Keeping on the theme of National School Breakfast Week and healthy heart nutrition for kids, here’s a great recipe for those of you with kids in your life, but not necessarily in your home. They can make these with you, then take them home and to school.
Apple-Cinnamon Bran Muffins (Makes 12 muffins)
In this delicious variation on the usual bran muffin, you still get all the fiber and a hint of sweetness, without a lot of fat and sugar.
2 cups bran flakes cereal
1 cup organic skim, lowfat, or whole milk
2 Tbsp. grapeseed oil
1 egg
1 Tbsp. honey
1/3 cup molasses
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ½ cups whole-wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 apples, grated and coated with 1 tsp. cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Spray twelve 2½ -inch muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.
Mix bran cereal and milk in a medium bowl and let stand for 5 minutes.
In a large bowl, mix oil, egg, honey, molasses, vanilla extract, and cereal mixture. Add flour and baking powder.
Fold in apple-cinnamon mixture.
Divide batter into 12 muffin cups. Bake 25 minutes.
Eat fresh out of the oven, or freeze individual muffins in freezer bags for the kids to take to school.
Grape juice, like red wine, can help prevent blood clots and improve blood circulation.Resveratrol, commonly found in grapes and other plants, is being studied for its antioxidant properties and its ability to minimize cardiovascular problems.The “Dr. Sinatra recommended dosage” of Resveratrol is 2–5 mg daily.
Secondly, drinking flavonoid-rich green tea is an easy way to avoid cardiovascular problems and encourage resistance against chronic degenerative diseases, including chronic hypertension, heart attack and stroke.
While plain green tea itself has a delicate flavor, try it in one of the many formulas combining it with lemongrass and other herbs. Add a little honey and lemon, and I think you will find that this healthy heart nutrition tip really is quite delicious. If you can break your coffee habit in the process, you’ll be doubly rewarded, as you’ll also be reducing the amount of caffeine you ingest.
As a mother, grandmother, former cardiac nurse, and wife of a cardiologist, you can safely say that I am concerned about the healthy heart nutrition we are teaching our children. The high levels of salt, fat, and calories in fast food can cause serious harm to your heart and the rest of your body. But the reality of life is that, on any given day, one-quarter of North Americans will eat a fast food meal…many of whom are children.
Sadly, many of the meals served in our schools are not much better. Remember when President Reagan declared ketchup a vegetable? You get my point.
This week, in honor of National School Breakfast Week, why not take time to teach your children, grandchildren, nieces, and/or nephews good healthy heart nutrition, starting with a fun, easy, delicious breakfast.
A great option for those of you with kids at home? A smoothie. Let your kids add the ingredients themselves. This particular recipe is packed with omega-3s for brain health, antioxidants for a healthy immune system, and fiber to keep them full until lunch.
While you’re at it, why not whip one up for yourself? The same omega-3s, antioxidants, and fiber also help to control high blood pressure levels and maintain good cholesterol levels.
Smart Smoothie (Makes 1 serving)
1 Tbsp. flaxseeds, ground
½ cup fresh fruit—blueberries, a peach, kiwi, banana, or whatever you like
8 oz. organic rice milk, organic skim milk, organic yogurt, or unsweetened juice (you can also use water or a combination)
1 serving size (follow directions on package) of soy or whey protein powder
Put ingredients into a blender and whir. If you want a cold, shake-like taste experience, add ice or use frozen juice cubes. Fresh is best but you can use frozen fruits when fresh fruits aren’t in season. Depending on how you make it, this smoothie can come out so thick, you’ll need a spoon!
It absolutely amazes me how nature gives us so many opportunities to nurture our bodies and to keep cardiovascular problems at bay.
You may have heard of polyphenols, flavonoids, flavones, Pycnogenol (pine bark), grapeseed, catechins, tannins, quercetin and flavonol. You’ve also probably heard about the benefits of red wine, green tea, and grape juice. All are in the family of oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPCs), which are really the cream of the crop.
Discovered about 50 years ago, OPCs are abundant in nature: There are approximately 6,000 flavonoids in the plants around us! These free-radical scavengers are quickly absorbed into the bloodstream where they cross the blood/brain barrier. They show great promise in helping to improve blood circulation and they support blood vessel elasticity, blood stickiness, clotting, plaque buildup, and vein integrity. In addition, they promote healthy blood pressure and good eye health.
