Tag Archives: blood pressure

Reversing Heart Disease and An Anniversary To Celebrate

Progress Reports, , , , , , ,

Well trumpets please, today is an important day!

It marks the 5-year anniversary of Bill’s “event.”  He prefers “event” to heart attack, and says it was the whack upside the head he needed to realize it was time to up his game.

reversing heart disease fixitplan

Five Years Ago Today …

Chugging along back then, Bill was overweight, struggling with uncontrolled blood pressure (though recently on BP medication),  his cholesterol was somewhat elevated along with his LDL and triglycerides.  Even though we thought we ate pretty good, and even though we exercised 2-3 times a week, his heart attack fired the warning shot.   We had work to do!

We are SO fortunate to have been in the ER checking out the chest pain we hoped was  heartburn because he had the heart attack right then and there!  Blessfully resulting in no permanent damage to his heart.  I’ve told this whole story here in:  “The Beginning.”

We desperately wanted to know “CAN THIS BE FIXED?  HOW?”

Continue reading Reversing Heart Disease and An Anniversary To Celebrate →

The Promise of Pomegranate

Heart Health, , , , , , , ,

Pomegranate for atherosclerosis fixitplanPowerful Protection for our Arteries

The prevalence of heart disease and heart attacks has most people thinking arterial plaque, also known as atherosclerosis,  is inevitable.  But now we’re seeing proof that a lifestyle of exercise, a healthy diet, and managing stress can go a long way to prevent and reverse heart disease and can even shrink arterial plaque.

Enter the pomegranate!
A powerful fruit that helps us do just that.
pomegranate for heart health fixitplan
By Anton Croos (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0]

Digging into the research and studies from around the globe, I was surprised and encouraged to learn how the pomegranate fruit reverses some of our body’s underlying behavior that leads to heart disease.   It seems our ruby red friend has potent abilities to Continue reading The Promise of Pomegranate →

Blueberry Nectarine Crumble

Recipes, , , , , , , , , , ,

1H6A3384

Tropical Storm Crumble?

Tropical Storm Erika

Tropical Storm Erika threatened to interfere with baking this weekend, but by Saturday morning she had weakened to a tropical wave.  So I fired up the galley oven and baked this yummy fruit crumble!

It’s a hard to beat  combination of blueberries and nectarines, but you could also use plums, blackberries, peaches, apricots, cherries.. you get the idea.

DSC00224

Nectarines have a good amount of beta-carotene, plus a small though healthy amount of anti-oxidants. They’re also a healthy source of Continue reading Blueberry Nectarine Crumble →

Powerful, Healthy Things ~ Love and Kindness

Stress, , , , , , , , ,

friend cardLast Monday,  a “heart healthy” card arrived in our mailbox!  Yes, there are such things.   The card was filled with all the warmth of a best hug, sent to us from dear friends.  It came at a good time, when we were both feeling anxiety and sadness over a recent event.  It made us think about the value in our lives and for our health of having close, loving relationships.  Suddenly the undercurrent of anxiety and sadness I felt was swept away and replaced with a warm feeling in my chest and a smile on my face.

We talk about stress and sadness and the damage it can take on our well-being in so many ways.  It raises blood pressure, exposes us to a constant and unhealthy barrage of stress hormones which stimulates inflammation, can cause irregular heartbeats, lead to depression, and so on.  But what we don’t talk about so much, Continue reading Powerful, Healthy Things ~ Love and Kindness →