HEART VIGOR - HEALTHY HEART BLOG

As some of you know, I’m a New Yorker at heart. I grew up on Long Island. Now, having raised my family in New England I’ve become a die-hard Patriots fan. I have season tickets and try not to miss a single game. So you can imagine how thrilled I am that the Patriots will once again be facing off against the Giants in the Super Bowl.

However, there’s a fly in this ointment! I always root for the Pats, except when they play my home town—New York! When the chips are down, roots count. In fact, last weekend when my beloved NY teams were in combat with one another, I watched the games with my Bronx born-and-raised buddy Fred and had to back the G-Men over the Jets.
 
So, shhhh! Don’t tell my stepson Greg (who named his son Brady), or my Boston-born son-in-law Todd—both diehard Pats fans—but I’ll be rooting for my own home team, the Giants, come Super Bowl Sunday!

But hey, regardless of which team you’re rooting for this Sunday—or whether you’re one who just watches the game for the incredible commercials and half-time show—I thought I would give you some heart-healthy snacks to enjoy during the game.

Here are my top 5 snack picks for game time:

1. Harvest trail mix not only contains nuts rich in heart-healthy omega-3s, it will give you the energy you need to jump up and down, rooting for the Giants—um, I mean the team you’re rooting for. Here’s the recipe.

2. Whole wheat sodium-free chips—or better yet, organic gluten-free corn chips— with fresh tomato salsa or avocado salsa fresca.

3. Fresh vegetable tray—including antioxidant rich pepper strips, carrots, cucumbers, tomato slices, and more—with lemon poppy seed dip.

4. Taco dip, made with my low-sodium homemade Mexican seasoning mix. Prepare using low-fat ground turkey, and top with heart-healthy black beans, low-fat cheese, salsa, and diced tomatoes. Use whole wheat sodium-free chips, or gluten-free corn chips, for dipping.

5. Mediterranean style chili is not only heart-healthy it’s a crowd pleaser that’s sure to warm everyone up on game day. Here's the recipe.

Now it’s your turn: Which team are you rooting for, and what’s your favorite Super Bowl snack?

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Warm Up with Spiced Winter Tea

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Despite how far we’ve come, heart disease is still the top cause of deaths in the US. According to statistics presented by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), it’s estimated that 785,000 Americans had coronary events in 2010, and 470,000 of them had a recurrent attack. In fact, just about every 25 seconds one person has a cardiac event.

One of the biggest problems when it comes to heart health is that many myths still abound. Doctors are still missing critical symptoms, are doing the wrong diagnostic testing, and prescribing drugs where natural remedies could help.

Since February is American Heart Month, I want to enlist your help in debunking the myths and communicating critical information that can help save lives.

Throughout the month of February, I’ll be posting the most dangerous heart health myths on my Facebook page...

* If you haven't "liked" my Facebook page yet, I urge you to do that now so you don’t miss a single one of these important heart tips. 

* Plus, each time you see a tip I encourage you to share it on your Facebook page to help spread the truth heart disease.

* If at least 1,000 people share just one of the tips by the end of the month, there will be a special gift for each of you.

But special gift aside, the real reason that I’m urging you to share these heart health tips is that together we can help save lives!

Please also share this blog post on your Facebook wall so we can get others to join in the effort, too!

The American Psychiatric Association is considering adding “heartbreak” as a new diagnosis. While they’re not using that term per say, they’re acknowledging that the loss of a loved one through divorce, death, or any other circumstance can have as powerful of an impact as full-blown depression. That’s something I’ve been saying for years.

Not only can heartbreak have a devastating impact on your emotional health, the loss of a vital connection can lead to the literal breakdown of the functions of the heart.

The reason is that heartbreak is a stress that sets into motion your body’s natural “fight or flight” response. When your body enters into this response, the released adrenaline raises your blood pressure and increases your heart rate and breathing.

If your body remains in this alarm mode for any length of time, you become prone to stress-producing conditions, ranging from aching neck muscles and headaches to ulcers, allergies, diminished sexual desire, and heart disease.