You can find grapeseed extract and pine bark extract (under the patented brand name Pycnogenol) in your local health food store.My “Dr. Sinatra recommended dosage” is 30–60 mg daily.
Dr. Sinatra has always told me that, should he suffer a stroke and be unable to communicate, he wants me to get him into a hyperbaric oxygen chamber—also known as HBOT (hyperbaric oxygen treatment).
Dr. Sinatra’s colleague Dr. Mark Breiner and his son Dr. Adam Breiner have one at their holistic medicine center in Connecticut, and some hospitals have them onsite to treat a myriad of health issues. HBOT delivers oxygen under pressure, and also stimulates stem cells to promote healing.
And speaking of what we would do brings up the importance of having a game plan for what YOU and your family would do if one of you should start exhibiting symptoms of stroke. We’ve known a few folks, some of them medically trained, who disregarded symptoms of impending stroke and paid the price for it. We don’t want that to happen to you.
The most appropriated game plan is to call 911 and let emergency medical professionals get you safely to the closest hospital—and it’s actually what I intend to do first if Dr. Sinatra is the patient…and vice versa.
As with any medical concern, prevention is the key. First and foremost, know your heart risk factors. These include:
Age 55 or older
Heredity/family history
Men
History of heart attack and/or stroke
Medical conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure levels, vascular disease, atrial fibrillation, and sickle cell anemia
Drug/alcohol abuse
Poor diet
Sedentary lifestyle
Living in the southeast US (“stroke belt”)
Low socioeconomic status
Secondly, take steps to prevent heart attack and stroke. This includes following good healthy heart nutrition and getting lots of exercise. Also, if you are diabetic, you need to keep an eye on your blood sugars, and take any medication that has been prescribed for you.
If you have atrial fibrillation, have regular follow-up with you MD. Atrial fibrillation is one condition where Dr. Sinatra firmly believes in taking anticoagulants like warfarin (Coumadin) to prevent blood clots and stroke, so make sure you take it if it’s been prescribed for you and have your blood levels monitored as recommended.
Some of the most commonly prescribed drugs for maintaining good cholesterol levels are statins like Zocor (simvastatin), Lipitor (avorastatin), Mevacor (lovastatin), Pravachol (pravastatin), and Lescol (fluvastatin).
These drugs can be dangerous if taken with high levels of long-acting niacin (vitamin B3). Side effects also include dizziness, headache, extreme fatigue, swelling of the ankles, muscle weakness, and liver toxicity.
In both men and women, statins may weaken the heart muscle because they lower CoQ10 levels. In women especially, statin drugs may deplete levels of CoQ10, contributing to a weakened immune system.
Still, if you have moderate to severe heart disease involving multiple vessels, I recommend statin drugs to help you obtain and maintain healthy cholesterol levels. In addition, I recommend the following natural solutions:
Make sure you take a minimum of 150 mg of standard CoQ10 per day, or 50–60 mg of the hydrosoluble form, to offset the drug’s depleting effect.
Niacin is one of my favorite cholesterol-lowering agents if you are not on a statin drug, because of its ability to increase HDL cholesterol (the “good” cholesterol) and lower LDL cholesterol levels (the “bad” cholesterol). Low doses in the range of 100–300 mg three times daily are often effective without resulting in side effects of flushing, heartburn or gout attacks. A prescription form called Niaspan (750–1,500 mg) appears to be well- tolerated by most people with minimal side effects.
Tocotrienols are antioxidants in the vitamin E family. Research suggests that they act much like statin drugs, minus the adverse side effects, by interfering with the liver’s ability to produce cholesterol. As little as 50 mg per day can have a positive effect.
My Pan-Asian Modified Mediterranean-type diet (PAMM) is great for this and for overall cardiovascular nutrition. It’s rich in fiber, healthy fats (omega-3s from fish and fish oil), garlic and onions (two potent cholesterol-busters), and fresh fruits and vegetables. Fiber helps soak up cholesterol and cleanse the colon, preventing rapid absorption of cholesterol.
Flaxseed is high in alpha linolenic acid and fiber, vital for healthy heart function.
