Are You Suffering

October 13, 2017 by Corie Jones Leave a Comment

Are you suffering? If you are like some of my clients, you’ve suffered from “it happened when . . .” syndrome. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month, and this month I am talking about cancers and how they are destroying people’s lives in a lot of different ways every day. My own mother in law just recently passed away from brain cancer, and my wife Kim and her sibling were the primary caregivers of their mother. As Kim took care of her mom and her own family, she knew that she needed to be extra careful with herself due to the extra stress in her life. You can hear more of her story in The Feeling Good Podcast episode 85.

People can often trace their poor health back to traumatic or stressful events in their life. This is known as “it happened when . . .” syndrome. Are you suffering? Let me help! Many people go through traumatic experiences and hold their feelings inside and do not talk about it with others. Open communication is important when going through a difficult trial. I suggest talking about what is going on rather than holding it inside. When you hold things inside, it binds it up, and that binding can make you sick. Talking about it gives you freedom!

You might be thinking I don’t need to talk about my problems, symptoms or condition. I can deal with it on my own. Let me ask you a question? How is it working for you so far? Or maybe you are concerned that you can’t afford to work with me, but can you afford to suffer through life because you didn’t ask for help? I offer a FREE non-committal fifteen minute session to any prospective client to determine if there is a good fit for working together, so there’s no reason to suffer without seeking help.

Schedule a call with me today for a health consultation and find the right coaching package to get you feeling good again! You can choose to have your session in person, over the phone or with video conference software.

Healthy Blessings,

Dr. Phil

Are You Living Your Life to the Fullest?

September 14, 2017 by Phil Carson Leave a Comment

Are You Living Your Life to the Fullest?

No matter what occupation you have, there are daily stresses with which you deal. The only difference is that some of us are better at dealing with stress than others. Letting stress get to you can be one of the biggest obstacles to truly enjoying your life. Another big obstacle is feeling like you don’t have enough time for enjoyable things.

Being a hard worker is both an admirable and necessary trait for reaching new levels in business. But in order to live life to its fullest, we need to find a healthy balance. As an entrepreneur, I am constantly striving for success. As a result of that, there were times when I worked around the clock without so much as a thought about exercise or sleep. Those were not good times.

Although it may seem counterintuitive, rest and relaxation actually enable us to be more productive during the hours that we work. Working around the clock doesn’t increase your efficiency. Proper sleep enhances your memory and improves your cognitive processes. Although it may seem like we don’t have time for sleep, proper rest is essential to a productive day. To get proper sleep, we must respect our circadian rhythms.

In my book How to Live Until You Die I explain that we all sleep in 90-minute cycles that repeat themselves throughout the night, alternating between REM, (rapid-eye-movement) and NREM (non-rapid-eye-movement) sleep. I give further details on REM and NREM sleep and how to get the best sleep for waking up energized and being productive, using sources from the Mayo Clinic, National Sleep Foundation, and Harvard Business Review to corroborate my advice.

If you aren’t getting proper sleep, you are going to be more susceptible to illness, and you are going to be weary all the time. Pretty soon, you’ll literally become sick and tired of being sick and tired. That’s certainly not living life to its fullest. To truly enjoy your life, you need to get regular rest and not feel guilty about sleeping.

In his book Deep Work, Cal Newport talks about the necessary balance between work and other activities, like exercise. He encourages people to take a break during the day to go for a walk or run in order to re-energize and balance exercise and work. He especially encourages people to spend time outdoors, saying “Spending time in nature can improve your ability to concentrate.” Newport elaborates on how spending time walking through nature can help you focus on solving problems. I myself have often walked my problems out and it has greatly helped to ease the daily stresses of being an entrepreneur.

The thing that matters most in living your life to the fullest is balance. There is nothing wrong with hard work, but you can’t allow your work to take the place of spending time with your family, sleeping, or exercising. There is a balance you can achieve which allows you to enjoy activities that you love and still accomplish the things you need to do to make money.

In fact, there are seven keys to living happy, healthy, and whole. Each of these plays an important part in living life to its fullest and finding satisfaction along the way. To learn more about the seven keys, get your copy of How to Live Until You Die today.

