Total Health Breakthroughs: Free Natural Health Newsletter and Alternative Health Articles

In This Issue:

Discover Safe and Natural Options to Boost Your Heart Health and Promote Healthy Arteries!

By Michael Cutler, MD

If you are over the age of 50, you may have seriously clogged arteries as a result of poor diet, genetics or a lack of adequate vitamin and mineral supplementation. That means all 75,000 miles of your arteries, veins and capillaries may be full of plaque that can cause a blockage.

But new research indicates that two key nutrients can help you combat the causes of heart problems, toxic build-up and decreasing energy levels.

As a medical professional, I agree with modern science that consuming a high-fat diet can lead to heart disease, but new evidence has surfaced to explain the process.

Research from the University of Cincinnati¹ examined high-fat diets and the effect they can have on the adipose — or fatty — tissue surrounding the coronary arteries. Neil Weintraub, M.D. and colleagues found that the fat cells were highly inflamed, which suggests that the blood vessels could become inflamed. This is one of the first indicators of clogged arteries, or atherosclerosis.

Another startling discovery showed that rats on a high-fat diet for only two weeks already showed the effects of inflammation in the tissue around the arteries!

“These new findings suggest a direct link between poor dietary habits and inflammation of blood vessels, mediated by the fat cells surrounding the blood vessel wall,” said lead author Weintraub.

In order to maintain healthy blood vessels and help reverse the effects of a high-fat diet, I suggest oral chelation with the amino acid ethylenediamine tetra-acetic acid — or EDTA.

Indeed, EDTA chelation is very controversial — especially when discussed as an alternative to expensive heart surgery. The truth is, most doctors are inexperienced when it comes to chelation and don’t understand how it really works.

There are a few thousand doctors in the United States who perform intravenous (IV) chelation in their offices, but the vast majority of doctors have not witnessed the impressive results of EDTA for themselves.

Like nearly every other area of medicine, you will find articles “for” and “against” chelation. It is interesting how medicine is presented to the public — through the eyes and interests of the controlling parties who stand to profit the most.

Keep in mind, doctors and surgeons who continue to gain huge profits by performing angiograms… placing stents… performing balloon angioplasties… and cracking the chest open… do not want to read glowing reviews about this therapy!

And, heart drug-related pharmaceutical companies would love to see chelation proven ineffective — to keep their competition down!

However, clinical and scientific studies show that the nutrient EDTA is effective at helping eliminate plaque from the arteries.

Here’s how it works: EDTA binds to the calcium deposits stuck to your vessel walls and carries them to the kidneys. Then those plaque deposits are safely dumped out of your body with the urine. This process opens up your small vessels and blood can flow freely throughout your body.

What’s more, by increasing the circulation of your life-giving blood, EDTA can help:

• Promote healthy blood pressure
• Reduce chest pain
• Reduce swelling in your legs and ankles
• Maintain good HDL cholesterol levels
• Promote healthy kidney function
• And more!

Linus Pauling, Ph.D., two-time Nobel Prize-winning scientist stated,² “Published research and extensive clinical experience showed that EDTA helps reduce and prevent arteriosclerotic plaques, thus improving blood flow to the heart and other organs. The scientific evidence indicates that a course of EDTA chelation might eliminate the need for bypass surgery.”

The evidence speaks for itself — the benefits of chelation are remarkable. In fact, if you suffer from age-related memory loss… poor vision… constant colds and flu… cold hands and feet… and more… then EDTA chelation can help reduce those symptoms, too!

Another amazing active ingredient for boosting your heart health, promoting healthy arteries and increasing your energy is malic acid. This nutrient plays a critical role in energy production and as a detoxifying agent. This is in addition to its use as a flavoring agent in some foods, and in the aging process of wine.

You might also know that malic acid is added to some skin care products to help restore a youthful appearance to aging skin, and that it is used in dental offices to clean and to get the surface of a tooth ready to be filled.

So where can this beneficial acid be found? Malic acid is in a wide variety of unripe fruit, including apples, cherries, tomatoes and plums, and it is also formed in the cells of animals — including humans. A large amount of malic acid is produced and broken down in the human body every day, and a deficiency of this acid is thought to be a major cause of physical exhaustion!³

Because of the evidence that it is essential for energy production, malic acid supplements have been studied for their use in treating fibromyalgia and chronic pain.

