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Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP180112A
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00:01 The following program presents principles designed
00:02 to promote good health 00:04 and is not intended to take the place 00:05 of personalized professional care. 00:07 The opinions and ideas expressed 00:09 are those of the speaker. 00:10 Viewers are encouraged to draw their own conclusions 00:13 about the information presented. 00:15 Remember when you were a kid 00:16 and your mom kept getting after you 00:18 to eat your vegetables? 00:19 Despite your distaste for them when you were younger, 00:22 you'd probably have to acknowledge today 00:23 that she was right. 00:25 On today's program, we'll be sharing the best foods 00:27 you can eat to promote cardiovascular health, 00:30 and we'll be sharing ideas that you can use 00:31 to improve your health today 00:33 no matter where you're starting from. 00:35 The Ultimate Prescription starts now. 00:57 Thanks for joining us here today 00:58 for the Ultimate Prescription. 00:59 A program dedicated to helping us better understand 01:02 God's design for our lives and experience better health 01:05 by following His plan. 01:06 I'm your host Nick Evenson here with Dr. James Marcum 01:09 for an excellent program today in which we'll be discussing 01:11 nutrition for cardiovascular health. 01:14 Dr. Marcum, welcome to the program. 01:15 Yeah. It's nice to be here. 01:16 And the world's changed since I started practicing 01:19 27 years ago. 01:22 In the old days, we didn't talk much about nutrition 01:24 in treating heart disease and vascular disease at all. 01:28 But now it's one of the first things 01:30 we talk about to prevent disease 01:32 and also even use as a treatment 01:35 for these diseases, so it's very interesting topic. 01:37 But before we do that, 01:38 I want to just sort of review some things. 01:40 Yeah. 01:41 I was going to say you have a unique perspective. 01:42 Yeah. 01:44 A lot of doctors, all they have time 01:45 from their bosses is 10 minutes with the patients, 01:47 15 minutes with the patients, 01:49 so they're trying to do the best to understand 01:50 the symptoms, and write a pill, and out the door 01:52 the patient goes a lot of times. 01:54 But you promote the Ultimate Prescription. 01:56 What is that? 01:58 Let's review kind of your perspective. 01:59 I sort of want to review this 'cause this is good 02:01 that we all go back over this every 02:03 so often to get a good framework. 02:05 It's like a foundation we can build on, okay? 02:07 Yeah. 02:09 First of all, you know, I'd like to tell people 02:10 why they're sick. 02:12 And we've talked about it. 02:13 Unfortunately, each one of us has bad genes, okay? 02:17 And as we go through life, 02:18 depending on which gene acts up first, 02:21 then we have a symptom. 02:23 And what turns on these genes? 02:24 Well, some of our lifestyle habits. 02:26 You know, if you have heart disease, for instance, 02:28 and you smoke, and you have diabetes, 02:30 and you eat fatty foods all the time, 02:31 you don't exercise, 02:33 and everyone in your family had heart disease at age 70, 02:36 you might have heart disease at age 50. 02:39 Right. Yeah. 02:40 The genes get turned on, you have a symptom, 02:42 the symptom leads you to doctor, 02:43 and the doctor might treat you with angioplasty or stent 02:46 or medicines or whatever, okay? 02:48 Well, we try to prevent the aging process of the genes, 02:52 so that's why we're sick, 02:53 all the stressors and the bad genes 02:55 we have to begin with, okay? 02:57 And it's inevitable. 02:58 We're all going to come down with something sooner or later. 03:00 We want to keep it later, 03:02 and also, we want to have a good plan. 03:04 The next thing I'd like to focus patients 03:05 on is balance. 03:07 You know, what's the balance? 03:08 You know, there's a place for lifestyle changes, 03:12 you know, exercise, nutrition, good thoughts, 03:14 but that doesn't heal you, okay, that doesn't heal you. 03:17 There's a place for modern medicine, 03:19 and that helps your symptoms, 03:20 and it's great for acute problems, 03:22 but that doesn't make you perfect. 03:24 Right. 03:25 But what we want to bring people to 03:26 is the relationship with Christ because in that, 03:29 we can have healing, we can have peace, 03:31 we can have eternity. 03:33 So that's where we want to start 03:35 our focus on healthcare, 03:36 and that leads us to biblical prescriptions. 03:39 Well, what does a Bible say about health? 