Top 3 Ways to Exponentially Improve Heart Health

Here are the stats:

• 600,000 people die in America from heart disease.
• More than half of the deaths are males.
• 65% of the people had ZERO symptoms prior to the attack.
• USA ratio is 106.5 deaths out of 100K have heart attacks. In Japan, it’s 30 out of 100K.

This is a major issue for our country especially since we rank number 1 in expenditures for healthcare. We keep spending more money on healthcare than any other country but we keep getting sicker. Currently healthcare in the USA is 17.9% of the GDP which is far more than any other country.

When people talk about the economy getting stronger and recovery I feel the best asset is to get people healthier. Not through mammograms, cholesterol checks, blood pressure screenings, or other early detection devices but through TRUE healthcare such as nutrition, fitness, chiropractic, proper mental attitude, adequate sleep, and love.

There are three categories where we can truly maximize heart health: Nutrition, Fitness, and Love.

There are places around the World that are called Blue Zones which represent the healthiest communities where more people live to be over 100. Those communities are: Okinawa, Sardinia, Nicoya, Icaria, and the 7th Day Adventists in Loma Linda, CA.

In anything in my life I always want to strive for greatness and the best way to get there is to stand on the shoulders of giants. Success leaves clues and by doing what winners do then your odds of living a great life increase exponentially.

If you want to be rich and have money then you don’t want to hire a poor financial planner, if you want to have a happy marriage then you don’t hire a relationship coach who has been divorced 5 times, if you want to hire a health coach then you don’t hire a doctor who only deals with sick people and prescribes medicine, and if you want a successful life then you don’t hire a life coach that is on the verge of suicide and loaded up with anti-depressants.

We are going to follow some of the trends these communities do and for more info watch this 22 minute video on How to Live to Be 100.

Below are the top 3 recommendations for building a massive heart muscle and drastically reducing your risk of heart disease (or any lifestyle disease).

1. De-Inflame the Heart

Many of you know that I currently eat paleo and can truly say this “way of eating” (not diet) has positively impacted my energy                  levels, physique, and overall health. This way of eating is not something you do for 1 day, 1 week,1 month, or even 1 year but something you do for life which would be true for anything healthy for you (working out, thinking positive, chiropractic, massages, meditations, etc). 

It is unfortunate how many people are put on medications their whole life and NEVER question their doctors but the instant someone says they have to do something healthy for themselves for their life that person usually questions.

The question then becomes, how does paleo work?

Before I even go through what paleo is and how it works there is an event at our office “Paleo Cooking Class” where we will be making 2 health paleo dishes. We will be making a chicken stir fry and paleo chocolate panna cotta. This class is limited to 40 people so make sure you register and let us know how many guests you will be bringing.

Paleo is based on the concept that for 90% of human existence we have been hunter and gatherers. This means that there is no processed food, sugar, grains, dairy, or legumes in the diet. The best description I found of paleo was on the Whole9Life website and below is what they wrote. If you would like a shopping list than please reply to this e-mail and I will send it to you.

 “I eat “real” food — fresh, natural food like meat, vegetables and fruit. I choose foods that are nutrient dense, with lots of naturally-occurring vitamins and minerals, over foods that have more calories but less nutrition. And food quality is important — I’m careful about where my meat comes from, and buy produce locally and organically as often as possible.

 It’s not a low calorie “diet” — I eat as much as I need to maintain strength, energy and a healthy weight. In fact, my diet is probably much higher in fat than you’d imagine. Fat isn’t the enemy — it’s a great energy source when it comes from high quality foods like avocado, coconut and nuts. And I’m not trying to do a “low carb” thing, but since I’m eating vegetables and fruits instead of bread, cereal and pasta, it just happens to work out that way.

 Eating like this is good for maintaining a healthy metabolism, and reducing inflammation within the body. It’s been doing great things for my energy levels, body composition and performance in the gym. It also helps to minimize my risk for a whole host of lifestyle diseases and conditions, like diabetes, heart attack and stroke.”

2. Less = More in Exercise

In the Blue Zones where people live to be over 100 they are not constantly on treadmills, exercise bikes, or other machines that most people waste hours on. They are performing constant functional movements such as climbing mountains, walking through the hills, working the land, and generally using their bodies in a constant grind as they perform their daily activities. These movements are considered functional movements and would be parallel to crossfit training. In crossfit we are performing olympic lifts, pull-ups, sit-ups, squats, and lots of other functional movements that keep us fit and adaptable to daily human movements. 

For someone who is looking to get really fit functionally, lose weight, and increase muscle mass then a great workout routine would be to perform Tabata training.

This training has you perform 20 seconds of work with 10 seconds break for a total of 8 rounds meaning the work lasts 4 minutes. Here is a virtual video to describe how to perform a 20 minute Tabata workout: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQp8q1aDKA4

By doing this video 4 times per week I can almost guarantee you would get into the best shape of your life and feel amazing.

 3. Have Date Night Once a Week

As part of my goal setting exercises every October, one of the categories I create is tangible goals in the category of “People”. I make it a point to build certain relationships and one of the relationships is the one with my wife. 

This year I have made a concrete goal that no matter what happens in our schedules we will have a date night once a week. It is so easy to let the weeks go by without quality time with each other and this year I have made it a point to change that. Having regular date nights slow down the weeks and really gives me an opportunity to relax and take a break from .

This past Saturday night we went to watch “The Producers” and each week we have committed to spending one night with each other. This night creates  exponential growth in our relationship and brings us closer each time. I even feel it makes me much more present and focused in my professional life.

If you are in a serious relationship then I would recommend holding date night every week and if you are not in a serious relationship then make it a point to have 1 night a week where you go out with a friend or get put in some social setting.