In a clinical study reported in the Journal of Nutritional Medicine,³ 15 patients taking 200 to 2,400 mg of malic acid with 300 to 600 mg of magnesium for four to eight weeks reported that their muscular pain was much less — within 48 hours of taking the supplement. And this welcome pain relief continued to increase over the test period!

Plus, since chronic fatigue syndrome is associated with fibromyalgia, doctors and researchers hope that malic acid supplements can help boost energy levels for those suffering from this condition, as well.

But let’s not forget about the detoxifying properties of malic acid that I mentioned earlier — this natural acid is known to help remove dangerous toxic metals from your blood.

As a matter of fact, malic acid is the most potent detoxifier of aluminum — a metal that research has shown can cause memory loss, brain decay and even unexplainable fatigue.⁴ And this powerful acid is especially good at decreasing aluminum toxicity in your brain — helping to prevent damage to your delicate brain cells.

The brains of patients with Alzheimer’s have been found to contain unusually high levels of aluminum.⁴ In the past, it was believed that victims of the disease had digested or absorbed large amounts of aluminum in their lives.

However, it is now thought that how well our bodies can detoxify and get rid of the metal is much more important than the amount of aluminum consumed.

In patients who took a malic acid supplement, the amount of aluminum discharged from their bodies in urine and feces increased dramatically — and traces of aluminum in their organs and tissues were significantly lessened!

That’s why I recommend that you use malic acid and EDTA to boost your health and help rid your body of dangerous toxins. These two nutrients may be the safest and most effective way to help flush out dangerous plaque from your arteries… boost healthy blood flow… and help keep your health on the right track!

References

1. Weintraub, N. et al. Circulation Research, Feb. 20, 2009.
2. Cranton, E. A Textbook on EDTA Chelation Therapy, 2nd edition, foreword by Linus Pauling, Hampton Roads Publ., 2001.
3. Abraham GE, Glechas ID. Journal of Nutritional Medicine, 1992:3:49-59.
4. The Alzheimer’s Society. www.alzheimers.org.

[Ed. Note: Michael Cutler, M.D. is a board-certified family physician with more than 17 years of clinical experience. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University and Tulane Medical School. Dr. Cutler's practice focuses on integrative solutions to health problems, and behavioral and nutritional medicine. For more information, visit TrueHealth.]

Cutting Edge Fitness:

Five Reasons Why You Should Lose the Cardio Mentality

By Craig Ballantyne

“Cardio” is the “Economic Stimulus Bill” of the fitness world. You can put your hopes in it, butgenerally it isn’t going to do anything for you, and it will just waste your time and resources.

Most people don’t realize that there was “life before cardio”. People used to exercise outdoors. They participated in sports. They played games — outside! — with their family and friends. They used their feet or bicycles for transportation (rather than driving 15 minutes to the gym to go do “cardio”).

So here are the top 5 reasons why you should lose the “cardio” mentality.

1. No One Likes Doing “Cardio”

The biggest reason to drop cardio is because you hate doing it! Have you ever met a person who smiled when they said, “Oh, I have to go do cardio now.” (That’s not the same as the excitement an endurance athlete gets when they go “training”. That’s different from “cardio”. Endurance athletes don’t call their workouts, “cardio”.)

However, if you are a runner, and you love to run, and you tell me (with a smile), “I’m going out for a run”, then that’s cool by me. There is nothing wrong with that — that’s not the type of cardio I’m talking about. But if don’t like to run, and you tell me (with a depressed look on your face), “I’m going out for a run because I have to do my cardio”, then I say, “Forget that!” Life’s too short to hate your workouts!

2. Cardio Isn’t Great for Fat Loss Anyway

The second reason to drop the cardio mentality is because people put too much faith in the ability of cardio to burn fat. Most folks in the gym think 30 minutes of moderate cardio will help them lose weight.

But it won’t.  It just wastes their time.  People are obsessed with the calorie counters on machines. I truly believe this is how folks get hooked and obsessive compulsive with cardio… because all they can think about is how many calories they have burned, and how much food that means they can eat. The “Cardio Mentality” does not promote healthy relationships with food, so drop it!

3. There’s More to Health than Using Cardio Machines

People think you have to “cardio” (i.e., go to a gym and exercise on a machine that doesn’t go anywhere) for 30 minutes in order to be healthy. But that’s false. You don’t have to use “cardio machines” to be healthy. There is so much more to health than 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer. And too much cardio can even lead to overuse injuries.¹

First of all, your diet is more important for your cardiovascular health than your exercise regime. Plus, as long as you’re active each day (doing manual labor, playing sports, or lifting weights), you’re doing enough to meet the minimum required amount of exercise for cardiovascular health.

