The Heart of the Matter

The Heart of the Matter

By Stephanie Walsh

Posted on June 2, 2025

To have heart means many things.  It means to love, have passion, be generous and forgiving, show kindness and sympathy, be compassionate and have courage.  The heart is a symbol for all these things and more, including one major factor in all our lives – state of health.

A Healthy Heart

If you recall from biology or anatomy class, the heart has four chambers – two atria and two ventricles.  Each atrium is a depository for blood coming in, while the ventricles pump blood out of the heart.

More specifically, blood circulates through the body and returns back to the right side of the heart – making its way through the right atrium and ventricle.  From there, blood gets pumped to the lungs where it exchanges carbon dioxide for a resupply of oxygen before returning to the heart in the left atrium.  Finally, this newly oxygenated blood flows into the left ventricle and gets pumped back out to the body for another cycle.  The timing of each contraction of the heart is critical, yet it happens automatically without skipping a beat, literally.  Even more amazing is the fact that the heart pumps roughly 6 quarts of blood through the body over 1000 times a day.  Which means your heart pumps over 6000 quarts of blood in a single day!

It is the heart, and the rest of the circulatory system, that helps bring oxygen and nutrients to every cell in the body.  Another important piece of the circulatory system is the endothelium.  The endothelium is a thin layer of cells that coat the inside lining of the entire circulatory system – from the heart to blood vessels to even the smallest capillaries.  This makes the endothelium very critical to health because it plays an important role in the proper function of every organ in the body, including the heart.

Now a healthy heart can keep chugging along at this pace for decades with nary a peep as long as the endothelium lining is healthy as well.  But a life of unhealthy choices, whether inadvertent or deliberate, can lead to a troubling heart.

When Disease Strikes

One major function of the endothelium is to facilitate blood flow.  It does this by providing a smooth surface that’s meant to inhibit foreign particles and substances from adhering.  However, when chronic inflammation damages the lining and allows cholesterol to stick to the endothelium, plaque begins to form.  So when the body has systemic and chronic inflammation, formation of plaque in the heart and arteries occurs which then leads to arteriosclerosis, hardening of arteries and heart disease.  Plaque buildup is also a silent condition; it cannot be felt until the situation is severe.  So taking care of your heart and circulatory system is not something you should wait to do or take lightly!

Not convinced?  Here are some alarming statistics on Heart Disease from the American Heart Association:

• Heart disease strikes someone in the U.S. about once every 42 seconds.

• Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death in the United States, killing over 370,000 people a year.

• Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, taking more lives than all forms of cancer combined.

• Cardiovascular operations and procedures increased about 28 percent from 2000 to 2010, according to federal data, totaling about 7.6 million in 2010.

• About 750,000 people in the U.S. have heart attacks each year. Of those, about 116,000 die.

• About 550,000 people in the U.S. have a first-time heart attack each year, and about 200,000 have recurrent heart attacks.

Although this information is scary, the good news is that modest changes to your lifestyle can greatly decrease your risk of being another statistic.  The American Heart Association recommends 7 simple life changes for long lasting health.

• Smoking. Approximately 20% of all deaths from heart disease in the U.S. are directly related to cigarette smoking. Your risk of heart disease and heart attack greatly increases with the number of cigarettes you smoke.

  • If you smoke, find the support you need to quit for good.

• Body Weight. 21% of ischemic heart disease is attributable to a BMI (Body Mass Index) above 21. As your BMI increases, so does your risk of heart disease and stroke.

  • If your body weight is putting you at risk, work with a nutritionist and/or personal trainer to help you get back to a healthy weight.

• Cholesterol. Approximately 73.5 million adults (31.7%) in the US have high LDL (aka “bad”) cholesterol. If your total cholesterol is high you have twice the risk for heart disease than someone with normal cholesterol levels.

  • If you have high cholesterol, work with your doctor and nutritionist to help reduce your total cholesterol numbers.

• Blood Pressure. In the US, 1 out of every 3 adults (77.9 million) have high blood pressure. About 69% of people who have a first heart attack, 77% who have a first stroke, and 74% who have congestive heart failure had blood pressure higher than 140/90mmHg.