The good news is that if heartbreak touches your life, you can take steps to protect yourself—both emotionally and physically.

* Reach out and connect with someone close to you. Call up an old friend you haven’t spoken to in a while, get in touch with family members, or take your dog for a long walk. If you don’t have a pet, consider getting one—living with an animal is a great way to open your heart to love. 

* Ask someone close to you what they like, their favorite color, flower, food. What causes him or her to laugh? What good books have they read lately? What movies have they seen? What secrets can they share? By caring about someone else, you break outside your own self-absorption. 

* Take 30 minutes a day for you. Be with yourself: take a long bath, meditate, read, or listen to music. Let down your defenses, free your emotional side. Give yourself permission to cry, laugh, play—whatever action you’ve been holding back.

* Laugh more. A good sense of humor can do wonders for your health. Rent a video or just tune into your favorite TV comedy. Invite some friends over to share in the fun.

* Try to become a little more compassionate toward yourself and others. Start by accepting yourself—faults and all. Naturally this goes for others in your life. The pursuit of perfection is a one-way ticket to loneliness.

* Reclaim your spiritual side. Contact your priest, rabbi or clergyman for consultation. Do some spiritual reading as often as you can. It will help you appreciate life’s ups and downs.

Take your time, be aware of your feelings and “feel” them, and give yourself the time to heal—both emotionally and physically.

Now it’s your turn: How have you coped with heartbreak?

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The Love-Heart Disease Connection

A few weeks ago, my wife Jan and our daughter Kristin attended a yoga class. As the group gently moved into inversion positions, Kristin who was in the final weeks of her own certification in yoga, protectively cautioned her mom to be careful since the positions could be too much for their necks.

Both Jan and Kristen have suffered multiple whiplash injuries, and are very careful about their cervical spines. Afterward, they spoke at length about the need to modify or skip various poses in deference to the body. Call it irony, but the very next day an article came out in The New York Times called “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body”—speaking about the very same thing.

So, is yoga safe? Yoga is very powerful medicine, helping to heal everything from everyday stress to hypertension. Yet, as with any physical activity there is the potential for injury. Since the 1970’s there have been isolated reports in medical journals attesting to injuries to practitioners, instructors, and lifelong yogis alike. But there are very few cautionary notes in most books devoted to yoga.

With an estimated 20 million people engaged in yoga in 2011 compared to only 2 million in 2001, it’s no surprise that yoga injuries are on the rise. It’s important to remember that its very essence is to get in touch with your body and to read your body as you practice it.

The most common yoga injuries stem from inversion postures and forceful hyperextension of the neck that exceed your physical tolerance, but can occur with overstretching any muscle, cartilage, or ligament. Plus, strokes can be caused by impingement of the basilar artery and extreme motions of the neck and head that can constrict, causing swelling and even clots or bleeds. 
   
Here are some of my top tips for practicing yoga safely:

1. Connect with your breath, exhaling on effort and inhaling to ease back. Go slowly and never force your self into any position. By the same token, never allow any one else to touch you to push your body into a posture.

2. Be cautious of neck hyperextensions as with plough and cobra poses, as well as headstands to name a few. In fact, some consider headstands too dangerous for general yoga classes.

3. Be careful with—or avoid—inversion poses, extreme backbends and twists.

4. Remember, yoga isn’t about your ego, comparing yourself with others, or pushing yourself. Pay attention to, and read, your own body.

5. Learn modifications for poses that suit your body, age, and health issues.

6. Should you have any aches or pains you think may be caused or aggravated by yoga, take a break from it to see if they resolve.

Yoga may look simple, but I compare it to learning downhill skiing. You need to be in touch with your own body and your limits, and seek medical advice in advance if you have any medical issues.

Now it’s your turn: What has been your experience with yoga?

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Why Yoga is Powerful Medicine for Your Heart

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Yoga and Breathing is The Secret to a Healthier Heart and Longer Life

Early in my career when I was running through hospital halls, coat tails flying behind me, headed to help someone in cardiac arrest—I pondered whether an aspirin a day could prevent these types of calamities. It was the 1980’s and there wasn’t a hard-working doctor who didn’t worry about having their own heart attack. Knowing that aspirin had the power to thin the blood, many doctors began adding it to their daily regimen.

