Heart sizes, rates, and structures vary from animal to animal. The human heart is about the size of a fist, weighs about twelve ounces and normally beats about seventy times per minute. A rat’s heart weighs about one ounce and beats about 328 times per minute. A horse’s heart weight about nine pounds. An elephants heart beats only thirty-five times per minute. An adult sperm whale’s heart, which is the size of a washing machine, beats only twelve times per minute while it is on the surface and only about once per minute when submerged. The heart of a hummingbird is only the size of a pinhead, yet has been clocked at about 1000 beats per minute. While mammals have a two-cylinder heart, fish have only one. Amphibians have an entirely different arrangement. They have two atria, just like humans, but have only one ventricle to pump the blood.
Hormones have a powerful effect on the heart. One hormone can not only triple the pulse rate but can also double the strength of the contractions. At the other extreme, a hormone that slows the heart rate is so powerful that it can suppress the heartbeat entirely for a few seconds. When electrical impulses as well as hormones are not working as they should or are deficient or excessive in their existence, problems rapidly develop.
Heavy Metals include aluminum, antimony, arsenic, bismuth, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, lithium, gold, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, silver, vanadium, and zinc. Some are considered essential elements for health in the human body and required in extrememly small amounts. It does not take much of any to become toxic.
Heavy metals accumulate in the tissues as one grows older. Chronic antacid use speeds up the accumulation by preventing the necessary minerals that would block these harmful compounds from being absorbed. Instead, they take their place. Hydrochloric acid in the stomach, necessary for digestion, breaks down dietary minerals for absorption later on. When antacids are used, the acid is neutralized, preventing mineral breakdown. When this happens, aluminum, for example, has a clear pathway into the body.
Mainstream medicine has been at a loss as to how to treat heavy metal poisoning. Alternative medicine has handled the problem for years through the use of chelation therapy. Chelation therapy is a controversial technique, mainly because it competes with pharmaceuticals. Opponents of the process still claim that this therapy produces kidney damage, even though there have not been any reports of such since the early 1960’s. Since that time, dosages and biochemistry have become better understood, particularly in the use of EDTA (ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid – a synthetic amino acid), ending any hazard.
Substances called alginates, found in seaweed, have proven successful in binding some heavy metals, including strontium, cadmium, barium, radium, and lead. Dr. Earl Mindell suggests that regularly adding dried seaweed to products can help guard against heavy metal poisoning. Saunas and sweat baths are recommended by some, but these prove to be hard on the body that is already weakened by heavy metals. The best protection is through the use of knowledgeable nutrition that will naturally guard against accumulations of toxic substances.
Hormones that regulate metabolism are:
1) Thyroxine, from the throid gland, increases the use of glucose, fats, and amino acids, as well as increasing protein synthesis.
2) Growth Hormone, from the anterior pituitary gland, increases amino acid transport into cells and assists in protein synthesis and the use of fats for energy.
3) Insulin, from the pancreas, increases glucose transportation into cells to be used for energy and increases the conversion of glucose to glucogen in the liver and muscles, as well as increasing the transportation of amino acids and fatty acids into cells to be used for synthesis but NOT for energy production.
4) Glucagon, from the pancreas, increases conversion of glycogen to glucose and the use of amino acids and fats for energy.
5) Cortisol, from the adrenal cortex, increases the conversion of glucose to glycogen in the liver and the use of amino acids and fats for energy. It decreases protein synthesis except in the liver and gastrointestinal tract.
6) Epinephrine, from the adrenal medula, increases the conversion of glycogen to glucose and the use of fats for energy.
Hydrochloric acid is secreted for the digestion of food in the stomach. It is the most potent acid known. A relatively weak solution of 0.5% is 3 million times more acidic than the blood and strong enough to burn holes in the carpet. The muriatic acid used to clean bricks is simply another name for it. Hydrochloric acid is crucial to the digestive process. Too much or too little can upset the entire system. Stomach acid is necessary for all protein digestion, mineral absorption, and is the body’s first line of defence against infections through the sterilization of the foods entering the stomach. Too little acid leads to indigestion and increases the liklihood of allergic reactions since the protein molecules cannot be broken down sufficiently. Symptoms of too little acid are:heartburn or indigestion, a “full” feeling or heaviness in the upper abdomen, a feeling that food is not moving along, feeling hungry just after eating, feeling bloated or gassy, frequent constipation and seeing undigested food in the stool, the tongue being coated, and frequent bad breath. When food passes too slowly, it putrifies, feeding the bad bacteria leaving toxins ready to be reabsorbed. If food passes too quickly, there is not sufficient time for nutrients to be absorbed leading to malnutrition.
In the case of heavy metal absorption, hydrochloric acid plays a significant role in preventing accumulations. However, people stop the process by mistakenly thinking they have heartburn from too much stomach acid when, in fact, they have too little. The use of antacids only compounds the problem. It is the lack of acid that causes the undigested food to sit in the stomach, developing putrification and the gas formation that comes with it. Adding further to the woes has been the FDA’s approval of even more such over-the-counter stomach acid neutralizers as Tagamet, Pepcid, and Zantac.
Hypoglycemia or Reactive Hypoglycemia. Such common symptoms associated with hypoglycemia as fatigue, anxiety, headaches, difficulty concentrating, sweaty palms, shakiness, excessive hunger, drowsiness, abdominal pain, and depression can be most often be the result of reactive hypoglycemia. Those with reactive hypoglycemia do not literally have low blood sugar levels, and many people who have low blood sugar levels do not display the symptoms of reactive hypoglycemia. There is evidence to suggest that reactive hypoglycemia may be due in part to a psychological condition and, as a result, doctors have decided that it really does not exist as a bona fide condition. When people have been monitored continuously, those with reactive hypoglycemia were found to have large surges in blood levels of the hormone epinephrine at the moment that they suffered their symptoms. (JAMA 1984: 251(5): 612-15).
