Healthy Heart Diet

What you eat and keeping yourself on a healthy heart diet is always important. However, if you’ve had a heart attack… important is a large understatement.

So what are the guidelines for a healthy heart diet?

• Eat your veggies! Work those vegetables into every meal and don’t forget your fruit either.
• Whole grain breads… easy on the whites.
• Work on eating more cereals and other grains and legumes such as beans and peas.
• Change what you base your meals around. For example, instead of making a meat the main part of the meal with rice and beans… reverse the portions… rice and beans with just a small side of the meat.
• Speaking of meat… lean and skinless.
• Dairy products - make them low-fat
• Greatly reduce or all but eliminate fast foods, desserts, soft drinks and all those high in fat and sugary decisions.
• Small amounts of margarine and vegetable oils… olive oil is better.
• Any cooking process other than frying (grilling, steaming, baking, or even microwaving.)
• Cut back on the salt.
• Change your grocery shopping habits to the perimeter aisles and stay away from those middle aisles and re-discover cooking at home with your new healthy heart diet.

When it comes to a heart healthy diet, reducing the amount of fat you consume is a must. This is particularly true if you are already overweight or have high blood cholesterol levels. So, get with your doctor and talk about an appropriate, long term, and graduated form of exercise and physical activity to help hasten the loss of that excess fat.

Alcoholic beverages should only be consumed in moderation… not more than a few drinks at any one time and during any given week.

What about smoking?

What about NOT!

Smoking is the number one risk factor contributing to heart disease. And by the way… it’s NEVER too late to quit. If you try to quit and fail… then try again… and again… and again… no matter how many times you have to quit… quit you must.

What role does high blood pressure play?

If high blood pressure (hypertension) isn’t controlled it can certainly add to the load of the heart and in effect accelerate you on the road to having another heart attack… or even other problems such as a stroke. And the scary part about high blood pressure is that you can’t feel it… there are no warning signs. So, if high blood pressure doesn’t sound too healthy… it’s because it isn’t… get yourself checked by your doctor.

While we’re on the subject… when it comes to controlling your blood pressure, allow me to show you a very familiar list:

• maintain a healthy weight
• get regular exercise
• follow that heart healthy diet above
• moderate your alcohol intake
• and did I mention not smoking!

Changing your lifestyle to a heart healthy diet, getting regular physical activity, and not smoking are excellent ways to reduce your risk of a heart attack… or even a second one.

When it comes to the risk of a heart attack, there are contributing factors that we can’t control… so let’s be sure you take control those risk factors that you can.

Heart Attack - The Aftermath

I’ve discussed with you previously that heart attacks cause a certain amount of damage to the heart muscle itself.

So the question becomes… how much of my heart has been damaged?

Well… this varies from person to person, but generally the amount of the heart muscle that comes under damage or injury isn’t extensive and the heart will, indeed, continue to function well… and, of course, there are tests that can be performed that will give your physician some idea of the extent of the damage.

The positive aspect to remember is that the majority of people make a decent recovery. Although the actual healing process for your heart muscle will take some time, the heart is a resilient muscle; it will will begin to heal soon after the attack.

As far as the heart muscle itself goes, the aftermath is an area of scar tissue that is left behind. Even though your heart won’t contract quite normally around the areas of the scar tissue, for many this does not affect the function of the heart or even how they feel. In fact, many times, the biggest hurdle is getting past the fear and anxiety related to having had a heart attack.

The fear and anxiety factors of a post heart attack aren’t to be taken lightly and how you handle these will greatly effect how quickly you can get your life back to normal.

Once you get back home after a heart attack, what sort of recovery and activity plan should be on?

Of course the absolute answer is exactly what your physician instructs you to do.

Generally speaking, of course, you’ll want to initially get your rest and just quietly move about. You’ll want to learn to recognize when you get tired and should take a break. Realize that even little activity early on will get you tired. One of the big keys to get back on track mentally is to make sure that you get about each day as your doctor allows, get up and get dressed and take on the routine that you’ve been asked to follow by your health care provider.

Ultimately through your regular routine you’ll will gradually regain your physical and your mental strength.

Down the road on your recovery, you’ll want to work with your doctor on getting your physical activity back up to par.

Remember, physical activity has the benefits of keeping your weight down and keeping your blood pressure and your cholesterol in check… which reduces the risk factor of you having a subsequent heart attack.

Getting back to your ‘usual’ activities will vary from person to person and will be under the direction of your doctor. Many cardiologist will schedule their patients to follow up after a heart attack with a cardiac rehabilitation or cardiac rehab program during which you work with specially trained instructors who will help you to regain your strength in a safe and effective manner.

