The statements and products referred to throughout this site have not been evaluated by the FDA. They are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or condition. If you have a health condition or concern, consult a physician or your alternative health care provider. Always consult a medical doctor before modifying your diet, using any new product, drug, supplement, or doing new exercises.

If you are taking Coumadin then you will have already been informed by your physician of the foods and drinks to avoid or cut down on. These are foods and beverages that are high in vitamin K, and drinks such as cranberry juice and alcohol. Green leafy vegetables, some vegetable oils, liver and green tea are on the hot list since they are all high sources of vitamin K.




So what’s the deal with vitamin K?

One of the key functions of vitamin K is to to help the blood clot. This is a natural, healthy thing and we would bleed to death without it, especially if we cut our selves badly. However, for anyone with thick blood that has the potential to be life threatening, leading to possible strokes or a heart attack, they are prescribed a medication like Coumadin by their doctor. Coumadin is a blood-thinning medication and has the opposite effect to vitamin K in the body. While it is important to still have vitamin K in the diet because it is an essential vitamin, those taking Coumadin need to limit their intake so that this vitamin doesn’t counter its effects.


Vegetables High in Vitamin K
Drinking vegetable juice recipes can have some very beneficial effects for those with cardiovascular disease and can help lower blood pressure, promote a healthier blood cholesterol profile, detoxify the blood, and even help slow down or reverse the progression of atherosclerosis. So it is a great idea for those using Coumadin to drink fresh juice everyday, providing the juice is made from vegetables low in vitamin K – but first things first, let’s list the vegetables to avoid:

• broccoli
• brussel sprouts
• butternut squash
• cabbage
• celery
• chinese broccoli
• kale (huge amounts of vitamin K!)
• spinach
• parsley
• collard greens
• mustard greens
• chard

Vegetables Low in Vitamin K
Here is the list of ‘Coumadin friendly’ vegetables that contain the smallest amounts of vitamin K.

• beetroot
• carrots
• cauliflower
• cucumber (without the skin)
• green pepper
• sweet potatoes
• lettuce
• celery

I especially recommend using celery because it contains antioxidants called phthalides that are shown to have relaxant effects on the muscles of major arteries. This helps arteries to expand more when pumping blood, helping to lower blood pressure.

Here are two great resources if you want some great reference charts for vitamin K food content:

Vegetable nutrition chart
Vitamin K content of all foods


Fruits and Vitamin K
No fruit is high in vitamin K! They all have low levels of this vitamin except for pomegranate and green apples (red are low) which contain moderate amounts, however they are still not high. Apples juiced with their skins on is recommended because numerous studies show that apple juice helps to lower “LDL” bad cholesterol blood levels and lower blood pressure. While apple juice made from peeled apples is also shown to help, apples juiced with their peels on are more effective.


Cranberry Juice, Alcohol and Green Tea
Cranberry juice and alcohol should be cut down to a very minimal amount or cut-out of the diet all together. They have strong blood-thinning effects and may thin the blood too much in combination with Coumadin. Green tea, as wonderfully healthy as this beverage is, is unfortunately a drink high in vitamin K. This is a shame, since green tea is otherwise beneficial for heart health!

To your health
Darren Haynes

Juices for high blood pressure can help you maintain and keep your condition under control. Keep in mind that hypertension is a life-long condition; hence it is important to formulate a life-long dietary plan that would be complimented by regular exercises, to help keep the condition under control, thereby reducing the risks of heart disease, stroke, and kidney failure. These juices work by:-

First and foremost, juicing for hypertension works by calcium channel blockers which will significantly slow down the movement of calcium from what you consume to the cells of the blood and heart vessels. Because calcium is known to cause strong heart contractions, the juices can ease contractions of the heart and help relax your blood vessels. It is to be mentioned that most fruits and vegetables contain calcium in substantial amounts, so it would be best to avoid those that are potent in calcium. Apples, lemons, honeydew melons, tangerines etc can make good juices for high blood pressure.

The other characteristic that you should look out for in good juices for high blood pressure should be ACE inhibitors. ACE inhibitors work by reducing the supply of angiotensin II in the body, a substance that leads to narrowing and contraction of blood vessels. The result is relaxed, well dilated arteries and low blood pressure meaning less pressure on the heart. Good examples of these juices are carrot and grapefruit juice.

Spinach juice is also great for controlling high blood pressure. Spinach is a known potent source of magnesium, hence will play a significant role in preventing heart diseases. Spinach juice will also contain folate which will help protect the body from homocysteine, a compound which can lead to strokes and heart attacks.

