THB: Is Your Body Disintegrating from the Inside?

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By Jon Herring - Editorial Director	Friday, December 11th
"I can't sell my house," Adam told me. "What do you mean, you can't sell it?" I asked. "You haven't even put it on the market yet." "Exactly!" he blurted. "And I can't put it on the market until it is rebuilt." "Rebuilt? Your house is beautiful. What are you talking about?" "I wanted an appraisal before I listed it," Adam said. "So the inspector came by today." "What's the problem?" I asked. "Termite damage," he said. "Wait. Let me rephrase that. Termite destruction." I couldn't believe it. I had been to Adam's house a few weeks before. It is an older home, but it feels contemporary and new. Clean and well decorated. Impeccably furnished. Fresh paint on the walls. There wasn't a single outward sign that his house was falling apart. But it was. Adam told me he hadn't been in the crawl space for years. It was the inspector who broke the news. The entire supporting structure of the house would have to be jacked up and replaced. Some of the interior structure was damaged too. Major repairs were necessary before he would even have a chance of selling it. Damage you can see, and that which you can't... Most of the damage that can occur to a house is easy to see. When a woodpecker pokes holes in your siding, you know it. You can hear him banging his head against the wall. And you can see the holes. You know when you need new paint too. The old finish starts to chip and fade. But termites are different. Unless you know what to look for – and where to look – you might never know they are there. And all the while, they are silently eating your house, leaving behind a structure that is soft, rotten and structurally unsound. I thought of Adam's house, when I tried to explain the process of inflammation to a friend the other day. Inflammation: Now You See It... Now You Don't Every time your body is injured – whether you scrape your knee on the pavement or the lining of your arteries becomes irritated – your immune system triggers an inflammatory response. It is a sign of damage and repair. Like a woodpecker banging on your house, the signs of inflammation ON your body are hard to miss. Redness, swelling, warmth and pain are all associated with inflammation. But when inflammation occurs WITHIN your body, it does not come with such obvious signs. You may have no idea. But that doesn't make it any less destructive. It is only years later – like my friend Adam – that you learn the true extent of the damage. And by then, it could already be too late. Inflammation is a cornerstone of physical aging. And it is one of the primary causes of every degenerative disease, including diabetes, cancer, arthritis, macular degeneration, Alzheimer's and heart disease. The Best Biological Marker for Inflammation Chronic internal inflammation is difficult to measure. However, when it is present within the body, your liver secretes a substance called C-reactive protein (CRP). And that can be measured. When inflammation is high, CRP increases. When inflammation falls, so does CRP. C-reactive protein is the best biological marker for sub-clinical inflammation. And because inflammation is so strongly related to heart disease, that makes CRP a very accurate indicator of your risk for heart attack and stroke. It is far more reliable than LDL cholesterol. A study of men, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that those with higher levels of CRP have a three times greater risk of heart attack than those with normal levels. The research also shows that people with very low CRP levels rarely suffer heart attacks. Heart Disease is Not a Plumbing Problem – It is an Inflammation Problem Most cardiologists explain plaque buildup and narrowing of the arteries as a plumbing problem: Fat and cholesterol stick to the walls of the arteries and build up. The arteries then become stiff and narrow. But this is only partially true. And it does not explain why fat and cholesterol stick to the walls of your arteries. That point is critical. Your arteries bear only a superficial resemblance to pipes. A closer examination reveals smooth muscle tissue, sandwiched between two "structural" layers. These muscles and connective tissues are vulnerable to inflammation. When inflammation strikes, it occurs within – not on – the arterial walls. When it is persistent – as a result of nutritional deficiencies or eating foods that are not native to your physiology – the inflammation causes damage. The cholesterol and fat that sticks to your arteries is part of your body's repair mechanism. These "plaques" help to cover up and heal the damage. As they build up over the years, blood flow to your tissues becomes restricted. The blood vessels become stiff and blood pressure rises. And when these plaques dislodge, they can cause a heart attack or a stroke. You don't reduce plaque buildup in your body by reducing cholesterol and healthy fat in the diet. You reduce plaque buildup by controlling the inflammation that causes damage in the first place. So how do you do that? Leading Heart Surgeon Quits Practice to Focus on The Real Cause of Heart Disease – INFLAMMATION! Dr. Dwight Lundell has spent his whole career helping people to prevent and treat heart disease. As a cardiac surgeon, he has performed more than 5,000 open heart surgeries! But something bothered him. More than half of his patients had "normal" cholesterol levels. And the advice he used to give – to eat a low-fat diet – didn't seem to be working. Many of his patients ended up right back in the hospital just a few years later. Then he discovered the REAL cause of heart disease. The one factor that was present in ALL of his patients – Inflammation! As he recommended ways to treat inflammation, his patients began to heal – and they never needed another visit to the heart doctor. Dr. Lundell has put his entire body of research and his specific recommendations in a groundbreaking new book – The Great Cholesterol Lie. Learn to quench the fires of inflammation from one of the world's leading heart doctors. Click here. Stop the Raging Fires of Inflammation... There are two steps you MUST take to reduce inflammation: Reduce your omega-6 fatty acids and increase your omega-3s. The omega-6 fatty acids found in vegetable and seed oils, processed foods and conventional meats are highly inflammatory. Omega-3 oils, on the other hand, are highly anti-inflammatory. Excellent sources of omega-3 fatty acids are wild salmon, sardines, grass-fed beef and, of course, fish oil. The modern food processing industry has introduced an abundance of omega-6 fats into our diet. And most people do not consume nearly enough omega-3s. This unnatural imbalance is the primary cause of inflammation for most people. Just say "no" to sugar and eat a low-glycemic diet. When your blood sugar and insulin spike, it causes a cascade of biochemical and hormonal changes that result in inflammation. A recent study from Harvard showed that women who ate foods with the highest glycemic load had nearly twice the inflammation of those who ate lower glycemic foods. Follow a low glycemic diet by avoiding fruit juices, sugar-sweetened drinks and desserts and carb-rich foods like mashed potatoes, pasta, white rice, bread and cereals. Follow these two steps, and you will eliminate the primary causes of inflammation. And by doing so, you will dramatically reduce your risk of every disease associated with aging. Less CRP, Less Inflammation... Termites can destroy your house from the inside, while leaving hardly a clue. And the same is true for inflammation. This silent killer can destroy your arteries and corrode your brain, without you feeling or noticing a thing. Don't assume it isn't happening because you "feel okay." Take measures to curb inflammation. And then take measures to measure it. The best biological marker for internal inflammation is C-reactive protein. So, forget about your cholesterol. The next time you go for a checkup, ask to have your CRP measured. According to several doctors I consulted, less than 1.0 mg/dL is optimal, but the lower the better. Higher than 1.0 and your risk of disease increases. To Your Health Jon Herring Editorial Director Total Health Breakthroughs Publisher's Note: Total Health Breakthroughs has developed a multi-antioxidant blend that we will be releasing in just a few weeks. It is a bright purple powder, brimming with polyphenols, anthocyanins, pterostilbine and resveratrol. Just mix it with a bit of water, and you have a veritable fountain of youth in a glass. Before we release the product to the public, we are inviting a small number of readers to test it (and receive a significant discount!) If you're interested, you can put your name on the list here. Rate us: or leave us a comment
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