Later on, once the efficacy was confirmed, it was decided an 81 mg baby aspirin could replace the hefty 325 mg adult dose. Bayer, the largest producer of aspirin, jumped at the chance to promote its pain reliever as the “wonder drug” that could prevent heart attacks, even in healthy individuals. Doctors began prescribing it to virtually every patient they had.

Now, a new meta-analysis of 9 placebo-controlled trials challenges that practice. This month, the Archives of Internal Medicine published data collected from 100,000 people over six years showing that we have to treat 120 people with an aspirin a day to prevent just one nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI).

The researchers did report that total cardiovascular events decreased by 10%.  But at the same time there was a 30% increased risk for “trivial bleeding events.”  Because it took treating just 73 people to trigger that bleeding event, we must think twice about our overzealous use of aspirin.

So, what’s the bottom line for you?

* I don’t recommend an aspirin for primary prevention. While an aspirin a day prevents clot formation, the final step that triggers a heart attack, it doesn’t change atherosclerotic plaque which is the underlying cause of heart disease.

A far better way to prevent a heart attack is by keeping plaque from forming and building up in the first place.  That means back to basics: a healthy diet, exercise, weight reduction, nutritional support with antioxidants and anti-inflammatories, blood pressure lowering, stress reduction, and so on.

* But taking an aspirin a day for secondary prevention—if you’ve already had a heart attack or have a history of cardiovascular disease—is just plain good medicine. I regularly advocate aspirin for those who have known heart disease, such as a history of angina, heart attack, angioplasty or stent procedures, or coronary artery bypass surgery. In these cases, I recommend taking one baby aspirin daily.

But even if you have all the characteristics I just mentioned that would make you a perfect candidate for a daily preventative aspirin regimen, it won’t do you a lick of good if you’re part of the population known as “aspirin-resistant.” Fortunately, there’s a test to determine if an aspirin a day will work for you.

Now it’s your turn: What do you think about taking an aspirin a day?

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How to Use Aspirin if You Think You’re Having a Heart Attack

Blood Thinners 101

Healthy blood is essential for a healthy body. Follow these steps to ensure your blood is in the best condition possible.

1. Get tested. At your next medical examination, ask your doctor to check you for inflammation by monitoring your CRP and fibrinogen levels. 

2. Quit smoking. Smoking causes sludgy, viscous, and inflamed blood. Stopping smoking can improve your heart health, tremendously.

3. Eat an anti-inflammatory diet. First and foremost, keep your sweets under control. Excess sugar in the diet is a recipe for inflammatory disaster. Sugar pushes insulin levels high, irritates blood vessel linings, promotes high blood pressure, perpetuates metabolic syndrome, and oxidizes red blood cells. Second, avoid trans fats—partially hydrogenated oils used in processed and fried foods—that also kindle inflammatory reactions in the body.
 
4. Relax! Anger and stress stoke the flames of inflammation in the arteries and blood. Moderate your emotions healthily. For sure, that’s easier said than done, especially in these stressful times. But meditation, yoga, and T’ai chi can help you do that, along with routine moderate exercise. Find the method that works for you, and stick with it.

5. Hydrate. Proper hydration helps to keep your blood thin. Markedly dehydrated people have sludgy blood. Make sure you always drink plenty of water. The most common recommendation is to drink eight 8-oz. glasses of water daily, but you should let your body be your guide.

6. Donate blood. If you are a male, or a postmenopausal woman, donate blood from time to time. Your act of biological charity also serves to reduce your blood volume, and promotes healthy viscosity.

7. Get regular exercise. Add cardiovascular training and weight-bearing exercise to your fitness routine. Exercise helps keep all systems healthy. It promotes beneficial blood viscosity and opens up capillaries for ideal blood flow.

