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Interesterification:
The next 'Frankenfat' replacing trans fats?
Cardiac nutritionist Margaret Pfeifer joins the Track Your Plaque
team to help us craft advice for our unique brand of heart healthy
nutrition. Margaret’s specialty is creating interesting
recipes that incorporate TYP principles while exposing
misinformation that often passes as 'heart healthy.'
[Read more]
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Meet Dr. Su: Detective on the
Trail of the Carbohydrate Killer!
At a time when we have added postprandial glucose checks to our
panel of Track Your Plaque essential strategies, Dr. Su adds his own
unique perspective as an anesthesiologist, pharmacist, and victim of
low-fat, high-carbohydrate conventional advice. [Read more]
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Postprandial
Responses:
Part 3
Carbohydrates and postprandial blood sugar
While fats determine postprandial triglycerides,
carbohydrates determine postprandial blood sugar.
Higher postprandial blood sugars, more than fasting blood sugars,
are associated with up to several-fold increased risk for
cardiovascular events. Managing carbohydrate intake is therefore a
crucial aspect of your Track Your Plaque program.
[Read more]
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Postprandial
Reponses:
Part 2
The triglyceride tolerance test
You test your blood sugar to assess the effects of a meal. So why
not test triglycerides as yet another feedback tool? Here's a
step-by-step guide to triglyceride tolerance testing, a way of
gauging your per-meal fat tolerance.
[Read more]
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Postprandial
Responses: The storm after the quiet! (Part 1 - Lipoproteins and Fats)
Postprandial, or after-eating, responses represent an exciting new
territory for heart disease prevention. Clinical studies
suggest that postprandial responses play a major role in causing
coronary plaque. We begin our exploration of this somewhat
complex world with the metabolic handling of fats after eating.
[Read more]
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Anthocyanins: Eat Purple!
The color purple marks a plant’s production of anthocyanins, a
unique class of polyphenols that provide powerful health effects.
Selecting foods rich in this color is an easy strategy to boost your
intake of healthy anthocyanins.
[Read more]
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Fructose: Dangerous at any level?
Lurking in your food is an ingredient that can wreak more havoc than
ever thought previously. It’s not saturated fat, it’s not ice cream,
it’s not salt. It’s fructose - a sugar found in many foods, both
naturally and added by food manufacturers. It is a unique sugar with
distinct physiologic properties that set it apart from other sugars. [Read more] |
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Sleep and the Track Your Plaque
program: Does sleep quantity or quality cause plaque to grow?
The data are clear: Sacrifice sleep, sacrifice health. The health
consequences of sleep deprivation are far-reaching.
Recent data have also connected insufficient sleep with greater likelihood of increased
heart scan scores and heart attack. This puts the issue square in our
sights. [Read more] |
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Calcium Supplements: Healthy
bones . . . Sick heart?
While conventional health information encourages calcium
supplementation for bone health, emerging data suggest that calcium
may also increase cardiovascular risk. Are we forced to make a
choice: bone health vs. heart health? [Read more] |
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Thermoregulation and
the Track Your Plaque Program
The regulation of body temperature -
thermoregulation - is a reflection of the body’s capacity to
maintain temperature within a narrow range. Deviations can signal
disruption of internal control and provide insight into metabolic
health. [Read more] |
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Track Your Plaque
Basic Guide to Vitamin D
Vitamin D has proven to be among the most powerful of
supplements to include in a plaque-control program. Vitamin D should
be considered by everyone starting on the Track Your Plaque program. [Read more] |
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Does iodine deficiency
contribute to plaque growth?
Thyroid status is proving to be a crucial facet of the Track Your
Plaque program. We review iodine’s neglected role in thyroid
health, and thereby heart health. This is supplemented by an
interview with epidemiologist, trace mineral and iodine expert, Dr.
Stephen Hoption Cann. [Read more] |
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Uric Acid: Inflammation, endothelial dysfunction . . . coronary risk
factor?
Uric acid is the inevitable by-product of tissue degradation, though
blood levels are very sensitive to lifestyle practices. Though
traditionally regarded only as a cause for kidney stones and gout,
uric acid is also emerging as a potential risk factor for coronary
plaque. [Read more] |
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The NEW Track Your Plaque Diet: Part 3
The third installment of this 3-Part series, Part 3 examines how
diet can address special heart health challenges.
