Keep The "Give" In Your Arteries

Every time your heart beats, it pumps oxygen-rich blood out into your arteries to supply your head and brain and the rest of your body with the life-giving fluid.  With each contraction, the aorta’s walls stretch to accommodate the surge, converting it into a steadier stream.  When we are young our vessels are resilient and open readily so blood can push through them easily, but as we get older, the artery walls stiffen, losing their ability to expand when they need to, thus increasing the risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke and mental decline.  How?

If your arteries can’t expand and contract easily, they aren’t able to shield the smaller blood vessels from the regular high-pressure bursts of blood that the heart sends out.  That can damage your brain.  If your arteries are stiff, your heart has to work harder to pump the blood out, which leads to heart failure, especially in those with high blood pressure.  What is it that makes these artery walls stiffen?

There are 2 main structural proteins in artery walls called collagen and elastin.  Collagen provides the fiber structure that protects and anchors the arteries to the surrounding tissues, while the elastin gives the vessels the elasticity they need to manage a smooth and continuous blood flow.  As we get older, both proteins can become “cross-linked” with other proteins to make the combination rigid rather than supple.  In the presence of blood sugar, this process is speeded up, resulting in the formation of Advanced Glycation End-products or AGEs.  The elastin proteins stretch out and start to rupture, like elastic in the waist of an old skirt or old underwear, leading to increasing loss of flexibility. So, what can you do to stop this process?

 1. Regular aerobic exercise!  During exercise the force of blood accelerates through the arteries, causing the vessel-lining cells to release nitric oxide, which relaxes & dilates blood vessels and prevents platelets & white blood cells from sticking to blood vessel walls, reducing plaque buildup.

2. Eat wisely- Restrict sodium intake; Avoid saturated and trans fats; Eat more vegetables & fruits; Consume more omega-3 fatty acids (DHA & EPA) found* in fatty fish. 

3. Slow/reduce the formation of AGEs. 

I’ll bet you are thinking, “Boy, I wish I could slow down the formation of those nasty AGE proteins.”  I would have thought the same, except that I know that Shaklee has a product that has been proven to do just that!  That product is VIVIX.  I remember the day that VIVIX was introduced to us at Convention.  The Harvard Researcher, who had just addressed us about the science behind the product, said to one of our Shaklee friends as he went backstage, “These people have no idea of the magnitude of the importance of this product they have just been given!”      

We didn’t realize the full extent of it then, but we are learning more and more about its amazing effects in the body. It impacts 4 key mechanisms of cellular aging:  1) It protects & repairs DNA;   2) It promotes mitochondrial biogenesis, which  increases energy production in the cells;  3) It activates key genetic regulators to turn down cellular aging and inflammation; and 4) the VIVIX polyphenols are 10X more powerful than resveratrol alone in slowing the formation of AGE proteins that clog up cells and do the damage described in the third paragraph above.

*Omega-3 fatty acids also are found in Vitalizer and OmegaGuard from Shaklee.

To learn more about VIVIX click here and then scroll down the playlist to VIVIX.

To learn more about VITALIZER click as for Vivix and then scroll down the playlist to Shaklee VITALIZER.