Young Love: Why Early Heart Care is Important
Young Love: Why Early Heart Care is Important
Valentine’s Day is upon us. It’s a day to celebrate love. Let it also be a day to celebrate your heart since February is National Heart Month. If you look after your heart health while you’re still young, you’re more likely to feel healthier and live longer. Which means more Valentine’s Days with your loved ones, guaranteed!
Causes of Heart Disease
Certain risk factors can increase the likelihood of suffering from heart disease. Common risk factors are:
High blood pressure
High blood cholesterol and blood sugar
Obesity
Diabetes
Smoking
Not being physically active
Unhealthy diet lacking sufficient intake of fresh fruits and vegetables
Family history of early heart disease.
The Wall Street Journal recently published an article regarding an on-going study conducted on heart disease risk, specifically in South Asians. This study explores the possible reasons why South Asians have higher rates of cardiovascular disease compared to other ethnic groups.
According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) statistics, 60% of heart disease patients are South Asians. The study found traditional risk factors do not explain the high rates of cardiovascular disease found in South Asians. Compared to other ethnic groups South Asians often have a lower body mass index (BMI) but more visceral fat around the abdominal organs.
A possible theory is that the culprit may be genetic along with environmental factors and the Western lifestyle.
The predominance of heart disease in every 3rd to 4th person today is considered by scientists to be a mystery. Did these scientific researchers ever consider the correlation between shifts in eating habits, physical exertion, and other lifestyle changes over the last 100 years as the real cause of the current heart disease epidemic? A century ago illnesses like heart disease, diabetes, and obesity were extremely rare. They primarily struck only the rich compared to today striking all socioeconomic classes and ethnicities.
Our genes cannot transform rapidly within just a century. We need to consider heavily how people’s diet, sedentary lifestyles, poor sleeping habits, high levels of chronic stress, and other environmental factors are the real reason for the rise in cardiovascular disease.
Early Heart Care Tips
Make February the month to start changing your “bad” habits, and begin taking a few effective steps to transform your health. Here are a few early heart care tips you can follow:
Exercise every day for one hour
Follow a healthy diet every day
Maintain the appropriate weight for your body relative to your height
Limit alcohol use
Avoid smoking, even second hand smoke
Get sufficient sleep every day
Actively work on keeping your stress levels low.
Healthy Diet and Other Habits
A healthy diet will go a long way to reverse your risk for developing heart disease. You will also feel and look better. Try the following formula for just a month and see how life becomes transformed:
Fresh vegetables: 60%+ of your daily diet should consist of fresh vegetables, especially leafy greens. Try to avoid potatoes and corn since they cause huge fluctuations in the blood sugar, energy level, and mood hours after consumption.
Beans: 25% of the daily diet should consist of beans (i.e., lentils, split beans) and seeds (i.e., chia, flax).
Whole grains: 25% of the daily diet should consist of whole grains like millet, buckwheat, and quinoa with little consumption of wheat and white rice.
Fresh fruit: Snack on fresh fruit, like apples and berries, on an empty stomach during the day. Try to eat the fruit alone.
Limit portions: Eat just enough to still be a little hungry. Give your stomach room to digest the food.
No distractions: Eat without any distractions. It’s best to sit at a table while you eat and enjoying each bite. Don’t get distracted with watching TV, reading, looking at an electronic device, or talking a lot while eating since you may lose track of how much you eat.
Eating times: Eat most of the day’s food before the evening. Fast three hours before bedtime, and 12 hours between breakfast and dinner to help boost the immune system.
Get enough quality sleep: Try to be in bed before 10pm. Avoid all forms of electronics for at least two to three hours before bedtime.
Steer clear of these: Caffeine, all forms of sugar, wheat, corn, milk products, soy, alcohol, red meat, processed food, and refined flour. They contain little nutritional value but instead quickly cause a high level of stress/inflammation since the body cannot adequately digest these items.
Just try any one or these tips for a month! You will quickly feel a positive change. This formula will keep you healthy.
Make the Change
There’s no magic pill to cure heart disease. You have to change your lifestyle if you really want to see a change.
Make this February the month to reflect on your health and habits. Contact Advanced Health in San Francisco! We can help you positively transform your heart health.
AUTHOR
Dr. Payal Bhandari M.D. is one of U.S.'s top leading integrative functional medical physicians and the founder of SF Advanced Health. She combines the best in Eastern and Western Medicine to understand the root causes of diseases and provide patients with personalized treatment plans that quickly deliver effective results. Dr. Bhandari specializes in cell function to understand how the whole body works. Dr. Bhandari received her Bachelor of Arts degree in biology in 1997 and Doctor of Medicine degree in 2001 from West Virginia University. She the completed her Family Medicine residency in 2004 from the University of Massachusetts and joined a family medicine practice in 2005 which was eventually nationally recognized as San Francisco’s 1st patient-centered medical home. To learn more, go to www.sfadvancedhealth.com.