Brocolli juice has also been associated with hypertension, thanks to its high source of potassium and chromium that are known to help in insulin and blood sugar regulation. Another important juice, although a little controversial as to the amount of juice that one should take, is tomato juice. Tomatoes are a potent source of potassium, vitamins A, C, and E, and calcium.

As previously mentioned, the last thing you would want for a hypertension case is calcium. But on the flip side of the coin, Tomato juices are potent sources of lycopene, a very powerful antioxidant known to reduce heart disease risks. So ensure you consult a dietitian or nutritionist before relying on tomato juice as a natural way of controlling yoru high blood pressure condition.

This article has been written by Isabelle Walker who is a writer for MethodsofHealing where you can get some useful information on sleep apnea .

Cholesterol is a substance found in the human body and plays an integral role in building and maintaining body cells. Many people know cholesterol not because of its positive role in the body but because of the fear of high cholesterol. They say too much of something is poisonous, and this can never be truer than with cholesterol. Excessive amounts of what is known as ‘bad cholesterol’ in the body can be life threatening, to say the least.

While cholesterol can be derived from the foods that you eat, in most cases most of it comes from the liver and surrounding organs, and will be found circulating in your bloodstream. The bad cholesterol is known as LDL, and helps transport body building materials all over the body where they are needed.

However, if there is too much LDL in the bloodstream, it ends up lining your artery walls, and as a result forms a ‘plaque’. What this means is that your arteries will become narrow and narrow by the day, and as time goes by become less efficient at transporting building materials. If left untreated for long, it may lead to stroke or heart attack, because it might eventually interfere with blood flow towards the brain and/ or heart. The good cholesterol on the other hand is known as High-Density Lipoproteins (HDL), which counters the effects of the LDL.

With that being said, doctors have always advised on controlling cholesterol levels in the body. If the current statistics are anything to go by, then juicing for cholesterol really works. Avocado juice for example has proven very effective in this. Avocadoes are naturally rich in oleic acid as well as some substantial amounts of omega-3 fatty acids. Studies show that the healthy fats found in Avocado can help lower LDL levels in the body. These they do by increasing the levels of HDL while helping get rid of LDL cholesterol.

There is also evidence that soluble fiber does reduce the bad cholesterol in the body. Juices rich in soluble fiber include plum juice, strawberries, pears, apples, and carrot juice. Green vegetable juices, such as spinach juice, amaranth juice, have also proven very effective when it comes to not only getting rid of the bad cholesterol but also regulating it in the blood stream. What this means is that a regular intake of these juices will occupy a large and constant part in your blood stream hence the ‘bad cholesterol will never find space to stay. As such, they will be effective in the transportation of body building materials and because they will be regulated, they accumulation will be very minimal.

Garlic juice has also proven an effective remedy for high cholesterol levels in the body. Garlic is a super food thanks to its amazing properties. In this case, it acts a natural blood thinner (the same way aspirin works), and because of it’s a antioxidant, you can rest assured it will be very effective in controlling the levels of cholesterol. While it may be hard to take garlic as it is, you might want to mix it with sweeter juices, and so is the case with the vegetable juices, to help improve the taste and make it ‘sweeter’.


This article was written by Avina, a contributor for the site Ultimate Cosmetics where you can learn some useful beauty tips .

The good news is that these days, I never get heartburn! I attribute that 100% to what I eat and what I don’t eat. Now I eat loads of vegetables and I think this is probably the most important change. There is rarely a meal that I eat that doesn’t have vegetables in it! If I make something like chicken breast and rice and there is no vegetables in the dish, then I will make a side salad to go with it. The second most important thing is what I don’t eat or what I eat less of. I stay away from artificial sweeteners, most of them are extremely acidic. I eat red meat now and then and if I do, I go for lean cuts. The dairy I eat is the least acidic kind like cottage cheese, low fat yogurt, skimmed cow’s milk and some low fat hard cheese. So, I totally believe that the best home remedy for heartburn is to make dietary changes.

Other things I learned about were how alkaline diets help you……….

Alkalinity:
So it makes sense to me that if you eat more alkaline foods, acidic conditions like heartburn and GERD will lessen. I am not a strict adherent to the Alkaline Diet and alkaline foods, because I am a little to lazy, but I whole-heartedly recommend it. The good news is that almost every vegetable in existence is alkaline. There are only a few vegetables that are mildy acidic – sweet potatoes and spinach if cooked. Fruits are less clear cut. With some of them being a little acidic and some alkaline in nature. The fruits that are most alkaline forming include, apples, blackberries, mango and papaya and are all great home remedies for heartburn.

