Friday, March 18, 2011

Lifestyle, diet changes help heart patients recover



By Tessa Salazar
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 19:53:00 03/04/2011

Filed Under: Health, Food, Diseases, Lifestyle & Leisure
RONALD ALLAN Jumamil, garments businessman and choreographer, suffered a heart attack in September last year at the age of 40. At the Philippine Heart Center, he was given two choices: go for angioplasty or a heart bypass. He chose the first.

Jumamil, who has been diabetic for eight years, has also had three stents and is now taking 10 drugs a day, on top of his insulin shots (the shots alone cost P30,000 a month). Another latest finding troubles him: An enlarged pancreas and hemolytic anemia.

Jumamil has been attending the CHIP (Coronary Health Improvement Project) for a few weeks, and the initial result has given him a glimmer of hope. His insulin level is down by 50 percent. “I am no longer depressed and I have been sleeping soundly. I’m feeling optimistic,” he said.

“My goal is to eventually drop all my medications as I am terrified by the side effects of long-term use,” he added.


Diet change

Lemuel Escamos, 53, thought he was in control of his health. And for good reason. This community health educator in Masbate, Cebu and Bohol, practiced what he preached: he was athletic, and made himself a living example of the community’s healthy lifestyle programs. Since 2000, he stopped eating meat, beef and chicken.

One could imagine Escamos’ surprise—and disappointment —when he was diagnosed with an ischemic heart disease in 2009. Also called coronary artery disease, cardiac ischemia is a condition characterized by narrowed heart arteries, causing restricted blood flow to the heart.

Escamos then decided to restrict his diet further, eliminating the fish, eggs and milk from his diet and concentrating solely on a 100-percent plant-based diet of beans, grains, brown rice, vegetables and fresh fruits. He also stopped eating white bread and sautéed his cooked food only with water. He stopped using cooking oil altogether and poured only extra virgin olive oil after the food had been cooked.

Escamos said that after just five days on this diet, histriglyceride level went back to normal, and after three months, he had a medical checkup and was cleared of his disease.
I
n retrospect, Escamos said he was glad he discovered his disease just in time. “You can carry heart disease for years, and there may not be any symptoms, not until (your heart) is 80 percent blocked would you feel anything,” he said.


Healthy heart

Nutritionist-dietician Blecenda Varona, RND, MPH, described the heart conditions of two of her patients (married to each other, and whose names have been withheld upon request) enrolled in her NeedHealth seminar.

This couple, Varona described, has had a healthy marital relationship and are loving parents. The problem was, before enrolling with NeedHealth, they were candidates for heart disease and stroke. The husband is 59 years old whose total cholesterol countwas 261 mg/dL, with an LDL (bad cholesterol) count of 165.6; ratio of TC/HDL at 4.02 and triglyceride of 152. After a month of changing lifestyle and diet as recommended by Varona, the new results were: 170 (total cholesterol), LDL down to 112.2, TC/HDL ratio of 3.78 and triglyceride at 64.

The wife, 61, showed a total cholesterol count of 264, with an LDL of 168.8, TC/HDL ratio of 3.94, triglyceride at 171 and weight of 155 lb. A month after the program, her total cholesterol dropped to 129, LDL at 80.6, TC/HDL ratio at 3.69, triglyceride at 67 and her weight at 147 lb.

Varona explained that the target blood chemistry should be lower than the usual normal ranges stated in the laboratories. “We advise an individual’s goals should be: total cholesterol of 150 or below; LDLcholesterol under 90; Triglyceride under 150; and ideal total cholesterol/HDL ratio at 4.0 or less.”

A free seminar (with cooking demo and lectures on Making Healthy Endothelium to reverse and prevent heart disease) will be held on March 13 at the Pasay Adventist Church Side Building, 2059 Donada St., Pasay City, near Gil Puyat Station LRT. Inquire at 0927-4281221.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer

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