Heart disease is one of those topics that we are numb to until it strikes home or close to home. Suddenly, we become attentive to the statistics and many of us are thrown into a panic mode because we don’t know where to begin making changes. We know we have to do something or risk death. If we are the one who has the actual heart attack we want to know why. We question ourselves: Am I to blame; or was it an accident? Is it what I am eating, or is it in my genes? I’m here to suggest to you the elements you can control: Food. What you put into your body is crucial to heart health. If you are willing to do what I did, you can reduce your risk for heart disease by changing the way your body processes fats and you can also reduce the risks associated with your genetic predisposition to heart disease. How you manage your food intake can help reduce heart attacks by 90%. I learned through direct, personal experience.
I had a heart attack in 2006. I thought I was eating right, but my cholesterol was 268 and I didn’t know I was at risk. When I left the hospital alive, I trained myself to eat differently. My diet is not boring, it is not bland, it is exciting, full of flavor and delicious. I educated myself in how to shop for different ingredients, I learned to read labels, carefully, and I turned the process into an adventure so I didn’t fall into feeling sorry for myself. It is still fun for me to take a recipe and convert it into something supportive for my heart. I actually feel so much better and today my cholesterol is 152. Below are some thoughts you may want to consider.
I have learned there are two kinds of proactive heart care: what do after you’ve had a cardio incident and what you do to prevent a cardio incident altogether. If you’re like I was, you may think you are eating well and leading a relatively healthy life; or you may be a burger and fry freak who is just beginning to understand that it might not be the healthiest way to live. Let’s talk about the latter, first. Most of the burger commercials are misleading because they feature slim and trim gorgeous men and women biting down on luscious hamburgers, dripping and oozing scrumptious sauces that whet your appetite and stimulate your taste buds. How can you resist such temptation? You seldom give a second thought to the amount of saturated fats and sodium this enticing entree provides. Try to resist those Italian restaurant commercials advertising all the bread you can eat where plates just keep on coming. Do they mention the fats in the fettuccine Alfredo? Do they mention how harmful those butter-laden sauces are for your heart? No they don’t.
If your heart could talk, it would say, “No thank you.” It would ask for grains and greens and low fat foods bursting with nourishment and vitality. If you’re the first type (thinking you are eating well but still have a higher than desired cholesterol level), then you’re going to want to start reading labels and asking questions about the fat content of the seemingly healthy foods you are ingesting. If you’re the second type and accustomed to burgers on the fly, then you’ll also want to focus on what you’re putting into your body with the Big Four: Fats (saturated and fat in general), Cholesterol, Sodium, and Sugar. Labels will tell you. The American Heart Association’s Nutrition Committee strongly advises these fat guidelines for healthy Americans over age 2:
- Limit total fat intake to less than 25–35 percent of your total calories each day;
- Limit saturated fat intake to less than 7 percent of total daily calories;
- Limit trans fat intake to less than 1 percent of total daily calories;
- The remaining fat should come from sources of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats such as nuts, seeds, fish and vegetable oils; and
- Limit cholesterol intake to less than 300 mg per day, for most people. If you have coronary heart disease or your LDL cholesterol level is 100 mg/dL or greater, limit your cholesterol intake to less than 200 milligrams a day.
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