Currently, 71.3 million Americans have a diagnosis of some form of Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) and 38 percent of Americans have two or more CVD risk factors. Eliminating risk factors is necessary in disease prevention but many people face significant barriers to adhering to their prescribed lifestyle changes. In fact, an article in the American Family Physician journal indicates that many patients are �noncompliant� with their doctors� recommendations and their failure to manage their health can result in avoiding doctor contact and treatment.
According to Gary Craig, the Stanford trained engineer who developed Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), �Behavior and lifestyle changes are difficult for many people because they are using food to tranquilize unresolved emotional issues.� EFT, a do-it-yourself acupressure technique, works by balancing the body�s energy meridian system, or chi, and neutralizing unresolved emotional issues and traumas. �When a patient resolves emotional issues, the need for eating unhealthy, fatty comfort food subsides. Furthermore, as the body�s energy meridians balance, symptoms like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and stress dissipate, reducing the risk of Heart Disease.
Patients and healing professional all over the world are using EFT to address risk factors associated with many diseases, including Heart Disease. One example is Dr. Joseph Mercola, sponsor of the world�s most visited natural health website (www.mercola.com). He has been using EFT successfully since 2001 to support his patients in achieving optimal health.
EFT has been shown to combat six major risk factors of Heart Disease.
1. Smoking: Smokers are 2 to 4 times more likely to develop heart disease than non-smokers. EFT consistently provides relief to people with addictive cravings including cigarettes. When EFT is used to address the emotional reasons for smoking, many people are able to quit permanently.
2. High Cholesterol. Elevated cholesterol levels are associated with an increased risk for heart disease. EFT users have lowered LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels and increased HDL cholesterol levels without drugs.
3. High Blood Pressure. Elevated blood pressure places extra strain on the heart and EFT's results for blood pressure problems are often astonishing. In most cases, blood pressure improves within a few minutes of applying EFT and repeated applications of EFT often eliminate the problem for the long term.
4. Physical Inactivity. Physically inactive adults are at higher risk for developing heart diseases. EFT is an effective personal performance tool. Apply EFT to increase personal motivation to exercise and eliminate negative beliefs about abilities and skills.
5. Overweight/obesity. People with excess body fat are at higher risk for developing Heart Disease even if no other risk factors are present. One of EFT�s most common applications is in targeting the issues associated with emotional overeating. Using EFT enables patients to eat for nutrition, rather than to tranquilize emotions.
6. Stress. Elevated stress levels are consistently linked to a growing number of serious health issues, including Heart Disease. While meditation, relaxation exercises, deep breathing or anti-anxiety medication may help people cope with stress, these techniques do not address the cause of stress. EFT, however, is one of the only techniques available that addresses this true cause. This simple technique balances the energy and eliminates the body and mind�s stress response.
�We are not advocating the use of EFT instead of following a healthy diet and lifestyle,� says Gary Craig, founder of EFT. �EFT cannot be expected to continually neutralize the effects of high stress situations or a poor diet but it is a complement to any positive health regime. When people are faced with the challenge of making significant lifestyle changes, EFT is a versatile support tool that anybody can use.�
Over 300,000 have downloaded Craig�s free training manual and another 10,000 download it each month. The official EFT Manual has been translated by volunteer practitioners into nine languages.