  • If you have high blood pressure, speak with your doctor to determine the best steps you can take to lower your blood pressure.

• Blood Sugar. Over time, high blood sugar levels will damage nerves and blood vessels. This leads to complications such as heart disease and stroke, the leading causes of death among people with diabetes.

  • If you are diabetic or pre-diabetic, make an appointment with your doctor and a nutritionist to help get your blood sugar under control.

• Physical Activity. You can double your risk of dying from a cardiovascular event just by being inactive. Walking at least two hours a week can reduce the incidence of premature death from cardiovascular disease by about 50%.

  • If you are currently inactive, or workout less than 2 hours per week, start adding in short walks several times per week and consider hiring a personal trainer.

• Healthy Diet. A diet high in processed fats, trans fats, refined carbohydrates, sodium and junk food leads to high levels of cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar as well as increased body weight – all of which contribute to increased risk of heart disease.

  • Make an appointment with a nutritionist to help work toward a more heart friendly diet.

How Food is a Heartbreaker

One quick way to reduce your risk of heart disease is to start eliminating some of the foods that contribute to chronic inflammation and plaque formation.  Below is a list of foods to start reducing in your diet.

Foods High in Salt.  Too much sodium increases blood pressure.  If sodium intake is consistently excessive, it can snowball into uncontrolled high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries and eventually heart disease.  Although some foods high in salt are obvious, some are also considered healthy.  Read labels to see how much sodium you’re getting in your diet.  Here are some of the top offenders.

• Chips, pretzels and salted nuts

• Prepared boxed meals

• Canned vegetables and soups

• Soups from restaurants and your local grocer.

• Cold cuts

• Beef Jerky

• Frozen meals

• Catchup

• Tomato sauce

• Vegetable juice

• Capers and olives

• Cottage Cheese

Foods Containing Trans Fats.  Trans fats not only clog arteries, they damage the endothelial lining and create inflammation in the body.  This triple whammy effect dramatically increases your risk of heart disease.  The following foods are some of the highest in trans fats.  Work at completely eliminating these and any foods that contain hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated or fractionated oils – code for trans fat – and you will greatly enhance your heart health.

• Coffee creamer

• Frozen pies and desserts

• Frozen dairy dessert and some ice creams

• Microwave popcorn

• Margarine

• Biscuits and croissants from a can

• Shelf stable muffins and pastries

Foods High in Sugar.  Every time blood sugar spikes in the body, a process called glycation occurs.  During glycation, sugar adheres to collagen, elastin and other parts of the body such as blood vessels, weakening those structures.  Glycation creates inflammation throughout the body, and that chronic inflammation can lead to heart disease.  Avoiding obvious sources of sugar like cakes, pastries, desserts, muffins and sugary drinks will be a great start.  Also make sure to read labels on the following foods to see how much hidden sugar you may be consuming.

• Yogurt

• Protein and energy bars

• Coffee drinks

• Chinese food (many sauces are high in sugar and sodium)

• Fruit juices

• Salad dressings

• Tomato sauce

• Granola

• Milk alternatives, such as soy, almond or coconut milks

Remember, for plaque to form in the heart and arteries, there first needs to be an environment of inflammation.  That’s why a heart healthy diet is also an anti-inflammatory diet.

Foods Your Heart Hearts

A heart healthy and anti-inflammatory diet is much easier to obtain than you think!  Below is a list of some amazing and tasty foods you can start adding to your grocery list.

Veggies, including plenty of greens.  They are not only full of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.  Many vegetables are a good source of potassium – a mineral key to controlling blood pressure.

Avocado.  Avocados have been found to decrease inflammation in the body and reduce narrowing of blood vessels in the hours following consumption.

Garlic. This pungent bulb helps to regulate cholesterol, reduce plaque formation and decrease oxidative stress.

Wild Blueberries.  A 2013 study found that consuming ¾ cup wild blueberries every day significantly improved endothelial function.  This translates into a healthier heart.

Pomegranates.  These juicy, seedy gems have a high level of polyphenols which can defend against arteriosclerosis and fight oxidative stress.