4. “Cardio” is an Ineffective Way to Train for Sports

Guys are notoriously guilty of believing “long, slow cardio” will help them with sports performance or their short, burst fitness (like climbing stairs). It rarely does.

In fact, the guy who does “cardio” in preparation for his basketball, soccer, hockey, or Ultimate Frisbee league is going to be sorely disappointed by how slow he is — and by how he lacks sports-specific fitness as much as all the guys who just lifted weights off-season.  Plus, doing traditional “machine cardio” does not prepare you for sports-specific movements or speed of movement, so you’re just as likely — if not more likely — to get injured during the early season.

5. “Cardio” is a Waste of Time

The “cardio mentality” signifies a waste of time, inefficiency, and a sheep-like mentality towards doing something just because everyone else is doing it. Seriously, if you were from another planet and you came down to earth and went into a big commercial gym and looked at the “cardio” section, pardon me, the “cardio theater” section, you’d smile to yourself and say, “wow, this planet is going to be easy pickings”.

“Cardio” is also lame because people use cardio as a time to catch up on their magazine reading and TV watching (and now Internet and email time). That says it all. Workout time is not multi-task time. So what should you be doing instead if you want to sculpt your body, burn fat, lose your belly, and get lean before summer?

You should skip the “cardio” (let’s not ever use that phrase again) and focus on total-body, multi-muscle resistance training and interval training exercises to help you build “everyday” strength and fitness (like the ability to carry groceries or children, or climb 3 flights of stairs as fast as possible).²

Plus, with total body workouts, you’ll save time and get more health benefits than you will with straight “cardio”. (Sorry to use that term again.)

Forget about doing long, slow boring cardio workouts that you despise, and start getting more results in less workout time today.

Take a deep breath and say, “Cardio is not that important.” That’s the first step to getting rid of the obsessive cardio mentality that makes people hate exercise. Second, put some fun back into your workouts.   Discover short-burst total body workouts that you only have to do three times per week and then recruit your friends to support you.   You’ll lose fat faster than ever this year.

References

1. www.TurbulenceTraining.com.
2. www.Youtube.com/cbathletics.

[Ed. Note: Craig Ballantyne is an expert consultant for Men's Health magazine. If you're looking to burn fat, build muscle and quickly step into the body you have always wanted with just three workouts each week, check out Craig's fat-loss system, Turbulence Training for Fat Loss.]

Healthy Recipes:

Tarragon Turkey Burgers

By Kelley Herring

These tasty burgers are packed with protein and DNA-protecting B vitamins.  A studypublished in the International Journal of Cancer found that getting 6.2 mg of niacin daily was associated with about a 40% decrease in cancers of the mouth and throat.¹ These juicy burgers provide a hefty 6 mg per serving. Serve with lettuce wraps or sprouting grain buns, if desired.

Time To Table: 15 minutes
Serves: 4

Benefits
Excellent Source of: Protein, Selenium, Vitamin B6, Niacin
Good Source of: Iron, Potassium, Zinc, Vitamin B12
Preferences: Low Carb, Gluten Free

Ingredients
1 pound organic, pastured turkey (ground)
1/2 medium organic zucchini, shredded
1/4 cup chopped organic red onion
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 large organic, omega-3 eggs
1 Tbsp dried tarragon
1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt
2 tsp organic Dijon mustard

Preparation
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Shape into 4 patties. Cook in a safe, nonstick pan for 5 minutes per side or until just lightly browned. Alternatively, the preferred method is to use a FlavorWave oven to cook. Place patties in FlavorWave and cook until no longer pink in the center (about 6-8 minutes).

Nutrition Information
226 Calories, 11 g Total Fat, 3 g Saturated fat, 0 g Trans Fat, 4 g Monounsaturated fats, 2 g Polyunsaturated fats, 0 mg Cholesterol, 422 mg Sodium, 2 g Carbohydrate, 1 g Fiber, 1 g Sugars, 29 g Protein

Reference

1. Negri E, et al. Int J Cancer. 2000;86(1):122-127.

[Ed Note: Who says dessert can't be healthy? Nutrition expert Kelley Herring's brand-new recipe e-book, Guilt-Free Desserts, reveals 40 easy-to-make, mouthwateringly delicious, 100% healthy dessert recipes you can make at home. Order today, and you'll receive the e-book Healthy Holiday Hors d'Oeuvres for free.]