"The human heart is the most responsive organ in the human body to proper nutritional therapy," said Dr. Royal Lee, more than five decades ago. Today, as cardiovascular disease is skyrocketing, we need to look back to the words of the wise and re-discover the basic truths of the cause of heart disease.

In the quote above, the operative word is PROPER nutritional therapy. Billions of dollars are spent annually on medications and supplements that do nothing to heal the heart. They stimulate or mask the real reasons the heart is going bad. The heart needs a few critical nutrients to help it function properly, and when it receives it, what an amazing job can result!

B vitamins, for example are absolutely critical to proper heart health. Unfortunately, the B vitamins found in your common supplements are synthetically produced in a lab and don't have the heart-healthy benefits they would have if they came from a food source. The heart also needs lots of fat. Yes, I know we've had the whole low fat theory shoved down our throats for decades now; telling us that fat was the cause of heart disease. Well, we're smarter now, and know that that isn't the case. We know that healthy fats are essential to cardiovascular health. They include fats such as olive oil, coconut oil, butter and others. Vegetable oils and especially margarine has been the bane of cardiovascular health and should be avoided at all costs. It is not about saturated versus unsaturated or polyunsaturated fats. That is old school nutrition now. Consider that the heart is surrounded by saturated fat, and that the heart needs fat to pull the essential minerals into its tissues.

Calcium is one of those minerals. We've been told recently that taking calcium supplements is a problem, yet the organ that uses the most amount of calcium is the heart. Our diets are poor in usable calcium, so for most, it is important to take calcium supplements. Here again, most people use the wrong form of calcium, unavailable forms of calcium, and create more problems than it normally would help.

Minerals in general are important for the heart, especially for the electrical mechanism of the heart. Vitamin C is imperative to healthy cardiovascular function. Note here that typical vitamin C in the form of ascorbic acid doesn't supply the oxygen-carrying, healing capacity of a food-based vitamin C.

If your heart beats too fast, too slow, or too weak, is swollen, stretched out, fibrillating, pounding, racing, under or over active, or out of rhythm, you might be relieved to know that those are mostly nutrition-related symptoms. Since most heart disease is caused by nutritional deficiencies, it stands to reason that the best way to resolve these issues is nutritionally. Within minutes of supplying the proper nutrients, the heart will begin to repair the damage and function better. Sometimes it takes months to repair the damage, but each day makes a difference.

Attend our upcoming class "High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol and Cardiovascular Health," Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. at Vital Health in Coeur d'Alene. Fee: $10. RSVP: (208) 765-1994.

Holly Carling is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Licensed Acupuncturist, Doctor of Naturopathy, Clinical Nutritionist and Master Herbologist with more than 35 years of experience. She is currently accepting new patients and offers natural health care services and whole food nutritional supplements in her Coeur d'Alene clinic. Visit Carling's website at www.vitalhealthcda.com to learn more about her, view a list of upcoming health classes and read other informative articles. Carling can be reached at (208) 765-1994 and would be happy to answer any questions regarding this topic.