugs create an environment within the user's body conducive to cancer growth.

The fact that cholesterol-lowering drugs can potentially cause cancer will never be mainstream. Drug company-funded studies are conveniently short in nature, typically five years or less, while it usually takes decades for cancer to develop. Even heavy smoking will not cause lung cancer within five years. As long as the cholesterol-lowering drug trials last only five years, this side effect will continue to fly below the radar. A coincidence?

Side effects of cholesterol-lowering drugs are discounted by medical doctors because they are usually hidden by drug companies who pay for the study. Consider: The British Medical Journal has reported that only 30 percent of statin drug trials have reported the number of participants with one or more negative side effects caused by the drug!

According to USA Today, the U.S. government is not sending out warnings either. They reported, "Statins have killed and injured more people than the government has acknowledged."

Fortunately, we don't need to rely on cholesterol-lowering drugs to prevent heart disease. Studies show that cholesterol does not play a role in this pandemic killer. In fact, cholesterol appears to increase lifespan. You will have to wrestle with this -- it is the antithesis of what drug companies and medical doctors promote. But it's true nonetheless. Supporting the conclusions of many other studies, the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society showed that elderly individuals with low total cholesterol levels (less than 189 mg/dL) were at higher risk of dying than those with cholesterol levels from 276 to 417 mg/dL.

Science has made great strides in identifying the true cause of heart disease: inflammation. Inflammation leading to heart disease is typically the result of nutritional deficiencies and poor lifestyle habits. Preventing inflammation by adhering to proper nutrition is working to prevent heart disease.

A wildly effective way to prevent inflammation is to increase your sensitivity to the fat-storing hormone known as insulin. Aside from cinnamon (1-5 g daily), exposure to sunlight and drinking green tea, other methods of increasing insulin sensitivity exist:

1. Interval training is among the best techniques for increasing insulin sensitivity and lowering inflammation. Short bouts of resistance training followed by rest cause the muscles to absorb insulin from the blood stream. As an added benefit, the body produces anti-inflammatory molecules known as cytokines in response to interval training.

2. Nutritional supplementation with magnesium (400 mg daily) also increases insulin sensitivity. A magnesium deficiency inhibits insulin from escorting glucose out of the bloodstream into muscles. The end result is insulin resistance and an increased risk of heart attack. Magnesium aspartate is the best-absorbed form of magnesium.

3. Tannic acid from the banaba leaf mimics the actions of insulin by eliciting glucose transport from the blood stream into muscle. The safe and effective blood-sugar-lowering effect of tannic acid has caught the attention of Big Pharma. Many drug companies are working rigorously to create a synthetic knock-off in order to use it as an insulin-sensitizing agent among diabetics.

Increasing insulin sensitivity has become the absolute hottest area of research. Not only does it suggest a single way of ameliorating heart disease, but also a host of other diseases caused by inflammation. These include but are not limited to diabetes, cancer and even Alzheimer's.

Instead of dosing patients up with a handful of drugs to treat a handful of diseases, increasing insulin sensitivity is one remedy for all three - and allows us to avoid the hidden dangers of cholesterol-lowering drugs!

[Ed. Note: Shane Ellison is known as "The People's Chemist." He holds a Master's degree in organic chemistry and has first-hand industry experience with drug research, design and synthesis. He is the author of Health Myths Exposed and The Hidden Truth About Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs. Get his FREE Life-Saving Health Briefs here...]
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Exercise & Fitness:
Gain Muscle and Lose Fat -- At the Same Time!

By Craig Ballantyne

I have three big, and I mean BIG, body-changing lessons to share with you today.

1. No one believes you can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. I say, it's true. Not only do my Turbulence Training workouts prove it, but now science agrees.

Researchers from Purdue University showed that men and women (average age: 61) were able to lose fat, gain muscle, get stronger, lower LDL cholesterol and improve blood sugar control with a simple strength workout routine.

These healthy men and women did strength training three times a week for 12 weeks. They did three sets of 8-12 repetitions. By the end, the subjects gained an average of four pounds of lean mass and lost more than four pounds of fat.

2. I hear from men all the time who claim to have 6 percent body fat or less (which is the level of a professional bodybuilder) but still have a hard time seeing their abs.

