By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness
August 7, 2019
I had an 87-year-old patient who once gave me his recipe for a drink he called “Blood.”
Now, before you get too grossed out, let me explain…
Yes, his bright red juice looked a lot like blood. But this name was appropriate for another reason. Continue reading
By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness
July 29, 2019
My father, brothers, and uncles all suffered from heart attacks. They also all had one strange physical sign – creased earlobes!
Believe it or not, this is a warning sign that your arteries may be at increased risk for clogging – and there are well over 50 studies to prove it. (Look for a crease that runs diagonally from the top of your earlobe to the lower edge of your earlobe.)
Earlobe creases form because of weakened then folded collagen in your ears. It’s also a sign of weakened collagen elsewhere…especially in your arteries. Once this symptom appears, it’s really important for you to take note. Continue reading
By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness
July 19, 2019
I am annoyed at headlines that shout about how so many more people could “benefit from taking statins”…that it should be put in the water supply even.
Even worse, are the ones that declare doctors are falling down on the jobs by not prescribing more of them. “Physicians fail to offer statins to more than half of eligible patients,” screams one headline.
I am equally disenchanted by the number of patients who THINK they should be taking a statin drug to get rid of all of their “bad” cholesterol.
In fact, ask anybody you know what they think the biggest threat to their heart is. I’ll bet almost every single one of them will say high cholesterol. Continue reading
By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness
May 24, 2019
The dust has finally settled. People around the U.S. are enjoying eggs in their diets again. Everyone is happy.
Or so I thought.
Then BOOM! The hammer came down. Continue reading
By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness
April 12, 2019
For decades I’ve warned my patients and readers against the use of low-dose aspirin for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. And today, the American College or Cardiology and the American Heart Association are closer than ever to agreeing with me.
Just last month they just released their latest guidelines on the prevention of cardiovascular disease. And I am happy to see their latest stance on low-dose aspirin is much more in alignment with my own.
In their own words, “Aspirin should be used infrequently in the routine primary prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease because of lack of net benefit”. They also admit that the bleeding risks associated with aspirin may outweigh the benefits.
This has been long in the coming. In the meantime, a lot of damage has been done. Continue reading
By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness
February 27, 2019
In the February 22, 2019 issue of Advanced Natural Wellness I mentioned four heart risk factors that patients are most curious about. These included cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure and homocysteine levels.
Since then I’ve received several emails, all asking the same question:
“What the heck is homocysteine?”
If you’re not familiar with this amino acid, I’m here to tell you… Continue reading
By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness
February 22, 2019
Patients concerned about their heart health usually want to know just three or four things.
Is my cholesterol okay? How are my triglycerides? And what’s my blood pressure? Is my homocysteine normal?
All of these are certainly considerations when it comes to your arterial health. (Pretty much everyone knows that if an artery gets clogged it can trigger a stroke or heart attack.)
But how often do you wonder what it is that actually makes your heart beat… how it can contract and relax more than 100,000 times a day with out getting tired? And how can you make sure it keeps beating? Continue reading
By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness
February 15, 2019
One of the first things I recommend to all of my new patients is that they transition into a Mediterranean way of eating. But not everyone is sold on the idea.
Many of my first-time patients fall into this category. These are the people who come to me because they are sick, tired and run down.
The biggest problem I find with most of these patients is that they honestly think they’re already eating a relatively wholesome diet. They’re convinced that sugar free beverages, whole wheat breads and cereals, reduced-salt foods and low-fat dairy are good for them. No wonder they don’t feel good! Continue reading
By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness
February 13, 2019
The other day I saw R.B. for the first time. The reason she ended up at my clinic was one of those stories I hear all too often.
It turns out her older sister recently suffered a heart attack. No high cholesterol. No high blood pressure or other warning signs. Boom! A heart attack right out of the blue.
Like anyone else would, R.B. decided to do a little internet investigating on her own. That’s where she discovered a large amount of information on a cardiovascular risk factor she had never heard of before. Trimethylamine- N-oxide (TMAO).
She suspected that this might be the cause of her sister’s heart attack. And she wanted to find out if she might be at risk, too. But when she asked to be tested for it, her cardiologist told her the test was worthless. Continue reading
By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness
December 19, 2018
My patients are a curious group. They bring me all kinds of weird health tidbits they find online.
“Is this really true?” asks one patient.
“I’ll bet this is just a bunch of baloney,” says another.
Most of the time, they’re right to question what they’ve found. But every now and then, one of those “too weird to be true” concepts actually has merit. Continue reading