03:41 You know, one of the texts we talk about is "Come unto Me, 03:44 and I will give you rest." 03:47 So when we come to Christ through worship, 03:49 through that relationship, 03:51 everything starts to come together. 03:53 He gives us the power to make lifestyle changes 03:56 and realize that if we have bad genes, 03:58 we need a Savior, okay, 03:59 to heal us in His time, in His way. 04:01 And also we need appropriate use of modern medicine, 04:04 especially for emergencies, 04:05 you know, it's great place for that. 04:07 So that's sort of the framework I like to present, 04:10 and everyone has a little bit different pathway. 04:13 You know, it's not the same path 04:14 for Nick Evenson or for James Marcum 04:17 or for anyone, each one has a little bit different path 04:20 that we go on through life, 04:21 and it's based on these general principles 04:23 that help us. 04:24 So I think, that as we understand that, 04:26 that helps build us a framework 04:28 as we start talking about one of these areas 04:31 what nutrition is, 04:32 that's been something that's changed a lot 04:34 through the years. 04:35 You know, Dr. Marcum, I think that's a great perspective 04:38 because we think back, even with your practice, 04:40 all the patients that you treat as good a job as you do, 04:44 they're going to expire 04:46 at some point here on this earth. 04:47 Right. 04:48 And all the people that Jesus healed, 04:50 they all expired at some point as well despite, 04:52 you know, the touch of God's hand healing them. 04:55 And so focusing on the long-term healing, 04:58 the eternal healing is just that it makes so much sense. 05:00 And it also, when you focus on that, Nick, 05:02 there's health benefits in the short time. 05:04 Yeah. 05:06 I noticed that people that have that reassurance, 05:08 they don't have to fear, they don't have to be anxious, 05:11 they know where they're going, they know where their power 05:13 is coming from, they have this peace 05:15 that passes or understanding. 05:18 And when they learn this, 05:19 and it's something you grow with, 05:21 and it's something you improve on, 05:23 just like all aspects of health, 05:25 when you understand this and develop this, 05:27 you have health benefits as well. 05:30 And the same thing that's happened 05:31 with other aspects in health 05:33 and everything in health is changed. 05:35 I'm looking at the practice of modern medicine, 05:37 I was comminate. 05:38 You know, what we're doing with hearts has changed 05:40 so much over the last 10, 15 years. 05:42 Yeah. 05:44 We have technology that I never dreamed of 05:45 when we first started. 05:47 When we first started with heart attacks, 05:48 we would have a medicine that would dislodge the clot, 05:52 we call that a thrombolytic. 05:53 Well, now we don't even use those. 05:55 We go in and put stents in, you know? 05:58 Years ago, we used to put... 06:00 You know, pacemakers were totally different 06:02 than we're doing now. 06:03 Now we have a leadless system. 06:05 We have little pacemakers that look like ticks 06:07 that we put in the body. 06:08 Now we're putting in valves without cutting open the chest 06:12 or the same thing has happened in the nutritional world. 06:15 We're now seeing nutrition 06:17 as a way to treat cardiovascular disease, 06:20 when you have a symptom, 06:22 as well as a way to prevent the disease 06:24 in the first place so you don't need 06:26 the modern medicine. 06:27 Right, yeah. That's fascinating. 06:29 You know, the understanding that we have of... 06:32 Okay, here's the symptoms, 06:33 here's what's actually going on, 06:34 the understanding of better ways to treat, 06:36 that growth is just, it's amazing, 06:39 you know, the little tiny pacemakers 06:40 that you were talking about, 06:41 I think, technology is a fantastic tool. 06:43 But once again, it's not the eternal solution. 06:46 Right. 06:47 And that's the balance we want to focus people on, 06:49 you know, when to use this, when to use that 06:51 but also have that safe place 06:53 that they always can use as the base. 06:55 Yeah. 06:56 Well let's move on. 06:57 We'd like to answer viewers' questions 06:59 on this program, 07:00 and if you have a question, you can go to the website 07:02 HeartwiseMinistries.org. 07:04 There's a lot of resources there. 07:06 And one of them is you can submit 07:07 your health questions, 07:08 and one of Dr. Marcum's associates will get on 07:11 and try and steer you in the general direction 07:13 to where you can find some answers. 07:15 And we've got a question here that's been written in, 07:17 and the person is asking, 07:19 "What is the safest treatment or medication 07:21 for those with high blood pressure?" 07:23 Yeah. 07:24 Well, high blood pressure is a symptom 07:26 of cardiovascular disease but not a cause. 