8. Get grounded. Earthing’s benefits for circulatory health are enormous. Red blood cells change from thick and clumping to thin and flowing within an hour of individuals becoming grounded. Blood pressure levels come down and arrhythmias ebb.

Now it’s your turn: Which of these healthy habits do you practice?

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If you’re looking for a delicious easy meal this weekend, try my Mediterranean Chicken recipe. It features black olives which are a good source of heart-healthy monosaturated fats that help to increase good HDL cholesterol, along with garlic, roasted peppers, and more.

Mediterranean Chicken
(Makes 2 servings)

Ingredients:
8 oz. organic or free range chicken breast, cubed or sliced 
4 Tbsp. flour (gluten-free preferred) 
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil 
1 clove garlic, minced 
2 roasted red peppers, from a jar, cut into strips 
20 medium black olives, pitted 
1 (6 oz.) jar marinated artichokes, kept in liquid 
8 oz. cooked short pasta such as ziti or wild rice 
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:
Roll the chicken cubes in flour to coat, and sprinkle with pepper. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and cook for about 2 minutes; do not allow to brown. Add the chicken and cook for about 4 minutes, turning until lightly browned on all sides. Add the peppers and olives and heat through, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the artichokes with liquid and cook until heated through, 3 minutes more. Serve over short pasta or rice.

Now it’s your turn: What’s your favorite heart-healthy chicken recipe?

More heart-healthy recipes:

Chicken Povencale

Peppered Rosemary Chicken

I also invite you to visit my free online Heart-Healthy Recipes Center.

We tend to think of memory loss as something that happens in our 70’s and 80’s, but a new study shows memory loss can begin as early as age 45.

This new study, which was published in the British Medical Journal, studied 7,000 adults in London between the ages of 45 and 70. As they expected, they found memory decline among the older participants, but what surprised the researchers was that those between the ages of 45 and 49 also had memory loss.

The researchers suggested that memory decline in the 40’s can point to early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease—which is something that doesn’t surprise me. We’ve been seeing an increase of not only early-onset Alzheimer’s, but autism spectrum disorder, fibromyalgia, Parkinson’s, and headaches—and the common threat is mitochondrial toxicity.

What is mitochondrial toxicity? Your mitochondria (the “powerhouse” part of the cell that fuels it with energy) are extremely vulnerable because they have no defense against toxins. And in recent years, our environment has become increasingly toxic.

Fortunately, you can help to protect your brain and improve cognitive function:

* Coenzyme Q10 is the cornerstone of any brain boosting program. Your brain requires a phenomenal amount of energy for proper functioning (it’s second only to the heart in its need for and exposure to high quantities of oxygen), and CoQ10 fuels cell mitochondria that provide brain power. I recommend 100–200 mg/day of standard CoQ10 for prevention.

* Acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC) is a methylated version of the amino acid L-carnitine that goes straight to the brain where it helps improve memory, cognition, and learning; relieves depression; and reduces symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. I recommend 1,500–3,000 mg ALC per day.

* Take American ginseng, which is rich in brain-nourishing ginsenosides. Unlike the Asian ginseng you’re likely to find in most health food stores, which is a stimulant, American ginseng reduces stress, calms the body, and enhances mental clarity. In fact, an extract of American ginseng called Cereboost™, which is standardized to 10.65% ginsenosides, was shown in research to increase mental focus, reaction times, mental clarity, and memory recall. 

* Nourish your brain with omega-3s. Eating low-mercury coldwater fish 1–2 times a week is ideal for the brain because of the health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids [http://blog.drsinatra.com/blog/heart-health-nutrition/mercury-in-fish]. Taking 2–3 grams of fish oil daily is a great substitute if you don’t care for fish.

* A good daily multi-nutrient that provides B-vitamin support is absolutely essential, too.

Now it’s your turn: Have you incorporated any of these brain-boosting nutrients into your routine?

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Statins and Memory Loss

Because I write and lecture about health, I’m not surprised when I’m asked about my own lifestyle. I can assure you that I practice what I preach, and I don’t recommend anything unless I’ve tried it myself.