For example, Lipoprotein(a) and diabetes are among the of special
circumstances addressed in Part 3. [Read more] |
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The NEW Track Your Plaque Diet: Part
2
The second installment of this 3-Part series, Part 2 explores
Achieving Metabolic Health.
Packed with quick summaries as well as in depth explanations, Dr.
Davis presents the New 6-Step Track Your Plaque Diet Plan. [Read more] |
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The NEW Track Your Plaque Diet: Part 1
How is it that, as a nation, we’ve dissected
our diet, sliced it and diced it into its component saturated and
polyunsaturated fats, complex and simple carbohydrates, analyzed it down
to its flavonoids, polyphenols, and micronutrients, yet still emerge
overweight, diabetic, and generally unhappy?.
[Read more] |
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Vitamin K2: An Update
Another study has been released that confirms a connection between
intake of vitamin K2 and coronary disease. This study takes the
discussion one step further by using coronary calcium scoring
obtained with heart scans, an experience that we had lacked
previously.
[Read more] |
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In-Depth Success Story: 45% drop in heart scan score!
Lee got his share of misinformation before he stumbled onto the
Track Your Plaque program. Lee made modest efforts at a low-fat
diet, weight loss, and exercise, followed by a second heart scan
score reflecting an alarming rate of increase. Then he found Track
Your Plaque! [Read more]
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An Interview with thyroid advocate, Mary Shomon
Track Your Plaque Members already know that a new awareness of
thyroid disease, particularly hypothyroidism (low thyroid), is
important for plaque control purposes, so we tracked Mary Shomon
down from her busy schedule to help us better understand a few
crucial thyroid health issues. [Read more]
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Coronary plaque: Is your thyroid to blame?
It is Track Your Plaque’s mission to help identify every possible
advantage for stopping or reversing plaque growth. Hypothyroidism, including subclinical
hypothyroidism, has been linked to both coronary heart disease
and distortions in lipid and lipoprotein patterns. [Read more]
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The ups and downs of high blood pressure:
What it all means
This simple measure, obtained routinely on any doctor’s office
visit, is often taken for granted
or misunderstood. Sure, it goes high and poses risk for heart
disease. So what more is there to say? [Read more]
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In-Depth Success Stories: A 500+ point drop in score—without
prescription drugs!
Based on numerous Member inquiries into the impressive successes
obtained using the Track Your Plaque approach for coronary plaque
control and reversal, we now inaugurate a new series of Special
Reports for program Members: In-Depth Success Stories. In these
Special Reports we go into further detail on how people who’ve
obtained substantial regression went about it. [Read more]
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What is Plaque?
We track it. We try to control it, stop it, reverse it. But
what exactly is plaque? If we were unable to identify and measure
plaque, there would be no Track Your Plaque program. In other words,
without the ability to detect, quantify, and track coronary plaque,
there would be no need for our program or any effort to try and
exert control over this thing. [Read more]
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10 Steps to Take If Your Heart Scan Score Increases More Than 10% Per Year:
A 2008 Update
FREE SPECIAL REPORT
The goal of the Track Your Plaque program is to stop plaque
growth and dramatically reduce heart attack risk. But what
should you do if your heart scan score still increases? An
increasing score can signal heightened risk for heart attack.
The keys to controlling your score aren’t always so obvious.
Read the 2008 update.
[Read more]
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Unique Strategies for Lipoprotein(a) Reduction
Lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), can be among
the most frustrating causes of coronary atherosclerotic plaque.
Sometimes treatment of this genetic pattern can be simple and
straightforward. Other times it can test even the most patient and
persistent. Lp(a) is by no means a rare pattern. Of people with a
heart scan score above zero, 1 in 5 will have it. [Read more]
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An Interview with Dr. Joel Fuhrman:
The Master of Fasting
Fasting may present a
chance for accelerated plaque control, such as that at the very beginning
of your program. So we went to an expert in fasting, Dr. Joel
Fuhrman, to get his take on just how fasting could benefit those of
use with an interest in plaque control and reversal. [Read more]
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An Interview with Dr. Bill Blanchet:
Heart Disease Prevention Champion
We stumbled upon Dr. Bill Blanchet's provocative commentary entirely
by accident in a physician forum passionately arguing for heart
scanning and intensification of heart disease prevention. So we
tracked this free-thinking doctor down to share his ideas. [Read more]
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Phosphatidylcholine: Can it raise HDL?
