Blood Clots, Part I

I recently did some research for a friend about blood clots. One of her friends had a very large clot in their leg and was on several medications but had been given no instructions about diet and exercise to aid in their healing other than to not eat things that contained Vitamin K.  They were not doing well and wanted to have more tools to help him feel better.


The information I gave her was multipart so I plan to break them up into sections.

   Part I--- Nutrition and Exercise for those with Blood Clots
   Part II-- Nutrition, Exercise, and Meditation for Blood Pressure
   Part III- Arterial Health and Maintenance


PART I- Nutrition and Exercise for those with Blood Clots
Be Advised, I am not a doctor nor a clinical nutritionist. I am a  Chek Nutrition and Lifestyle Coach that has an avid interest in Nutrition, Physiology, Anatomy, and Exercise. Please talk to your doctor before changing your diet and exercise regime.


Avoid Foods that have high Vitamin K content:  Vitamin K is a vitamin that is necessary in the body for proper blood coagulation.  This means Vitamin K helps clot formation to prevent excess bleeding, like when you cut your finger. This is a good thing in a healthy body, to prevent major blood loss when injury occurs. If you are told to stay away from Vitamin K it is not because it directly interacts with the medicines you are taking to prevent blood clots, it just makes them less effective as the medicines are regulating factors that decrease the bodies ability to form blood clots and prevent the existing clot to become worse.

So here are my suggestions about diet and Vitamin K:
 Eliminating Vitamin K altogether would be very difficult. It is in almost all the food you eat, especially in dark greens like Kale and Collard Greens. It is also produced in the colon, by the good kinds of flora. However you can modify your diet so that you are eating more foods that are low in Vitamin K:
 
I did find a very helpful chart that shows different foods and there relative amounts of Vitamin K. If you have a clot you should stick with the very low and low categories.

You should not cut out vegetables and fruits altogether. You will notice that there are fruits and vegetables that have low Vitamin K content. Eating these fruits and vegetables is important because they contain antioxidants that help break apart clots gently. 


The best fruits and vegetables with high antioxidants off that chart in the low and very low sections are:
raspberries, blackberries, grapes, artichokes, red cabbage, and red bell peppers


Also, beware of vegetable cocktails and restaurant food. These contain lots of salt which may elevate your blood pressure and increase your chances of the clot breaking off and causing a stroke.


A necessary supplement if you are not allergic to fish is KRILL OIL or a high potency FISH OIL. If you are a vegetarian, try FLAX OIL. These contain Omega 3s which help your body make anti-inflammatory mediators to reduce factors like clots and arterial plaques in general. Krill oil has been shown to be the best of these supplements because it is shelf stable and has added benefits.

I would also recommend that eating  limited amounts of sugar. Sugar is not good for you anyway. However, blood sugar spikes can negatively impact blood pressure.
 
Another important factor is fiber. It sounds unrelated, but the better your bowels move out toxic components, the less your body has to fight inflammation in your colon and is more able to work on those arteries. These are in vegetables and fruits especially when eaten raw, but since you want to not overload your Vitamin K content you could get a psyllium fiber supplement. As well eating some prunes helps you stay regular. If you hate prunes, like I do, then get the juice and its more tolerable especially after heating it slightly in a pot.


Exercise:Okay so exercising is difficult when you get this far into arterial problems. This is what I recommend: When you move large muscles (fast twitch fibers) you initate a pressor response, which means it raises the blood pressure and heart rate. Something that should be minimized in this case. However there are many stabilizer muscles that you can work out that should have a minimal pressor response and can generate a benefit to your condition:

Shoulder Circles:  I use a purple weightless ball from target against the wall with a flat palm and a straight arm rising from his side. make little slow circles. twenty to thirty and make sure you don't hold your breath. If you can do it twice on both sides that is good. However, start out with whatever is tolerable and work up from there.

Ankle circles: sit in a chair to where your feet are dangling (phone books help this happen) make concerted circles one ankle at a time trying to maximize the range.

Tummy tucks. Pull your in your belly button for three seconds and release. Make sure again that you don't hold your breath. do this many times throughout the day. Try twenty before every meal or something that makes it easy to remember. You can do this sitting, standing, or reclining, just see what's best for you.

Stability ball. Sit up straight on a stability ball with your feet flat on the floor. Someone may need to the person balance or make it so the person is holding onto something until they get the hang of it. Start by sitting up straight with the belly button in and breathe normally. Start with a time that is tolerable. If you back starts to hurt the exercise is over. (If the back should act up tuck the pelvis under the next time you try it until you feel the front of your abdomen start to work. Stretch your back by lying on your back and pull your legs into you. IF that is impossible for your condition, use a heating pad on your back, then after 15 stand against the wall and make your lower back touch the wall). Work up to 15 minutes, twice a day, then thirty minutes twice a day, until you get to an hour twice a day.

Make sure that a heart rate monitor is worn during these activities. A doctor should be able to tell you what Heat Rate to stay under.