In addition to taking the Awesome Foursome and other nutrients, here are eight things I do to keep myself healthy and you can try as well:

1. Eat a mostly vegetarian diet. My daily diet consists of two meals and two healthy snacks a day and rich in fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, and lentils. I also eat fish 1–2 times per week (either: scrod, haddock, Atlantic halibut, or wild Alaskan salmon). Plus, I eat range-fed organic meats and poultry no more than once a week.

2. Avoid sugar and artificial sweeteners, since sugar will age you faster, and put you at a greater risk for developing heart disease than cholesterol.

3. Sleep 5–7 hours per night, grounded on an Earthing sheet.

4. Exercise three or four days per week, between 40-60 minutes at a time. My "cardio" days include walking my dog. I also make sure to do my back and abdominal strengthening routines as well as light resistance training with 10-lb. dumbbells, and Pilates.

5. Take the following herbs daily: bromelain (200 mg) and quercetin (300–500 mg), both of which are excellent natural means to prevent inflammation, allergies, and histamine release. I also take garlic (500—1,000 mg as a supplement, or one clove of fresh garlic), and drink ginger tea.

6. Drink red wine (1–2 glasses once or twice a week), green tea (1-3 cups a day), and water (8–10 glasses per day).

7. Practice detoxification. I have a far-infrared sauna in my house, and I try to use it at least once a week. I’ve also made sure the house is outfitted with water, air, and shower filters to remove as many toxins as possible.

8. Relax and enjoy life! I practice prayer, reading, meditation, Thai yoga therapy, listening to soft classical music, fly fishing, walking, cooking, and eating with my wife, playing with my grandkids and the dog, and allowing myself to laugh, express anger, and cry when those emotions surface. It’s all about balance—that’s what counts!

Now it’s your turn: What healthy habits have you adopted?

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As you may have seen in the news this week, researchers reported new findings in the Archives of Internal Medicine that cholesterol lowering statin drugs can contribute to diabetes.

The findings were the result of a multi-year study which followed nearly 154,000 women in the Women’s Health initiative. What they found is that post-menopausal women taking certain types of statins had a 48% greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The researchers didn’t specify which types of statins contribute to diabetes, but the very fact that statins can contribute to diabetes isn’t a new finding. Despite these findings, authors note that current guidelines for statin therapy need NOT be changed! Really?

Several years ago, the highly publicized JUPITER study published in the New England Journal of Medicine touted the ability of the statin drug Crestor to decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease. What was lost in those highly publicized findings was the fact that in that same study those taking Crestor had a higher incidence of developing diabetes than the placebo group.

Plus, you may remember a blog I wrote less than a year ago about new findings reported in the Journal of the Medical Association (JAMA) that high-dose statins (80 mg) can increase a patient’s risk of developing diabetes. 

Why do statins contribute to diabetes? The exact mechanisms hasn't been confirmed, but there are several things we do know. First off, as I've often said statins impede important biochemical pathways as they block cholesterol, such as production of Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) as well as agents that impact insulin growth factor IGF. We also know that abnormally low IGF-1 levels are associated with the premature development of Type 2 diabetes.

What’s the bottom line for you? The same advice I’ve been giving for years still holds. The only group of people who should be on a statin drug is middle-aged males with coronary artery disease. This group has the most to gain from these medications, so the medications far outweigh the risks. But these drugs are not for postmenopausal women—giving women these medications, like they did in this most recent study—is poor medicine. That’s especially true since we lack convincing evidence that statin therapy confers any protective benefits at all for postmenopausal women.

I also want to reiterate something I’ve said before, that the benefit of statin drugs isn’t the cholesterol-lowering effect. Rather, it’s the fact that statin drugs thin the blood and reduce inflammation, which is the real way to combat coronary artery disease.
 
Finally, I want to remind you that if you’re on a statin drug, you MUST take Coenzyme Q10 (Co10) because statins deplete the body of this important nutrient. At a minimum, you want to take 200 mg of highly-absorbable CoQ10 in divided doses with your statins. That’s just a smart medicine.

Now it’s your turn: Do you have any questions about statin drugs?

