Stroke

Diet, along with proper nutritional supplementation, regular exercise, and conscious healthy lifestyle choices, including low stress and stress management, no smoking of any kind and little to moderate amounts of alcohol, are important self-care choices you can make to ensure you remain healthy. Unfortunately, poor diet is one of the most common health problems in the United States. To protect yourself against stroke, you need to eliminate your intake of all unhealthy fats, especially trans-fatty acids and hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated fats and oils. This means not eating foods that contain margarine, vegetable shortening, and lard, as well as all fried and commercially processed foods, which are typically high in unhealthy fat content. Avoid all foods that are irradiated and/or that contain additives and preservatives, as well as foods grown with the use of pesticides, herbicides, steroids, and antibiotics, and all foods that contain powdered eggs or powdered milk. Eliminate all refined sugars and simple carbohydrates, which not only reduce immune function, and therefore your body’s ability to fight off infections linked to heart disease, but can also dramatically increase levels of C-reactive protein, homocysteine, blood glucose, insulin, and triglycerides, all of which are markers for heart disease. In addition, eliminate all refined salt which will dramatically reduce your overall sodium intake; instead use Himalayan mountain, Krystal sea salt or other unrefined salt, and minimize your intake of red meat, milk, and dairy products, as well as caffeine (no more than two cups of coffee per day). Limit your alcohol intake to no more than one glass of red wine per day, preferably with a meal.

Emphasize a diet rich in organic whole foods, especially plenty of fresh, raw fruits and vegetables, oats, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and organic, free-range poultry and wild-caught, cold water fish, such as halibut, mackerel, orange roughy, and salmon (avoid farm raised salmon). Beans and legumes are also advisable due to their high fibre content. Also be sure to use healthy oils such as extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, flaxseed oil, and fish oils for the essential fatty acids they contain. Choosing organic, rather than conventionally produced foods gives you a definite advantage.

Throughout the day, drink plenty of pure, filtered water, and avoid drinking—as well as bathing, and showering in—unfiltered tap water, because tap water contains heavy metals and pesticide residues that can contribute to and worsen heart disease.

Research has shown that one of the best diets is the Mediterranean diet, which is high in plant foods eaten with garlic, onions, extra virgin olive oil, and moderate amounts of whole grains, fish, and poultry, along with an occasional glass of red wine at meal time. The near-vegetarian “reversal diet” developed by noted health author and researcher Dean Ornish, M.D., has also been clinically proven to help improve overall heart health. It emphasizes meals composed primarily of fresh vegetables and whole grains, and eliminates nearly all cholesterol-containing foods, animal fats, and oils. Dr. Ornish recommends that, for best results, his patients also commit to an exercise program and stress reduction techniques, such as meditation.

Especially good foods include seafood which is rich in omega-3 fatty acid, fresh vegetables such as broccoli, sprouts, and kelp. Avoid deep-fried foods and limit your intake of foods that contain plant sources of  oestrogens, such as soybeans and peanuts, as well as alcoholic beverages.

• Do not consume any artificial sweeteners, such as Splenda, NutraSweet or Aspartame

• Do not consume high fructose corn syrup or mono-sodium glutamate.

• Do not drink any carbonated beverages.

• Avoid all fast food restaurants.

• Avoid all canned food.

• Eliminate conventional dairy products.  The best dairy products are raw, unpasteurised and homogenised dairy from grass fed cows.  If this is unavailable, then buy organic dairy.

• Avoid conventional beef.  The best beef is organic grass fed beef. www.grasslandbeef.com/StoreFront.bok?affld=104400  The second best is organic meat; this includes beef, veal, lamb, chicken and turkey.

• Reduce salt intake

Supplements:

• Take Vitamin D3 50,000-100,000 International Units a day https:/// for a period of up to 4 weeks. Vitamin D has been shown to be a key factor in maintaining health cholesterol levels in the blood as high cholesterol can be the result of inadequate exposure to the sun.
• Beta Carotene – Research done at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland found it could lower heart disease by up to 50 per cent.
• Niacin – Vitamin B3 – known to lower cholesterol levels
• Vitamin B6 – helpful in preventing strokes and heart attacks, prevents oxidization of cholesterol
• VitaminB12 – associated with lowering homocysteine (a non-protein amino acid) levels. Homocysteine is one of the major contributing factors in heart disease.
• Folic Acid –  essential for proper metabolism of homocysteine
• Vitamin C – prevents formation of oxysterols
• Coenzyme 10 – strengthens heart muscles
• Proanthocyanidin (PCA) – antioxidant derived from pine bark (or grape seeds) which enhances heart health

• Wholefood supplements are the best way of ensuring your nutritional needs are met.  The best we know on the market is Kevin Trudeau’s “KT Daily” product.  You can find more details herekevintrudeaudailylifesessentials.com/
• Omega 3s:

Krill oil –

Fish oil

Cod liver oil

Vegetarian –

• Intravenous Chelation

• Calcium and Magnesium

• Vitamin E (Unique E) www.acgrace.com

• Able Heal

• Deer Antler Velvet www.royalvelvetforlife.com

The importance of specific nutrients to overall heart health has been clearly established scientifically for at least fifty years, due to the work of such pioneering researchers as two-time Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling, Ph.D., whose work showed that heart disease is primarily due to nutritional deficiencies. Dr. Pauling maintained that heart disease was one of the most preventable of all diseases, despite the enormous personal and financial toll is takes each year. His own personal nutritional heart disease protective remedy was as follows: 6 to 18 mg of vitamin C in the form of ascorbic acid, divided into three daily dosages and taken just before or with meals, along with 3 to 6 grams of the amino acid lysine, taken once per day. To this remedy, Matthias Rath, MD, one of Dr. Pauling’s associates, suggests adding the amino acid proline once per day at a dose of between 0.5 to 2 grams.

Superoxide dismutase (SOD) is also beneficial.

Other important nutrients for preventing and helping to reverse heart disease include:

beta carotene, a precursor to vitamin A, which has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease by as much as 50 percent (for best results, supplement with a mixed carotenoid formula for more comprehensive antioxidant protection);

vitamin B3 (niacin), which lowers cholesterol, reduces overall heart disease risk, and helps to increase the longevity of people who have already suffered a heart attack;

vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), which helps to neutralize homocysteine and inhibit platelet stickiness, thus protecting against arteriosclerosis;

vitamin B12, which also helps to protect against homocysteine;

vitamin C, which protects against cholesterol oxidation, infection, and inflammation, all major risk factors for heart disease, and can also help to dissolve unhealthy blood clots. Citrus fruits, which contain Vitamin C are beneficial in cutting stroke risk.

vitamin E, which can significantly reduce the risk of heart disease and also protects against abnormal blood clotting and cholesterol oxidation, as well as helping to repair the cellular lining of blood vessels and to inhibit platelet stickiness (Caution: High dosages of vitamin E are not recommended for people with high blood pressure, rheumatic heart disease, or ischemic heart disease except under close medical supervision);

folic acid, which is vital for reducing and properly metabolizing homocysteine;

coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), an important nutrient for maintaining heart strength, providing energy for the overall cardiovascular system, and for inhibiting oxidation of cholesterol due to its potent antioxidant properties;

proanthocyanidan (PCA), which is contained in pycnogenol and grape seed extract, and which helps to prevent cholesterol oxidation while protecting the inner walls of the arteries and inhibiting platelet stickiness and abnormal blood clotting;

calcium, which helps to reduce platelet stickiness and reduce unhealthy cholesterol levels; chromium, which helps to reduce triglyceride and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels, while increasing HDL (“good) cholesterol;

magnesium (for best results, use in the form of magnesium malate, glycinate, taurate, or aspartate), which helps to keep arteries smooth and properly dilated, improve blood flow and the ability of the heart to pump blood, protect against arrhythmia, inhibit arterial calcification, inhibit platelet stickiness, and maintain healthy overall cholesterol levels;

potassium, which protects against high blood pressure much more safely and effectively than blood pressure medications;

selenium, another potent antioxidant that helps to reduce platelet stickiness.

Zinc – research has shown stroke victims recover quickly by taking zinc

In addition to lysine and proline, certain other amino acids can also be helpful for protecting against heart disease. This is especially true of L-arginine and L-carnitine. L-arginine helps to protect against high blood pressure, and has been scientifically shown to improve overall heart function in patients with congestive heart disease. If administered immediately after a heart attack, it can also help repair damaged heart muscle. In addition, L-arginine helps the body to produce nitric acid, which helps to maintain the smoothness and integrity of the blood vessels.

Besides helping to lower triglyceride levels, L-carnitine also enhances the heart’s ability to properly contract and pump blood, as well as significantly reducing the risk of angina and arrhythmia, and improve recovery from heart attack.

Other useful nutrients include fish and omega-3 oils, which protect against chronic inflammation, act as natural blood thinners, and help to reduce harmful cholesterol and triglyceride levels; gamma linoleic acid, which also helps to protect against chronic inflammation and elevated C-reactive protein levels; policosanol, which reduces LDL cholesterol and lipoprotein(a) and protects and improves recovery from angina; and SAMe (S-Adenosylmethionine) and trimethylglycine (TMG), both of which are very effective in reducing homecysteine.

Prescription and non-prescription medication:

What non-prescription and prescription drugs are you taking?  Your non-prescription and prescription are partially the reason that you have this   illness or disease – you need to get off these medications but do so only under the guidance of a licensed health care practitioner.