Prompted by interest on the Member Forum, here is a discussion of
the potential merits of this supplement as a means of raising HDL
cholesterol, possibly shifting its subclass distribution, as well as
other lipid effects. [Read more]
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CT
heart scans and radiation: The real story
Our concerns about radiation exposure all boil down to concern over
lifetime risk for cancer, a disease that strikes approximately 20%
of all Americans. Radiation is just one source of risk, though to
some degree a controllable one. Where do heart scans fit in? [Read more]
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The Injured Endothelium: How it lays the groundwork for plaque
growth - And how to put a stop to it!
The endothelium is the single-celled layer lining the arteries of
the body. In fact, it’s the most extensive organ system in the human
body. It’s a fragile organ that injury transforms into a
plaque-lined landmine. Endothelial injury precedes real trouble by
years. Here’s how to recognize when you have it and nutritional
supplements and health strategies to help correct it. [Read more]
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Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)
Lipoprotein Analysis: An Advanced User’s Guide
Lipoprotein testing is one of the cornerstones of
the Track Your Plaque program, one of the reasons that we enjoy such
enormous success in dropping heart scan scores. Lipoprotein testing
uncovers patterns that are simply not detected by conventional
cholesterol testing. It does require an intellectual commitment to
understand some unique measures. However, the rewards can be
substantial: better control over heart disease. [Read more]
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Calcium: The Good, the bad, and the ugly
Your heart scan score measures calcium. The less you have, the
better. But that’s not true everywhere in the body. In bones, less
calcium signals osteoporosis. Calcium in blood and other tissues
remains tightly regulated. Why this calcium disconnect in different
places? Does taking calcium have any effect? New research provides
surprising answers. [Read more]
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Phospholipase A2: Emerging marker of heart attack risk . . . or drug
company scam?
Drug companies have pursued phospholipids as a marker to justify
intensified need for statin drugs. Are they the miracle marker some
claim, or is it just a ploy for expanding the statin market for drug
manufacturers?
[Read more] |
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Nuts: Functional food, weight, and cholesterol-control tool
Fiber, healthy monounsaturated oils, and protein are just some of
the healthy ingredients in
nuts that make them an important part of a plaque-control nutrition
program. Here’s the
Track Your Plaque Special Report that helps you put them to maximum
use.
[Read more] |
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Erectile dysfunction and coronary plaque:
Is there a connection?
Men who experience erectile dysfunction (ED) commonly also have
heart disease, and vice versa. If you have one, you’re likely to
have the other. Here’s a few things you can do about it.
[Read more] |
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Headaches over aspirin?
Good old-fashioned aspirin has been the subject of thousands of
studies, yet controversy still abounds on its benefits, dangers, and
issues like aspirin resistance. Can we cut through the clutter and
extract the information we need for our plaque-control interests?
[Read more] |
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Vitamin K2: An emerging story
Along with vitamin D, recent studies put vitamin K2 in the spotlight
as a major factor in calcium control in the body. Long considered a
passive accompaniment of atherosclerotic plaque growth, calcium
deposition in coronary arteries, evidenced by your CT heart scan
score, is increasingly looking more like an active component that
may be under your control.
[Read more] |
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Matrix Metalloproteinase: Key to heart attacks?
Matrix metalloproteinase, MMP, is an enzyme that may hold the key to
heart attack. Block matrix metalloproteinase and it might
dramatically reduce the likelihood of heart attack in your lifetime?
[Read more] |
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C-Reactive Protein:
The Track Your Plaque Perspective
C-reactive protein (CRP) is another blood test that many hope will
improve the power to predict whether heart attack is in your future.
We have to think of heart disease as an inflammatory disease, just
as we think of rheumatoid arthritis as an inflammatory disease.
[Read more] |
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Optimism, pessimism, and coronary plaque
What role do emotions play in heart disease? Will they impact on
your success or failure in controlling coronary plaque and reducing
your heart scan score? Or is it all just fluff, the preaching of
psychologists caught up in the mumbo-jumbo of feelings and emotions?
[Read more] |
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Are stress tests a waste of time?
If you already know that you have coronary plaque, what purpose does
a stress test play? Does it provide any advantage, any additional
information to you and your doctor? Or are stress tests a
complete waste of time, just another test to generate revenues for
your doctor and hospital?
[Read more] |
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Tip
the scales towards plaque reversal
There’s no one easy formula to achieve coronary plaque reversal: no
single pill, supplement, food that guarantees that you drop your
heart scan score. But there are indeed factors which can work in
favor or against the likelihood that you gain control over your
coronary plaque.
