build up of plaque in arteries It takes many years for plaque to gradually build up in your arteries, the "highways" that carry oxygen-rich blood throughout your body. Arteries hardened by plaque greatly increase your chances of a heart attack, stroke and other serious health condition. The good news is that there are ways to reverse the trend and unclog the arteries naturally, but it takes serious lifestyle changes to be effective and will take time. Difficulty: Moderately Challenging Instructions 1. Identify the things that you are doing that are causing plaque buildup in your arteries. Consult your physician, and make a list of the things you know are hurting you, such as smoking, lack of exercise and poor nutrition. 2. Refrain from doing the negative things on your list. This may not be easy, as lifestyle habits are established over long periods of time. It will require a determined effort on your part. If you need to stop smoking, for example, investigate various ways to do this, including by tapering off, using transdermal patches or having your doctor prescribe Zyban. 3. Determine the positive things that you can do proactively to help remove plaque from your arteries. Make a list of the things you need to do to be healthy, such as aerobic exercise to strengthen the heart, eating the right foods, losing weight and taking in the optimal amount of essential vitamins and minerals. Adopt the things on your list into your lifestyle. Old habits die hard, and you do not need to do everything at once. However, anything essential like exercise and certain dietary changes should be started right away. 4. Learn how to read food labels so you can avoid foods with bad ingredients and find foods with good ingredients. For example, you want to avoid foods with hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils and find foods that have "good" fat rather than "bad" fat in them. Good fats include omega-3 fatty acids, fish oils and monounsaturated fats. These are found in oily fish, nuts, seeds and fruits. Bad fats include the trans fatty acids that are found in all fried foods. In order to have a healthy diet, you must give up fried foods. In particular, add deep-water fish such as salmon, trout, mackerel and herring to your diet. These are all good sources of inflammation-fighting omega-3 fatty acids. Flaxseed and walnuts are also rich in omega-3. 5. Add antioxidants to your diet to help unclog your arteries. Cruciferous vegetables including broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage and kale are all good sources of antioxidants. And pomegranates, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries and other colorful fruits are a good source of phytonutrients called flavonoids that are potent antioxidants. 6. Add fiber-rich foods to your diet to help with digestion and lower your "bad" cholesterol levels. Eat plenty of unrefined whole-grain cereals like oats (oatmeal), whole-grain breads, whole-wheat pasta, brown rice, oat bran, legumes, nuts and seeds. Walnuts or almonds are a heart-healthy snack. 7. Add exercise to your daily routine. A good diet is not enough. Ideally you should exercise 30 to 45 minutes every day with at least 15 to 20 minutes of brisk aerobic exercise. You can start "small" and work up to the ideal amount of exercise, but you must get started or you will not improve the condition of your arteries. 8. Take vitamin and other supplements to help remove plaque from arteries. There are many supplements that have proved beneficial. They include fish oil, garlic, vitamin E, vitamin K and enzymes like bromelain and serrapeptase. These supplements are known to reduce plaque and inflammation as well as the risk of blood clots.
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