Soy helps prevent the oxidization of LDL and subsequent buildup of artery-clogging plaque. Soy also can help with reducing cholesterol levels, help ease menopausal symptoms, and may help protect against cancers of the breast and prostate.
L-arginine—2–4 grams three times a day. TwinLab and Great Earth make good supplements that are widely available in health food stores.
Dr. Sinatra is often asked what the difference is between a heart attack and stroke and even TIA. A transient ischemic attack (TIA) is, as it very Latin name implies, a temporary (transient) episode of lack of oxygen (ischemia). We use the word attack because the person is often “attacked” abruptly with symptoms.
The symptoms of both a TIA and stroke can be as subtle as slurred speech, or as dramatic as loss of consciousness. Symptoms also include:
numbness of the face or extremities;
facial drooping, especially the mouth;
gait imbalances, staggering, falling;
problems with numbness or moving one side of the body (hemi- paresis or hemiparalysis); and/or
altered cognition or level of consciousness.
In the case of a heart attack, the heart muscle itself is damaged. In this case, symptoms can include, for men:
Mild to intense mid-chest pressure
Shortness of breath
Dull pain between the shoulder blades
Achiness in the jaw
Pain in left arm or elbow
Profuse sweating
Indigestion (often overlooked)
Nausea
For women, heart attack symptoms include:
Dull, aching chest discomfort (vague)
Acute breathlessness
Sudden, profound fatigue
Jaw or neck pain
Pain in left arm or elbow
Abdominal discomfort, nausea, vomiting
Dizziness, even blackouts
Vague flu-like symptoms
While symptoms vary between a heart attack and stroke, there are both similarities and differences when it comes to cause.
Both heart attack and stroke can occur when a clot becomes lodged in a blood vessel, causing poor blood circulation to tissue in the brain or heart. But a stroke can also be the result of a hemorrhage into the brain, which floods the tissue and impedes the flow of oxygen to tissue.
So, while dissolving the blood clot is of primary importance for cardiologists like Dr. Sinatra in treating a heart attack, the doctor treating a stroke has to consider that giving a clot-busting drug could make a stroke risk worse if it’s being caused by a bleed in the brain.
Therefore, getting to a facility that can diagnose the cause of your stroke is essential. So is TIME…so act quickly to get medical attention.
HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, more commonly known as statins, are among the most aggressively marketed drugs for producing good cholesterol levels. In clinical studies, statins achieved a striking reduction in cardiovascular problems such as heart attack, bypass, and hospitalization.
Statins are potent anti-inflammatory drugs that have been shown to be able to do a good job of reducing cholesterol levels, while also decreasing the number of deaths from heart attack and stroke. However, they do come with a host of side effects, including a slight increased risk of breast cancer for women taking statin drugs. Because of the studies, I prefer to err on the side of caution when it comes to their use.
In my next blog post, I’ll share safe, natural solutions that can help you maintain healthy cholesterol levels.
C-reactive protein (CRP) is a little-known marker of heart disease that the medical world is starting to take note of. It’s a blood protein that, when found in elevated levels, may indicate risk of heart attack and stroke. CRP can be detected when there is inflammation resulting from trauma or infection.
Let’s look at some study results:
A 1985 Finnish study found that half of patients with coronary heart disease had high levels of an antibody known as C-reactive protein, compared with only 17 percent of healthy controls.
The Physicians Health Study indicated that C-reactive protein could predict future vascular events such as heart attack in healthy and high-risk individuals and that high levels of this protein increase risk for heart attack and stroke.
In healthy postmenopausal women with levels of C-reactive protein and 11 other substances, the one-fourth with the highest C-reactive protein levels were 4.4 times more likely to have had a heart attack or other cardiovascular problems than the one-fourth with the lowest levels.
I encourage all of my patients to have their C-reactive protein levels checked annually.
You must have adequate vitamin D levels for optimum health. If you are already diagnosed with cardiovascular problems, you can prevent complications, and perhaps turn your condition on its tail, by addressing your vitamin D status. Ask your doctor to get a level if it hasn’t been done.
To maintain the optimal level (60–110 nmo/L of 25(OH)) vitamin D, eat lots of vitamin D laden foods (such as sardines, vitamin D fortified milk, cod liver oil, etc.). In addition, get adequate sunshine (20 minutes per day when you can), and take a supplement containing vitamin D3. Dr. Sinatra suggests taking 2,000–4,000 IUs a day if you are healthy, and 5,000–10,000IUs daily if you have a chronic illness, such as metabolic syndrome, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, and refractory high blood pressure levels.
