heart disease

Do you need stents if we see clogs in the heart?

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Do we need stents if we see clogs in our hearts? Not always. In the setting of the ACUTE HEART attack, you will need an urgent treatment which requires a stent often. But in those people with stable symptoms, non-emergent, you don’t necessarily need a stent. It depends.

First, many plaques can be treated with aggressive medical and lifestyle therapy. We only consider stents when you have failed optimal medical therapy in a person with stable symptoms. Many people can be managed with medications and don’t need stents. Remember, stents do not make you live longer; they only make you feel better. If you have no symptoms, then why do you need a stent? If you have symptoms, such as chest pain or angina, lifestyle changes and medication are FIRST LINE. Stents should only be considered when people have symptoms despite optimal medical therapy and lifestyle changes or the symptoms become unstable. Just because you have a clog, doesn’t mean you need a stent.

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What is a Plaque?

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Do you know what the word heart plaque means? The job of blood vessels is to expand and constrict, depending on whether you need more or less blood to your organs.
If you have risk factors, your soft blood vessels can get damaged. Your body creates a band aid over the damaged area. Then cholesterol connects to the band aid and plaque is formed. This is the start of heart disease.

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What is a Coronary Artery?

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Have you ever heard of coronary arteries? When we are talking about coronary arteries, we are thinking about heart attacks, clogs or stents in the heart. The coronary arteries sit on the heart and provides blood flow to the heart. If you don’t get good blood flow, then the heart can die in the area causing a heart attack.

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What are Heart Palpitations?

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Do you get flutters in your chest that you worry about? Palpitations are extra heart beats that people feel occasionally. Many people have them when they drink alcohol or caffeine. They can also be associated with stress, dehydration and illness. If you have frequent symptoms, you should see your physician.

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What is Heart Disease?

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Does the term heart disease confuse you? Heart disease is an umbrella term for many heart conditions. But classically, heart disease refers to when arteries in the heart get clogged.

Heart Disease Solutions Workshop

Combining lifestyle and medical solutions through a holistic approach you’ll gain the tools you need in the fight against heart disease.

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Women Vs Inflammation Online Event

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Have you all heard about Jane Esselstyn’s annual event? This year the focus is: Women vs. Inflammation: Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease and Inflammation. Jane does a great event each March and I have been privileged to be part of several of them. This was will be a virtual event. I will be speaking about inflammation and heart disease, one of my favorite topics. The best part of the event is the love, joy and fun that you will feel after this day. It really is fabulous and you will finish the day feeling full. I always feel great when I spend the day with them. Click here to register.

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I can eat McDonald’s today. I am still young.

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Heart disease is the number one killer of men and women. In fact, heart disease will kill more women than men. While we are getting better at decreasing heart disease deaths with improved medical care, prevention is the key to the improvements.

People often believe that they can eat whatever they want when they are young because heart disease is not something they have to worry about. NOT TRUE. Heart disease is not a disease of the elderly. It is a spectrum disease that starts in the young. If you look at Korean and Vietnam war soldiers autopsies, there were notable fatty streaks and cholesterol plaque in their heart arteries.

A study was done in JAMA in 1999 that looked at 2876 autopsies of men and women, ages 15-34, who died of external causes. Plaque was noted in ALL of the aortas (pipe that exists the heart and gives the body blood). More than 1/2 of the right coronary arteries (arteries that give blood to the heart so it can pump) in the 15-19 year old age group had plaque and more as the group aged. Fatty streaks were more notable in the black patients, than the white patients.

This is a compelling picture that shows the plaque in the heart arteries. The darker the colors, the more the plaque. Notice the plaque in the youngest group.

What you eat matters. What you feed your children matters. If you think you can feed your children McDonald’s or eat it yourself, think again. You likely already have plaque in your heart arteries. What can you do to change this? Change your diet, decrease the triggers for plaque and prevent inflammation. A moment on the lips, truly is a lifetime in the body.

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Without meat and eggs, no protein?

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People ask me all the time about how I get my protein without eggs, meat and cheese. I just had this question today in clinic. In America, we are fixated with our protein sources. There is plenty of protein in beans and lentils that I promise you. You do not need animal products to get energy. You will actually find that without the animal products, you will likely feel lighter. I find that it is sugars and processed foods that make most people low in energy. It creates the ups and downs in sugar levels that lead that to that post lunch drowsiness. I dont get that!

Meat and eggs have been shown to go into the gut where the gut produces TMAO. This is a substance that has been shown to increase plaque in the heart arteries and increase bad heart outcomes. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1109400

Some of the best athletes in the world don’t eat meat, dairy or eggs. I am the strongest I have ever been without these things!

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