heart disease Archives - GrandmaBetsyBell

Blood can be thick or thin

Posted on October 3, 2024

I made a recent discovery. In preparation for surgery (a minor procedure to my left eye), the surgeon’s assistant called me to discuss my medications and how to alter my diet to reduce bleeding. I take no prescription medications so that part was easy. I told her that I take supplements. She directed me to stop taking any supplements that might thin the blood.

For years I’ve been taking various supplements by Shaklee to prevent heart disease (which runs in my family). The list is long:

Garlic: May help lower blood pressure, does interfere with blood clotting

Fish Oil: EPA may help blood flow into small arteries; may made blood slippery and more fluid

Vitamin E in two forms, tablet and gel cap: May increase bleeding

Blood Pressure Complex: may increase blood circulation. Contains quercitin, beet root, spinach all of which may reduce inflammation.

CorEnergy: contains ginseng and green tea which may thin the blood

Pain Relief Complex: works as an anti-inflammatory.

CoQ-heart: specifically designed to produce CoQ-10, an anti-inflammatory important to heart-health which we do not produce sufficiently as we age.

Six days ago, I stopped taking all the above supplements. On day seven I caught my forearm skin on a sharp piece of metal. Normally a wound like that would have sent blood running down my arm until I got a cotton swab to press on the injured skin and a tight Band-Aid applied immediately. On this day, just six days after eliminating all these blood-related supplements, the wound coagulated instantly, forming a clot. A Baid-Aid was not even necessary.

Imagine my surprise and my delight.

Many people with heart issues get a prescription for blood thinners and then must restrict their intake of green vegetables that have Vitamin K in them, such as broccoli and kale/spinach/collards. I have successfully kept my blood heart-healthy thin with Shaklee’s supplements! If you want to find out about these individual supplements made by Shaklee, go to my shopping page www.HiHoHealth.com and explore the various suggestions for a healthy heart.

My doctor will be happy that I probably won’t bleed very much during the surgery. As soon as the procedure is over, I’ll go back to helping my heart remain healthy as I age. One could argue that a prescription would cost nothing or be partly covered by health insurance. Supplementation is expensive. I prefer to use a plant based, scientifically researched vitamin or herb created by Shaklee scientists to do the job of helping me maintain excellent health even though it costs quite a bit of money each month. Some websites I researched suggested you can get all these heart-healthy anti-inflammatories and anti-oxidants from your food. I tried that before I met the person who introduced me to Shaklee and it wasn’t working. I can’t eat enough kale to do the job. Can you?

Be well, Do well, and Keep Moving, Betsy

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Thanks for reading.

Get out the tape measure!

Posted on November 29, 2012

Gentle Reader,

Here we go into the season ‘tis jolly with food and good cheer!’ It will not be popular to talk about belly fat being the death of you. How has Santa survived all these years?

I keep harping on ‘keep moving.’ It turns out that even if you are at your ideal weight and your tummy is sticking out, that fat sitting there is dangerous. You must keep moving to stay alive. Moving includes not only cardio but also ab strengthening.

I struggle with that myself. Is this pooch a wheat belly (see my post on Celiac disease) or is it excess fat that needs to be exercised into muscle. The facts are in, so if you want to know just how serious this is, read on.

This picture is Crissie Bessinger, blogger about ways to avoid gluten with recipes and guidance. Her blogs are here.

Belly fat increases the risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes.
Here’s the research, and I want to thank Dr. Stephen Chaney for passing this on to me.

A group of scientists at the National Institutes of Health recently analyzed data collected from 44,000 women in the Nurses’ Health Study over a 16-year period and asked if abdominal obesity affected their death rates from heart disease and cancer (Zhang et al, Circulation, 117: 1658-1667, 2008).

The answer was a clear-cut yes!

The study showed that women with a waist circumference of 35 inches were twice as likely to die from heart disease and cancer than women with a waist circumference of 28 inches – even if they were at ideal body weight.

But you might be asking “How can they be at ideal body weight and still have abdominal obesity?”

There is a natural tendency to lose muscle mass as we age. When we add in the inactivity associated with the American lifestyle that loss of muscle mass is accelerated and the muscle is replaced with fat.

Thus, it is actually possible in today’s world to have both normal weight and abdominal obesity – and that is not a good thing!

This gal looks good. You’d be glad to have her figure, right? Her excess belly fat is not healthy.

