What if you could prevent a heart attack? –– Penrose-St.Francis

What if you could prevent a heart attack?

By Chris Valentine, Penrose-St. Francis Health Services, Colorado Springs LIVING WELL Magazine

During a recent presentation, Penrose-St. Francis Health Services CEO Margaret Sabin gave a wonderful analogy on the state of medicine in our country. “Imagine a large cliff,” says Sabin. “As a healthcare industry, we‘ve done an excellent job of putting hospitals and doctors at the bottom of that cliff so when people get sick and fall over that virtual cliff, we can take care of them. But what if we could build a fence at the top of that cliff to prevent people from getting sick? Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

It is a well-known fact that the number one killer of Americans is heart disease. What if you could prevent heart disease and prevent a heart attack? Would you do it? Of course you would. But how would you go about it? To learn more, I spoke with Dr. Chitra Peddada, medical director of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation at Penrose-St. Francis.

The first thing Peddada explained was that each person has risk factors for heart disease. The good news is that there are some of these risk factors, called modifiable risk factors, which you can change. The bad news is that there are some that you cannot change. Let’s start with the bad news. The things that make you more at risk for heart disease that you cannot change are your age, gender, family history and ethnicity. For example, Asians and African Americans are at a higher risk for heart disease. Since there is not much that we can do about these things, let’s focus on the things that we can change.

The four things in which you can make a difference are exercise, diet, stress and disease management. I’ll start with the most recognized one, which is exercise. Leading institutions, such as the American Heart Association, recommend that people get at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week. That number intimidates some people, but it isn’t as hard as it sounds. You don’t have to become a marathon runner. Simple things like taking your dog for a walk, parking further out from the store or just taking the stairs all add up.

As we began talking about diet, Peddada shared an interesting insight. Years ago, due to the economy and culture, the serving size of the meat portion of our meals were small and plates were filled with mostly vegetables and fruits. As time moved on, the meat portion of our meals has steadily grown to the point that today, the majority of our plates are filled with meat and very few vegetables. The best thing for our heart is to get back to that old way of filling our plates.

She emphasized that we need to watch our total calories, how much saturated fat we eat, and the amount of sugar and salt that is in our diet. A diet rich in plant-based foods is the best plan for a healthy heart.

We may not realize it but stress plays a role in our heart health too. While there could be a debate to determine if this is something that can be changed or not, Peddada offered up a number of suggestions. There are a variety of coping mechanisms to deal with stress such as breathing tactics, exercises like Yoga or Tai Chi or even professional counseling or therapy.

Another recommendation to prevent a heart attack is disease management. For example, someone who is diagnosed with hypertension should be focused on taking their medications and watching their salt intake. Another example is diabetes. In addition to keeping a careful eye on their medications, a diabetic should be aware of their weight. The risk for diabetes increases as a person’s weight increases.

As Peddada and I were wrapping up our conversation, she brought up one final thought that is probably one of the most important tips. Don’t smoke! She also clarified that this includes smokeless tobacco. Out of all of the things that a person can change, this is one of the most important because smoking has so many negative effects on your body in addition to increasing your risk of heart disease.

If you have questions about your personal risk factors, the best thing to do would be to have a conversation with your personal healthcare provider. If you need help finding a primary care physician, check out healthgrades.com.