Healthy Blessings,

Dr. Phil

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Can Negative Emotions Affect Your Health?

August 15, 2017 by Phil Carson Leave a Comment

Can Negative Emotions Affect Your Health?

When you think about your physical health, what are the first two things that come to your mind? Most people would probably say diet and exercise. In fact, if you’ve read some of my earlier blogs, you know that I agree that both a good diet and regular exercise are keys to living happy, healthy, and whole. However, there’s another important element to your health of which you might not be thinking. Can negative emotions affect your health?

Living in a constant state of stress will cause a drastic negative effect on your health.

As Bessie Stanley, author of the poem success, said “He who has achieved success has lived well, laughed often, and loved much.” You may be more familiar with the shorter version of this quote: “Live, laugh, love.” When you laugh and love, your health will benefit. To really live, you need to take care of your soul.

If your heart or your soul is full of pain and stress, you can never be whole. It doesn’t matter how strong or how healthy your body is when your soul is hurting, because being fit and eating healthy can’t make you truly happy.

I devote a whole chapter to the soul in my book How to Live Until You Die, explaining why your soul is one of the seven keys to living happy, healthy, and whole and giving examples of how to properly care for your soul.

Although many people may overlook the importance of their soul on their overall health, it is critical that you pay attention to the things your soul needs. If you don’t know how it feels to have peace of mind and emotional peace, I encourage you to put a focus on learning how to communicate with your soul and how to measure its current state of health.

The soul can communicate with you in two ways: First, our minds can show us what negative emotions and thoughts we’re holding. If the soul has been hurt, the mind can tell us how. Sometimes, the only way to release that pain is to forgive. If we can truly forgive someone who wronged us, we can allow the feeling of pain or betrayal we experienced to melt away.

The heart is where we store the pain and the joy of our souls. When our souls are suffering, our hearts feel heavy. When our souls are lightened, we can have peace in our hearts. You can’t be truly happy, healthy, or whole if you’re living your life with a heavy heart and carrying around negative issues from the past with feelings of sadness, regret, or despair.

You can cleanse your soul if you listen to your heart. Sometimes, forgiveness is the key to healing the pain in your heart and the sadness in your soul. Both Johns Hopkins medicine and the Mayo Clinic have written articles about the scientific evidence behind the correlation of genuine forgiveness to increased health and happiness.

How to Live Until You Die - books — Order Today!

If you want to eliminate harmful stress and discover emotional peace, peace of mind, and a life free of negative energy, you need to cleanse your soul. For more insight on the importance of having a healthy soul, and how to take the next steps to living a life that is truly happy, healthy, and whole, get your copy of How to Live Until You Die today.

Healthy Blessings,

Dr. Phil

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Build Your Own Exercise Plan

August 7, 2017 by Phil Carson Leave a Comment

Build Your Own Exercise Plan

Do you struggle to maintain a regular exercise routine? One of the most common issues among people that I speak with is that they want to exercise, but they don’t know where to start. Most people overcomplicate things and think that if they don’t have everything planned out perfectly, they won’t see results. Planning is good and setting goals will help keep you motivated, but attempting to lay out everything step-by-step is going to drive you crazy. It’s best to keep it simple and just make sure you’re doing some form of exercise every day.

The thought of joining a gym or paying for an expensive exercise program can be overwhelming. Even the thought of exercising for the first time after a long hiatus is daunting. Because of these pressures, exercise is one of those words that make people cringe when they hear it. They feel guilty for not exercising, because they know their body needs it, yet they dread the thought of trying to find an exercise plan that they can maintain.

Most exercise programs have a big problem

The problem with most exercise programs is that they only work when you fully commit to them. The popular programs advertised on TV feature exercise gurus and sales people going through sets of intense exercise moves and promising an extreme, positive change in your looks. They make it seem like a magical seven-minute routine that morphs you from someone who is hesitant to exercise into a physical phenomenon in less than three months. Some of the exercises in these programs are so complicated and difficult that a lot of people quit within the first week and become unmotivated to try another program.