In many cases, walking is the recommended activity to work toward when getting your physical activity level back. If not walking, you’ll want to discuss with your doctor activities that you not only enjoy doing, but also activities that you will do consistently.

Do it for you… and your heart.

With your doctor’s approval, consistently making physical activity a part of your life is not only a big part of your recovery, it is also a big part of you staying healthy long term. You should work to gradually increase your activities that you engage in, and be thinking long term from this point forward. Remember, little changes in your daily lifestyle, can help you to overall be more active.

Getting your life back after a heart attack is not only very doable, but is a requirement for not only your physical health but your mental state as well.

CardioScan Healthy Heart Picture

A cardioscan is one of the latest advances of medical technology that many cardiologist are employing today in order to get a better idea of what is going on inside the blood pumping muscle that works so hard to keep us all alive.

There is no longer any need to wait until that fateful day that you land flat on your back in the middle of a busy emergency room, writhing in pain and terrified that you are in the midst of a full blown heart attack! No need to worry that you simply must sit and wait for the “big one” to drop you to your knees. No need at all, since medical technology has left many a cardiologist dancing in the hospital hallway because they can now help their patients by intervening sooner, even before there are major symptoms of heart disease… they can intervene after obtaining a cardioscan to take a look at the anatomy of the heart and particularly after they look at the calcium score of the heart. The heart’s calcium score, determined through the cardioscan, is calculated by the amount of heart plaque that has built up in the vessels of your heart.

Fortunately, a cardioscan is much less invasive than one of the traditional methods of looking at the heart’s vessels, such as a cardiac catheterization. In the much utilized cardiac cath, your cardiologist can thoroughly examine your heart’s valves, arteries, and chambers by using a contrast dye and a catheter inserted into your groin or arm. Because the heart scan is a much less invasive procedure, it makes it much more likely that patients are willing to undergo the testing procedure.

Recently I was given the honor of sitting down for a conversation with Dr. Steven P. Marso. Dr. Marso is a world renowned Cardiologist and was kind enough to share his thoughts on prevention, healthy living, and taking small steps to get your life back on track. Check out the full interview here, Dr. Steven P. Marso Interview.

The cardioscan is a screening heart scan that is used to detect calcium deposits found in atherosclerotic plaque in the coronary arteries of the heart. Research indicates that the caclium score has a strong predictive value for evaluating the risk for future coronary artery disease. Cardiologist appreciate the heart scan method because it is one of the most effective ways to detect coronary calcification from atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, even before symptoms develop.

Think about it this way… the higher the calcium score, the more coronary calcium is present in your heart’s vessels… and the more heart calcium found in the vessels means more coronary atherosclerosis… and the more coronary atherosclerosis that is present, the higher the possibility is that you will develop a significant narrowing somewhere in the coronary system and, of course, this leads us to the saddest news of all… and that is… a higher calcium score, leads to more hardening of the arteries and ultimately an increased risk of future cardiovascular problems.

Wouldn’t you want to reduce or even avoid that increased risk and intervene earlier if the technology is there to help you? I certainly would!

One of the most powerful benefits of the cardioscan is that this test is one of the better options for finding small blockages in coronary arteries. It is also a pro at quickly detecting congenital abnormalities and other issues with the heart’s anatomy. The scan allows your health care team to take a look at your heart in any dimension, including a three-dimensional view. And one of the most encouraging benefits is that the cardioscan is over 95% accurate… now, that’s an impressive rating.

However, it is important to remember that the cardioscan is in no way an absolute predictor for future cardiac events, including life-threatening ones. It is not a crystal ball that can tell you that you will or will not have a heart attack in the years to come. Invent a medical technology that works at 100%, my friend, and you can retire tomorrow and spend your leisure time on a yacht in the middle of your choice of majestic seas. So for now, I feel pretty good about 95% accuracy.

Once your painless cardioscan is completed, a full report is sent to your primary care physician. This report will tell your physician the number and density of calcified coronary plaques in your coronary arteries and your total calcium score. By looking at this report and then reviewing your other cardiac risk factors, your physician may have other suggestions for you to implement, such as lifestyle changes, like increasing your exercise, eating a more heart healthy diet, and quitting smoking. Your doctor may also suggest certain medications or even additional cardiac testing.

A cardioscan can most certainly give you a leg up when you are looking to achieve your healthiest life. The more information you have about your heart health can help you to intervene and change your lifestyle now instead of waiting till you are holed up in an ER with a team of physicians and nurses leaning over you shaking their heads.

Talk with your health care provider and then make an informed decision… a cardioscan may be the right decision for you.