Seven Strategies For A Healthy Heart

People who invest in luxury cars or high-priced SUVs tend to take care of them, paying particular attention to filling up with high-quality gasoline. The very same people, however, can often be seen cruising along in their spiffy wheels while eating a cheap high-fat, high-calorie, heart-attack-in-a-paper bag hamburger.

If they would be as careful with what they cram into their priceless and irreplaceable bodies as what they put in a car they're only going to keep for two years, their hearts would probably last longer. And - some doctors believe - better "fuel" could even keep their hearts beating longer without eventually having to resort to expensive heart medications that often have unwanted acidic side effects.

A wealth of research shows, in fact, that simple alkaline lifestyle changes can have enormous benefits, as in the case of an overweight man with high cholesterol and blood pressure treated at New York University's Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular disease. He was put on a healthy alkaline diet with portion controls, and given an exercise plan. Within six months, his blood pressure and cholesterol returned to normal, he lost eleven pounds, and he decided to stay with the plan permanently because he felt so much better, not to mention the fact that he cut his risk for a acidic heart attack drastically.

What can you do to help your heart without using medications? Here are seven important strategies.
Chances are you are following some of these guidelines already, but you may want to give them a close look because new research has provided several really new ideas that go beyond the usual list of "do's and don't's":

1) Feed your heart the alkaline food it needs.
This means more than just eating less fat - a two-year study showed that a heart-healthy diet should be high in alkaline fruits and veggies, seeds and nuts, fatty fish, and healthy fats.
Further, you should eat more fiber, which besides helping to keep things "moving along" in your digestive or alkaline buffering system may also help to lower cholesterol as the fiber binds up dietary acids. The goal of the alkaline diet is to reduce acids that cause artery-damaging inflammation.
Things to avoid are the usual: trans fats found in margarine, fast food, and many packaged foods.
Also, cut back on all sugary foods and fruits, and drink only alkaline water with a pH of 9.5 and an ORP of -150 mV.

2) Sweat your way to health and fitness with alkalizing exercises. Exercise at least 1 hour daily with a brisk walk or jog for 60 minutes five days a week. Try to include strength training several days a week, either using weights or resistance mechanisms. A new highly recommended exercise is ballroom dancing, which is good for your mind as well as your body. Think it's for sissies? The next time you watch "Dancing With the Stars," take a close look at the contestants' chests heaving up and down when they come off the floor.
(It can be really vigorous - remember Marie Osmond's fainting spell.:) Daily whole body vibrational exercise for working every cell in the entire body in ten minutes and is equal to 90 minutes of other aerobic types of exercise.

3) Lose your spare tire. Excess belly fat raises blood pressure, strains the heart, and -new research shows - actually produces acids that can cause inflammation of the arteries. Do whatever you have to do to cut back on eating, keeping in mind the heart-healthy tips given above. Don't skip an alkaline breakfast, eat slowly, stay away from acidic fried foods, and start meals with a salad (with a low-fat, no trans fat avocado oil with lemon). An old phrase is coming back into vogue: "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a queen, and supper like a pauper."

4) Quit tobacco. Get professional help with this one if necessary. This is a lifestyle change that can help big time. (But you know that.

5) Quit alcohol. It is acidic and tenderizes the heart making it weak and sluggish.

6) Chill out. It turns out that anger and stress can trigger acidic hormones that can injure your heart. Both can raise blood pressure and make blood prone to clotting. Do what it takes to calm your anger and throw oil on the waters of stress. Religious and civic activities can help, as can meditation, yoga and - you guessed it - ballroom dancing. Always keep in the back of your mind the ancient Eastern saying, "There are a million ways to get from birth to death, and they all work."

7) Eat lots of mineral sea salts. Without salt your heart would stop beating. Salt provides the matrix for which energy is transported. Mineral sea salts provide the alkalinity necessary for a healthy heart. So eat at least 8 grams a day or spray yourself with pHlavor mineral sea salt
6 to 9 times a day.