Exercise shouldn’t be a “one-size fits all” type of physical activity program, the way it’s advertised on TV. Each exercise program should be customized to your body and your health. The exercise program you do this year might not be the one that you’ll do next year, and it might be totally different from anything your friends do. The most important thing is that at any given time in your life, you’re doing the type of exercise that’s best for you.

So, what exactly does that mean? How do you know what type of exercise is best for you? In my book How to Live Until You Die I cover examples of people in my own family (including myself) who all struggled with finding the right exercise for them. Depending on their health situation, work situation, and life situation, there were different things that worked. For example, some people sit in traffic for an hour commuting to work and then sit at a desk all day. There are still ways to be active even in a scenario like that. I put together five steps to helping you build your own exercise plan.

Keep it simple: The best way to get started is to move more today than you did yesterday.
Be consistent and only compete against yourself: Work on consistency and improvement. Do you like to run? Challenge yourself to run one mile a day for a period of time and increase the distance when you’re ready.
Focus on moving more during your daily routine: Even simple activity throughout the day increases blood flow, enhances concentration, and boosts energy levels. Make sure you get up and take a five minute walk every couple of hours if you sit at a desk all day.
Learn your body and what works best for you: Talk to your doctor about any health care issues you are dealing with. Think about the physical activities you enjoyed as a child. Can you turn any of these into an exercise routine?
Become your own guru: Get your DNA analyzed and figure out what type of exercise will help you get the results you want Knowing your genetic makeup is a key step towards doing the type of exercise that will make you feel good all the time.

And as a bonus, a sixth step (when you feel it’s the right time for you) is to consult with a professional. Hire a certified fitness coach to discuss your exercise goals and routines. They will have a vested interest in your success and will provide continuous advice and accountability. I meet virtually with my personal fitness coach Jeff McMahon every week. If you can afford to hire someone like Jeff, I highly recommend it.

I recently did a blog post about my favorite sports supplement that gives you more power and energy for your workouts. If you are looking for a product to give you more energy and power for your workouts, then PREFITT by NutriFitt is what you are looking for! Trust me. It’s great tasting and an all around amazing product. I love it and highly recommend it!

To learn more about building your own exercise plan, finding the type of exercise that you enjoy and that does wonders for your body, and to discover the seven keys to living happy, healthy, and whole, get your copy of How to Live Until You Die today.

Healthy Blessings,

Dr. Phil

It’s Okay to Drink Tap Water, Right?

July 31, 2017 by Phil Carson Leave a Comment

When someone tells me about an ailment they’re having, one of the first questions I ask is: “How much water are you drinking each day?” Most people even admit to me that they’re probably not drinking enough. But I hear this question a lot as well, “It’s Okay to drink tap water, right?”

The human body is the world’s most amazing machine. With more than 600 different muscles, more than 200 bones, and more than 70 organs all working in conjunction with one another each day, it’s fascinating to think about how the human body functions. And even though your body contains all of these muscles, bones, and organs, they still don’t even account for the majority of what’s inside you. The human body consists primarily of water. Drinking water throughout the day is essential for overall health. Water helps us to perform at high levels, and we need to make sure we replenish our supply each day. We literally can’t live without water.

A deficit of water in your body can cause immediate and serious health problems, and if not addressed quickly, it will eventually result in death. To keep your body feeling fluid and performing at optimal levels, you should be drinking no less than one half ounce of water for every pound you weigh. For those of you who think water tastes too plain, I recommend trying The Right Cup.

According to recent studies, about 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. The first signs of dehydration include headaches, sluggishness, and loss of appetite. Severe dehydration leads to far more serious ailments such as chronic pain, organ failure, degenerative diseases, and death. If you’re reading this and are realizing you might be dehydrated, there’s a good chance you’re thinking about going to the kitchen sink and getting a glass of tap water. Don’t.

They type of water we drink is extremely important.