[Read more] |
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Lipoprotein Checklist: Small LDL
Just like people, LDL particles vary in size and
structure. The size of the LDL particle makes a crucial difference in
whether or not it contributes to coronary plaque..
[Read more] |
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Double the horsepower of your statin drug
Good or bad, the statins have assumed a prominent role in many
people’s heart disease prevention program. If you’ve committed to
having a statin drug in your program, here are ideas for magnifying
the benefits.
[Read more] |
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The Cuisine of Well-being:
Healthful recipes from Chef Michel Nischan
Chef Nischan has generously provided us with a bounty of wonderful
recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He’s chosen 11 dishes that
range from extremely simple (Lightly salted edamame), to moderately
detailed (Pan-toasted garlic and wilted spinach soup). None
are difficult. All are delicious! .
[Read more] |
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Lipoprotein Checklist: Lipoprotein(a)
Lipoprotein (a), or Lp (a) (read “L–P little a”) is a powerful and
underappreciated cause of heart disease. Up to 20% of people with
heart disease will have increased Lp(a). It can trigger heart
attacks early in life, as early as 40s or 50s. Lp (a) also magnifies
dangers of other abnormalities.
[Read more] |
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Fasting: Fast Track to Control Plaque
If you’re anxious to obtain faster control over your heart scan
score and its causes,
then fasting is worth considering. Fasting is the quickest, most
effective method to
“jump-start” a lifestyle that has suffered neglect and regain
control over health.
[Read more] |
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One for the road: Alcohol and coronary plaque
As you enjoy your glass of Bordeaux, are you adding or subtracting
from the mix of factors that contribute to coronary plaque? Are
alcoholic beverages a blessing or a curse for your heart disease
prevention program? The Track Your Plaque no-nonsense Special
Report on alcohol and its influence on coronary plaque.
[Read more] |
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Can heart disease be reversed?
We’re on the dawn of a new age in which reversal of heart disease is
rapidly becoming a reality for more and more people. What exactly
happens when coronary heart disease is reversed? What does it look
like and how do you know when you’ve achieved it? Is there a
scientific rationale behind the Track Your Plaque approach? Here’s
our Special Report on everything you wanted to know about heart
disease reversal.
[Read more] |
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Progesterone? What’s it got to do with me?
Track Your Plaque Nurse Carol learns about the benefits of
progesterone from her own personal experience.
[Read more] |
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Unique nutritional strategies to reduce cholesterol naturally
Tired of the media onslaught promoting statin drugs? What happened
to a conversation about nutritional strategies that reduce
cholesterol? There are indeed ways to significantly reduce
cholesterol using common foods and nutritional supplements.
Reductions in LDL cholesterol of 25, 30, 50, even 100 mg/dl are
possible—if you know what and how.
[Read more]
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Warning: Normal blood pressure may be high blood pressure!
Widely misunderstood, underestimated, under-treated, and ignored,
blood pressure is a prime instigator of coronary plaque growth.
Although most people regard blood pressure issues as dull and not
worthy of fuss, control of this incredibly important facet of health
is a basic requirement for atherosclerotic plaque control and
putting a halt to an increasing heart scan score.
[Read more]
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DHEA: What role in your program?
The arguments for and against DHEA replacement have zig-zagged from
fountain of youth to dangerous. Here, we cut through the hype and
hone in on the issues important to your plaque-control program.
[Read more]
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When what you eat sticks around:
Postprandial lipid disorders and their impact
on your plaque-control program
There are a set of cholesterol-related abnormalities called
“postprandial disorders”, the abnormal persistence of fatty
digestive by-products that stick around for up to 24 hours after
eating. They are among the most potent causes of heart disease,
stroke, and aneurysm known.
[Read more]
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What if your heart scan score is ZERO?
Tremendous confusion persists about the implications about a heart
scan score of zero. A zero score is great! In fact, it’s the best
result obtainable. But does it allow you to do anything you want,
free of danger for the rest of your life?
[Read more]
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Use Fiber to Accelerate Weight Loss
Choose one fiber and it will make your bowels regular. Choose
another fiber and you reduce LDL cholesterol, blood sugar, increase
satiety—and lose weight. Know how to choose the right fibers
to reach your goals.
[Read more]
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Men: You can use testosterone to treat lipoprotein disorders
Testosterone is gaining wide acceptance for restoration of youthful
vigor, increasing muscle mass, and improvement of well being. But
testosterone also offers some unique opportunities for correction of
specific lipoprotein disorders. Here’s what you need to know.
