30 Minutes a Day to a Healthy Heart by Dr. Frederic Vagnini
About the author, Frederic Vagnini
For 25 years he practiced as a heart, lung and blood vessel surgeon and he has worked with more than 20,000 heart disease patients.
He is founder of the Cardiovascular Wellness Center in Long Island, New York where he counsels patients and doctors on preventative care.
Introduction
Given all that we know about heart disease, you’d think we’d be on the verge of eradicating it.
Heart disease is rampant in America and remains the top cause of death by far.
What we have learned is that for all the advances we’ve made in medical science, the real answer to heart disease lies in the art of living. I can say with complete certainty that all those drug therapies, surgical interventions and other consequences of cardiovascular disease are preventable through lifestyle changes.
We’ve coined a new word “sitting disease”. Can you believe that many of use sit or lie around for as many as 23 hours a day? Sedentary living is one of the biggest risk factors for heart disease, but moving more is simple and delivers amazing heart benefits.
Your Heart’s Full Potential
Thanks to a traditional lifestyle that prizes serenity and spirituality; daily exercise; and low calorie diet that’s light on saturated fat and heavy on fruit, vegetables, soy and fish, Okinawa’s death rates from coronary heart disease are 82 percent lower than the US rates.
Medical tests revealed why these feats were possible: The centenarians had remarkably healthy hearts, young looking arteries, low cholesterol and little oxidative stress that spurs atherosclerosis, the dangerous plaque buildup that spawns heart-stopping blood clots.
Healthy lifestyle accounts for 80 per cent of the super health enjoyed by their hearts.
| Heart Disease around the World – Number of deaths per year linked to cardiovascular disease per 100,000 people | |
| Russia | 945 |
| Romania | 817 |
| Poland | 669 |
| Scotland | 432 |
| Finland | 416 |
| United States | 348 |
| Germany | 347 |
| England | 332 |
| Canada | 280 |
| China | 266 |
| Korea | 261 |
| Switzerland | 249 |
| Australia | 237 |
| Brazil | 230 |
| India | 225 |
| France | 206 |
| Japan | 186 |
Greenland’s native Inuit people have dramatically lower rates of heart disease than their Danish neighbours who share their icy little continent, thanks to a diet rich in fish loaded with heart nurturing omega-3 fatty acids.
Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found that Greeks who stuck with the traditional Mediterranean diet, brimming with sun-opened produce, beans, olive oil and fish had a 25 percent lower risk of heart disease than those who did not.
Heart Disease in America
Nothing kills more Americans than cardiovascular disease. Add together the deaths caused by the nation’s other top 5 killers – cancer, accidents, respiratory disease, diabetes and strokes – and you still won’t equal the body count from heart disease.
Within six years of their first heart attacks, 18 percent of male survivors and 35 percent of female survivors will have second attacks.
Shift Your Focus
Your life depends on the health of your coronary arteries but these key blood vessels are no match for the fat in the stuffed-crust pizza, endless sitting in cars, behind desks and glued to 500-channel cable TV, or the stress of 60 hour workweeks.
In 2004, a major study involving 30,000 people across the globe showed that 90 per cent of heart attacks were caused by 5 lifestyle risk factors and 4 medical risk factors.
Lifestyle risk factors: 1) smoking 2) stress 3) sedentary living 4) eating too few fruits and 5) vegetables and abstaining from alcohol.
Medical factors: 1) abnormal cholesterol levels 2) diabetes 3) high blood pressure and 4) abdominal obesity.
A healthy lifestyle can vanquish all 9 causes of heart attacks.
The Path to a Healthy Heart
1. Focus on small changes for big results
2. Conquer Sitting Disease
3. Eat Fresh Foods
4. Know your numbers
5. Avoid toxins
6. Find Joy
Heart Attacker #1 – Excess Body Fat
In 2000, according to astonishing study results published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), obesity caused 400,000 deaths in the United States compared with 435,000 deaths from smoking.
Belly fat ratchets up your odds for high blood pressure, blood clots and cholesterol trouble. Belly fat (visceral fat) also starts a chain of biochemical events that leads to insulin resistance – a precursor to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, breast cancer, prostate cancer, kidney failure and Alzheimer’s disease.
