It's never too late: basic lifestyle changes you can make today for a healthier heart

Better Nutrition, Feb, 2005 by Jennifer LeClaire

Janet Tapp was a certified member of the "clean your plate club." Her parents wouldn't tolerate food waste, what with nine mouths to feed three times a day. But that 18-year club membership left the Canadian native grossly obese by her teenage years.

Even after she'd had a heart attack and a stroke by age 35, the 200-pound Tapp, who lives in Ontario, Canada, didn't take the hint. She continued her membership in the "clean your plate club," with a side order of prescription heart and blood medications, for another 7 years. She tipped the scales at 216 by the time she had her second stroke last summer. That's when her doctor gave her an ultimatum: Start eating right, or prepare for an early death.

"I had lost total contact with healthy living," admits Tapp, who now weighs in at a slender 135 pounds after making dramatic lifestyle changes. "I was eating garbage and plenty of it. I was allergic to exercise."

Risky Business

Tapp's not the only one at risk. Heart disease and stroke are the first and third leading causes of death, respectively, for women, according to the American Heart Association (AHA). They represent just two of the many cardiovascular diseases that kill nearly 500,000 women each year. And men aren't immune, either, despite the fact that heart attacks are declining in the male population.

That's what Bob Darby found out--the hard way. He and his wife both are good ol' Southern home cooking for 50 years. But he was the one that ended up in the hospital having heart surgery to open up his clogged arteries.

"I thought I had to eat meat twice a day," said the retired pastor, whose home is in Tallapoosa, Georgia. "I never drank water; only tea and coffee. I never are raw foods. We just flied everything to death."

Healthful Lifestyles

What do Tapp and Darby have in common? Both of these heart attack survivors have adopted more natural lifestyles that incorporate diet, exercise, supplements and stress management techniques. Both have taken charge of their health. And both are living examples of how to turn a near tragedy into a magnificent triumph. Tapp and Darby overcame their respective struggles with practical wisdom that began with portion sizes and food elimination.

Tapp uses a small bread plate instead of a dinner plate at home so she isn't compelled to overeat by an imaginary parental voice that demands, "Clean your plate!" "When I go out to dinner, I ask the waiter to bring me only half the normal portion so it's not on my plate," she says. "I still have a real problem not eating what's on my plate, even if I am flail."

For his part, Darby traded the biscuits and gravy for wraps and applesauce. He eats his heaviest meal midday and only eats a small portion of meat twice a week instead of a large portion twice a day. Fried foods have gone by the wayside. "I can still remember how good Southern cooking used to taste," he says. "I've had to reeducate my taste buds because the healthy food didn't taste good at first. But now I love baked sweet potatoes and oatmeal with flesh strawberries, and I don't yearn for flied chicken anymore."

Both of them also take exercise seriously. Tapp has a daily stretching routine, including Pilates and yoga, and hits the Nautilus machines an hour a day. And the 68-year-old Darby walks almost 4 miles a day and sometimes even sprints a la his college football days. Both report that exercise reduces stress and gives them energy, and both take daily multivitamins. Neither takes heart or cholesterol medicine anymore.

"My whole outlook has been changed," Tapps says. "I have reason to get up in the morning. It's worth it to live a nutritious life."

Reexamining Deadline Diet Patterns

Could that "to die for" dessert be killing you? Experts agree that poor nutrition is a major factor in heart health

Consider the statistics: Cardiovascular disease kills more people every year than cancer, accidents, chronic lower respiratory diseases, diabetes, influenza and pneumonia combined. Every 29 seconds, an American will suffer a coronary event, according to the American Heart Association, and every minute someone will die from one. And if you have already had a heart attack, then the risk of having a second one becomes even greater.

That's why doctors are urging heart attack survivors--or anyone with a beating heart for that matter--to reexamine diet and exercise patterns that could either lead to a long and prosperous life or a premature death.

"If you have a heart attack, it's time to clean up your act," says Pare Popper. PhD, ND, a naturopath, nutritionist and executive director of The Wellness Forum, a chain of licensed health and wellness centers. "It's time to take a giant leap to the other side of nutrition."

While the causes of heart attacks differ (some are caused by too much fat, others by too many carbohydrates), doctors suggest survivors should adopt a plant-based diet where animal protein becomes a condiment as opposed to the main course, where low-fat and high-fiber foods are the hallmarks, and where water replaces caffeinated, sugary beverages. Doctors also advocate cardiovascular exercise five days a week for at least 45 minutes a day and stress management techniques such as talking things out, adopting proper posture, which increases oxygen flow, and getting plenty of rest.