Juicing:
Apart from simply eating more vegetables and fruit I also make a lot of fresh juices to drink. Juicing is a great way to get alkaline vegetables and fruits into your diet. I would be very surprised if drinking one alkaline based juice a day plus eating a lot more vegetables won’t reduce if not eliminate your heartburn problems. So here is a list of juicer recipes that can be used as heartburn home remedies.

Heartburn Remedies Juice #1 – Blueberry and Apple

2 cups of blueberry
1 apple

Wash berries thoroughly, remove stem from apple and juice. Even back when I was suffering with heartburn I found that eating an apple helped a little as a heartburn remedy.



Heartburn Remedies Juice #2 – Alkaline Greens
1/2 cucumber
1 cup of spinach
1 cup of kale
1 cup of parsley
1/2 apple

No need to peel the cucumber if it’s organic. Wash the parsley, kale and spinach well. De-stem the apple and juice all the ingredients. Drinking greens is not to everyone’s taste, so adding apple and cucumber helps the juice become a little sweeter and palatable. If you need it sweeter, add more apple.

Heartburn Remedies Juice #3 – More Alkaline Greens
1 cup of broccoli heads
2 stalks of celery (including leaves)
4 large carrots
1″ slice of fresh ginger root (optional)

This juice is very alkaline. The sweetness of carrots help with making green juicer recipes more tasty. Ginger is also very good for acid reflux and digestion.

Heartburn Remedies Juice #4 – Alkaline Heaven
1 cup of spinach
1/2 cucumber
1 stalks of celery (including leaves)
3 carrots
1/2 apple

Another super alkaline juice.

Heartburn Remedies Juice #5 – Tropical delight
1 papaya
1 guava
2 mango

Remove the skins and any pits from the fruits before juicing. Papaya contains an enzyme called papain, which is great for helping with digestion and heartburn.

I hope this helps you with your heartburn, I am sure it will!





In health
Darren Haynes

Juicing For a Healthy Heart

There are many factors which can lead to heart disease. Smoking, stress, limited physical activity, diets high in saturated and trans fats all contribute to cardiovascular diseases. In fact, heart disease is the number one killer in the USA and is responsible for 1/3 of all deaths! However, there are ways to reduce the risk of developing heart disease. A simple place to start is with a diet high in fruits and vegetables. Many studies show how specific nutrients have healing effects on the heart. Below is a list of some of these nutrients.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is essential for making Collagen – an important component in the make up of our arteries. Collagen is an elastic sticky substance which allows the arteries to contract and expand for healthy blood flow. Collagen repairs our arteries when they are damaged by free radicals.

If there is not enough vitamin C in our system to produce collagen, an unhealthy substitute is used instead – cholesterol! If this continues, cholesterol builds up and the arteries harden (atheroclerosis) constricting blood flow. This can also lead to angina and a possible heart attack or stroke. Furthermore, vitamin C helps detoxify blood and prevents blood from sticking and clotting.

Some good juicer recipes food sources include oranges, kiwi fruit, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, apples, broccoli, cucumber and carrots.

If you have had open heart valve surgery, here is a great site with information about after care – open heart valve surgery

Vitamin E

Vitamin E, just like vitamin C, is also important for a healthy heart and is a powerful antioxidant that helps prevent free radical attacks on artery walls. It also has blood thinning properties and can prevent blood from sticking and clotting. Another great thing about vitamin E is that helps to reactivate both vitamin A and C after they have ‘fallen in battle’ while disarming free radicals.

Good juicer recipes food sources include blackberries, apples and kiwi fruit.

Magesium

Magnesium is essential for the muscles of the body to function which includes the heart. A healthy heart requires both magnesium and calcium to function. For instance, magnesium is essential for the heart muscle to relax. Calcium is needed for the heart to contract. If there isn’t enough magnesium then cramping can occur causing high blood pressure and arrhythmias. If magnesium levels get low enough, a heart attack can be the result.

Good juicer recipes food sources include kiwi fruit, blackberries, strawberries, spinach, kale and broccoli.

Calcium

Calcium works with magnesium for the heart muscles to function properly. Being an electrolyte, calcium carries the electrical/nervous system message from the brain to the arteries signaling them to contract. So low levels of calcium can increase blood pressure levels.