In my book How to Live Until You Die I stated “The truth is that tap water is the worst kind of water to drink because it’s full of chemicals.” There are hundreds of studies that will show you the dangerous chemicals that tap water contains, and many case histories done in the past few years that prove the deadliness of those chemicals. According to a report in Scientific American, “Traces of 18 unregulated chemicals were found in drinking water from more than one-third of U.S. water utilities in a nationwide sampling…”

Drinking tap water is simply not a safe way to sustain necessary levels of hydration in your body. The movie A Civil Action which dramatizes the true story of Erin Brockovich, profiles the inclusion of Chromium-6 in the tap water of more than 218 million Americans. Chromium-6 is known to be responsible for cancer, liver damage, reproductive problems, and developmental harm. You may also remember the crisis of 2014 in Flint, Michigan, when it was discovered that the tap water was contaminated with high levels of lead.

We need to drink water to stay hydrated, but drinking tap water will probably do us more harm than good. So what do we do? You have a few options. Bottled water is better than tap water, and so is filtering water through either a pitcher or a device attached directly to the tap. Water filtration will remove some of the chemicals, however, it is inconsistent and the lifespan of filters can weaken their effectiveness over time.

My favorite type of water is alkaline ionized water, which you can get through a Kangen machine. Alkaline water helps counteract any acidic things that we put in our bodies. It also contains electrolyte nutrients that help your body function the way it should. To learn more about proper hydration, safe and unsafe water sources, and my top recommendations for staying healthy by drinking the right kind of water, get a copy of my book How to Live Until You Die. (more blogs on water)

Healthy Blessings,

Dr. Phil

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Supplements: What They Are and Why You Need Them

July 14, 2017 by Phil Carson Leave a Comment

As established in the recent blog post Are You Eating Real Food?, most foods offered in grocery stores today lack the necessary amount of key nutrients that your body needs in order to thrive. In fact, even most whole and raw foods have

significantly less nutrients and minerals than they did 50 years ago. With many contributing factors that include different farming techniques, soil that is less rich in mineral deposits, and genetically altered products, the bottom line is that today the optimal level of nutrients cannot be sustained by our diet alone. This leads to the question: How can we receive the necessary amount of nutrients to achieve and sustain a happy, healthy, and whole life?

The answer is to take supplements. However, not all supplements actually provide your body with the nutrients it needs, and some even contain harmful chemicals. This poses another question: How can we know which supplements will help us and which ones will hurt us? In the book How To Live Until You Die Dr. Phil Carson explains how to find the supplements your body needs and how to avoid the chemicals it doesn’t.

Dr. Phil tells his readers “You might be shocked to find artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, and other Big Seven Toxins in many of the multivitamins that you’ve been told are a one-pill-per-day solution. In reality, many of those vitamins are a waste of your time and money.” He then provides three simple guidelines for selecting supplements that won’t expose your body to harmful chemicals.

The tips that Dr. Phil provides about supplement selection include avoiding the same dangerous chemicals and ingredients (Big Seven Toxins, etc.) that you would avoid in food. Only take vitamins with ingredients that are organic or substances found in nature and avoid toxic coatings and unhealthy bindings. Instead, look for vitamins with plant based vitamins and be wary of supplements that list all of the vitamins and nutrients in milligrams, because that can be an indication that the product is synthetic and doesn’t contain food-sourced nutrients.

Avoid synthetic supplements at all costs

Several reports warn against the danger of taking synthetic vitamins that attempt to manufacture the nutrients with chemicals rather than extracting the nutrients from a natural source. Immediate dangers include impeding your body’s ability to absorb real nutrients from real food, possible birth defects, increased cancer risk, hypercalcemia, and blood clotting. The Organic Consumers Organization published a report that gives an in-depth look at the differences between natural and synthetic vitamins, explains why synthetic supplements are so harmful, and sheds light on how to tell if you’re putting your body at risk by taking a synthetic vitamin. The evidence-based articles at Authority Nutrition break down the way the body responds to synthetic vitamins, and encourage you to only take supplements that come from natural ingredients.