Visceral fat pumps out hormones that upset body chemistry, significantly upping your risk of heart disease and other major conditions.
Heart Attacker #2 – Cholesterol
LDLs (low density lipoproteins) can burrow into the inner lining of arteries forming the foundation for heart threatening plaques in artery walls.
HDLs (high density lipoproteins) fuse with LDLs and remove their cholesterol cargo. They also act as anti-oxidants, blocking LDLs from causing plaque-promoting damage.
If you want high HDLs, look to good fats from foods such as olive and canola oils, nuts and wild Atlantic salmon along with regular heart pumping exercise.
Americans spend $15 billion per year on cholesterol- lowering statin drugs. Lipitor, made by Pfizer, was the top selling drug in the world.
One University of Toronto study found that a diet combining a range of cholesterol friendly foods cut cholesterol levels by a whopping 30% in a matter of months.
Heart Attacker #3 – High Blood Pressure
Today 50 million adult Americans (one in 4) have it.
Hypertension happens when capillaries – the tiniest blood vessels which deliver oxygen and nutrients directly to cells – become stiff and inflexible, prompting blood to rush through at greater pressure. High blood pressure in turn damages artery walls, making them more vulnerable to plaque buildup. It also weakens and enlarges the heart.
Heart Attacker #4 – Chronic Inflammation
The problem isn’t the short bouts of inflammation that fight infection or heal a shaving nick. The modern day threat comes from inflammation that can’t turn itself off. This chronic inflammation – a response to overweight, sitting disease, aging, less than meticulous hygiene, low grade infection and the stress of modern living – attacks the very cells it intends to rescue.
Inflammation Triggers
- Fast Food
- Visceral Fat
- Oxidized LDL
- Low Grade Chronic Infections
- Stress and Anxiety
- Sitting
- Not eating smart fats
- Too many trans fats
- Skimping on fruits and vegetables
Heart Attacker #5 – Metabolic Syndrome
Visceral fat pumps immune system messengers called cytokines. The constant flood of cytokines interferes with the absorption of blood sugar by muscle and liver cells. Basically, cytokines block signals from insulin to cell to let sugar in. For people with metabolic syndrome, insulin levels can rise 2 to 3 times higher than normal and can stay elevated for decades. Insulin also morphs LDLs into smaller, denser particles that can easily burrow into artery walls and form the bed rock for plaque.
Exercise, even a little bit, lowers insulin levels and boosts insulin sensitivity. Weight loss also makes your cells more sensitive to insulin.
Heart Attacker #6 – Oxidative Stress
Researchers now believe that oxidative stress is a key turning point for heart health, that it’s the condition that switches atherosclerosis from “off” to “on”. To your immune system, oxidized LDLs which researchers call LDL-ox, look like grotesque invaders. Immune cells called macrophages trap them and in the process, they become the fat-filled foam cells that form the foundation for plaque. LDL-ox also seems to make plaques grow larger and burst, leading to heart stopping blood clots. High levels of LDL-ox can double your heart attack risk.
Americans spend nearly $2 Billion per year on over-the-counter anti-oxidant supplements – vitamins E, C, A and beta carotene and selenium – intended to mop up free radicals. The trouble is research has yet to prove they work.
Super foods to the Rescue
1. Almonds
2. Apples
3. Avocadoes
4. Bananas
5. Berries
6. Broccoli
7. Carrots
8. Lean Beef
9. Milk (low fat)
10. Kidney Beans
11. Walnuts
12. Oatmeal
13. Salmon (wild)
14. Spinach
15. Turkey
16. Tomatoes
17. Sweet Potatoes
18. Watermelon
Supplement Power
Multivitamins
The American Medical Association (AMA) made headlines in 2002 when for the first time it advised all adults to take daily multivitamins to help prevent heart disease, cancer and osteoporosis.
Heart Benefits
Taking a multivitamin cuts the risk of cardiovascular disease by 24 per cent and slashes heart attack risk by 22 per cent.