That's simply impossible. The problem is that too many men and women believe that handheld body fat analyzers are accurate. Recent research shows these tools underestimate the amount of fat you are carrying on your body by 2.4 kg! That's 5 pounds of fat these handheld machines are neglecting to tell you about.

3. Everyone knows you don't burn fat with strength training, right? Wrong! A new study hot off the presses from the prestigious Journal of Applied Physiology shows strength training boosts metabolism by 10 percent after exercise and increases fat burning by 100 percent.

In this study, subjects did a standard three-set strength training program focusing on multi-muscle exercises. During strength training, you apply "turbulence" to your muscles, causing an increase in your metabolism and fat burning after the workout. That's how you build muscle and burn fat at the same time.

Here are your takeaways:

1. Forget about the calorie readout on the cardio machines. While strength training doesn't burn as many calories as traditional aerobic training during the workout itself, it continues to burn calories AND fat long after your workout.

2. Don't get too smug about your handheld body fat readings, because it's likely underestimating the amount of fat on your body.

3. You don't need fancy machines or an expensive gym membership, all you need is a professional strength-training program you can do in the comfort of your own home.

[Ed. Note: Craig Ballantyne is an expert consultant for Men's Health magazine. If you're looking to burn fat, build muscle and quickly step into the body you have always wanted with just three workouts each week, check out Craig's fat-loss system, Turbulence Training for Fat Loss.]
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Recipes and Nutrition:
Lemon Garbanzo Soup

By Kelley Lunsford

This nourishing soup provides a bevy of nutrients, plus fiber and protein from low-glycemic garbanzo beans, which are also called chickpeas. And the spice/lemon zest combination gives it a zippy, summery flavor. Enjoy!

Serves: 4

Time to Table: 25 minutes

Healing Nutrient Spotlight:

. Isoflavones, Curcumin, Lutein, Zeaxanthin
. Excellent Source of Folate and Fiber
. Good Source of Protein, Riboflavin, Magnesium, Potassium, Copper and Selenium

Ingredients:
3 cups organic baby spinach
1/2 tsp organic cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp cumin seed
1/2 tsp organic turmeric
4 cups organic low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
2 large organic egg whites
5 cloves organic garlic, chopped
1 16-oz can organic garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/3 cup fresh organic lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest (from an organic lemon)
4 slices lemon

Preparation:
Combine broth, garbanzo beans, garlic, cumin and turmeric in a large pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Whisk eggs, lemon juice and zest in bowl. Whisk 2 cups of hot soup into the egg white mixture.

Add this mixture back to pot, along with baby spinach. Stir over medium-low heat for 5 minutes Add cayenne, ladle into bowls, float lemon slices on top and serve.

Nutritional Information:
162 calories, 2 g total fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0.3 g monounsaturated fats, 0.7 polyunsaturated fats, 0 mg cholesterol, 865 mg sodium, 29 g carbohydrate, 6 g fiber, 1 g sugars, 9 g protein

[Ed. Note: Kelley Lunsford is the Founder & CEO of Healing Gourmet, a multimedia company that educates on how foods promote health and protect against disease. She is also the creator of Healing Gourmet's Personalized Nutrition Software and Editor-in-Chief of the Healing Gourmet book series published by McGraw-Hill, including Eat to Fight Cancer, Eat to Beat Diabetes, Eat to Lower Cholesterol and Eat to Boost Fertility. For more information click here.]
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Mind/Body/Soul:
Yes, There Is a Mind-Body Connection

By Tim Reynolds, M.D.

Conventional medical wisdom tells us that between genetics and environmental influences, there is not much you can do to control your health.

Conventional medical wisdom is BS.

Consider the word disease. It is better pronounced dis-ease, because when we are ill our body is in a state of dis-ease. The reverse is also true. Anytime we put ourselves in a state of dis-ease, we put our body at greater risk for becoming ill. We know that when we are stressed or angry or upset our health suffers.

Let me give you some surprising statistics. I recently worked as the medical director for a fairly large insurance company. One of my jobs every month was to review the most commonly prescribed medicines. The top four always remained the same: two antidepressants and two ulcer medicines. Still convinced all disease is from outside sources?