07:29 Right. 07:30 So when someone comes in with high blood pressure, 07:32 you know, I want to ask them, 07:34 well, why do they have high blood pressure. 07:36 Why? Okay? 07:38 There's many medicines that we can use, 07:40 and sometimes we use them right away 07:42 if the person's risk is high. 07:45 Let's say they're having aneurysm 07:46 or they're having a heart attack 07:48 or having some other big issue, 07:49 vascular issue, they've had a stroke, 07:52 then we might want to treat them 07:53 aggressively upfront with medications 07:56 until we can teach them other ways 07:58 and get to the cause. 08:00 Sometimes, it takes a while to get at the cause, you know? 08:04 So some of the common causes of high blood pressure 08:07 are too much salt in processed foods, you know? 08:11 Over the last 200 years, 08:13 you know, the way we keep foods 08:15 for longer periods of time is salt, 08:17 and we process them, 08:18 we put lots of sodium in the foods. 08:20 We actually don't need much sodium at all. 08:23 You know, they're recommending 08:24 about 2,000 milligrams of sodium, 08:26 even that's too much. 08:28 So when sodium is in the body, it brings water into the body. 08:32 When water comes into the body, 08:35 and the body wants to compensate. 08:37 And the way it compensates 08:39 is to turn on different hormones 08:40 and it tries to get rid of the water. 08:42 Okay. Yeah. 08:43 And in that process, the blood pressure goes up. 08:47 So just getting rid of salt can bring down blood pressure. 08:49 Do you think that the increased sodium intake 08:52 in much of our population here today 08:54 is due to the change in the way we live? 08:56 A lot of people don't have time to make their own food at home, 08:58 so they're eating prepackaged meals, 09:01 they're eating fast food, and that kind of thing 09:02 which has a lot more sodium in it, right? 09:04 Yes, lots of processed foods, and we change the way we eat, 09:08 so we eat lots of processed, we're eating... 09:09 You know, people still eat lots of animal products, 09:12 and that contributes. 09:14 Another thing that contributes 09:16 is we don't move around as much, 09:17 we carry extra weight. 09:19 So sometimes just moving around 09:20 and exercising, 09:22 that will lower the blood pressure. 09:24 So those are two things. 09:26 Third is a lot of people are under stress, 09:29 they're stressed all the time. 09:30 So people can lower their stress 09:32 so you want to in high blood pressure, 09:34 you want to find the reason why. 09:36 Some medical conditions can cause it. 09:37 One of the most common is sleep apnea. 09:40 That can cause high blood pressure. 09:41 You might be... 09:43 You're taking another medication 09:44 that causes the blood pressure to go high. 09:45 You might be having pain in your life. 09:48 Pain will cause the blood pressure to go high. 09:50 You know, certain fibroid abnormalities, 09:52 hormonal things can cause the blood pressure to go high. 09:55 Right. Sometimes, it's your nutrition. 09:57 You don't eat enough good things, 09:58 and the arteries become stiff and viscous. 10:01 So sometimes you're eating 10:03 the wrong type of healthy foods, 10:04 that can make it go high. 10:06 Well, what's some of the wrong type of healthy food? 10:08 Some people say, "I'm eating this healthy thing, 10:10 but it's processed." 10:11 Okay, now I was an example 10:13 that I used to eat corn chips too much and chips. 10:15 Sure. Yeah. 10:16 You know, and chips themselves are processed, 10:18 and they had sodium and lots of chemicals in it 10:21 that was messing up with my metabolism. 10:23 So the first thing in high blood pressure 10:25 is understanding the reason why, 10:28 and working on those things, 10:29 understanding whether they are at high risk. 10:31 If they are at low risk, then we have some time. 10:34 Understanding the risk, but if they are at high risk 10:37 and we have to start a medicine right away, 10:39 there's many different ones we can use and monitor. 10:42 One of the ones I like to use in the office 10:44 is called amlodipine or norvasc. 10:47 All that one really does is dilate the blood vessels. 10:49 It doesn't fix the problem, but it dilates them. 10:52 It doesn't have a lot of side effects, 10:54 but a lot of doctors, 10:55 they choose the blood pressure medicine 10:57 based on if there's other things going on. 10:59 Let's say you're stressed out 11:01 and that's making your blood pressure go high 11:03 or you've had heart disease, beta blockers, 11:05 that block's adrenaline, that's very helpful. 11:07 Okay. 11:08 Some of them, if you take too much salt in, 11:09 which most people do, 11:11 there's some that take salt out of the body. 11:12 They're called diuretics. 