Of course, the women who were both overweight and had abdominal obesity were even more likely to die from heart disease or cancer.

So it is not just about not looking good in your bathing suit – abdominal obesity is a killer!

However, the good news is that you can do something about abdominal obesity.

A combination of exercise, a healthy diet and the “180 Turnaround Plan” is a proven way of getting rid of that unsightly belly fat forever. Stay tuned for this 180 Turnaround Plan. Details to follow. Please get in touch if you are interested in learning more.

My current waist is 31 inches. I’d like to get that down 2 inches. Anyone want to join me? It’s more fun together.

Take Action: Leave a comment, perhaps even your waist measurement. Go ahead. This is a protected website and can’t be hacked into by just any one.

Call me. I’ll let you know when the shopping page has these products available. January 1. If you can’t stand to wait that long, the Cinch products we’ve been using all along are available now, here.

Get going on some abdominal strengthening exercises. Here is a youtube video by Amy Goodman. I’ll have to think about this series. Looks hard. I think I’ll try it.

Fondly, Betsy

Be Well, Do Well and Keep Moving

BetsyBell’s Health4u

www.GrandmaBetsyBell.com

206 933 1889 1 888 283 2077

betsy@hihohealth.com

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis, travel

Heart attack? Climbing high

Posted on October 18, 2012

Gentle Reader,

How do you survive trekking at a high altitude? The second day of our Engadine Valley hike in Switzerland began and ended from the little village of Zuoz, a bus and train ride from Guarda where our 1^st day ended.

No more sciatica or lower back pain. No more arthritis troubles with Pain Relief Complex on board. Now the only task was to climb from 5700 ft to 8400 ft. to Escha Hut. We knew it would be hard, but we managed to make it harder. Instead of muscles spasms and a struggle with osteoarthritis, the pain and suffering of the day was mostly in my head.

As we climbed, I was short of breath. Then came the unsettled stomach. Then a feeling of light headedness. We passed a couple in their late 70’s from Zurich who had been in Zuoz over the weekend to play bridge and stayed on for a couple days to “take a little walk” in the area with their retired seeing-eye dog. Looking very out of shape and carrying only a light nap sac, these two seemed to climb this trail with ease. They did turn back when the path left the farm road and joined the cow tracks leading straight up the treeless slope. Paging through all I know about women and heart disease, reviewing in detail my mother’s congestive heart failure symptoms and subsequent death AT MY EXACT AGE, I managed to get myself into a panic, anticipating a heart attack any moment. At one point I called out “Would you just glance back here once in a while to see if I’m still upright?” At this point Jaco, my Dutch friend, decided to walk behind me. I later learned that all of us were struggling with shortness of breath. Chris, the 83 yr. old veteran of several Mt Rainier climbs, reminded us of deep inhales and slow, whistling out breaths. The gals in front were already taking 10 steps and resting for a couple breaths. I was absolutely sure I was having a heart attack.

At the top, we had the most delicious pumpkin soup, thick and creamy, sitting in the sun, our backs against the stone wall of Escha Hut, a busy place in the summer and even busier in the winter. A mountain biker peddled up the way we went down, paused for a drink and went down the way we had just come up. Way more impressive than Lance Armstrong. No doubt powered by his own lungs, blood and muscle, this cyclist was out for recreation.

As we sat there gazing at the Bernina mountain range in the distance, completely covered with snow at 13,000 ft, I remember my first ascent to 10,000 ft on Mt. Shasta and realiz

ed I was suffering from altitude sickness, not heart disease. The relief was so great, I fairly danced down the far side of the valley, past this amazing high mountain field of art.

To avoid the precipitous downhill trail, we cut through a pass and circumnavigated the mountain in front of us, extending out trek by an additional 7 miles, making it a 14 miles day. The benefit was this shot of a marmot late in the afternoon, one of many familiar critters scampering and diving into their burrows. I’d been looking for them as all the telltale signs of marmot, just like in the Cascades, were everywhere.

One more physical challenge before our 6 days RyderWalker self guided trek was finished. Tune in next Thursday for more pictures and that story.

Now let’s hear from you. Have you had altitude sickness? Were you aware of what was happening to you or did you think you were having a heart attack? We’d like to hear your story. If you enjoyed this read, pass it along. Check me out on Facebook: betsyjbell, and while you are there, ‘like’ my business page, https://www.facebook.com/BetsyBellsHealth4U.