To meet your daily vitamin C needs, be sure to eat these
10 golden life rules against heart attack (Myocardial Infarction):
1- Pay attention to your blood pressure. This attention reduces the risk of heart attack by 40-60%.
2- Have your cholesterol level checked regularly. This reduces the risk of heart attack by 25%.
3- Quit smoking.
4- Take your blood sugar seriously. 70% of diabetics die from cardiovascular diseases.
5- Pay attention to your weight. Maintaining an ideal weight reduces the risk of heart attack by 50%.
6- Two glasses of wine a day also reduces the risk of heart attack by 25-45%.
7- Thirty minutes of exercise twice a week reduces the risk of heart attack by 45%.
8- Avoid stress. Stress raises blood pressure, and as a result, the risk of heart attack emerges.
9- Use Himalayan salt in your meals and consume water that has been re-vitalized with a device (medisend).
10- Taking 100 mg of acetylsalicylic acid daily reduces the risk of heart attack by 30%.
RECENT RESEARCH ON NUTRITION IN HEART ATTACK
In recent years, the view that fatty foods play an important role in the development of both cardiovascular diseases and cancer may give the impression that fats are harmful to our health. However, this is a mistaken judgment. Completely removing fats from the diet can be just as harmful as excessive and unbalanced consumption. Fats have many important functions in our body, and consuming a certain amount of them is necessary for our health. Even if we ate no fat at all, our body could produce most fat-based substances from starch and protein-based foods. However, linoleic acid, which cannot be synthesized in the body and is therefore defined as an "essential fatty acid," must be obtained through diet in small but essential amounts via polyunsaturated fats. As nutrition and food expert Assoc. Prof. Dr. Huriye Wetherilt warns: "The cholesterol on our plate does not significantly affect the cholesterol in our blood. Removing cholesterol-containing foods from the diet is wrong, because we end up unnecessarily depriving ourselves of nutritious foods."
Research conducted over the last twenty years shows the following: dietary cholesterol, that is, the cholesterol on our plate, does not significantly affect the cholesterol in our blood. For example, eggs, a food high in cholesterol, have a low potential to raise blood cholesterol. Although yogurt is a food containing cholesterol, it lowers blood cholesterol and has a positive effect on the LDL/HDL ratio. Similarly, fish is also a food with a high cholesterol level, but due to the omega-3 fatty acids it contains, it regulates the LDL/HDL ratio. On the other hand, although chocolate and coconut oil do not contain cholesterol, consuming foods containing these fats raises blood cholesterol. For these reasons, a person who wants to lower their blood cholesterol level is mistaken if they think they can solve the problem by removing cholesterol-containing foods from their diet, and they will unnecessarily deprive themselves of nutritious foods such as yogurt, fish, and eggs. In fact, when insufficient cholesterol is obtained from food, the liver will produce the missing cholesterol itself. However, it is also a fact that cholesterol obtained in excessive amounts and from harmful foods has a negative effect on blood vessels.
REDUCE CHOLESTEROL
In principle, there are two options today for the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis: The traditional approach primarily aims to reduce the fat ratio in the blood; reducing dietary fat intake through a fat-reducing diet is also part of this method:
-Staying away from organ meats
-Limiting sweets consumption
-Eating lean meat
-Eating plenty of lean fish
-Consuming plenty of vegetables and fruit
-Preferring whole grain bread over refined flour bread
The main goal is to lower the level of fat and cholesterol in the body enough that it cannot form the building blocks that would trigger dangerous plaque formation in the blood.
VITAMINS, AMINO ACIDS, TRACE ELEMENTS
The second approach is relatively new and is based on research by the Linus Pauling Institute in California. According to this approach, the primary goal is to prevent damage to blood vessels, thereby preventing the body from producing dangerous plaque. Certain biosubstances, grouped by California scientists under the concept of a "vitamin-cell complex," serve this purpose. The substances in this complex are known to protect artery walls from damage and to repair existing damage without side effects.
