Eye Opening Heart

Recently I went through a door that I had hoped I’d never go through, the door of heart disease. An echocardiogram last October showed weakness in my heart. Angioplasty was done and one of my coronary arteries was found to be 35-49% blocked. A drug-eluting stent was put in. It hit home and I realized I had to make some serious changes, especially to my diet.

I confess I was one of those unhealthy eaters you hear about. I had TV dinners for a lot of meals, including breakfast. I did drink lots of water and fruit juice, but ate no fruit on a daily basis. Fish I’d try to eat once a week. And I loved potato chips and related snacks .

Things have now changed. While I am still not eating fresh, frozen or canned vegetables on regular basis (These changes are coming.), I am now having fresh or canned fruit once or twice a day. I’m eating fish, primarily salmon, once a day and raisins daily. I’ve gone back to having cold oatmeal for breakfast and have cut back on my sugar. Salt, due to my blood pressure being on the low side (It always has been that way.), I don’t have to be as concerned about.

Exercise is something that I’ve always enjoyed, but I am now making sure I do it daily, and I am trying to get my weight down. So far so good in that my weight is starting to slowly come down.

However there have been a couple of things that have shocked me in my experience. The first is the health care system’s almost entire focus on drugs to cure heart disease. It really hit home when I suggested to my cardiologist that instead of taking the anti-cholesterol drug I first try to get my cholesterol levels down to where they need to be by diet. I was immediately told that I’m not trying to prevent heart disease I have it. It seems to me all the more reason that diet should at least be considered as part of treating heart disease.

 Diet, exercise, weight loss and sleep habits all seem to be dirty words for our health care system. Heck even the Heart & Stroke Foundation recognizes the importance of these things to preventing and treating heart disease.

 The second thing that shocked me is how very wasteful healthcare is, at least in Ontario where I live, in terms of resources and thus of money. For example to stop the bleeding in my wrist after the angiogram and stent a large plastic block was used. When the bleeding had stopped, much to my amazement, the block was just thrown out. I appreciate needles and bandages being one use, however, there has to be another way to prevent the spread of disease other than a one use item.

Here’s another example of waste. I live in the Niagara Peninsula. We have a new hospital, which is energy efficient. Unfortunately no one apparently thought to make it water efficient as well as they use antiquated toilets. These toilets have enough water in them that you could literally wash yourself in them. There is absolutely no need for this waste. I replaced my antiquated toilets with dual low flush toilets 8 years ago and they have since paid for themselves.

Finally here is some heart food for thought. Eat a heart healthy diet. Here’s a list of the 25 Top Heart Healthy Foods from WebMD: http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/25-top-heart-healthy-foods If, like me you’re on a blood thinner, and that includes aspirin, avoid foods rich in vitamin K, as they thicken the blood.

Do heart healthy exercises. Here is a good article on this from WebMD: http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/guide/exercise-healthy-heart You might wish to consult your doctor first or some other health professional before going ahead.

Finally think for yourself. Read as much as you can about heart disease the medications you’re on and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Remember, while your cardiologist may be the expert on heart and stroke issues you are the expert on you.