Whole grains.  Grains as close to their natural form as possible are full of fiber which helps lower cholesterol.

Wild-caught Fatty Fish.  Fish such as salmon and trout can be a rich source of omega 3 fats.  These essential fatty acids reduce inflammation and your risk of heart disease.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  A landmark study found that consumption of EVOO or nuts decreased risk of heart disease by 30%.

Green Tea.  One meta-analysis study found green tea may reduce risk of heart disease by as much as 28%.

Dark Chocolate.  The flavanols found in dark chocolate (70% cocoa or higher) have been shown to help improve blood flow and lower blood pressure.

Incorporating many of these foods in your meal plan throughout the week, and reducing or eliminating the inflammatory foods listed above, can greatly improve your heart health.

Stephanie Walsh

• https://www.theholistichealthapproach.com/blog/the-heart-of-the-matter

Why Sunlight Deficiency is as Deadly as Smoking

Why Sunlight Deficiency is as Deadly as Smoking

By GreenMedInfo

Posted on April 25, 2023

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A groundbreaking study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine has revealed something absolutely amazing about the role of the Sun in human health: a deficiency of sunlight could be as harmful to human health as smoking cigarettes.

The study titled, “Avoidance of sun exposure as a risk factor for major causes of death: a competing risk analysis of the Melanoma in Southern Sweden cohort,” was conducted by Swedish researchers on a population of almost 30,000 women. They assessed the differences in sun exposure as a risk factor for all-cause mortality, within a prospective 20-year follow up of the Melanoma in Southern Sweden (MISS) cohort. The women were aged 25-64 years at the start of the study and recruited from 1990 to 1992. When their sun exposure habits were analyzed using modern survival statistics they discovered several things.

First:

“Women with active sun exposure habits were mainly at a lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and noncancer/non-CVD death as compared to those who avoided sun exposure.” 

Second:

“As a result of their increased survival, the relative contribution of cancer death increased in these women.”  

This finding may be a bit tricky to understand, so let’s look at it a little closer.

Because cancer risk increases along with biological age, the longer you live, the higher your cancer risk will be. Therefore, because increased sunlight exposure actually increases your longevity, it will also appear to increase your risk of cancer. But this does not necessarily mean that sunlight is intrinsically “carcinogenic,” which is commonly assumed.

Because heart disease is #1 killer in the developed world, and since sunlight reduces this most common cause of premature death, even if it increases the risk of the #2 most common cause of death (cancer), the net effect of sunlight exposure is that you will still live longer, which helps to contextualize and neutralize the “increased cancer risk” often observed. Keep in mind, as well, that a huge number of cancers are overdiagnosed and overtreated, without sufficient acknowledgement by the medical establishment, whose culpability is rarely addressed. These “cancers” greatly inflate the statistics. With millions of so-called early stage cancers like these — especially breast, prostate, thyroid, lung, and ovarian — being wrongly diagnosed and treated, the complexity of the topic makes determining the role of sunlight exposure and cancer risk all the more difficult to ascertain.

Moving on, the point about the longevity promoting properties of sunlight are driven home strongly by the third major observation:

“Nonsmokers who avoided sun exposure had a life expectancy similar to smokers in the highest sun exposure group, indicating that avoidance of sun exposure is a risk factor for death of a similar magnitude as smoking.” 

This is a powerful finding with profound implications. To say that “avoidance of sun exposure is a risk factor for death of a similar magnitude as smoking,” is to point out that sunlight exposure, rather than being the constant lethal threat it is perceived to be, warranting the slathering on all over the body of synthetic sunscreens virtually guaranteed to cause harm from toxicant exposure, is essential to our health. In fact, according to the CDC, smoking is responsible for 6 million unnecessary deaths a year, and the “overall mortality among both male and female smokers in the United States is about three times higher than that among similar people who never smoked.” And so, sunlight exposure may be so powerful an essential and necessary ingredient in human health that it might be considered medically unethical not to provide access to it, or to advise more routine exposure to it.

The fourth and final observation of the study was that:

“Compared to the highest sun exposure group, life expectancy of avoiders of sun exposure was reduced by 0.6-2.1 years.” 

