Natural Ways to Thin the Blood
There are numerous conditions that are associated with “thick blood”, or hypercoagulability. Autoimmune disease, infectious diseases like Lyme, toxic states like heavy metal or chemical toxicity, cardiovascular disease, MS, chronic fatigue, and fibromyalgia are just a few of these disorders.
The most common symptoms of hypercoagulability are fatigue, mental fogginess, pain, stroke, and circulatory deficiency like poor leg or heart blood flow. In fact, there is some thought now that most chronic diseases may be at least in part caused by a hypercoagulable state.
At Caring Medical we often check a patient’s bleeding time which is a gross measure of the coagulatory state of the patient's blood. Thinner blood means a healthier you and can help to protect against heart disease and stroke. It is a very important step toward optimal health.
Many doctors prescribe pharmaceutical drugs to help patients thin their blood and prevent blood clots. Why would anyone want to take an pharmaceutical drugs when he or she can get thinner blood the natural way? You can actually have a positive thinning on your blood just by fine tuning your diet and adding some supplements.
Here are some foods that can give the results you’re looking for:
Herbs: Curry powder, Cayenne pepper, Ginger, Paprika, Thyme, Cinnamon, Dill, Oregano, Turmeric, Licorice, Peppermint
Fats and Fish: Flax Seed Oil, Fish Oils, Walnut Oil, Olive oil
Cold Water Ocean Fish: Salmon, Bluefish, Arctic char, Mackerel, Swordfish. These rate the high in omega-3 fatty acids.
What Not to eat: Eating foods that can thicken the blood would only counter act what you’re trying to accomplish. This consists of packaged foods, fast food, and any food that contains hydrogenated fats or oils. As a general guideline avoid these foods:
1. Packaged products with a label that lists "partially hydrogenated oil.” This means read the labels of your crackers, breads, cookies, and other snack items.
2. Ice creams and frozen desserts
3. Mayonnaise
4. Deli foods
5. Margarine. Margarine is hydrogenated oil and also contains a number of chemical preservatives, dyes, and other artificial substances.
6. Vegetable oils such as corn oil, safflower oil, and "vegetable oil."
7. Fried foods. This includes those chicken strips, fried fish fillets, and French fries. It also includes fried vegetables like zucchini and cauliflower. Learn to enjoy foods fresh and raw, steamed, broiled, or baked.
8. FAST FOOD!
Implementing these rules into your diet can give you some of the tools you need to stay healthy and ward off certain disease states. We hope that this you decide to take charge of your diet and reach your health goals. Hopefully, keeping your blood thin is one of them! If you would like to talk with a natural medicine specialist about diet and nutritional supplement intervention, we’d love to see you!
What A Food Diary CAN Reveal
If you are looking to make a change in the way you eat, hoping to feel more energy, lose weight, or improve health symptoms, keeping a food diary is a great first step in helping you make that change. WHY? When your Diet Type has been determined by Hauser Diet Typing, and you are told that you need to eat a certain way, sometimes we find that our patients actually have no idea what they are eating to begin with. A food diary is an excellent first step to assessing how much you eat and why you eat the way you do. It can help you target your current problems and look at the root of them. A food diary is also important to make sure you are following The Hauser Diet properly. If you are working with our Registered Dietitian, keeping a food diary is helpful so that she can review your progress and also help you with any difficulties you may be having.
Here are some things you can track with a food diary:
Proper allocation of carbohydrates, protein, and fat required by your Hauser Diet prescription: For example, have you been told that you need to follow the Hauser Otter Diet, but you realize that you eat too many carbohydrates such as cereal, toast, bread, rice, and potatoes instead of meat, poultry, fish, and eggs.
Identification of your danger zones: Are you a Hauser Monkey who finds out that eating after 8:00PM is your danger time? You reach for the chips as you wind down with your favorite TV show? Or do you find yourself in front of the vending machine at 10AM at work?
Pinpoint lapses: Does eating out in restaurants or family gatherings cause you to eat the wrong foods? Do you eat the wrong foods after your workouts?
Assess your reasons for eating (aside from true hunger): IE are you "rewarding yourself" or eating because you are bored or lonely?
Gauge your appetite and/or cravings: Do you stop eating just when you start to feel full or do you have a hard time listening to your body?
Track your portion sizes: Do you think about how much you are putting on your plate? Or do you just pile it on and take seconds and thirds without even thinking about it?
Record your feelings after eating: And finally, by keeping a food diary, you can record how you felt after eating - and this may be immediately after eating, or even hours or days later. You may determine a connection between a symptom and a certain type of food that could be contributing to your overall health and well-being.
If you have never tried keeping a food diary, just give it a try. You'll be surprised at what you may find!
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