In How to Live Until You Die, Dr. Phil strongly advises readers to take only natural supplements, and recommends specific supplements that he currently takes himself. Among those recommendations are:

Multivitamin: Catalyn by Standard Process
Fish Oil: ProDHA by Nordic Naturals
Probiotic: Enterobiotic SBO by Natural Creations
CoQ10: Smart CoQ10 by Enzymatic Therapy

Although supplements can be greatly beneficial to your health, each of us has a unique body composition and could have a different reaction to certain supplements than another person. (The same is true with food and with medicine.) Therefore, you should always consult with your doctor before adding a new supplement to your daily regimen. Your doctor knows you and has charts, notes, and other details regarding your health history. Make sure you are getting the right supplements in the right amounts by discussing your plan with your regular doctor.

Taking the right supplements in addition to maintaining a healthy diet will do wonders for your body, but to truly live a full and rewarding life, there are a total of seven crucial elements you need to balance. To learn more about these seven keys to living happy, healthy, and whole, order your copy of How to Live Until You Die today.

The Most Important Part of Any Diet is Water

June 30, 2017 by Phil Carson Leave a Comment

If you’ve ever felt motivated to improve your health, you’ve probably realized that eating right is crucial to success. Whether you want to lose weight, gain muscle, or just feel more alive, having the right diet is critical. Most people cringe when they hear the word “diet” because their first thought is that they have to undertake an extreme regimen of eating far less, far more, or much different food than they are used to. However, the word “diet” in its simplest form is more accurately defined as the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats.

Everybody has a diet. For some people, a diet can include fast food, sugary drinks, and daily desserts. Others may consider their diet to be Paleo, Mediterranean, vegetarian, or one of the other well-known, well-defined mainstream diets. Your diet is what you eat regularly. If you want to improve your overall quality of life, take a long look at your diet. Are you consuming too many harmful foods? Could you add more fruits and vegetables to your daily intake? What exactly is the ideal diet?

No two people are exactly the same, and no two diets need be exactly the same either. The best diet is what works best for your body. However, there is one thing that is essential across all diets, for all humans, regardless of shape, size, age, or any other variable: The number one most important thing to consume every day is water. Our bodies are made primarily of water. In fact, our composition is 60-70% water. The bottom line is: We can’t live without water. According to Dr. Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, an authority in the medical community, more than 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. This astounding statistic may very well explain the root cause of many ailments suffered by individuals across the country.

When a new patient comes to Dr. Phil Carson with a complaint about their health, he says, “Water is so important that no matter what ailment the person is asking about, one of the first questions I ask is how much water they’re drinking a day.” In his book, How to Live Until You Die, he asserts that “Water can be an important part of any plan to burn fat, lose weight, and speed up your metabolism.”

To truly live happy, healthy, and whole, you need to drink at least .5 ounces of water for each pound that you weigh, each day. Water plays a major part in flushing out deadly toxins and allowing us to feel fluid, flexible, and energized. Several scientific studies have found significant correlations between water intake and reduced risk of bladder cancer, rectal cancer, colorectal cancer, colon cancer, and breast cancer. The collective conclusion of the studies mentioned is that “Water is undoubtedly the most important nutrient and the only one whose absence will be lethal within days.” Dr. Phil gives an overview of these studies in How to Live Until You Die, along with recommendations on the best water sources and types of water, the best times to drink water, healthy ways to make water more flavorful, and warnings against drinking tap water.

Daily consumption of water is one of Dr. Phil’s seven keys to living right. As he says in How to Live Until You Die “Getting enough water is a critically important part of a balanced plan to be more happy, healthy, and whole.”

You have probably heard Dr. Phil say, “You may not be drinking enough water, but you need to be! Stay hydrated, my friends!” But there are so many options, how do you know what type of water to drink to make sure you’re getting the most benefits and great taste, while keeping it simple and consistent with your lifestyle? Dr. Phil recently shared a video on his Facebook page, where people have tested the Ph Balance levels on popular brands of bottled water. It’s shocking to see these results. Dr. Phil highly recommends drinking high quality bottled spring water or mineralized water for that reason.

Two of the most common reasons people give for not drinking enough water are that is tastes too plain or it’s too boring. Water doesn’t have to be boring or plain! Have you tried adding fresh squeezed lemons, limes or oranges? Adding fresh fruit to your water can taste even better than the chemical-infused elixirs marketed as sports drinks or enhanced waters. Experiment today with adding fruit to your water. Your kids and grandkids will love it too!