My campaign to make heart disease a thing of the past is rooted in an ongoing quest to stabilize and root out the calcified plaque that chokes our arteries.
For decades conventional medicine has relied on invasive procedures to unclog our arterial highways but, as most people with cardiovascular problems know, this has been met with very limited success.
That’s why I’m so excited about vitamin K2. K2 gets calcium in the bones, where you want it, and out of your arterial walls, where you certainly don’t want it. Thus, K2 is crucial for both bone and arterial health and is a godsend for individuals with blood circulation problems and other heart risk factors.
Coumadin, the popular blood thinning drug once also thought to be a godsend, works against vitamin K. Researchers suggest that Coumadin inhibits the K2-dependent MGP protein system that keeps calcium out of arterial walls. Thus, Coumadin may actually encourage cardiovascular calcification as an adverse side effect.
As you might imagine, this dilemma has many doctors and holistic health practitioners concerned and our patients with cardiovascular concerns aren’t sure of exactly what to do.
What Should You Do?
If you are taking Coumadin, don’t use any form of vitamin K2 supplement, as it might neutralize the effect of the drug.
On the other hand, vitamin K is critical for your bone and arterial health. Because of this, I tell all of my patients with cardiovascular problems to eat some green leafy vegetables and try to add some cheese and natto (if they can get it) to their diets to get some natural vitamin K. I don’t want them to become vitamin K deficient. I can always adjust their Coumadin level if necessary.
It’s almost spring, and that’s means a welcome return of the sun and its warming rays. It also means a renewed opportunity for those in the snow belt (including us here in New England) to get more vitamin D—the sunshine vitamin that is needed to optimize your health.
It’s no news flash that vitamin D is needed for strong bones. We’ve been looking at bill boards, milk cartons, cereal boxes, and even calcium supplement labels brandishing “VITAMIN D fortification” in our faces for decades now.
One vitamin D basic that not everyone knows, though, is that there are two forms: vitamin D2 and vitamin D3. Vitamin D2 is found in a lot of preparations, but is a less active ingredient than D3. Plus, vitamin D3, we are learning, has properties that make it a hormone as much as a nutrient.
That being said, there’s a new standard for what’s an adequate level for vitamin D. There is so much press, in fact, that the big “D” is practically being touted as the “wonder nutrient” of the century. So, is the buzz deserved?
Seems so! These days, good news about vitamin D is pouring out of the research tap. Practically on a daily basis, we’re hearing how it affects immune function, helps fight inflammation, supports the body’s ability to make insulin, puts a brake on cancer cell growth, and improves muscular function. We are also finding that many people are deficient because they don’t get enough sunlight, which converts cholesterol in the skin into vitamin D.
The vitamin D–heart connection is one of the newer revelations, and it certainly warrants attention and more study. A review published in Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care strongly suggests that a vitamin D deficiency could be a risk factor for cardiovascular problems.
The authors, from Johns Hopkins and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, state that low 25(OH)D levels (the standard biochemical marker to measure vitamin D in the blood) are associated with increased risk for cardiovascular problems such as high blood pressure levels, stroke, and congestive heart failure, as well as obesity and diabetes.
Drugs typically prescribed for reducing cholesterol have no impact on Lp(a) levels. In fact, a study involving these drugs showed an increase in Lp(a) levels! And therein lies the dilemma.
While drugs prescribed to help you attain and maintain healthy cholesterol can reduce LDL, they can’t alter Lp(a). If you find that Lp(a) runs in your family, you must attack it with an alternative approach. Here’s what I recommend:
Follow my Pan-Asian Modified Mediterranean diet, making sure to eat fresh fish at least two to three times a week. Eat fresh fruits, legumes, cold-water fish such as salmon, sardines, and mackerel or fish oils, particularly docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which blocks the inflammatory and blood-clotting capabilities of Lp(a). Omit saturated fats. Instead, choose monounsaturated fats like olive oil and polyunsaturated fats like alpha-linolenic acid, found in flaxseed and flaxseed oil. (These are excellent tips to adhere to for overall cardiovascular nutrition.)
