How many numbers do we remember each day? Phone numbers, alarm codes, passwords, bank account balances, birthdays. None of these is as important as knowing your health numbers. An up-to-date knowledge of your health numbers can literally save your life.

Brenda Watson discusses knowing your numbers and how you can test them at home in her revolutionary Heart of Perfect Health PBS special airing nationwide on PBS stations throughout March. The show covers the myths about cholesterol, the  nutrients you need to get your health back on track and reduce your risk of heart disease, how to check your health numbers, and the simple, transformative steps you can take every day to reverse America’s #1 killer, heart disease.

The 3 Numbers You Must Know
The three top signs of heart disease risk are also the three top signs of silent inflammation, a chronic pre-disease state in the body that many of us have without knowing it. Research is linking silent inflammation to the root of heart and cardiovascular disease, not to mention conditions such as diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, and even certain cancers.

The good news is you can reverse your silent inflammation by knowing your health numbers and taking the necessary steps to get these numbers within a healthy range. The 3 health numbers you need to know are:

• Cholesterol, which should be no higher than 200mg
• Blood pressure, which should be no higher than 120 over 80
• Blood sugar (fasting blood glucose), which should be no higher than 85

High cholesterol, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar are the top 3 signs your body is in a state of silent inflammation, and they are major heart health risk markers. Together these high numbers double your risk of cardiovascular disease by causing the arteries to harden and thicken, by stimulating plaque build-up along blood vessels, and by increasing bad LDL cholesterol.

You should be testing yourself more often than once a year to see where your numbers are and you can perform these tests at home. You can get your cholesterol checked at lab sites online, buy your own blood pressure cuff for at-home use, and find a do-it-yourself glucose meter at your local drugstore to monitor your blood sugar levels. There is no need to wait for your annual doctor’s visit when you should know these numbers throughout the year to see how well you are doing in keeping them within a healthy range.

Check back in the next couple of days to learn more about the #1 nutrient that helps reduce your risk of heart disease and helps keep your cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar healthy!

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Brenda Watson, C.N.C., is nationally renowned as a digestive health educator, but this time she’s turning to heart health in her breakthrough new PBS show (airing throughout March) and book, The Heart of Perfect Health. Heart disease and its risk markers are very personal topics for Brenda. She’s seen too many of her family and friends affected by the preventable conditions that lead to heart disease, including diabetes.

The Heart of Perfect Health focuses both on prevention for those looking to maintain their good health and on a therapeutic approach for anyone already experiencing heart disease risk markers. In this revolutionary look at America’s #1 killer, heart disease, Brenda exposes how sugars in our diet contribute to heart disease risk and offers a simple formula for figuring out just how much hidden sugar is in the foods we eat. Brenda also talks about the big three risk markers we all need to watch out for:

• High cholesterol
• High blood pressure
• High blood sugar

The most important topic on the show, however, is the underlying contributor to heart disease, silent inflammation. Silent inflammation is happening to many of us every day. The show covers the surprising triggers of this condition, what you can do to reverse them, and silent inflammation’s connection to Brenda’s favorite topic, the gut.

Brenda debunks several health myths on The Heart of Perfect Health:

• Myth #1: All cholesterol is bad.
• Myth #2: Only diabetics need to worry about their blood sugar levels
• Myth #3: Fat is bad for you

The Fat Factor, Getting to the Heart of Good Fat

One of the most important dietary and supplement recommendations Brenda makes on the show to help reduce your risk of heart disease is to get more heart healthy Omega 3 fats in your diet every day.*

Omega 3s are found primarily in cold water fish and certain nuts and in high potency fish oil supplements.

What to Look for in a Heart Healthy Fish Oil Supplement:

1. High potency at over 1,000mg of Omega-3 per capsule. Brenda and other experts recommend up to 3,000mg of Omega-3s each day, which is pretty tough to get if your capsule only contains a few hundred milligrams of Omega-3. It is the Omega-3 that offers the heart-health benefits, not the amount of fish oil itself. Look for a fish oil supplement that contains at least 1,000mg of Omega-3 per capsule so you don’t have to take a handful of fish oil supplements each day.
2. Enteric coated capsules for better absorption and no fishy burping. An enteric coating helps the fish oils reach the intestines where they are absorbed.
3. Added vitamin D3 in your fish oil. Vitamin D3 helps to further offset silent inflammation in the body and support immune/heart health.ǂ
4. Independently certified purity. The International Fish Oil Standards (IFOS) program is the industry’s most stringent independent certifier of fish oil quality. Look for the 5-star IFOS seal on the package to ensure you aren’t getting any mercury, pesticides, or contaminants in your supplement.

* Supportive but not conclusive evidence shows that consumption of EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.

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