- Vitamin C serves as the "cement" of blood vessels by stimulating the production of collagen, elastin, and other stabilizer molecules in the body. Together with vitamin E, carotenoids, and selenium, it also protects vessel walls from being "rusted" by free radicals.
- The amino acids lysine and proline act as natural "Teflon substances"; they attach to dangerous fatty substances in the blood, increasing the slipperiness of the vessels and preventing plaque formation. They also help scrape existing buildup off the artery walls.
- The mineral magnesium relaxes the smooth muscles of the artery walls. This keeps the vessel walls flexible and can help prevent high blood pressure.
THE TIME FACTOR ALSO COMES INTO PLAY
Approximately one in every two Europeans has atherosclerotic buildup, and worldwide, twelve million people die every year from heart attack or stroke. But these numbers should not create panic. Because people today live much longer than before, and the time span allowing changes to occur in vessel walls is very wide.
MORE EXERCISE
Sports (especially endurance sports) are indispensable for the treatment and prevention of atherosclerosis. They strengthen blood vessels and lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. The need for vitamin C increases significantly in athletes.
DON'T RELY ON SUPPLEMENTS ALONE
The view that atherosclerosis can be prevented simply by taking biosubstances is misleading. Swallowing a few biosubstance concentrates from the vitamin-cell complex is of course simpler than giving up appetite-stimulating fats in food. But no pill in the world can undo the harmful effects of an improper diet.
LESS ANIMAL FAT AND MORE VITAMIN C
This way, flexible blood vessels and unobstructed blood flow are ensured. For the treatment and prevention of atherosclerosis, having more vegetables on the table is essential.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MEETING YOUR DAILY VITAMIN C NEEDS
Make sure every meal on your diet list includes a vitamin C bomb!
- Banana, orange, and kiwi can be added to muesli, oat flakes, and other breakfast cereals at breakfast.
- At lunch, raw vegetables such as salad, carrots, tomatoes, red peppers, Chinese cabbage, turnip, radish, parsley, red cabbage, cabbage, and onion can be consumed. Vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli, green cabbage, and peppers can be steamed and added as a side dish to lean meat.
- For dinner, fresh cheese spread on bread garnished with raw vegetables or various herbs can be eaten. Vegetables rich in vitamin C include: parsley, peppers (especially red peppers), garden cress, dill, watercress, chervil, salad burnet, green onion, celery leaves, and lemon balm.
VITAMIN C AS AN ARTERY PROTECTOR
Canadian doctor G.C. Willis recently proved that vitamin C naturally eliminates atherosclerosis. At the start of his study, he documented atherosclerotic buildup in heart patients using contrast-enhanced X-ray imaging. He then gave half of his patients 1.5 grams of vitamin C daily, while the other half received none. A few weeks later, atherosclerotic buildup had noticeably decreased in 30% of the first group, while it remained the same or increased in the control group.
LESS ANIMAL FAT AND MORE BIOSUBSTANCES
Both approaches to atherosclerosis have been thoroughly debated within scientific circles. However, commercial interests also play a role in the meantime. While lipid-lowering-drug representatives strive to increase sales figures for cholesterol-lowering medications, cell-complex representatives strive to increase the sales figures of vitamin preparations. They also remove cholesterol from being seen as the main culprit of cardiovascular disease, which runs counter to the interests of the agricultural industry, which, as a producer of meat and eggs, supplies the main source of animal fats.
LESS ANIMAL FAT AND MORE FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
In terms of their results, neither approach makes much difference for diet, and they are in fact on the same wavelength. Because lowering blood lipids is only possible with a predominantly vegetarian diet, and anyone who wants to improve their intake of vitamin C, lysine, proline, magnesium, and other biosubstances must adopt this style of eating. In other words, lowering lipids and improving biosubstance intake depend on a similar dietary plan.
In my next article, I will address the topic of "Recommendations for a Heart-Healthy Eating Plan."