Cave Man Cardiology

In this week's episode of Your Best Life, Karl interviews Dr. Jack Wolfson, who is a board certified cardiologist and integrative medicine specialist. Dr. Wolfson has performed hundreds of angiograms, pace maker implementations, and cardiac ultrasounds. His private practice, Wolfson Integrative Cardiology, focuses on using nutrition, supplements, chemical avoidance, and detoxification to prevent and treat cardiac disease. During the show, Karl and Dr. Wolfson discuss why cholesterol is king, inflammation, the role of heavy metals, chelation therapy, sugar, and chiropractic medicine.

Main Questions Asked:

• What do you mean by 'cholesterol is king?'
• What should patients ask for with regards to testing LDL?
• Have you seen people reverse coronary disease?
• What is a heavy metal, and what is the role in overall and cardiac health?
• Is elation therapy a way to purge heavy metals?
• Talk about the benefits of chiropractic care.

Key Lessons Learned:

• Many people think cardiology as an intervention specialty of 'fixing' a problem, but Dr. Wolfson takes a preventative approach and addresses the cause.
• Disease is happening in people at a much younger age due to poor nutrition and toxic chemicals in our environment.
• Some of the causes of atrial fibrillation and other heart related problems are caffeine, sugar, lack of Omega 3 at a cellular level, low magnesium, low potassium, food sensitivity, or heavy metals.

Cholesterol is King

• There is a lot of negativity surrounding the word cholesterol.
• There are 8 different types of cholesterol, and they are in our bodies for a reason.
• Total cholesterol is a very poor indicator of overall cardiovascular risk. What matters is the particle numbers and sizes.
• We focus far too much on overall cholesterol or the LDL to HDL ratio. It's best to focus on advanced lipoprotein analysis such as a VAP test.
• We are told LDL is the bad and HDL is the good cholesterol.
• LDL is the 'bus' that carries its passengers around the body. It contains things like cholesterol, phospholipids, fat soluble vitamins such as A, D, E, & K, and CoQ10.
• We don't, however, want an overload of LDL particles, specifically the small density LDLs.

Inflammation

• Inflammation is a way of saying that the body is irritated, which is due to poor nutrition and toxic chemicals.
• The small, dense LDLs are typically the ones that are damaged. This can be seen with elevated inflammation such as markers HSCRP and myeloperoxidase.
• If your inflammation is on the low side, then it puts you at low risk for near term cardio vascular events.
• Pro-inflammatory foods include sugar, grains, dairy, and synthetic foods.
• Most diets are deficient in anti-inflammatory plant-based foods including fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices.
• Pain is the number one sign that you have inflammation and are at cardiac risk.
• Monitor how you feel when you wake up in the morning.

Reversing Disease

• When you follow the paleo nutrition, take supplements, change your lifestyle, then it makes massive changes.
• Another way of determining how well a patient is doing is by measuring blood vessel function. How well do blood vessels dilate in response to stress?
• If you follow the right nutrition plan, then you get the best results.

Heavy Metals

• They occur naturally but should not be in the human body such as mercury, aluminum, lead, arsenic, thorium, and barium.
• Heavy metals come from the air we breathe due to fossil fuel.
• We are also exposed to heavy metals via the food we eat. These come from synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
• Heavy metals have no role in the body, and when they get in, they interfere with things that are beneficial such as magnesium, potassium, sodium, and calcium.

Chelation Therapy

• This is the practice of ingesting something that binds on to one of the metal ions and excretes it out of the body.
• Ensure you are having bowel movements on a daily basis.
• Drink filtered water rather than tap water.
• There are intravenous and oral chelators, and doctors that specialize in the removal of metals.
• We are intoxicated on a daily basis by heavy metals, so oral chelators such as EDTA are recommended by natural doctors.

Sugar

• This is the most addicting substance in the world. More people are addicted to sugar than anything else.
• This can be table sugar, cane sugar, maple syrup, rice, potatoes, corn, wheat, grains, and alcohol.
• Elevated blood sugar is the precursor to diabetes, which is the biggest risk factor for just about every disease.
• Getting a handle on sugar, including fruit sugar, is wise for everyone.
• Monitor your sugar intake and recognize where you are getting sugar.

Chiropractic Medicine

• Osteopathic medicine was founded in the late 1800s on the principal that the body can heal itself when you remove the things that are unhealthy.
• 30 million Americans are seeing chiropractors.

Thank you for listening!

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Links to Resources Mentioned

Wolfson Integrative Cardiology
The Paleo Cardiologist (book)
The Natural Heart Health Guide to Grocery Shopping

2 click to tweet links! (Thanks for helping spread the word!)

Tweet: "Cholesterol is king". Find out why from board certified cardiologist @thedrswolfson @wellnessgroup http://www.Wellness.com/paleocardio

Tweet: Sugar vs cholesterol. Which is worse? Find out w/ @thedrswolfson @wellnessgroup http://www.Wellness.com/paleocardio