Take 100 mg of niacin, twice a day. If you experience side effects like flushing, headache, and diarrhea, follow the diet and stop the niacin. You can try a lower dosage at a later date, then slowly increase the dose to 500 mg a day, twice a day for further protection. TwinLabs' quick-acting Niacin is a good product.
Take 1–2 grams of vitamin C and 100–200 mg of CoQ10 each day.
Policosanol—20 mg daily at bedtime.
Exercise regularly.
Ask your doctor about screening techniques to assess your heart risk factors. If you’re concerned, you and your family members should have your Lp(a) and other risk factors (homocysteine, fibrinogen and serum ferritin) evaluated by your doctor.
Be aware of other risk factors for cardiovascular problems, including smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, glucose intolerance and repressed emotions, which can have a harmful effect on the health of your heart.
Lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), is a component of LDL or “bad” cholesterol. LDL cholesterol levels that are too high can lead to cardiovascular problems and thus increase your risk of heart disease. Many factors influence blood levels of Lp(a).
According to an article in a 1997 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Lp(a) appears to regulate clot formation (thrombosis) and inhibit blood thinning. We know that Lp(a) increases in unstable diabetics and menopausal women with elevated levels due to lowered estrogen levels. This may be why the incidence of cardiovascular problems among menopausal women quadruples.
Conversely, Lp(a) decreases with estrogen replacement therapy. For this reason, it’s imperative that all menopausal and perimenopausal women with a strong family history of heart disease and other cardiovascular problems have their Lp(a) levels checked by their doctor. Further, post-menopausal women with multiple risk factors for heart disease should consider natural, topical estrogen replacement therapy, particularly if their Lp(a) is elevated.
Research shows that elevated Lp(a) levels appear to be even stronger predictors for the development of premature heart disease in men. JAMA reported a study of 2,191 men, ages 20 to 54, confirming this.
Drugs typically prescribed for reducing cholesterol have no impact on Lp(a) levels. In fact, a study involving these drugs showed an increase in Lp(a) levels! And therein lies the dilemma.
While drugs prescribed to help you attain and maintain healthy cholesterol can reduce LDL, they can’t alter Lp(a). If you find that Lp(a) runs in your family, you must attack it with an alternative approach. Here’s what I recommend:
Follow my Pan-Asian Modified Mediterranean diet, making sure to eat fresh fish at least two to three times a week. Eat fresh fruits, legumes, cold-water fish such as salmon, sardines, and mackerel or fish oils, particularly docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which blocks the inflammatory and blood-clotting capabilities of Lp(a). Omit saturated fats. Instead, choose monounsaturated fats like olive oil and polyunsaturated fats like alpha-linolenic acid, found in flaxseed and flaxseed oil.
Take 100 mg of niacin, twice a day. If you experience side effects like flushing, headache, and diarrhea, follow the diet and stop the niacin. You can try a lower dosage at a later date, then slowly increase the dose to 500 mg a day, twice a day for further protection. TwinLabs' quick-acting Niacin is a good product.
Take 1–2 grams of vitamin C and 100–200 mg of CoQ10 each day.
Policosanol—20 mg daily at bedtime.
Exercise regularly.
Ask your doctor about screening techniques to assess your risk factors for heart disease. If you’re concerned, you and your family members should have your Lp(a) and other heart risk factors (homocysteine, fibrinogen and serum ferritin) evaluated by your doctor.
Researchers at UCSF were so determined to test if their hypothesis regarding stress and chronic illness was on target, they studied a group of women caring for children seriously compromised by chronic illnesses and disabilities—talk about an incredible stressor!
They found that telomeres—those protective end caps stained yellow in the photo that seal off the ends of the blue-stained chromosomes—were significantly shorter in the moms most traumatized by their situations.
Now, telomeres, which are produced by the enzyme telomerase, have a lot of important functions. In addition to protecting the quality of the gene, they also regulate the division rate of the cells, which directly influences their lifespan.
So what is Nobel-worthy about this discovery? It’s represents the novel new idea that lengthening telomeres can prolong cell life. Hopefully the attention and acclaim this finding has received will spearhead further future funding that offers new treatment for diseases of aging such as cardiovascular problems, heart attacks and stroke, blindness, and neurodegenerative disorders.
