September 30, 2007, Updated August 3, 2009
By Susan M. Callahan, Associate Editor and Featured Columnist
What do heart disease and a paper cut have in common? The answer
Is that both are injuries and, surprisingly, the body’s response to each
Of these injuries is fundamentally the same. Both injuries create
Inflammation. Almost everyone knows what inflammation looks like
When it occurs on the skin--- you get a cut, it gets infected, the skin
Becomes swollen with pus. Or you ram your knee into the end of the
Coffee table, and the knee swells up. How does inflammation connect
To diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and stroke?
Inside the body, when certain injuries occur, the same process of
Inflammation occurs. Your arteries, for example, become inflamed if they are injured. How are they injured? Arteries can become “cut”, injured in fact, when
They are nicked . Injuries to arteries occur when jagged molecules
Called “free radicals” ram into them, much like out of control race cars
Crashing against the walls of a speedway. Reduce the number of free
Radicals, reduce injury. It turns out that free radicals are released
Whenever we eat foods high in unsaturated fat or sugar. Eat a fried
Chicken dinner cooked in lard or butter, and your arteries literally
Spasm for hours. Or eat a piece of cheesecake and the arteries spasm
From the beating they take from the bombardment of free radicals
Against their walls. By the way, free radicals are also the elements
Which age you, in the same way as the free radicals in air age an
Apple, turning it brown. Once nicked, the body’s response is to patch up the nicks using cholesterol, the body’s equivalent of spackling compound. There are
two types of spackle. Good spackle is soft and smooth—that is the so-
Called good cholesterol, HDL. Bad spackle is small, and rough—the
So-called bad cholesterol, LDL. If your blood has enough good
Spackle in it, when the arteries are cut, the chances are the body will
Send good spackle. If the spackle is smooth, the cut is repaired
Smoothly. If the spackle is rough, the cut is not repaired smoothly and
Jagged edges ---plaque---form. As a result, when the river of blood
Flows past the repair, part of the jagged messy plaque job can break
Off. The plaque can travel down the river of blood to your heart and cause an attack. Or it can travel to your brain and cause a stroke.
That’s the bad news.
The good news is that you can reduce or even eliminate free radicals
With nutrition and exercise. Vegetables, especially the colorful green,
Red and yellow ones, are some of the most effective foods that
Neutralize free radicals. Also, omega 3 fatty acids found in fatty fish
Such as salmon and sardines and nuts like walnuts can lower Inflammation in the body. These foods lower inflammation throughout the body, wherever it occurs.The anti-inflammatory action of vegetables and fish may be one reason studies have found that eating salmon and oily fish retards the
Progression of dementia, heart disease and may even aid the body in fighting cancer.
You're just getting started. Understand how certain foods can help to Heal your body and improve your overall health: Foods That Reduce
Blood Pressure / Foods That Lower Your Blood Sugar /Foods That
Shrink Your Waist / Swollen Ankles -Causes and Cures