How it works
a) Lowers Homocysteine. The B vitamins in a multi vitamin can cut homocysteine by a whopping 32 per cent. Homocysteine, an amino acid produced when your body breaks down protein is an emerging risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Your body need the three B’s – B6, B12 and folate (B9) to convert homocysteine into a form that cells can use to build new proteins. Otherwise homocysteine levels rise and so does heart attack risk.
b) Cools off chronic inflation. A daily multivitamin lowers C-reactive protein, a sign of heart-threatening inflammation, by 32 per cent.
c) Protects “bad” LDL cholesterol against artery-damaging free radicals. Multivitamins reduced LDL damage by 17 per cent.
d) Provides protective vitamin D. Getting regular vitamin D supplements reduced heart disease deaths by 31 per cent in a huge study of 10,000 women conducted at the University of California. Among other duties, vitamin D helps the body absorb and hold on to calcium which is important for health blood pressure.
When to take it
With food for best absorption.
What should it contain.
a) 100 per cent of the big 9: Make sure your multivitamin has 100 per cent of the Daily Value for thiamin (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), folic acid (B9), B6, B12, C, D and E.
b) Less than 2,500 IU of retinol based Vitamin A. Getting more than 5,000 IU of vitamin A daily from retinol may increase your osteoporosis risk.
c) No more than 100 per cent of minerals. You don’t need any more than 100 percent of the DV of chromium, copper, iodine, manganese, molybdenum and zinc. And most people get plenty of chloride, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium from a healthy diet. Trace elements such as boron, nickel, silicon and vanadium aren’t necessary since they may not even be required.
d) Vitamin K: At least 20 micrograms. Few multivitamins come close to supplying 100 percent of the RDA if vitamin K (90 to 100 micrograms). Plan to make up the difference with broccoli, green leafy vegetables.
e) Iron: Your Age and Sex Matter. Pre-menopausal women should look for 18 milligrams of iron in a multivitamin.
Fish Oil
Heart Benefits: Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish-oil capsules as well as in fatty fish, like salmon and mackerel, can cut heart attack risk by a whopping 73 per cent when consumed daily as part of a diet packed with fruits, vegetables and whole grains and low in saturated fat. Omega-3’s also cut triglyceride levels by up to 40 per cent.
How it works.
a) Stabilizes dangerous artery plaque.
b) Lowers triglycerides
c) Keeps hearts on the beat
d) Best dose. Experts suggest getting a total of 1 to 2 grams of EPA and DHA.
Soluble Fibre – The cholesterol lowering powerhouse
Oatmeal, beans, barley, oranges, grapefruit and strawberries are all rich in soluble fibre – an indigestible carbohydrate that forms a thick, cholesterol-trapping gel in your digestive system. You need at least 8 grams a day and more like 10 to 25 grams if you have elevated cholesterol.
Phytosterols – A new way to block bad LDLs
Found naturally in soybeans, rice bran and wheat germ, phytosterols block the absorption of cholesterol from food you eat. These ingenious substances are available in capsules and in special cholesterol-lowering margarines.
Antioxidant Supplements: Extra protection or duds?
Antioxidant pills sound good in theory but for reasons the experts don’t fully understand, pills don’t help. It’s best to get your vitamin E from whole grains and wheat germ and your other antioxidants from fruits and vegetables.
Coenzyme Q10 – Power up your heart muscle.
Dubbed “ubiquinone” because its found everywhere in the body, coenzyme Q10 boosts the effectiveness of enzymes that help cells produce energy. It helps mitochondria, the tiny power generating plants inside your cells, produce energy. It also controls blood pressure. Up to one third of people with high blood pressure nay have low levels of CoQ10.
Aspirin – Stop that clot
Recently, heart experts have realized that aspirin’s pain soothing, inflammation cooling active ingredient – acetylsalicylic acid – as also a potent heart protector that reduces clotting risk. A daily low dose (81 mg) can cut your heart attack risk by 33 per cent.
Calcium – The blood pressure mineral
Almost everyone knows you need calcium for strong teeth and bones. But few know that calcium helps control blood pressure. While it is best to get your calcium in the foods you eat – studies show dietary calcium is twice as effective as supplements – many people are not getting what they need in their diet, making supplements a smart choice. Calcium citrate absorbs best. Calcium cannot be absorbed without vitamin D.
