It's a Holiday Weekend and We're Having a Heart Healthy Seminar!

My husband assures me that he knows of no other family like mine. When all family members and spouses gather at my parents home in the Midwest for the Thanksgiving or Christmas holidays, spontaneous and planned seminars occur each addressing different health oriented topics. We might talk about new recipes involving spinach, changes in daily vitamin regimens, exercise routines, each family member's latest blood test results, symptom diagnosis, and more! I grew up with these health talks as a part of life, so I am never surprised by them or the frequency with which they occur.

I'm quite certain, however, that all this "blood talk" drives my husband absolutely crazy. One day after taking a walk in the neighborhood, my husband returned to my parents home only to find every adult woman in the house laying prone and still, impaled with multiple acupuncture needles. I'm sure this sight would shock anyone, let alone my unprepared husband!

Besides the regular holiday chatter/chats, games, workouts, morning coffee, walking tours of the local Reiman Gardens, football games, and/or antique shopping, there are also numerous "bodily function" discussions. Indeed "bodily function" discussions are standard fare! What do you expect when your family includes a Pain doctor with credentials in Acupuncture, a physiologist, a nurse and a doctor-to-be?

Of course this Thanksgiving holiday was no different. Led by my brother - the Pain Doctor - one central image was used to center our discussion. Taken from Life Extension's magazine was the image of a heart with 17 daggers of arterial disease. Our conversation focused on a variety of medical remedies, including exercise, important to maintain heart health. The image is below.

While all of the complex medical explanations made sense in context, I did take notes, mostly of my brother's recommended regimens. These notes are included below:

- Fat Soluble K2 regulates proteins
- Vitamin D3 - take 5,000-8,000 units per day
- Metformin good for the body and for people with diabetes
- Exercise keeps cholesterol from oxidizing
- Irvingia, Resveratrol, Isofavinoids lead to artery flexibility
- Nitric Oxide keeps coronary arteries dilated and lets cells use energy
- Omega 3's such as Lovaza (465 EPA and 375 DHA) take 3 times this amount
- Vitamin B6 turns down Homosystine (which is an inflammatory marker )
- Folate drives down Homostytine and keeps heart from having oxidizing stress
- Vitamin C and Lysine may lower Lipoprotein A
- 1000 units of Vitamin C are great anti-oxidents
- Vitamin E Tocotrienol is another antioxidant that turns down cholesterol in the Liver
- Hormone Estrogen may protect the heart in women but excess Estrogen is not always good

Whew...that was one, big chock-full-of-information family seminar! And now its time to let it sink in, like osmosis....

Submitted on Saturday, December 4, 2010.

P.S. What a string of birthdays! Happy Birthday Walter, Phillip and Susan!