What causes this dis-ease? The science is still a little fuzzy and we are just beginning to understand these relationships. What we do know is that the brain releases modulating factors based on our emotions. These neurohormones are released every time we have an emotion, whether good or bad.

In addition, emotions can cause the adrenal glands to release cortisol and adrenalin. These send signals to all the organs of our body. They change heart rate, breathing, fat metabolism, intestinal movement and many other physical processes. As you can imagine, a constant bombardment of emotion could cause devastating effects to some of our organs.

Here are some other interesting facts. Laughter has been shown to improve cancer survival. Loving a pet as you age makes you live happier and longer. Happily married men live longer than their single counterparts. Most heart attacks occur on Monday morning.

In the final analysis, peace of mind and your attitude toward your health may be as important to your health as anything else!

[Ed. Note: Tim Reynolds, M.D., is a practicing physician and a health and lifestyle expert. To sign up for his free health e-letter click here].
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Weight Loss:
Alli: Don’t Believe the Hype

By Dr. Jonny Bowden

Let me tell you about the latest scam courtesy of Big Pharma. There's a new over-the-counter weight loss pill just approved by the FDA called Alli. It's made by GlaxoSmithKline, which has reportedly earmarked $150 million for the ad campaign. Early reports are that it's flying off the shelves.

So what's the deal?

Alli is actually orlistat, which was marketed as Xenical. Xenical has been around for a while. It didn't work very well. So they took it off prescription-only status and repackaged it as Alli.

This is not the first time the clever marketers at Big Pharma have done this. Not too long ago, Eli Lilly took Prozac, dressed it up in nice pink and purple colors and rechristened it Sarafem for PMS.

What do we know about Xenical? Well, it wasn't terribly effective. A two-year European study showed that patients on Xenical lost between 2 percent and 3 percent more weight than those on a placebo. A second two-year European trial put obese patients on a reduced-calorie diet and gave them 120 mg of Xenical three times a day. At the end of the year they had lost about 9 pounds more than the placebo group. Read that carefully: 9 pounds a year, which translates to 3/4 pound a month. A similar study in the U.S. produced 1/2 pound per month of extra weight loss for Xenical users.

It also had some lovely side effects, which are politely called "leakage."

So is Alli the answer? Hardly.

Unless of course you're a stockholder in Glaxo.

[Ed. Note: Dr. Bowden is a nationally known expert on weight loss, nutrition and health. He's a board certified nutrition specialist with a Master's degree in psychology. Dr. Bowden is also a life coach, motivational speaker, former personal trainer and author of the award-winning book, Living the Low Carb Life. Click here for more information.]
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Healthy Healing:
SPDT – The Ultimate Cancer Fighter

By Dr. Larry Clapp

You may not be aware of this, but there's a cutting-edge protocol available that kills all cancers -- without undesirable side effects. It's called Sonic Photo Dynamic Therapy, or SPDT.

This therapy is now being utilized worldwide. It is approved by the FDA and the British government, and it is being used in all government hospitals in China.

SPDT evolved in 2005 from Photo Dynamic Therapy (PDT), which has been around since the 1900s. PDT was effective, but it was also limited. It was not very selective for cancer cells and was very toxic.

Starting around 1996, nontoxic agents were developed -- mainly from algae and chlorophyl l -- moving PDT into a whole new realm of healing. SPDT involves getting an agent into the body (originally by injection, now orally) that adheres to cancer cells. When light of the correct frequency is applied, the agent "explodes" into free-radical oxygen. This instantly kills the cancer cells, which cannot survive in oxygen.

For total and permanent recovery, it is still necessary to address the causes and to do complete cleansings of toxins from the body, especially including all the newly dead cancer cells.

A very detailed explanation of SPDT, its history and successes was published in the January 2003 issue of Scientific American.

For more details on clinics and availability of SPDT, visit my website.

[Ed. Note: Dr. Larry Clapp healed his own prostate cancer in 1990, wrote the best selling book, Prostate Health in 90 Days Without Drugs or Surgery and has coached hundreds of prostate patients to do the same through his books, presentations and personal phone coaching sessions.]
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These articles appear courtesy of Early to Rise’s Total Health Breakthroughs [Issue 08-03-07] which offers alternative solutions for mind, body and soul. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.totalhealthbreakthroughs.com