Good juicer recipes food sources include oranges, kale, spinach and parsley

Potassium

Potassium is also vital for the heart to function. It allows nerve impulses to reach the muscles and carry out the desired response. Very low potassium levels, like magnesium, can also trigger a heart attack. My father who drinks way too much alcohol suffered a low potassium heart attack.

Great juicer recipes food sources include oranges, strawberries, spinach and tomatoes.

B6 and Folic Acid

Low levels of B6 and folic acid can raise homocysteine levels in the blood. Even the slightest increase in homocysteine can increase the risk of developing heart disease.

Great juicer recipes food sources for B6 is watermelon and carrots.

Food sources for folic acid include blackberries, broccoli and spinach.

Allium Compounds

Allium compounds are phytochemicals found in garlic and onions. Garlic is considered to be an excellent food source for a healthy heart. Research shows that allium compounds can lower cholesterol and blood pressure.

Ellagic Acid

Ellagic acid is a phytochemical that can lower cholesterol. It is mostly found in berries and a few other fruits.

Great juicer recipes food sources include red grapes, kiwifruit, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and blackberries.

Healthy Heart Juicer Recipes

Fitting all of these nutrients into your diet is going to have great benefits for your heart health. Juicing is a simple and excellent way to do this. We have put together two delicious juicer recipes for you. One is fruit based, the other vegetable based. We recommend rotating both of these juicer recipes so you are sure to get some great healthy heart nutrients into your diet! Alternatively you can use the information here to experiment with and put together your own juicer recipes.

Heart Healthy Juice #1 – Berry Bonanza!

1 cup of blueberries
1 cup of blackberries
1 cup of strawberries
1 Kiwi fruit (peeled)

Wash the berries, top the strawberries and peel the kiwi.
Juice them and then mix with the juice with a good stir.
Heart healthy nutrients in this juice include vitamin C, vitamin E, folic acid, magnesium, potassium, and ellagic acid.

Heart Healthy Juice #2 – Hearty Vegetables!

2 carrots
1 cup of spinach
1 cup of kale
1/2 cup of parsley
1/2 an apple (add more to sweeten)
1 glove of garlic (add to taste)

Heart healthy nutrients supplied include vitamins C, B6 and E, folic acid, magnesium, potassium, calcium and allium compounds.

* Natural Herbal Blood Pressure Remedies is a great site put together by Doctor Gordon Cameron that I highly recommend visiting.

Thankyou for visiting Juicer Recipes.

5 Super Fruits for Heart Health.

Many health experts agree that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can improve heart health and reduce the risk of developing heart disease. Furthermore it can reverse heart related problems such as atherosclerosis, high blood pressure and high levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol.

Juicing fruits is an excellent way to get a densely packed amount of beneficial nutrients. So which fruits are best for fighting heart disease? Research has shown these 5 fruits are powerful protectors for your ticker:

POMEGRANATE
Pomegranate has an abundance of antioxidants gaining a lot of attention in the past few years as a super fruit for the heart. Punicalagins is one of the well researched cardio-protective antioxidants found in pomegranate. It can reduce inflammatory damage of arteries and reduce oxidative stress. Other antioxidants in pomegranate include vitamin C, catechins, isoflavones and anthocyanins. All of which have protective qualities for the heart.

Juicer recipes tip: Cut the fruit in half and scoop out the flesh for juicing. Use only the flesh in your juice. The rind and skin will make the juice sour.

RED and PURPLE GRAPES
Resveratrol is the antioxidant found in red and purple grapes and consequently red wine. The French Paradox is the observation that even though the French eat lots of saturated fat and red meat with a high percentage of smokers, they also have a much lower risk of heart disease in comparison to countries like the USA! This is due to their regular intake of red wine. The health benefits of taking resveratrol include reducing the risk of blood clotting, thinning the blood, lowering LDL “bad” cholesterol, preventing damage to blood vessels in the heart and helping to keep blood pressure at a good range.

Juicer recipes tip: when juicing grapes at home you will find the juice looks cloudy. This is not a problem because commercial juices are filtered to look good. The cloudiness simply means there is more nutrition in the juice. Enjoy!

BLUEBERRIES
Blueberries, like pomegranates, are a super fruit loaded with antioxidants. Blueberries contain some resveratrol, but also contain a newly discovered antioxidant called pterostilbene. So far pterostilbene appears to have the same chemo-preventative qualities as resveratrol. A super fruit! Also high in vitamin C.

