Ginger protects your heart....

Today's post:  Tuesday, 9-20-2016

1.  High chronic inflammation causes osteoarthritis and magnifies any aches and pains you have.

That means that if you work out and get any extra strains, even if minor, of your joints or tendons or muscles -- with high chronic inflammation, your workout will demotivate you a bit.

People once took OTC pain relievers for this aspirin and acetaminophen and NSAID’s.

But the NSAID’s tend to increase heart attack risk we now know. 

Aspirin causes internal bleeding and fatal cases on occasion and boosts the risk of Reyes syndrome which can cause paralytic symptoms. 

And acetaminophen in too large of a dose or doses plus taking it much of it with even regular moderate alcohol consumption can cause and has caused liver failure and death.

So if you work out and also want to avoid getting crippled up with osteoarthritis, it would be really great if there was a way to cut high chronic inflammation AND a safe way to turn temporary inflammatory over-reactions.

Clearly the OTC drugs are not that way!

I read that the herb, ginger, lowered inflammation and was safe to eat or take as a supplement.

So,  every morning before my exercises for that day, I’d put about two tablespoons of organic ground ginger spice and mix it into a small glass of chilled water and drink it down once I stirred it in.

My Dad at my age had osteoarthritis.  After drinking this ginger tonic for a few years I do not.

And, though I’ll still get strains etc from my workout, my ginger tonic keeps them minor enough to not be distracting let alone painful.

2.  Then I found the book Anticancer which explains that high chronic inflammation causes or worsens cancers.

The cure the doctor who wrote it found was to reverse the cause of the high chronic inflammation most Americans have. 

He found that eating grains, eating grain oils like corn and soy, or eating the fat from animals fed grain instead of their natural diet causes people to have 20 or 30 TIMES too much pro-inflammatory omega 6 oils.  Then if people also fail to get a safe source of anti-inflammatory omega 3 oils also, their chronic inflammation goes very high.

His concern was that this boosted the Dickens out of cancer.  But we also now know it also causes heart disease, osteoarthritis, and Alzheimer’s disease!

He also found that turmeric or the curcumin contained in it lowered chronic inflammation.

So to prevent or help prevent ALL those diseases, eating more organic vegetables and eating no or WAY less grains and oils from them and no fats from factory farmed, grain fed animals, was VERY protective.

Eating wild caught fish high in omega 3 oils and lots of organic vegetables, particularly those that also prevent cancer instead also is protective.

4.  But botanically, ginger is a close relative of turmeric and also lowers high chronic inflammation.

When I read that turmeric and curcumin were protective I added them in addition to my ginger tonic.

A bit after I’d been both things for a few months, I got my lipid panel and my LDL tested.  My LDL dropped from 105 to75!

I wondered if the ginger & turmeric and curcumin might have done this due to the timing.

But I’d never read of this elsewhere.  But THEN I did!  Dr Dean Ornish in his book Spectrum said that the LDL lowering from turmeric and curcumin was well known!

5.  So I now knew that my ginger tonic was heart protective in two ways.  It safely cut my LDL and HSCRP measure of chronic inflammation by about as much as statin drugs but with none of the side effects of statins!

6.  Imagine my delight and surprise then to find out that my ginger tonic has EVEN MORE heart protective qualities than those qualities have been making it!

Dr Al Sears sent an email last week that had some of those added heart protections!

“Many doctors tell their patients to take an aspirin a day to prevent heart disease. It's become such an accepted practice that I see patients in my clinic who started taking it on their own just because they figured it was a "good idea."

I tell them to stop.

Don't get me wrong - aspirin is one of the safest over-the-counter drugs out there.

But it's still a drug. So that means there are still some risks involved with its use. The main risk is excessive bleeding. Other risks include kidney and liver failure, ulcers, tinnitus and hemorrhagic stroke if you use it too much.

During my travels around the world, I've found natural remedies that work as well, or even better, for heart health. Some are exotic. Others you probably already have in your kitchen… like ginger.

Most people think of ginger as a remedy for an upset stomach. But it does so much more.

Taking a little bit of ginger every day can give your heart a real boost. That's because it contains 12 antioxidant compounds more powerful than vitamin E.1 Antioxidants combat free radicals in your body. And flavonoids, a type of antioxidant found in ginger, are especially good for your heart.

One study looked at the dietary flavonoid intake of 1,400 men. Researchers found that the men who got the least amount of flavonoids had the worst carotid artery diameter and the highest risk of heart disease.2

Ginger is good for your heart in other ways, too. Research shows it reduces oxidation, which can inflame the lining of your arteries.

In one study, researchers divided 40 participants into two groups. Half were healthy. The other half had a history of coronary artery disease. One group received 5 grams of ginger powder each day, and the other received a placebo.

After four weeks, oxidation had decreased by 18% in the healthy group and 23% in those with a history of heart disease.3

Like aspirin, ginger works as a blood thinner. And that means it prevents clots from forming that could lead to heart attack or stroke.”

Conclusion:

It turns out that my daily ginger tonic has been one of the most effective things I’ve done to protect my heart!

It also protects against clots from a substance made by bacteria that eat the choline your brain needs called TMAO.  It protects against the clots that can be caused by AFIB.  And it protects against the clots caused by being too sedentary.

Wow!

So, in addition to its other heart protections, ginger acts to prevent the clots that can trigger heart attacks and strokes!

It may do so well enough to make it safe to avoid the very dangerous blood thinning drugs and still be protected!

 >>> There is one problem though that you should be aware of, if you are taking a blood thinning drug, adding that much ginger could cause the drug to work too well causing heavy internal bleeding, a life threatening event!

It’s likely possible to switch from the drug or the drug only to ginger or ginger and a LOT lower dose of the drug.  But to do so, it might take two days in the hospital being very carefully monitored to do it safely.

So, unless you and your doctor -- or a doctor willing to do so -- do that, if you take blood thinning drugs, don’t take that much ginger!

The upside in this is that if your doctor suggests blood thinning drugs but you haven’t started taking the drugs, you have an alternative to try first that may be more protective!