PULSE Magazine | February 2019 Issue

Naveed Saleh, MD, MS, for MDLinx |

HOW TO HIT RESET FOR HEART HEALTH after years of unhealthy living

Is it too late to change your unhealthy lifestyle? Maybe you’ve eaten one too many hamburgers or made it a daily habit to buy salty chips from the vending machine. Maybe you’ve purchased a gym membership only to stop going after a month. Poor food and exercise choices over prolonged periods of time may lead to severe health consequences. But does that mean it’s too late to change? Can a history of inactivity and unhealthy eating be reversed? More specifically, can the damage done to your coronary arteries in the form of atherosclerosis be undone?

Can switching to a healthier lifestyle reverse a lifetime of bad diet and inactivity? It’s worth a try.

It turns out that successfully countering years of poor lifestyle choices and plaque buildup is complicated and requires plenty of elbow grease, but it’s not impossible.

Plaque According to the most recent report from the American Heart Association (AHA), nearly half of American adults suffer from some form of cardiovascular disease, and the number of related deaths in the US is on the rise, although it continues to drop globally.

Plaque buildup in the coronary arteries increases the risk of heart disease. Plaques can be shrunk and stabilized through intervention, but they can never be zapped out of existence.

Results from some studies indicate that intense lifestyle changes may shrink plaques. But a more realistic goal is to halt the progression of the plaque to decrease risk of heart attack and stroke. Preventive strategies have been linked to an 80% risk reduction in heart disease. Statins, such as lovastatin and pravastatin, play the most important role in fighting plaques. These medications lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels, and LDLs are what deposit cholesterol into blood vessel walls. Diet Changing your diet at any age to mitigate the risk of heart disease requires real dedication. The number one recommendation from the AHA is to lose weight and then maintain a healthy body weight. Here are some recommended steps to take to do so, per the AHA:

  

Eat plenty of fruits and veggies.

Eat fish twice a week.

Eat whole-grain, high-fiber foods.

 Decrease saturated fat intake to less than 7% of calorie intake.  Decrease trans fat to less than 1% of calorie intake.  Decrease cholesterol to less than 300 mg/d per day.  Balance calorie intake with exercise.  Switch to lean meats and low-fat or fat-free dairy.  Minimize the consumption of hydrogenated fats.  Minimize the consumption of foods with added sugar.  Prepare food with little or no salt.  Drink alcohol only in moderation.

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