Rise Up Against Sitting Disease
Time is on your side
The number one excuse people give for not exercising is no time. But closer inspection reveals that Americans actually have more free time than ever before. We’ve just been using it sitting down – with a big bag of chips – in front of the television. Studies show that we have almost 5 hours more free time per week than we had in the 1960’s.
Harvard researchers found that for every 2 hours a day that people spent watching television; they were 23 per cent more likely to be obese and 14 per cent more likely to have diabetes.
They also found that each hour per day spent fitness walking instead of watching TV reduced obesity by 24 per cent and diabetes by 34 percent.
Fitting in Fitness
When you think of exercise, you probably think of structured workouts such as Pilates or running. You can reap the same rewards with a basic “bottoms up” approach to fitness – that is don’t sit when you can stand and don’t stand when you can walk.
In a 2 year study of more than 230 over weight and inactive people, researchers at the Cooper Institute in Dallas found that those who sneaked more movement minutes by taking the stairs at the office, parking further from the doors of shopping malls and pulling weeds around the garden achieved the same improvements in fitness, blood pressure and body fat as those who went to the gym and exercised vigorously for 20 to 60 minutes 5 days per week.
In a similar study Johns Hopkins University researchers found that people who added just 30 minutes of lifestyle activity to their days lost almost 10 pounds during the 16 week study period – more than a comparable group who did step aerobics 3 days per week.
Take your Heart for a Walk
In a landmark Harvard study of nearly 40,000 women over the age of 45, those who regularly walked for exercise – even at a leisurely stroll – for as little as 1 hour per week were half as likely to have heart attacks as those who rarely walked.
Picking up the Pace
When researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed data collected on 13,748 people ages 20 and older, they found that those who routinely got their tickers thumping hard 3 days a week were half as likely to have artery-damaging inflammation as those who did less vigorous activity.
In an 8 year analysis of 72,488 female nurses ranging in age from 40 to 65, researchers found that those who worked up a sweat for just 90 minutes a week – the equivalent of about 12 minutes per day – lowered their total heart disease risk by 30 to 40 per cent.
Strength at Any Age
Strength training not only helps muscle out the ill effects of sitting disease, it’s also a simple step that wipes out nearly every heart attacker.
In a landmark study of 44,000 men, Harvard researchers found that those who lifted weights for 30 minutes or more a week slashed their risk of heart disease by 23 per cent.
Each day, muscle tissue burns about 15 times as many calories as fat does, even when you’re not exercising.
Strength training is the best long term method for increasing resting energy expenditure.
If you work every major muscle group twice a week, you can replace 5 to 10 years worth of lost muscle in just a few months.
The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that every American adult strength train all their major muscle groups about twice a week – yet barely 16 per cent of Americans lift weights regularly.
The Restorative Power of Stretching
If your life revolves around sitting on a sofa, sitting in a car and sitting at a desk all day, you can easily lose 75 per cent of your normal range of motion by the time you’re 60.
Short, rigid muscles act like tourniquets, constricting circulation so blood vessels can’t deliver nutrients and carry out waste as well as they should.
Many people dismiss bad posture as just an aesthetic problem, but hunching and slumping do more than look bad. They cause a whole series of problems, like muscle imbalances, back pain and disk degeneration.
How to be kind to your heart
In the long run, being kind to your heart is better than any medicine you can buy.
In the ground breaking Lifestyle Heart Trial, researchers from California Pacific Medical Center followed nearly 50 people with moderate to severe coronary disease for 5 years. Half of the group did not take medications but rather made lifestyle changes that included healthy eating, exercise, stress management, support meetings and quitting smoking. The other half followed the usual medical regimen that focused on medication and more subtle lifestyle changes. At the study’s end the lifestyle group’s arteries were actually about 8 per cent clearer, while the usual-care group’s clogging had worsened by almost 28 per cent despite medication. What’s more the volunteers in the usual-care group experienced twice as many arrhythmias or heart attacks as those who turned to healthier lifestyles.