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Earlier on, like most cardiologists I viewed basic cholesterol numbers as telltale signs of illness. Fortunately, I got wise over time after seeing too many heart attacks among patients who had so-called “normal cholesterol.”

Having given up on the cholesterol theory—at least with the obsession of lowering LDL cholesterol—I’ve focused instead on ridding the body of inflammation, the real cause of arterial destruction and cardiovascular disease.

Yet, many doctors have still focused on ridding the body of LDL cholesterol. And despite aggressive efforts to lower LDL cholesterol, many heart patients continue to be at significant risk for cardiovascular events.
 
This suggests to me that doctors should switch their cholesterol focus away from LDL and over to HDL. HDL serves the body as a lipid garbage truck, picking up oxidized LDL and excess cholesterol particles and carrying them back to the liver for processing into steroid hormones and bile acids. HDL thus reduces the potential of LDL to get in harm’s way.

What should your HDL levels be? Ideally, your HDL cholesterol should be 60 mg/dL or greater. At a minimum, men should be at 35 mg/dL and women at 40 mg/dL or more.

If your HDL level is low, here’s how to raise it:

* First and foremost, take niacin (vitamin B3). Niacin is one of the most powerful nutrients available to raise HDL cholesterol. When you take niacin, you’ll likely experience a tingly, pins-and-needles, sometimes hot, flushing of the skin. This typically lasts no more than a half-hour to an hour. The higher the initial dose, the greater the initial flushing effect. My recommendation is that you start with 250 mg of niacin three times daily, and slowly work up to 1–3 grams in divided doses three times a day.

* Get regular, physical exercise. Strive for 30–60 minutes of aerobic activity three to five days a week. 

* Drink red wine in moderation. Red wine helps to boost HDL cholesterol, plus it contains resveratrol, a phytonutrient with cardio-protective benefits.

* Diet is crucial. As always, the food you eat plays a big role in your heart—and overall—health. To avoid dips in your HDL levels, avoid processed foods, as well as those high in sugar and trans fats. Instead, opt for foods that are rich in heart-healthy fats and soluble fiber. For information, recipes, and more visit my free online Food & Nutrition Center.

Now it’s your turn: Have you had your HDL levels tested recently?

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There’s nothing like a warm bowl of soup on a cold winter’s day, and if you make it miso (pronounced mee-so) you’ll not only take the chill off but give your health an incredible boost.

Miso, which is made from soybeans, sea salt, and sometimes rice or barley, is full of enzymes that support digestive processes. It also has a reputation as an immune booster, and is rich in calcium which helps explain why osteoporosis is almost unheard of among Japanese women. One of the best ways to add miso to your diet is in miso soup.

Traditional Miso Soup
Yield: 4 Servings

5 cups water
5-inch piece konbu cut in small pieces (could use dried seaweed flakes instead)
1/2 cup bonito (dried baby tuna from Asian store; Hanagatsuo is a good brand. There’s also a powdered product called Hondashi that can be substituted. If you use it, just 1 Tbsp. will do.)
2 Tbsp. white or light miso (found in Asian and health food stores)
1/2–1 pkg. tofu, cut into small cubes
2 Tbsp. wakame (another type of seaweed)

Optional Ingredients
1–2 Tbsp. chopped scallion (or to taste)
Daikon (a root vegetable), chopped
Chinese cabbage, shredded
Shellfish (clams, oysters, lobster) as desired

Fill a large pot with 5 cups water and add konbu and bonito. Bring to a boil. As soon as it boils, remove from heat and strain out konbu and/or bonito (if you’ve used Hondashi it can’t be strained out).

Add tofu, miso, and wakame—in that order—to broth and simmer 5–7 minutes (but do not boil). At this point you may add other optional ingredients, except for scallions, which should be added just before removing from heat for the final time, and simmer a few minutes more. Serve hot.

Now it’s your turn: Do you have a miso recipe to share?