[Read more]
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Homocysteine: An Update
Study after study has confirmed that, the higher your homocysteine
blood level, the greater your risk for heart attack and stroke. But
two recent studies have been recently released that cast serious
doubt on whether reducing homocysteine using B vitamins has any
beneficial effect on heart disease. What now?
[Read more]
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The women and heart disease controversy:
What’s the real story?
Heart disease is traditionally viewed as a man’s disease. As a
result, women have been neglected in research and often misdiagnosed
when symptoms develop. Media reports highlight how heart attack
symptoms are different in women. The message: Don’t dismiss unusual
symptoms in females.
[Read more]
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Females, hormones, and weight control:
An interview with Dr. Nisha Jackson
As early as their late 30s, women begin to experience the physical
changes of peri-menopause and menopause. Along with the emotional
roller-coaster ride and hot-flashes, most women gain a substantial
quantity of weight. This has implications for your plaque-control
program.
[Read more]
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Small LDL Particles: Bullies looking for trouble. An Interview
with Lipidologist, Dr. Tara Dall
Small LDL is the #1 most common lipid/lipoprotein abnormality
causing coronary plaque. It’s also among the most ignored. Track
Your Plaque interviews lipid expert, Dr. Tara Dall, for an in-depth
discussion about this important problem.
[Read more]
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Magnesium: Water to the rescue!
Magnesium can help turn-off pre-diabetic patterns like low HDL and
small LDL, reduce blood pressure, and prevent heart rhythm
disorders. But getting adequate magnesium from water and food is
getting increasingly difficult. The average American is
significantly deficient. Here’s a Track Your Plaque guide to using
water to increase your magnesium intake.
[Read more]
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CoEnzyme Q10: The nutritional supplement that may make or break your
program
It’s an imperfect solution, but supplemental coenzyme Q10 allows
many people to take a statin cholesterol-reducing drug while sparing
them from the inevitable muscle aches.
[Read more]
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A Nutritional Approach to Triglycerides
An Interview with Track Your Plaque Expert
Nutritionist Gay Riley
Triglycerides are an ingredient that your body can use to make a
number of unwanted lipoprotein particles. Fortunately, triglycerides
are among the most susceptible fats to dietary manipulation.
[Read more]
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Niacin: Ins and outs, ups and downs
Niacin—vitamin B3—corrects multiple lipoprotein patterns. Used
properly, niacin is a safe, effective treatment that results in
dramatic reduction in heart disease risk. Used improperly, it can be
full of unwanted adverse effects, most annoying, some dangerous.
[Read more]
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Boost your heart and mind: The fascinating link between depression
and heart disease
Heart disease and depression often go hand-in-hand. This suggests
that treatment strategies may also attack both illnesses. Read this
primer on health strategies that may help navigate the complex
interplay of these painfully common problems.
[Read more]
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Foods that Help You Lose Weight
What if you could choose foods that help you lose weight? Here’s a
list of just that—foods that you can include every day to enhance
your weight-loss success.
[Read more]
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Lipoprotein(a): What it is, why it's important, and why you need to
know if you've got it!
A missing piece in many people’s heart disease prevention
program is lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a). If you have it, it can
pose special risk for heart disease. The treatment effort is specific.
Eating better, exercising, and taking a
cholesterol drug just won’t cut it.
[Read more]
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Is l-arginine dangerous after heart attack?
L-arginine is a powerful nutritional supplement in the fight against
heart disease. Recent headlines declare that l-arginine is
dangerous for your heart if taken after a heart attack. Is this
true? Should you stop your l-arginine?.
[Read more]
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ApoA-1 Milano:
Hope for a Cure or Hype for Profit?
Coronary plaque regression in just weeks? The initial clinical trial
indeed suggested that this was achievable. And it wasn’t just
another glowing report on a cholesterol drug, but an entirely new
class: a recombinant mimic of a naturally-occurring mutant HDL
protein.
[Read more]
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An interview with Dr. John Cannell:
The Importance of Vitamin D
Vitamin D, previously regarded (ignored) as only a risk for
childhood rickets, is now being increasingly recognized as a crucial
modulator of numerous body processes. Low vitamin D levels are
epidemic and a major contributor to hypertension, diabetes, cancer and heart disease!
[Read more]
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. . . to slowing, stopping, even REVERSING
heart disease!