To learn more about the health benefits of water, how to get the right amount of water in your diet, and to discover the other six keys to living happy, healthy, and whole, order your copy of How to Live Until You Die today. You can also listen to a recent episode of the Feeling Good Podcast, where Dr. Phil discusses the importance of water in your diet on our website or in iTunes.

Healthy Blessings,

Dr. Phil

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Looking for a Good Book to Read this Summer

June 2, 2017 by Phil Carson Leave a Comment

Looking for a good book to read? It’s summer time, and that’s an awesome time to enjoy reading a good book. Don’t you love laying around at the pool or the beach while enjoying a good book? I’ve got a great new book out called “How to Live Until You Die, the 7 Keys to Living Happy, Healthy, and Whole.” If you want a good book to read for the summer, this is it! We will be doing book promotions all summer, so get ready for some really fun giveaways and posts on our Feeling Good Podcast, Instagram and Facebook pages.

If you are looking for fun, free activities for your kids or grand kids this summer, I encourage you to go to your local library and let the kids check out books to read or books you can read to your kids. Kids need to learn how to live happy, healthy, and whole too. Look for a few books that teach them about nutrition, health, and life. Keeping your kids and grand kids active and doing fun things this summer is a great way to promote healthy living.

Another fun thing to do at any age is to find a Little Free Library, where you can take a book and return a book. Have you seen one of these yet? Check out their map to find locations near you, or maybe even build your own Little Free Library in your community. Our staff loved reading their recent blog post, DIY Little Free Library (Adorable AND Affordable!) And if you ever happen to leave my book in a Little Free Library, send me a picture! I would love to see that happen!

I have an important question to ask you on this Feeling Good Friday. What could you do if you had a simple plan to increase energy, get in better shape, and improve your mental and emotional health? How to Live Until You Die makes it simpler than ever to unlock a healthier, happier, and more whole you, so today can mark a new beginning for your total health! You have more pressure on you than ever before, with competing demands for work, family and friends and our communities, it’s no wonder so many people are stressed, overweight, unhealthy, and exhausted. In my book, I developed a simple plan anyone can use with their healthcare providers to find balance in those seven key areas, which follow the acronym N.E.W.S.S.S.S., to improve:

Nutrition, to finally get rid of fad diets and expensive programs
Exercise, to help you start feeling and looking more fit
Water, to help you lose weight, improve your health, and feel better than ever
Sleep, to help you finally rest and recover
Supplements, to resolve nutritional deficiencies in your body
Soul, to help you find true inner peace, and
Spirit, to help you plug into a higher power needed for lasting happiness

Visit howtoliveuntilyoudie.com for more information, free book resources and more!

Healthy Blessings,

Dr. Phil

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How Healthy is Your Heart?

February 13, 2016 by Phil Carson Leave a Comment

As we continue to celebrate and acknowledge national heart health month, I want you to seriously consider the health of your old ticker. Thousands of people are dying prematurely everyday from heart related conditions and disease. I want to encourage you today to be proactive and to not become a sad statistic before your time. One of the absolute best things you can do for your heart health is to feed it the essential nutrients that it needs to remain healthy. One of those essential nutrients for the heart is Coenzyme Q10.

CoQ10 is extremely beneficial to heart health. This is my absolute favorite heart health supplement and the one that I recommend the most to patients with heart problems. Whether it be high blood pressure, angina, or even congestive heart failure, taking CoQ10 can have tremendous benefits, and there have been numerous medical studies done to validate these benefits. I have personally seen several of my patients benefit from taking CoQ10. Keep in mind though that the CoQ10 I’m speaking of is a supplement and is no substitute for doing all the things that I mentioned in last weeks blog that can help protect your heart health.

Here are some alarming statistics on the impact of heart disease in America taken from The Heart Foundation website:

– Heart disease (which includes Heart Disease, Stroke and other Cardiovascular Diseases) is the No. 1 cause of death in the United States, killing nearly 787,000 people alone in 2011, up from 616, 000 deaths in 2008. That is a 28% increase in only 3 years!

