Protective Diet Class #007 Notes:

Understanding the Endothelium

This class explains the basics of endothelial function and health. In Protective Diet Education, we learn and apply diet and lifestyle practices that promote a fully functional endothelium. When we align our daily actions and preferences with the preservation of this living shield, weight regulates, disease is prevented or reversed, and every cell in the body is fully protected. This foundational harmony is the key to living a long and healthy life. This is optimal health!

Announcements

• Join us in Protective Diet Living (PDL) to get support and recharge.
• Re-listen to PD Classes to get inspired and motivated.

Vocabulary

Action Steps for Endothelial Health

• Prioritize Your Endothelium
  • Discovered in the 1970s, the endothelium is a single layer cellular wall that runs throughout all blood vessels and lymph vessels, allowing essential oxygen and nutrients to get to the vital organs of the body and acting as a barrier against disease, viruses, colds, and anything entering your immune system.
  • Because the endothelial cells line every blood vessel they play an important role in the proper function of every organ in your body. All of our organs require proper endothelial function in order to function optimally: the brain, skin, heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas, and stomach…all rely on a functioning endothelium.
  • Damaged endothelium is an issue for your whole body.
  • 90% of heart attacks are a result of endothelial breakdown.
  • Optimal health = ideal endothelial function, which protects us from any dysfunction in our body.
• Prevent Endothelial Breakdown
  • Diet: Things we eat that damage the endothelium

– Saturated fat:

– All animal products contain saturated fat

– Plant foods with saturated fat (oils, nuts, coconut, avocado, hemp seed)

– Sugars & Artificial sweeteners

– Food additives & Chemicals

– Caffeine & Stimulants

• Lifestyle

– Environment: Things we breathe or absorb through our skin that damage the endothelium

– Smoking & Second-hand smoke

– Cleaning products

– Stress

• Promote Endothelial Function
  • Diet: Every PD Recipe promotes the endothelium.

– Proactively eat a Protective Diet to promote your endothelium before getting a disease diagnosis.

– Have confidence that your diet is going to provide the protective barrier to prevent and reverse disease.

– Apply a Protective Diet every day; nutrient-dense full of antioxidants, full of phytochemicals that can help reverse

any kind of irregular cell development.

– Green leafy vegetables, salad, and broccoli; should be at the foundation of your food pyramid on a Protective Diet

– Add a handful to your soup

– Eventually, you will crave green vegetables

– Whole grains: oats (organic if possible), potatoes, rice–regulate body temperature, fuel and energize us

• Lifestyle:

– Environment:

– Cleaning products—vinegar will not disrupt endothelium; use PD All Purpose Cleaner

– Air freshener—spray bottle, essential oils, and water

– Reduce stress:

– Address the diet, and then address the lifestyle.

– Knowing you are eating a protective diet will reduce stress.

– Meditation—visualize your body healing and reaching optimal health.

– Write if you are stressed and feeling overwhelmed.

– Make a list. Read it back to yourself; seems like someone else’s problem/easier to address.

– Pack your lunch for the next day/do something to make your life easier tomorrow.

– Stop watching TV, live your life/be present in your life.

– Reach out in PDL.

– Successes in PD spiral into positive change in all other aspects of your life.

Student Q&A

Q: If your health is pretty bad will ideal body weight regulation take a while?

Q: Why does Dr. Greger recommend eating ground flaxseeds every day?

Q: Should I eat at mealtime even if I don’t feel hungry?

Q: Will weight drop faster by cutting back grains and eating more vegetables?

Q: How do you define heart disease? When is it reversible?

Q: How many meals should I eat in a day (3, 6) if I am concerned about high triglycerides?

Q: Can you address breastfeeding on a protective diet?

Q: How do you balance beans and grains? Are beans starch or vegetable?

Q: Would you stay away from nuts if you have a lot of weight to lose?

Q: Will beans cause weight gain?

Encouragement

• This is such a rewarding way to lose weight.
• You are beautiful, amazing and inspiring to so many people, including me. Be grateful for every inch of your body.
• I want you lying down in bed at night thinking to yourself, “I ate all this food to give my body health and energy and promote my endothelium and I can feel it getting healthier.”

If you are eating to promote those protective cells, they are going to make everything in your body work perfectly, like a symphony.

Recommended Recipes

Recommended Classes

This class explains the basics of endothelial function and health. In Protective Diet Education, we learn and apply diet and lifestyle practices that promote a fully functional endothelium. When we align our daily actions and preferences with the preservation of this living shield, weight regulates, disease is prevented or reversed, and every cell in the body is fully protected. This foundational harmony is the key to living a long and healthy life. This is optimal health!