Sunlight Attains Its Former Status As An Indispensable Component of Health

While we can say that sunlight deficiency may contribute to lethal outcomes on par with smoking, we can rephrase the information positively by affirming that the Sun and its light may be as important to human health as is clean food or water. In fact, compelling research suggests that energy from the Sun drives the cellular bioenergetics of the biomachinery of our bodies through non-ATP dependent processes. Consider the work of Gerald Pollack, PhD, author of the “The 4th Phase of Water” (see video below), who explains how infrared energy of the Sun charges up the water molecules within our body (99% of the molecules in our bodies in number are water) like trillions of molecular batteries.

When pertaining to cardiovascular health, sunlight energy in the form of infrared charged water molecules supports the heart’s job of pumping the blood throughout the blood vessels by producing a form of highly structured and energized water known as Exclusion Zone water, or EZ water, and which may actually provide over 99.9% of the biomechanical energy needed to push the 1.2-1.5 gallons of blood in the average adult body through the literally thousands of miles of blood vessels.  Provocative research also suggests the body contains a variety of photoacceptors/chromophores (e.g. cytochrome C oxidase) capable of accepting and utilizing sunlight to generate so-called “extra synthesis” of ATP. Additionally, melanin may absorb a wide range of the Sun’s electromagnetic spectrum, converting it into useful energy and perhaps also biologically important information, even perhaps taking harmful gamma radiation and turning it into biologically useful energy. Even something as commonplace in the human diet as chlorophyll has recently been found to act as a means to enhanced the light-harvesting properties of animal cells. In fact, we reported recently on a study that found enhanced ATP production (without the expected concomitant uptick in reactive oxygen species production) through intermediary of chlorophyll metabolites that end up in the mitochondria of our cells following microbiome-mediated digestive processes.

Natural health advocates have sung the praises of sunlight for health since time immemorial. While in modern times, sunlight-phobia is omnipresent, with parents of especially lighter skinned ethnicities forcing their children to don space-suit level all body protective gear, along with spraying or slathering them with extremely toxic petrochemical derivatives and nanoparticle metals with potentially cancer-promoting properties, there is a growing appreciation that we need the Sun as both a form of food, energy and information.

It’s, of course, not all about vitamin D. To reduce the perceived health benefits of sunlight to this hormone-like compound is as reductionistic as saying a orange’s health benefits are solely dependent on and reducible to the molecular scaffolding of atoms that comprise the chemical skeleton of the ascorbic acid molecule. We are beginning to learn that certain wavelengths of sunlight activate a wide range of ancient, hard-wired genetic and epigenetic programs, relevant to all of our body’s systems. The wavelengths of light that occur at sunset, for instance, may have been so important to our evolution as a species that our very hairlessness, and our massive brains may not have evolved without daily exposure to them, for hundreds of thousands and even millions of years. This phenomena, also known as biophotomodulation, opens up a radically new perspective on the role of the sun in human health and disease. If sunlight deficiency is really as deadly as actively smoking cigarettes, it could be said that those who do not experience regular natural light exposure are no longer truly human, or capable of experiencing the optimal expression of their biological, mental, and spiritual blueprint. A fundamental right, and health practice, would be daily outdoors exposure. How many of us have considered the state of office workers, institutionalized educational systems without windows, night shift work, and prisons? Sunlight deprivation, in light of these new findings, could be considered a significant violation of human health rights.

This study may pave the way for a deeper understanding of what humans need to be truly healthy, with sunlight deficiency being a prime example of what is most wrong about our modern incarnation as a primarily indoors focused creature, leading to our physical and psychospiritual degeneration. As new models of cellular bioenergetics emerge, taking into account the ability of the body to directly or indirectly harvest the various light wavelengths of the Sun, direct daily exposure to sunlight may be looked upon as at least as an important step as “taking your vitamins,” or exercising, for maintaining our health. Conversely, sunlight deficiency and/or deprivation will be likely be viewed to be as dangerous or lethal as smoking.

GreenMedInfo

https://greenmedinfo.com/gmi-blogs/sayer%20ji