11:14 They take the salt out of the body for you. 11:16 But it doesn't make so much sense to give a diuretic 11:18 and person eats whatever they want. 11:20 Right. 11:21 You know, that's like banging your head on the wall, 11:22 "My head hurts, my head..." 11:24 Well, take some pain pills. 11:25 Yeah. Right. 11:27 So to answer this question, 11:28 if we can understand the reason why, 11:31 work on that and treat some natural ways. 11:33 Now we're talking about nutrition is a way to treat, 11:35 how would nutrition treat this, okay? 11:38 Yeah. Two ways. 11:39 First, foods to avoid that cause high blood pressure. 11:42 Fatty foods paralyze the arterial walls, 11:45 so you want to try to move fat out of your diet, 11:48 and processed foods, salt... 11:49 Okay. 11:50 Give some examples, what kind of fatty foods 11:52 are we talking about? 11:53 Oh, meat, eggs, chicken, cheese, fish, ice cream, 11:55 donuts, cookies, you know, those type of things. 11:57 All right. 11:58 Some tough one's right there, cookies. 11:59 They have some fat in them. Yeah. 12:01 Those type of foods, also the salty foods. 12:05 Anything that's in a package has salt in it. 12:07 For instance, people don't realize it 12:09 when you get a chicken, 12:10 not only you get the salt that's in the chicken 12:12 but they inject salt in the chicken 12:14 so the chicken weighs more, 12:15 so they can sell it for more money. 12:17 And it's processed, to keep things from swelling, 12:20 they put salt in it. 12:23 So you get way too much sodium in meat products, 12:24 you get... 12:25 Any package you look on it, and it says sodium. 12:27 So really, you want to get down to about a quarter 12:30 of a tea spoon of total salt a day. 12:32 That's not much... 12:33 A quarter of a teaspoon. Yeah, that's not much at all. 12:35 Yeah, that's not... 12:36 I was going to say I'll probably have much 12:37 in my oatmeal, so... 12:39 Yeah, you do not need much sodium at all. 12:40 And as you can do that, 12:41 you know, that's going to bring down your blood pressure. 12:43 So one of the things, nutrition, for blood pressure, 12:44 is avoid the things that cause blood pressure. 12:47 And there's some foods 12:48 that can help the blood pressure. 12:50 One of them is called the greens, 12:52 dark leafy greens have a chemical called nitrates, 12:55 they turn into nitricoxide, 12:57 and that makes the arteries get bigger. 12:59 And studies done, 13:01 something like flax can lower the blood pressure. 13:03 So there's two... Flax seeds? 13:04 Yeah. Everyone's heard about beets. 13:06 Beets are rich in nitrates. 13:08 We've now done the study on beets, 13:09 compared it with the medicine, 13:11 that lowers blood pressures well. 13:13 So eating more plants, especially beets and greens, 13:17 tend to lower blood pressure. 13:18 There's some teas that will lower. 13:20 Hibiscus tea has been studied, 13:22 that helps lower the blood pressure. 13:24 There's some other substances like watermelon 13:26 that might lower blood pressure. 13:28 But you got to eat way too much watermelon 13:30 to get any advantage. 13:32 You can't eat a whole... 13:33 Two water watermelons in a day to do that. 13:35 So watermelon's probably not reasonable. 13:36 But I tell my people to eat lots of grains, 13:39 throw some beets in there, 13:41 maybe some healthy teas with hibiscus in it, 13:43 and flax with your oatmeal every day. 13:46 This is a place to start 13:48 along with eliminating foods that cause it. 13:50 Get on an exercise program, 13:52 and then you might only have to take your medicine 13:54 a short period of time 13:55 until you can get at the cause of disease. 13:57 Now some people, 13:58 like we've talked about earlier, 14:00 have genetic disease, Nick, remember? 14:02 They do all the lifestyle changes, 14:04 they do everything they can, 14:05 and they still have just the bad genes 14:07 that cause blood pressure. 14:08 And for those people, 14:10 the risk of medicine might be worth the benefit 14:12 'cause high blood pressure 14:14 can lead to a lot of other damage 14:15 to blood vessels all over the body, 14:17 then the heart, and the kidneys, and the brain. 14:20 So lowering blood pressure 14:21 is a very important thing to do. 14:23 How to do it? That's what the debate's at. 14:25 Right. Right. 14:26 Well, hey, we got to take a break, Dr. Marcum. 14:28 But, viewers, stay with us 'cause after the break, 14:30 I'm gonna put Dr. Marcum on spot here. 14:32 He's gonna share his favorite cardiovascular health 14:35 promoting dish with us, 14:36 so we'll be back in just a moment, 14:37 and stay with us. |
Revised 2019-03-14