– Heart disease is the leading cause of death for people of most racial/ethnic groups in the United States, including African Americans, Hispanics and Whites. For Asian Americans or Pacific Islanders and American Indians or Alaska Natives, heart disease is second only to cancer.

– Cardiovascular diseases claim more lives than all forms of cancer combined.

– Coronary heart disease is the most common type of heart disease, killing nearly 380,000 people annually.

– In the United States, someone has a heart attack every 34 seconds. Every 60 seconds, someone in the United States dies from a heart disease-related event.

– About 720,000 people in the U.S. suffer heart attacks each year. Of these, 515,000 are a first heart attack and 205,000 happen in people who have already had a heart attack.

– Direct and indirect costs of heart disease total more than $320.1 billion. That includes health expenditures and lost productivity.

If we want to see the number of deaths from heart disease decline then we’ve got to be proactive. We have to take the preventative measures necessary to prevent heart disease and not become one of the statistics. As I tell people all the time, you are the number one person responsible for your health and especially the health of your heart!

Healthy Blessings and Happy Valentines Day,

Dr. Phil

I am excited to announce the launch of my podcast next week! On the Feeling Good Podcast with Dr. Phil, I will be speaking on different topics and answering your health questions each episode! If you have a question that you would like answered on the show you can click on “Ask Dr. Phil” microphone you see on the screen and record your question!

Protect Your Heart This Valentines Day

February 6, 2016 by Phil Carson Leave a Comment

It’s February and Valentines day is coming soon! Appropriately enough, February is also designated as heart health month. Although everyone may not be celebrating Valentines day, everyone should be concerned about their heart, not only in February but every month of the year. Think about it, if your heart stops, your valentines day celebrations are over!

valentines

The heart muscle is the most important muscle in your body and your care for it is of upmost importance and should not be neglected. If you want to make sure you keep your heart healthy, strictly follow these three recommendations.

First, you must drink sufficient amounts of pure water every day. I had someone ask me recently, “what can I do to keep my cholesterol in check?” They told me that their doctor had placed them on a statin drug, but she could not take it because it hurt their muscles and made them weak. I explained that was a side effect of the medication because the statin drugs deplete the body of an essential nutrient, CoQ10, which is essential for the energy cycle in every cell in our body and especially the muscle cells. I told them the absolute best thing they could take to help keep their cholesterol in check was water. Of course they looked at me funny not understanding. I explained to them that water was essential to our health in general, and that in many cases it can do wonders for keeping cholesterol in check. Our bodies are 60-70% water, and without drinking the suggested amount of water for your body weight (which is half your body weight in ounces a day) your body will become dehydrated. Their are numerous studies that show a direct correlation between your hydration levels and your cholesterol levels. So for a healthy heart, drink your water.

Secondly, you must maintain your proper body weight. If you are overweight, or even worse obese, you are putting unnecessary stress on your heart and other vital organs in your body. Often with excess weight you will have an increase in blood pressure because the heart is having to work harder. Numerous studies have shown that just losing a few pounds can make a dramatic difference in your blood pressure and the health of you heart.

My third recommendation is to get consistent exercise, and by consistent I mean at least five days a week. Again there are numerous medical studies showing the benefits of consistent exercise on our heart. This will also help you achieve my second recommendation of maintaining a proper weight. Simply walking every day can make a world of difference in your heart health. The type of exercise that I recommend most for a healthy heart is pace or interval type exercises. Interval exercise is simply taking a physical activity and alternating between high intensity and low intensity. If you are just starting out that could be jogging for 30 seconds and walking for 30 seconds. This type of exercise is excellent for fat burning, and if done properly you can achieve the same calorie burn in less than half the time. In fact the most effective interval style of exercise is called Tabata and it only takes 4 minutes! Pick an exercise such as running, jumping jacks, pushups, sit ups, or whatever you want and do it as hard as you can for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds of rest, then repeat 7 more times. When done properly you will be absolutely exhausted! Check out this great graphic from this even better article about interval training.

Interval-Training

All three of these recommendations are things that you can easily do and require no expensive medications or supplements for you to keep your heart healthy and strong for years to come.