Podcast Episode #60: Why Do Healthy People Have Heart Attacks?

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Topics discussed in this free September 16, 2009 audio episode: everything you need to know about reducing your heart attack risk, water intake during exercise, protein:carb ratios for fat loss, detox and rashes, thyroid medications, testosterone, doping, drafting, and is too much produce a bad thing?

Featured Topic

This week's featured topic is an interview with Dr. William Davis, the author of "Track Your Plaque: The only heart disease prevention program that shows how the new CT heart scans can be used to detect, track, and control coronary plaque". As a practicing cardiologist, Dr. Davis became deeply dissatisfied with the conventional approach to heart disease and created the Track Your Plaque program to help others apply new technology in heart disease prevention. He is the Medical Director of Milwaukee Heart Scan and is a member of the Nutritional Magnesium Association. Dr. Davis is dedicated to promoting early detection and prevention of heart disease and invites you to get more information that will help you avoid the heart health risk factors of magnesium deficiency. During the interview, Dr. Davis and I discuss:

-why a special sub-set of elite athletes are actually at a high risk for heart disease

-what it means to have a "high heart scan score"

-the extreme importance of something called lipoprotein A

-one of single most important minerals for heart function that is now removed from the public water supply

-how to track your plaque, and exactly where to go and what to do for a heart CT scan

-the primary problems with conventional approaches to heart disease

-why do healthy people have heart attacks?

-and much more!

Listener Q&A

Listener Jason asks: "Morning mr greenfield, u said u liked that. Been doing some flying lately and become a fan of listening to your podcast. I was hopeing you could give me some feedback on an issue I had in my first tri I competed in a week or so ago. Basically the issue is that on my run I got severe stomach cramps and suffered from ab muscle pain for a few day after the event. A little bit of background and history is that I am in good shape, 6-1 , 190 pounds, probably about 15 % body fat. I trained for the event, which was a sprint tri for about 7 weeks and felt good going into it. Had some cereal and a slice of toast for b- fast. About 16 oz of water. Then after getting to the course had a clif bar. Just before the race I had a gu. Did the 300 m swim in 5:47. Then did 15 ml bike in 47 mins. I also had two bottles of water while doing the bike portion. Regular bike water bottles. In my transition to the run I had half of a small bottle of Gatorade. That's where the problems started. Got out of the t2 area and started getting stomach cramps which hung around for the entire run which slowed me down to about 28 mins insted of the 25 I was hoping for. I did the race in 1:24 which was 6 mins faster than I was going for but am very competitive and want to improve. Any help u could give me would be appreciated. Someone said it was because I drank to much liquid."

Listener Maleah asks: "Doing the Shape21 thing made me start researching raw food diets since it is very similar. I don’t think I told you but in the second week I had a very bad cold. I took it particularly hard because I had not had a cold in about 4 years. I was afraid I was doing something wrong with the diet and exercise. But, in learning about raw food diets, this is a NORMAL occurrence due to detoxification. I don’t remember that being in your materials. If I missed it, I guess that is par for the course because I missed several other things the first time through but if you did not include it, may I recommend adding it?"

Listener Drew asks: "On a somewhat related note to the pollution question, I have a question that also relates to the harmful chemicals of our modern day world. Let's suppose that an athlete is on a tight budget and honestly cannot afford to buy organic produce. Let's suppose he/she can only afford non-organic produce. Do you think it might be better in this case to forgo produce altogether and consume the necessary vitamins and minerals from other sources? In other words, does ingesting huge amounts of harmful pesticides and/or genetically modified produce outweigh the benefits the produce may provide? Thanks, Ben!"

Listener Pete asks: "Hi Ben, Got a more general question in regards to the IM/ Half IM bike leg. When ever I listen to the pros talking via podcasts, they always mention, "riding with/being dropped from the group". Are they talking about riding together with a 3 bike length gap, or are they just straight out drafting. Also, noticed the the WTC have introduced anti-doping laws across the board for pro and Age group qualifiers. I'd like to know your thoughts on what percent of people are actually cheating, both pro and age grouper. Do we have a big problem in our sport?"

Listener Jim asks: "I take the Armour Thyroid, should I consider specific times that I dose in the morning on race days, I currently dose once a day in the AM when I wake. Also I take Adroderm testosterone patches, I also have some gels. I take 3 per day and usually replace them when I go to bed, they are 5 mg per for a total of 15mg per day. I understand you are not a doctor...but I would like to know if the levels of both of these prescriptions affect performance."

Do you have a question? Remember, you can now ask your questions via *audio* to me via the free Skype software by simply “Skyping” me at username “pacificfit“. You can also call toll free to 1-877-209-9439 and leave a voicemail for Ben Greenfield.

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That’s all for this week. Check back for upcoming interviews on organic farming methods, women's hormone issues, Ben's follow-up discussion on his blood, saliva and urine testing with Dr. Richard Cohen, and upcoming podcasts from Kona at Ironman Hawaii! Be sure to leave our podcast a rating in iTunes! Just click here to go to our iTunes page and leave feedback! Finally, remember all the time put into producing this podcast for you, and consider donating to our show (we’ll throw in a free T-shirt)!

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