With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, let’s talk a little about the heart. The heart is the large muscle in our bodies that pumps blood through the blood vessels throughout the circulatory system. This blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while also carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to the lungs. The heart pumps about 5.7 liters of blood in a day and beats on average 100,000 times per day. Not only is the heart one of the central organs in our physical bodies but it is the place where emotions and desires originate, driving us to action, creating our behaviors.
With what we see going on in the world these days, you might say that humanity has a heart problem. Our spirit life begins in the heart. When things may not make sense to our hearts, Proverbs tells us to “trust in the lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.” We alone cannot control the circumstances around us. Let go, let God.
What can we do to keep our hearts strong and steady?
Research shows that getting out in nature helps relieve stress and anxiety, improves mood, and boosts feelings of happiness. Our brains and our hearts benefit from getting back to nature. When we are up against feelings of stress, depression, anxiety, self-absorption, fatigue, and feel anti-social or uninspired, getting outside in nature can help us make a complete turnaround. Have you taken time to look around in awe and wonder at the beauty of the stars, the sun, the moon, the sand, the trees? God’s creation all around should be awe-inspiring and stimulate our senses to realize that we are part of this amazing universe. How much time have you spent outside lately? We cannot encourage you enough to take a walk, ride your bike, swim in the Gulf, or visit a nature preserve.
What can we do nutritionally to strengthen our hearts? Well, the American Heart Association for years has been suggesting a low cholesterol, low sodium diet. Unfortunately, there is so much more to heart health than this. In our years of work at Caring Medical, we have researched this topic and come to realize that much of the heart disease problem is related to inflammation, allergies, lack of nutrient-dense food intake, and an overabundance of chemicals in the typical SAD (standard American diet). Chemicals, additives, and allergens cause stress and inflammation in the body. Consuming a diet that has a low toxic load and is easily utilized by the body is key to heart health.
Most people need to avoid dairy, wheat, and sugar. Wheat processed in other countries could be good, but here in the US, it is terrible. Excessive sugar and/or artificial sweeteners, chemical-laden “non-foods,” hydrogenated oils, preservatives, dyes, and flavor modifiers should be avoided as much as possible. Those types of things should never come near your mouth!
We should eat whole, fresh, organic foods when at all possible. Food is our life source. Ingesting terrible, poor-quality food and expecting optimized health is dumb. Heart disease incidence is climbing, and people are showing up with signs of it at much younger ages. Why? Poor nutrient intake. Increased incidence of anxiety and stress. Increased cell phone use and facedown lifestyles that lead to instability in the cervical spine, thus cutting off vital nutrient supply to vital organ systems, as well as blocking the vagus nerve which can then affect the heart. We will discuss more in part 2 of this article.
The choice is ours. We live in an amazingly beautiful place where we can be outside every day of the year. We have access to fresh food. We can walk, run, or bike outside any time. We can choose to be positive and show love to one another. Our heart health is in our own hands. Let’s make it good.