More healthy soup recipes:

Broccoli Soup

Vegetable Soup

Here’s a message I posted several years ago, which definitely bears repeating…

Now that the New Year is here, I know a lot of people have made resolutions—some kept, and some already broken. Well, here’s a resolution you can not only keep, but can easily live with all year long—to be more optimistic, since optimism is the key to health and life.

Let me tell you a story about just how powerful optimism can be… 
 
Several years ago at one of my subscriber seminars, I was uplifted to a state of awe by the collective appearance of the audience. This group of more than 200 mostly senior citizens radiated health, vigor, and an absolutely contagious positivity.

Many had significant medical problems. Yet, what a difference between them and most people their age. Here were individuals hungry for knowledge, even down to the nitty-gritty of how many milligrams of vitamin X to take and when. Here were people learning how to be healthier so they could grab more of life, and not just passively waiting for the next prescription from their doctors.

One gentleman got up to the microphone and said he was 86, had aortic dysfunction, arrhythmia, and was somewhat hard of hearing. He had had a quadruple bypass and a knee replacement.“I want to make plans for the next 30 years,” he said. “My cup is half full and I want to make it fuller.”

“Wow!” I thought. “Now that’s a healing attitude.” Somebody else in his shoes would think their cup was half-empty and draining. But not him—and not the others in that room of exceptional people.

Thinking positively can help you live longer…

I was reminded of a study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology that made national headlines several years ago. Researchers analyzed the medical histories and length of life of some 200 nuns who had compiled handwritten autobiographies during the 1930s, when they were in their early 20s.

A careful search for such key words as “happy,” “joy,” “love,” “hopeful,” and “contentment” revealed that the nuns who expressed more positive emotions lived as much as 10 years longer than those expressing fewer positive emotions. The findings are in keeping with other studies showing that people who are more positive seem to live longer than those who are more pessimistic.

After observing thousands of patients, I can assure you that attitude is the key to life. You can choose to be depressed and live with the biochemistry that depression creates in your body, or choose to be optimistic, find purpose in life, and live with the biochemistry that optimism creates. Which do you think makes you healthier?
 
So this year—instead of resolving to lose 20 pounds by February—commit to fostering a positive attitude and concentrating on optimistic thoughts rather than getting bogged down in the negative.

Now it’s your turn: Are you an optimist?

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Reduce Stress with Meditation

Many hospitals advertise that they have preventive cardiology programs that help you to make lifestyle changes to prevent a cardiac event. But the fact is there are many important ways to prevent a cardiac event, many of which these programs overlook. So, I wanted to tell you how to implement your own preventive cardiology program, right at home.

1. Take the “Awesome Foursome.” There are four nutrients that can improve your heart-health significantly. They include: CoQ10 (100-200 mg), L-carnitine (1,000–1,500 mg in divided doses during the day, on an empty stomach), magnesium (at least 200–400 mg) and ribose (one teaspoon, 5 grams, twice a day).

2. Utilize the heart-healing power of yoga. The stretching and breath work of yoga, when practiced regularly, helps to relax the arterial walls, improve heart rate variability, lower blood pressure, and slows your heart rate.

3. Start juicing. Juicing fruits and vegetables like carrots, apples, kale and spinach gives you numerous protective nutrients—including antioxidants, minerals, and enzymes. All of these elements help to protect your heart, arteries, and immune system. I recommend juicing in a blender (instead of a juicer) which leaves the fiber in. I drink 6–8 oz. of fresh juice once or twice a day, and make enough at one time to last a week.

4. Walk a mile (or more) each day. Inactivity is the single biggest risk factor for heart disease. But you don’t need to join a gym to improve your heart health, unless you want to. Walking just one mile, or more, a day improves your heart health, minimizes your stroke risk, and improves your blood pressure and blood sugar. Plus, it helps you shed unwanted pounds.

5. Discharge harmful electro-pollution with earthing. Everything from power lines and cordless or cell phones, to simple appliances like hair dryers and televisions, produces electro-pollution which has the potential to reduce heart rate variability (HRV). One of the best ways to discharge electro-pollution is with earthing—here’s what you need to know.

Now it’s your turn: Which of these things do you do regularly?

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