Some say that everyone dies from cardiovascular disease. This is because, at some point, the brain stops receiving oxygen and we die. Whether this is a fair rendition or not, it certainly is true that cardiovascular disease has killed more than any war in modern history and more than any other life-threatening disease. This need not be so, because cardiovascular disease can be easily prevented and healed naturally, even in emergencies.
How to survive a heart attack
It seems like the place to start is with surviving a heart attack. For far too many people, the first symptom of heart disease is DEATH! The heart stops beating, the brain stops getting blood and the person has just a few minutes to be revived to prevent brain death. This is unfortunate because it would require almost no effort to pull this person back from the gates of death, but those around him or her do not know how to do it. A comprehensive herbal and natural first aid course is available on the home page of Star Valley Herbal College, but I want to share with you now my favorite remedy for heart attack and the one I use the most.
This herbal remedy opens up the arteries and facilitates nutrient exchange of blood to the starved tissues. It helps with both long-term and immediate needs of the heart and cardiovascular system. This herb is cayenne pepper.
Dr. Christopher, a natural healing mentor and founder of the School of Natural Healing, never lost a heart attack victim in 35 years of practice. He would have the person who called him get hot water ready. When he arrived, he would put a tablespoon of cayenne pepper in the water, bring the patient around and have him or her drink up. He noted that in these emergency situations no one ever complained about the heat of, but always felt that it tasted good. Often, in just minutes the person would be up and around, minimally weakened by the experience!
Both Dr. Christopher and his contemporary Jethro Kloss, author of Back to Eden, said that cayenne worked equally well for stroke victims and both used it freely in stroke victims who had experienced stroke symptoms for a while. In acute victims, the treatment was the same as above, but in those who had a stroke days or weeks earlier, he would use cayenne regularly and in teaspoon dosages to produce a more rapid, sometimes miraculous recovery. This would restore circulation to the brain and help repair those cells and get them exchanging nutrients again.
If we find out early that we have cardiovascular disease and it is not an emergency, we want to see if we can heal that condition naturally. None of us wants to be dependent on drugs that have life-compromising side effects and cause other problems and which may not actually reduce the risk of heart attack at all. In dealing with non-emergency cardiovascular disease, it is appropriate to also use cayenne.
Cayenne pepper was used by Dr. Christopher and has been used in my practice for plaque build-up in the arteries. As soon as three weeks after beginning use, the plaque build-up can start to wane. In a few months it can be gone, if a healthful diet is also followed, such as that discussed more below. Cayenne also has action directly on the heart, not just circulation. The heart beat becomes stronger and slower and the heart itself is nourished and stimulated to rebuild. Cayenne aids in regeneration, not just repair. Without the natural therapies, regeneration of the heart is thought to be impossible.
In my practice, I have my clients take 1/8-1/4 teaspoon of cayenne in a little water 15 minutes before each meal. This aids digestion (frequently in my practice a complete cure for acid indigestion) by improving secretions and getting them to the right place at the right time so that digestion is optimized. This works doubly, then, on both the cardiovascular and digestive systems. The digestive system is really at the “heart” of cardiovascular disease! Allergies, pro-inflammatory and irritant particles from bad food choices or poorly digested food, along with hydrogenated oils and other chemical non-foods that should never have been eaten, combine to assault the heart and cardiovascular system.
Inflammation, damaged oils and free radical damage (implicating diet, infection and stress) all do harm to the cardiovascular system, especially the arteries. These arteries could, if the diet thereafter was very good (as described below) undergo regeneration. When the diet is the same as it was when the problem was caused, however, then a patch-job repair takes place within the body. This patch is fiber and calcium, both of which take up some space, but the calcium is attracted to cholesterol, which attaches to it. If this happens a lot (like at every meal) then the artery can become truly in danger of blockage. Notice how cholesterol is actually incidental to the process! It is the most obvious, but is not involved as a cause, really.
High cholesterol creates an issue only inasmuch as it can create a blockage in an already restricted blood flow situation. Cholesterol, though, is a liver issue and an allergy issue and should not be considered a causal factor in heart disease. It is unrelated to heart disease except in the last stages of it. The overlap of cholesterol and heart disease, if you have not already surmised, is the allergy link! Allergies (or lesser allergic-type food reactions) will affect both liver (and liver can be the underlying cause of them also) and arteries. Actually, allergies affect veins too, but these are not apparently a cause of cardiovascular disease. So cholesterol and heart disease appear together, but the problem has never been cholesterol as a cause. Rather, they are together because inflammation is a cause of them both and is present in all cardiovascular disease.
Now, before abandoning the subject entirely, let me just mention another herb that I use with cayenne in my practice for a weak heart and for damaged vessels. This herb is hawthorn berry. These berries (and the sprigs too) supply super antioxidants and chemicals that stimulate uptake of nutrients into the blood vessels and heart, and protect against heart damage by dilating the arteries leading to it. Generally, some preparation of hawthorn is recommended to get desired results, as the raw berries may not provide sufficient strength.
Finally, let us discuss diet. We have indicated that inflammation is a key problem. Loss of nutrients to do repair is another problem. Stress on the liver, which is both responsible for most allergies (which certainly cause inflammation) and for managing repair where damage occurs, is yet another consideration. Thus a proper diet appears to he who understands food and what happens to it within the human body. This diet must be low in irritants, pro-inflammatory chemistry and allergenic substances. It must have a low detox load and be easily digested so that the liver is unstressed by it. It must be totally free of so-called foods that rob nutrients from the body, which would otherwise be used for repair.
Mostly, these three overlap. We say to stay away from DWS, which stands for dairy, wheat and sugar. This is a mainstay. Wheat theoretically could be a healthy food if it were not so hybridized and if it were sprouted before use so that it was naturally digestible to humans. Since this is not the case, though, we avoid it totally in the beginning. Other gluten grains can be consumed if they are sprouted, but only then. A few sprouted grain breads exist, but bread (or any grain product) cannot be made healthy unless it is made without heat or with little heat.
In addition to this basic mainstay, we also avoid all other refined sweeteners, all chemical non-foods in food clothing (dyes, preservatives, sweeteners, consistency moderators, flavorings, etc), all hydrogenated oils, and all animal products that are not 100% organically raised. Further, we minimize all starch, eat fruit plentifully but on an empty stomach and only with green leafies (kale, spinach, lettuce, parsley, chard), consume animal flesh sparingly (one time weekly) and always at midday. In other words, we eat mostly raw, always whole (and sprouted if applicable) fruits, vegetables (non-starchy), nuts, seeds, legumes and grains.
On this diet, we can live on what exists symbiotically with us on the planet. We can eat what is whole and unmolested. This symbolizes living harmoniously and peacefully. It is the symbolism of food that is most important, actually, not its nutrient value. When, oh when shall we see that the current trend of worshiping our understanding of nutrient value will never succeed in creating health? Adding in more stuff that overwhelms the body will never do! We need simple meals, more peace and gratitude when eating, more chewing, and more harmony with nature symbolized by what is on our table. We must never take a supplement, no matter how well formulated, with the thought that it will work in spite of the choices we make at the dinner table. In our supplements as well as in our food we must be simple, pure, whole and harmonious.
It is an overwhelmed body, mind and life that creates disease and inflammation. Look at your life and see what is there that imposes itself upon you. Make a list and see what you can change. Eat food that is alive right now and experience the surge of your life as you are subtly drawn also into the now (instead of what used to be). Mostly, our bodies need a break. Since these days 20-year-olds are showing up with serious cardiovascular disease and the diagnosis rate among children is skyrocketing, it seems fitting for every individual to get busy changing these patterns right now.