So, whatever assuages your stress, be it meditation, T’ai chi, yoga, music, dance, fly fishing, or what have you, make it an important part of your day. Your very life may depend on it!
Lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), is a component of LDL or “bad” cholesterol. LDL cholesterol levels that are too high can lead to cardiovascular problems and thus increase your risk of heart disease. Many factors influence blood levels of Lp(a).
According to an article in a 1997 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Lp(a) appears to regulate clot formation (thrombosis) and inhibit blood thinning. We know that Lp(a) increases in unstable diabetics and menopausal women with elevated levels due to lowered estrogen levels. This may be why the incidence of cardiovascular problems among menopausal women quadruples.
Conversely, Lp(a) decreases with estrogen replacement therapy. For this reason, it’s imperative that all menopausal and perimenopausal women with a strong family history of heart disease and other cardiovascular problems have their Lp(a) levels checked by their doctor. Further, post-menopausal women with multiple risk factors for heart disease should consider natural, topical estrogen replacement therapy, particularly if their Lp(a) is elevated.
Research shows that elevated Lp(a) levels appear to be even stronger predictors for the development of premature heart disease in men. JAMA reported a study of 2,191 men, ages 20 to 54, confirming this.
I have known for years that catch-and-release fly fishing is the #1 thing that reduces my busy husband’s stress levels. And, intuitively, I’ve been convinced that Dr Sinatra might escape cardiovascular problems himself, and even live longer, if he fished more often than his busy schedule often allowed. So, this month, I was very happy to see him set aside some extra days before his annual all-guy fishing trip time to fish a few extra bonefish “flats” by himself.
For Dr Sinatra, fly fishing is a form of “moving meditation.” His entire focus is engaged in studying nature—the nuances in the movement of the water’s surface, the behavior of the bait fish and surrounding birds, the direction of the wind, and the luminescence of the sun’s rays. Then there is best part—the soft scream of his line running out over the reel when a fish takes the fly and runs with it!
Now there is scientific evidence that stress reduction—whatever form it takes for you—bolsters longevity by directly impacting your DNA in a favorable fashion.
Groundbreaking research out of USCF has won investigators the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology. And it is something you, too, should know about if you’re looking to prevent heart attack and stroke, avoid cardiovascular problems, or just live a longer, healthier life!
Even before the American Heart Association finally identified “stress” as an independent factor for cardiovascular problems, Dr Sinatra was facilitating workshops to help local cardiac patients learn to identify their stressors, as well as discover interventions to alleviate them. Over decades since, we have finally collected sound research that stress reduction lowers blood pressure levels, relieves physiological strain on the heart, and may even save your life. I am proud to report that Dr Sinatra even contributed to that research!
Now we are learning that there may actually be changes to our DNA to enhance longevity if we can manage to reduce our levels of psychological distress.
C-reactive protein (CRP) is a little-known marker of heart disease that the medical world is starting to take note of. It’s a blood protein that, when found in elevated levels, may indicate risk of heart attack and stroke. CRP can be detected when there is inflammation resulting from trauma or infection.
Let’s look at some study results:
A 1985 Finnish study found that half of patients with coronary heart disease had high levels of an antibody known as C-reactive protein, compared with only 17 percent of healthy controls.
The Physicians Health Study indicated that C-reactive protein could predict future vascular events such as heart attack in healthy and high-risk individuals, and that high levels of this protein increase risk for heart attack and stroke.
In healthy postmenopausal women with levels of C-reactive protein and 11 other substances, the one-fourth with the highest C-reactive protein levels were 4.4 times more likely to have had a heart attack or other cardiovascular problems than the one-fourth with the lowest levels.
A simple CRP blood test is as accurate as cholesterol and homocysteine screening in predicting a person’s risk of heart attack and stroke.
After discussing Dr. Sinatra's and my heartbreak over losing our family dog Chewie, our dear friend Barb, who loves and cares for our dogs in our absence, sent us a wonderful story called the Rainbow Bridge. I don’t know the author or origins of the story, but if you have ever loved and lost a pet, may it touch your heart this Valentine’s Day.
Rainbow Bridge
Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.
All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.
They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; his eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.
blue-stained chromosomes—were significantly shorter in the moms most traumatized by their situations. 
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