Heart and Vascular Disease: Is cholesterol the culprit?

February 4, 2010

Institute For Medical Wellness Healthy Living Report

Heart and Vascular Disease: Is cholesterol the culprit?

For those of you who have had an Institute For Medical Wellness full history and physical, along with complete lab testing, you have had the honor of hearing my speech on cholesterol and heart disease. For those of you who have not, what are you waiting for??

Just kidding.....

Regardless of what you hear from the media, government, insurance companies, or other less than stellar pundits, cholesterol does NOT cause heart disease.

Let me repeat myself.

Cholesterol does NOT cause heart disease.

As with most government-industry partnerships in our country, the advice they have given us about cholesterol is just plain wrong. Now, don't take home the wrong message. It is still important to measure your cholesterol levels. In fact, I prefer to use a more sensitive type of cholesterol test, to better stratify your risk of disease. But the key is not to lower your cholesterol, but whether you need to, and if so, how you lower your cholesterol in the safest and most effective manner.

More on the above is part of our yearly wellness plan physical, which is structured for real life results, instead of the propaganda, fear tactics and rhetoric you hear from the government-insurance partnerships. There are many so called experts out there. Make sure you choose your experts wisely, as not everyone fits into the same mold.

For information on what some of the more likely risks of vascular and heart disease, please visit here, for a very informative article.
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Healthcare Reform Update:

Speaking of heart and vascular disease...................

There are many healthcare reform advocates who complain and complain again about our healthcare system. We spend too much! There are too many uninsured. Healthcare should be government run or non-profit! We should use Canada as a model for our healthcare system, after all, healthcare is free up there, and no one is turned away!!

To all the people who claim Canada has better healthcare than the United States, I highly recommend you read the following article, about a Canadian Premier, would be a state governor?? in the USA, who will be undergoing heart surgery later this week. Now I do not live in Canada, and for all I know, their doctors and hospitals may be wonderful. A Canadian Premier should be able to attest to the fact that his country's healthcare system can provide all the necessary care for its citizens.

So what I am getting at??

The Canadian Premier is having his heart surgery in the United States !!!

What does that tell you?

I'll speak for myself instead. When a high ranking elected official of a nation with a government run healthcare system, crosses the border into our country to obtain healthcare, I would say that our doctors and hospitals, stuck in a flawed system, is still the best place to receive the most advanced care in the world!!!
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Interesting Article:

Autism article retraction..

I need to reread this article again. I would advise anyone who has lingering questions on the safety of vaccines to also read this article. On my first read through, I became angry. If a doctor fudged data to help a legal case against a vaccine manufacturer, the doctor should have his license revoked, at a minimum. The study results suggesting an autism link to a vaccine set up an enormous fear of vaccines in general, that may have been unfounded. Parents are always looking to protect their children. Prior to the perceived autism link, vaccines were considered a parent's duty to protect their children. That all changed when the fear of autism arose. Talk about unintended consequences!!

I have seen many vaccines come and go. Most vaccines that have been around for ten years or more are safe for use. Postmarketing surveillance of vaccines has taken many vaccines off the market. But the vaccine fight will not end with the apparent autism retraction. There are still other factors we need to think about before getting a vaccine. Even if an autism link is proven false, other factors such as chemicals and preservatives in vaccines, spacing of vaccines in infants, and proper regulation of the vaccine production will always be an issue. That is why, regardless of the above autism retraction, I only recommend vaccines once they have been available long enough to prove their safety and efficacy.
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Healthy Weight Program Update:

One of the unique aspects of our Healthy Weight Program is our use of a private shared internet document. This document allows for increased communication between our office and you. The document is used for food diaries, diet and nutrition articles, as well as links to other research and helpful dietary information. My hope is that each Healthy Weight Program enrollee, with the use of this document, will learn enough about proper nutrition, that this will be the last weight program they need to enroll in.
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Wellness Network Update:

Just a reminder. Everyone enrolled in a Wellness Program can receive one therapeutic massage at half price. That is $35 for a one hour massage, and $50 for an hour and a half.
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Institute For Medical Wellness New Offers:

Our supplement of the month for February 2010 is Revitalize. Revitalize is our once daily multivitamin that contains an abundance of vitamins and minerals, along with small amounts of antioxidant, and liver detoxifying herbs. Revitalize comes in a bottle of 90 capsules, with most people taking 1-3 a day. I find that one a day is sufficient for most, and also allows the bottle to last for 3 months. Through the end of this month, Revitalize will be available for $5 off its regular price. For more information on Revitalize and the other supplements we offer, please visit here.

To Good Health!

Steven Horvitz, D.O,
Board Certified Family Practice
Founder of The Institute For Medical Wellness
128 Borton Landing Road, Suite Two
Moorestown, NJ 08057
Phone 856-231-0590
Fax 856-294-0311
www.drhorvitz.com