We have been taught that fat is bad for us and causes heart disease. It is clogging our arteries and wearing down the heart. There are also many who fear calcium cause it is what causes plaque in the heart. There is a lot of confusion when it comes to heart health and what foods support heart health and what foods cause damage.
We have been taught animal fat and meat is bad and plant foods are good heart health foods. This is all a misconception coming from Ancel Keys and his 7 country study. It is based on cherry-picking science. Animal fat is beneficial for the heart as it is heat stable and is shown to be anti-inflammatory, being heat-stable helps it to not oxidize during cooking. Oxidized fats cause issues and can create tissue damage. Plant fats that have been heated past the heat point are not stable and cause oxidization and cause health issues. Plant fats can also cause inflammation. The true issues with fats are ones that are old, oxidized or mixed with sugar. These fats cause damage no matter plant or animal fat.
Omega 3 fats help support vessel repair and are anti-inflammatory. One fat that is very important for good muscle tone is Vitamin E which helps to drive your calcium into the muscle and nerves. We want our fats to be a balance of 1-1 ratio. We currently have 25-1 or 50-1 which causes a lot of issues with inflammation.
Calcium is very key for many functions of the body. Calcium and the heart calcium support the muscle tone supporting the contraction which is needed to have a regular heartbeat. Calcium is an important element in muscle cell function. The more soreness we have is a sign of low calcium. Calcium's only issue is being brought into the body and then not having the factors to drive it properly.
Vitamin D is what brings calcium into the blood, after it is in the blood you need vitamin E and other fats to carry it into the tissue. If calcium is not driven properly it can thicken blood making more work for the heart or it can bounce around in the blood and can bounce straight into an injured wall that has cholesterol on it trying to bandaid it and then it becomes stuck creating plaque. If your fats are being digested properly they will guide the calcium to the place it belongs. Calcium and heart health if there is a negative it would be the calcium is not being brought in and not being delivered into the tissue by fat. Quality vitamin C can play a role in supporting the artery walls to aid healing so we do not have damaged artery walls, but that is for another day.
Ultimately understanding the quality of food you eat is important and how to drive your nutrition is needed for overall health and wellbeing. Make sure you understand the actions of nutrients when it comes to adding and removing them from your diet. We can often get led astray with all the nutrition advice. One person's poison can be another person saving grace. This is why you should not blindly follow a protocol without understanding where you stand.
If you need guidance in your health/nutritional needs please set up an appointment. If you are not local to do a scan there are other options, ways I can help you. You can start with a survey, or we can do a phone consultation. Now is the time to take care of yourself!
Wishing you all health and wellness!