There is scientific evidence that medicinal foods reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. The term cardiovascular disease includes many diseases that all have a common cause: arteriosclerosis. How does arteriosclerosis occur? How can arteriosclerosis be prevented? The answer to this can prevent many trips to the hospital. NB! This article is written from the personal view of the author and may contain information that is not scientifically substantiated and/or in line with the general view.Sesame seeds are good for the heart / Source: Les, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Contents:

• Arteriosclerosis and high blood pressure
• Smoking as a risk factor
• The kidney and high blood pressure
• Increased cholesterol
• Display legs
• Heart failure
• Angina pectoris
• Heart attack
• Why is heart attack a lifestyle disease?
• Nutrients that are good for the heart

Arteriosclerosis and high blood pressure

The circulatory system must be well maintained. Arteriosclerosis is the main cause of all cardiovascular diseases. Atherosclerosis is the caking of the walls of the blood vessels with oxycholesterol. If it silts up, various diseases can arise. Why is the system clogging up for some people? There are various reasons for this. The most important is eating unsaturated fats; these are fats from trans fats. Fats from pressed oils, butter, nuts and seeds are good and can never cause arteriosclerosis, but fats from factory-processed foods such as frying fat, corn oil, salad oil and margarine are very bad because they promote caking of the blood vessel walls. They cause oxidized cholesterol deposits on the blood vessel walls, which increases blood pressure. Much sunflower oil these days is a trans fat. It is recommended to buy cooking oil from an organic store.Orange is good for the heart / Source: Dvortygirl, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA-3.0)Main causes of oxidized cholesterol formation (oxycholesterol) on the blood vessel walls:

• Eating animal food,
• Eating trans fats,
• Smoking.

Smoking as a risk factor

When we eat the wrong fats, the body can remove the oxidized cholesterol because all kinds of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients will neutralize the oxycholesterol. Smoking releases many toxins into the body. All important healing functions of the body are used to minimize smoke damage. As a result, the immune system has less resilience to also eliminate oxycholesterol. As a result, smokers pave the way for themselves to develop arteriosclerosis and, subsequently, heart disease.

The kidney and high blood pressure

In addition to arteriosclerosis, the kidneys play a role. The kidney produces hormones. As the kidney receives less blood, it will produce more hormones. This hormone causes the veins to become slightly thinner. This means there is less room for blood and overall blood pressure rises. There are also muscles around the blood vessels that, if they cramp, can also narrow the blood vessels. Sunflower seeds and cashew nuts can relax these muscles around the blood vessels, causing the blood vessels to dilate.The blue and red veins in this schematic representation of the heart are the coronary arteries. / Source: Ekko, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Increased cholesterol

High cholesterol is a reason for many people to fear that they will soon have a heart attack. It is good to know that science is very divided about high cholesterol. Research has been conducted in Finland and Russia showing that high cholesterol actually extends lifespan; the opposite of what our doctors in the Netherlands tell us! Cholesterol is much needed in the body. It is an indispensable component and it is responsible for the construction of some hormones, the cell walls and not to mention the brain. According to scientific research, taking extra cholesterol even leads to a cure for Alzheimer’s. The liver makes cholesterol itself and for good reason. When the liver starts making more cholesterol, there is a reason for this and it is often a bit arrogant of doctors to think that there is something wrong with the liver. Cholesterol-lowering medications can have many negative side effects, such as impaired brain function and disruption of hormone balance.

Display legs

Because arteries become clogged, too little oxygen is pumped into the blood and the muscles tire too quickly. Many older people have to stop every hundred meters. This has to do with arteriosclerosis. People suffering from this are advised to take blood thinning medications. It is also advised to stop smoking. Smoking is only one cause. Stopping eating saturated fats is a second step in the right direction and eating products that reduce arteriosclerosis is a third step.

Heart failure

Heart failure is a failure of the pumping function of the heart. This can have several causes. The main cause is high blood pressure. Other causes are: reduced functioning of the heart valve, thyroid disorders, myocardial infarction and cardiac arrhythmias. Symptoms of heart failure include shortness of breath, sweating and loss of consciousness.

Angina pectoris

Angina pectoris is the difficult name for heart cramps. These are caused by coronary arteries, the blood vessels that surround the heart. These veins become thinner and narrower due to deposits of saturated fats. The blood is still sent through it, which can result in painful cramps. This can lead to oxygen shortages for essential organs. There is a risk of oxygen deficiency, especially with some extra effort.

Heart attack

A step further than angina pectoris is the occlusion of a coronary artery. Then part of the heart muscle dies. With a vasoconstriction, a tear can sometimes occur in the vessel wall. When blood leaves the blood vessels it clots. The coronary arteries are very thin, so the clot quickly blocks the rest of the blood. As a result, part of the heart muscle can no longer be supplied with oxygen. It dies within half an hour. That hurts a lot. People start sweating and have anxiety attacks.

Why is heart attack a lifestyle disease?

Heart attacks are the number 1 cause of death in the Western world. Why only in the Western world? Because more factory products with a low nutritional value are eaten there. In the developing world, people die from curable diseases such as influenza and malaria. They are denied medications because they are too expensive. Besides realizing that the modern world is very crooked, you can learn a lot from an illness. You will learn how a diet in the long run leads to sudden death or a complete turnaround of your life if you survive a heart attack. In third world countries people do not have enough money to feed themselves only with factory products. This has the advantage that people eat a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables. As a result, people from third world countries suffer much less from the well-known lifestyle diseases; obesity, diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Nutrients that are good for the heart

Many more vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds are probably healthy for the heart, but there is sufficient scientific evidence of what is mentioned below that it specifically reduces the risk of arteriosclerosis and associated high blood pressure.

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