Juicer recipes tip: You will need a lot of blueberries to make one juice. Four or five cups will do it! Just think how much antioxidant power will be in one single juice!

RED GRAPEFRUIT
A was published in 2006 by the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. It found that giving one grapefruit a day for 30 days to patients with high blood cholesterol actually lowered their cholesterol levels. In this study red grapefruits were found to be more effective than white grapefruit. It is thought that undiscovered antioxidants in the red grapefruit are responsible for its heart healthy effects.

Juicer recipes tip: Remove the outer skin, but keep the white pith for your juice. The pith contains healthy bioflavanoids.

KIWI
Kiwi has earned its wings as a heart healthy fruit. There is evidence that it reduces blood clotting, lowers LDL “bad” cholesterol levels and raises HDL “good” cholesterol levels. Kiwi is a great source of vitiamin C. Vitamin C is needed to create collagen to keep your arteries elastic and supple and to protect the arteries from free radical attacks.

Juicer recipes tip: Drink kiwi juice immediately after juicing. The longer it sits around the more vitamin C it loses.

Have fun with your juicer recipes and stay healthy!

]]> http://juicerrecipesnow.com/5-super-fruits-for-heart-health/feed/ 2 http://juicerrecipesnow.com/3-great-vegetables-to-juice-for-a-healthy-heart/ http://juicerrecipesnow.com/3-great-vegetables-to-juice-for-a-healthy-heart/#comments Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:07:49 +0000 veronica http://juicerrecipesnow.com/?p=441

3 Great Vegetables for a Healthy Heart.

Juicing vegetables is a superb way to get heart healthy nutrients. Which vegetables are best for fighting heart disease? Researchers has shown these 3 vegetables have wonderful benefits for your heart and arteries:

SPINACH
Spinach contains vitamin C and vitamin A (beta-carotene). These are two important antioxidants that disarm free radicals that can attack artery walls. Vitamin C is a water soluble nutrient and beta-carotene is fat soluble. Together they provide a powerful combination that can prevent cholesterol from oxidation. When oxidized, cholesterol becomes sticky and can attach itself to artery walls, leading to blocked arteries. This can cause heart attacks and strokes. Spinach also contains potassium and magnesium. These two minerals are essential for the proper regulation of the heart muscle. Therefore, potassium and magnesium can lower blood pressure.

Spinach also contains the nutrient folic acid (folate). Folic acid is needed to lower the blood levels of a chemical called homocysteine. High blood levels of homocysteine is a powerful factor for the development of heart disease. If the homocysteine levels in the blood increase too much, it can cause heart desease. Folic Acid’s job is to change homocysteine into harmless molecules.

Further more, spinach contains something called peptides which are components of proteins. In a study by the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry animals where given 20 – 30 mg of the peptides per kilogram of body weight per day. This actually lowered their blood pressure in as a little as two to four hours after consumption. So it is very possible it would have the same effect for us.

Juicer recipes idea: You will need a good amount of spinach to get enough juice. I recommend four to five cups or even more. You can also add an apple to sweeten the juice. Spinach juice alone isn’t very palatable and apple also has heart healthy benefits.

BROCCOLI
Broccoli contains good amounts of the cardio-protective vitamin C and vitamin A (see spinach above for benefits). Broccoli also contains sulforaphane, a phytochemical that can protect the heart. It appears that sulforaphane “tells the body” to release a protein called thioredoxin. According to researchers at the University of Connecticut, thioredoxin protects the heart from cell damage.

Juicer recipes idea: Juice the florets and the stalks to get maximun nutrition benefits. Also the stalk contains more juice than the florets.

TOMATOES
Are tomatoes a fruit or a vegetable? Well it is heart healthy enough to make it to this list, so I will leave the answer at that. Tomatoes contain a plant chemical called lycopene which is responsible for its vibrant red color. Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant which protects the tomato from the harmful effects of heat and light from the sun. Lycopene is equally powerful at protecting our arteries from cellular damage. In a recent study from Harvard women taking lycopene were 50% less likely to develop heart disease over a five year period. Furthermore, lycopene is considered to have beneficial effects on blood pressure.

Juicer recipes idea: You can use the left over pulp from your tomato juice to make soups or salsa.

Have fun with your juicer recipes and stay healthy!

]]> http://juicerrecipesnow.com/3-great-vegetables-to-juice-for-a-healthy-heart/feed/ 0