Enjoying Life
When was the last time you felt lighthearted – or were heart broken? All of our heart felt emotions – from love to loneliness to hate – affect not only the way we see the world but how long we spend living in it.
In a 15 year study of 678 nuns living and teaching in Minnesota, researchers from the University of Kentucky found that those who most often used positive words such as happy, joy, love, glad and content when describing their lives in letters and diaries lived as much as 10 years longer than those who expressed fewer positive emotions.
For 11 years, Duke University researchers tracked the emotions and overall health of 866 men and women (average age 60) who had undergone cardiac catheterization. Those who most frequently checked off positive descriptions such as “intense joy”, “optimism”, “light heartedness” and “ability to laugh easily” on a questionnaire about their personalities and emotional states were 20 per cent less likely to die of any cause, including heart disease, than those who picked less positive phrases.
In a large scale Northwestern University study, researchers enrolled 3,308 men and women, ages 18 through 30, from different cities throughout the country and tracked their mental and physical well-being for 15 years. The participants who scored highest for feelings of impatience and/or hostility had an astonishingly 84 percent greater risk of developing high blood pressure than those who scored lowest.
In a long term study of 1,200 men, researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland found that men who were depressed were twice as likely as men without depression to develop coronary artery disease or have heart attacks 15 years later.
Let go of the grudge
Staying steamed increases adrenaline levels while snuffing out the feel-good hormone serotonin. Experts emphasize that forgiveness doesn’t mean excusing bad behaviour. It means that you decide not to let that incident or person have control over your life or the power too hurt your heart.
Defeating Stress
Research shows that unchecked stress leads to a cascade of symptoms, including insulin resistance; increased abdominal fat; elevated blood pressure; and “heart rate variability”, a condition that hampers your heart’s ability to react properly, upping your risk for sudden cardiac arrest.
Hurry Up and Worry
You’re driving on a freeway and someone cuts you off, forcing you to slam on the brakes. Your passengers gasp and your heartbeat surges. This type of event is called acute stress, referring to unexpected, one time bursts of fear or excitement that trigger your body to tense up and prepare for a fight with or a flight from danger.
Relax drivers: An occasional episode of acute stress isn’t what doctors are most concerned with. Rater, it’s what’s called chronic stress – worries and concerns that last for days, months or years. Its having perpetual money troubles or being in a destructive relationship or having constant fear about losing your job or fear about losing your job or being in stop-and-go commuter traffic every day.
In a study of 3,142 men and women who were followed for 15 years, researchers at Northwestern University found that people who said they usually felt upset when they had to wait were twice as likely to develop hypertension as those who walked through life more relaxed.
Stress reduction is a billion dollar industry. But the truth is that you don’t have to spend a dime to sooth your stress.
First, eat well and exercise to bolster your immunity and burn off built up stress. When you maintain a healthy weight and overall good physical condition, you’re much better equipped to deal with daily stress.
Adopt a pet. Researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo tested 48 stock brokers already taking medication for high blood pressure in stressful situations, such as trying to calm a client who had lost $86,000 because of bad advice. Those who had pets had a systolic blood pressure rise from 120 to 126; those without a pet saw their systolic reading skyrocket from 120 to 148.
Alcohol
Multiple landmark studies show that moderate drinking lowers the risk of heart disease, heart attack and and/or cardiovascular related death by 30 to 40 per cent.
Although any drink is good, if you want the healthiest toast, red wine may be the best, according the several decades of research. At the forefront of wine’s artery clearing arsenal is a family of antioxidant compounds called polyphenols, including a flavonoid called quercitin and the compound resveratrol both of which apparently help prevent the body’s dangerous LDL cholesterol from oxidizing.
Tooth Plaque
Here’s a sobering fact to chew on. People with chronic bacterial infections of the gums are nearly twice as likely to have fatal heart attacks as those with healthy gums.
“Anything that causes low-grade inflammation, like chronic gum disease, may accelerate arteriosclerosis” says Robert Bonow, M.D., President of the American Hearty Association.
Your Health and Mine |