“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” ~ Hippocrates

Welcome to the third and final installment of my ‘Heart Matters’ posts. I’d like to start by asking you two questions:

Is it a priority for you to protect yourself from age and lifestyle related disease?

Would you like to age slowly and be able to keep fit and healthy, with plenty of energy and optimal vitality to live your life to the full, regardless of how old you are?

If the answer is yes, then it’s crucial to pay attention to your cardio vascular system. Your cardiovascular system delivers vital oxygen and nutrients via your blood throughout sixty thousand miles of blood vessel network to nearly 100 trillion cells that make up the human body.

In my second post on Heart Matters I covered some sobering statistics about cardio vascular disease. To summarize: the WHO cite cardio vascular disease as the leading cause of mortality, responsible for more than 50% of deaths in the western world – killing more people than cancer, diabetes and prescription drugs combined.

1998 Nobel Prize for Medicine

Dr. Louis Ignarro, distinguished Professor of Pharmacology at UCLA School of Medicine is a co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Medicine. He spent over two decades researching cardio vascular health, which lead to the discovery that Nitric Oxide (NO) is the master signalling molecule of the cardio vascular system.

The wide-ranging health benefits of Nitric Oxide was such a ground-breaking and important discovery that scientists dubbed it THE MIRACLE MOLECULE.

It is the human body that is the real miracle however, and when it has enough of the right potent nutrition it can begin to regain balance and achieve optimum health.

Nitric Oxide

Nitric Oxide is a gas that is produced naturally by the body, in the single cell that lines the entire inside of our blood vessels, known as the ENDOTHELIUM. It is also produced in the thyroid. Up until our twenties our bodies produce 100% of Nitric Oxide (NO), but every decade thereafter this production slows significantly, causing a hardening and thickening of the arteries and build-up of fatty material – plaque.

Left unchecked this can lead to heart-attack, stroke, vascular dementia and other illness. Smoking, poor diet, lack of exercise and a genetic predisposition can accelerate the degeneration of cardio vascular health. In fact, low levels of Nitric Oxide can cause every disease known to man.

Despite our advancements in medicine, modern healthcare and availability of drugs, the world is sicker than it’s ever been. This would indicate that big pharma and drugs are not the answer.

So how do you bring your body back into balance if it’s not operating like a well-oiled machine?

Ancient wisdom holds the answer!

The answer lies in our daily habits and in preventative measures. I’m going to share with you some of Dr. Louis Ignarro’s findings from his book, NO More Heart Disease – How Nitric Oxide Can Prevent – Even Reverse – Heart Disease and Strokes.

Essentially Nitric Oxide relaxes and enlarges blood vessels (vasodilation), heals the endothelium, normalises blood pressure, prevents blood clots that trigger strokes and heart attacks and protects against the accumulation of vascular plaque.

The 1998 Nobel Prize discovery also led to the first practical application of his research, the development of Viagra. Since then further science-led innovation has produced natural, plant based supplements that have a positive impact on the entire body.

NO to the Rescue

Specifically, here is why sufficient levels of NO are so important in preventing arteriosclerosis. If the endothelial cells on the inner surface of your blood vessels are damaged in any way, other types of cells in the blood, monocytes and leukocytes, can storm through the vessel wall, accumulate, and imbed themselves in the smooth layer muscle. The invasion complete, these cells release chemicals called inflammatory mediators that trigger inflammation in the smooth muscle, setting the atherosclerotic process of plaque formation into motion and resulting in blocked blood flow.

Once plaque forms in the arteries, it is much more difficult to undo the damage than to prevent it in the first place.  

~ Dr. Louis J. Ignarro

Why should you care about your Nitric Oxide levels?

• Nitric Oxide (NO) is the body’s own wonder drug.
• NO is one of the most significant molecules in the body.
• NO influences the functioning of virtually every human organ, from the heart to the lungs to the stomach.
• Adequate levels of NO may play a role in preventing and supporting conditions such as diabetes, alzheimer’s disease, erectile dysfunction (ED), rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, high cholesterol, menopause symptoms, obesity, kidney disease, migraine headaches, infections, inflammatory disease such as Crohn’s Disease, cancer, multiple sclerosis and ulcers.

In my humble opinion this discovery by Dr. Louis Ignarro and his colleagues should go down in history as one of the greatest discoveries ever made in the field of medicine.

You may be wondering, how do I increase my intake of NO?

Dietary Supplementation with L-Arginine and L-Citrulline

When taken in enough quantities the amino acids L-Arginine and L-Citrulline form long-lasting levels of NO in the body. These can of course be found in different types of food: fish such as salmon and oysters, watermelon, almonds, dark chocolate, peanuts, soy and red meat (in moderation). Due to over farming and the use of chemicals our soils have been depleted of nutrients so it’s tough to get enough NO from diet alone.

Other types of food that contribute to a healthy heart and cardio vascular system are phytonutrients, foods rich in antioxidants, foods rich in protein, omega-3 fatty acids, heart-healthy fats and 400 to 800 mcgs per day of folic acid.

