Exercise: Want more efficient muscles? Eat your spinach, says a new study. According to research published in Cell Metabolism, nitrate, a compound found in vegetables and especially in green leaves, helps healthy people consume less oxygen while exercising. This happens because the nitrate in vegetables mixes with friendly bacteria in the mouth and forms nitric oxide, which in turn helps the cardiovascular system by opening up our blood vessels to lower blood pressure. The study says that, in addition to this benefit, the nitrates make mitochondria – the powerhouses of the cell - more efficient. Interestingly, the researchers say that since the benefits of nitrates depend on friendly bacteria in the mouth, mouthwashes are not good if you want this system to work because they kill good and bad bacteria. Read More…
Today is National Wear Red Day, an occasion in which we’re asked to wear something red to show our support for spreading awareness about heart health. As sponsors for the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women movement, we want to offer some information that you can use when talking heart wellness, and that will help you maintain a loving relationship with your very own beloved heart. Read More…
Nutrition: The most widely produced fruit (and we treat it like a veggie), tomatoes have now been found to be good for your vascular system. Research published in the journal Molecular Nutrition & Food Research reveals that an extracted compound found in tomatoes has anti-dyslipidemic affects. Dyslipidemia is a condition caused by abnormal amounts of lipids like cholesterol or fat in the blood. Tomato, with already established benefits against prostate cancer and more, was found to enhance fatty acid oxidation, and to regulate liver lipid metabolism. Read More…
Heart: Grow your heart – through exercise. While everyone knows that exercise comes with metabolic and cardiovascular benefits, a new study now confirms that it also specifically turns on a genetic program that leads the heart to grow as heart muscle cells divide. While high blood pressure can grow the heart pathologically, the researchers found that exercise grows the heart in a positive way, making it resistant to heart failure. The study was published in the journal Cell. Read More…
Out of all the smurfs, angry smurf was definitely at highest risk of cardiac arrest. Out of all the emotions, anger – whether expressed or repressed – is the worst for the heart. Repression of anger creates a huge burden on the cardiovascular system, and sometimes outright expression of it hurts others and makes things worse for you as well. Read More…
Many of our readers have been asking for books with info on a veg lifestyle, so, here is a list we put together to help you with your transition to a plant-based diet. It is crucial to get as much information as you can before, during, and after your diet change, so that you know what you’re doing and, equally as importantly, why you’re doing it. These books were chosen for different reasons, but each one will give you crucial keys and steps to follow that will help you on your path to optimal wellness. Remember that health is holistic, and with these reads you’ll get your mind on board and ready for the transformation that your body will go through. Click on the links for HTalk interviews. Read More…