In his book Dr. Ignarro also shares case studies highlighting the importance of regular exercise for the cardio vascular system and indeed, overall health.

Dr. Louis Ignarro talks about his research into Nitric Oxide and disease prevention:

A short pdf document about Nitric Oxide. no_manual_en

I strongly recommend you get his book on Amazon if you want more in depth information on this subject as I am not a doctor. However, I am passionate about well-being and helping others achieve Elite Health.

According to Dr. Ignarro we each need between 5-20 grams per day of NO depending on the state of our health. Because L-Arginine and L-Citrulline can be taken in large quantities with no side effects or toxicity, this means that supplementation is safe.

A completely natural, plant based solution: ProArgi-9+

I’d like to share my personal story with you.  I’ve been supplementing for just a few months with high quality, targeted nutraceuticals, (one of which is ProArgi-9+), and my health has reached a level I never thought possible in my late forties.

In the first few weeks I experienced some detoxification symptoms, I could feel something was happening. I was thirsty and began to drink more water during this period. I found my usually healthy appetite was diminished and my energy levels began to soar.

After about three weeks the brain fog I didn’t know I had cleared (like a morning mist), and was replaced with a feeling of mental clarity. At the time I started taking the supplements I was suffering with mild depression – I was exhausted all the time (it’s tough working full-time with three children at home as well as all the domestic chores and extra-curricular activities that entails), but since then my mood has been massively elevated, even on bad days. I frequently work 12-18 hour days, something I haven’t been able to do since my twenties. The quality of my sleep (even though I don’t get enough), is much better also. With so many projects on the go and energetic children to take care of this has been a god send.

I also noticed the soreness in my knees reduced and has now completely gone, and the quality of my hair has been transformed. It’s fuller and more vibrant, hair loss has been dramatically reduced and even the number of grey hairs has reduced with new, darker re-growth. My skin improved, my eyesight improved and my muscle tone improved.

I lost almost a stone in weight and other health issues I had no longer bother me.

I can now complete my Zumba classes without feeling like I’m going to have a heart attack and keep up with women half my age. The chronic muscle stiffness that would plague me for days afterwards as I walked around like a plank has virtually disappeared.

Never in my wildest dreams did I expect these kinds of results when I first started taking ProArgi-9+ and the V3 system.

What a gift!

To think it’s one that I could have passed over sends shivers down my spine. My mother has an even more inspiring story. It has reduced her life-threateningly high blood pressure into the normal range so that she has been able to discontinue her medications. It has enabled her to continue flying and teaching people how to fly gliders, one of her passions in life.

If you have high blood pressure:

I’m eternally grateful to my business partner, Kim Bradley for introducing me to this scientifically validated product and Synergy Worldwide, the ethical, Forbes 100 nutritional company that produces it.  Synergy is the only nutritional company to be classified by Forbes as one of America’s most trustworthy companies.

I love working with Kim and she was recently recognised with a well deserved award for her caring and competent leadership by Synergy at their European Summit last week in Vienna.

No other natural supplement except for ProArgi-9+  appears in the Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR) in the USA, where it is listed as the ‘highest quality L-Arginine supplement in the world’.

Clinical studies also prove that ProArgi-9+ reduces LDL oxidised cholesteral which is a precursor to heart disease. pa9_synergyadvantage2

It has had a profound effect on my life – giving me back my zest for life, my high energy levels, my self-confidence and renewed passion for all the things that I want to do and achieve with my life.

I’m on a mission to educate everyone I care about, so they can experience similar health benefits in their own lives.

By the end of November I will have my new website linked to my blog under the heading Elite Health.

Well-being is an ever evolving continuum between disease and optimal health. Most people are somewhere in the middle of the scale, but if you’d like to move further towards the health end it means taking control of factors like diet, lifestyle and efficacious supplementation.

It’s probably fair to say that many of us spend more money on maintaining our cars, on entertainment, alcohol and posh cups of coffee than we do investing in our long term health.

Even professional athletes can see the value in improved sporting performance with quicker recovery times. And unlike the unfortunate and misguided Maria Sharapova, who took the banned substance Meldonium and was subsequently suspended from playing tennis, these nutraceuticals are all food based and approved by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

I’m happy to offer that same gift to you – and give you more information about the science behind these nutraceuticals and how they can change your life for the better. I can communicate with you by email, Skype, over the phone, or via Gotomeeting.

If you’d like to know more, do get in touch with me via Twitter (@Ginsterbabe) or on my blog contact page and we can start a potentially life-changing conversation!

“As a nation we spend close to a 100 billion dollars a year fighting heart disease. As baby boomers reach retirement age that figure is going to double in the next 20 years. Yet we spend less than 2 billion dollars a year in preventing heart disease. Simple nutritional supplements and lifestyle modifications would be the most cost effective way of preventing heart disease. Focusing our attention on lifestyle changes we believe is the best way to prevent heart disease not only in the adult population but especially among our children.”

~ Dr. Siva Arunasalam (Internal Medicine, Invasive and Non-Invasive Cardiology) Director High Desert Heart Institute, USA.