Heart attack - how not to 'get bitten' again… or at all

Heart disease is No.1 killer illness in the world, despite being preventable in over 80% of cases.? The good news is that you can still do something about it, even when you’ve already got it.

So, if you are a coronary artery disease (CAD) patient or your loved one is, I want you to take one thing from this article:

Predisposition for CAD is not predestination for early death, our healthstyle on the other hand...

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It’s not a predestination

I know you are anxious, maybe even “frozen” after the recent events in your life when you faced the loss of your health.? And it’s irrelevant whether it was “just” a high CAC score, preventive stent placement, or a heart attack.? Each of those hits us hard, particularly if we didn’t do anything to “deserve it”.? But the good news is, that the diagnosis doesn’t have to hold you back – you can reclaim the best of your life.

When I was a (relatively) young new father, my barely-older-than-me cousin died of a heart attack, falling out of an open window of his fourth-floor apartment in Stockholm, where he enjoyed sitting and reading.

That was my call to action.? Knowing that we have the heart disease in our family history I made my first lipid panels, glucose and blood pressure check and they were all out of whack.? I was forty, overweight and my beloved daughter was only three years old, so I had a good reason to live.

Over the years I went through dozens of books and hundreds of articles on healthful lifestyle.? I made numerous mini lifestyle-related experiments and adjustments to improve my labs and lower my own heart attack risk. ?

Today my daughter is twenty-three and I, being sixty, am in a better shape and have better heart health indicators then when I was forty. ?My recently made CT coronary artery angiography scan shows that despite my genetic predisposition my coronary arteries are clear.

I successfully reversed my predisposition and you can do it too.

So again, remember...

Your predisposition is not predestination

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Imagine

Imagine, if within less than three months you regain control of your health, set a new direction for yourself, make first steps on this new journey, and begin feeling better, as well as seeing better lab results…

Imagine…

Obtaining a framework that allows you to calmly process the new reality and devise an action plan, that your doctor can’t provide due to the reality of time restriction;

Finding and maintaining motivation to work on your heart health goals;

Changing behaviour in the areas in which you had limited success;

Decreasing likelihood of another emergency room admission;

Achieving significant reduction of specific health risks;

Lowering the severity level of your condition;

Making the change sustainable;

Increasing healthspan;

Feeling younger;

Living.

:)

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All this is possible and with you being in the driver’s seat.? You gradually replace unhealthy habits with healthful ones.? You begin nourishing your body instead of just eating.? You choose movement that suits you instead of sitting.? And, believe me, you do it with pleasure.? Really.

With all that, your body gets a chance to reverse some of the plaque growth, your doctor lowers and eventually removes most of the drugs.? And you continue a healthier, happier life.

Is there an alternative to this change?? Of course, there is one.? However, I would like you to make this choice consciously, not as a default, so please spend a few minutes jotting down your personal list entitled Costs of my inaction.?

Potentially unpleasant?? Certainly, but don’t skip it, particularly that this version of your future is avoidable.? Or for those who are detail-oriented, you can increase the probability of avoiding it.

How does your alternative future look like?? The one, where you change nothing and just hope for the best.? How do you feel five or ten years down the road?? How different is your daily life?? What are the side effects of the drugs you still have to take?? Can you continue your career?? If not, did your financial situation take a hit?? What does your life and the life of your loved ones look like in a few years, if you do nothing, if you just continue your downhill slide…

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So, what can be done?

The difference between the patients who know what they need to do and those who actually do it is often a presence of a competent ally, a guide and accountability partner.? Why?? Because habit change is hard, habits are deeply rooted and change has its specific challenges.? And that’s where a qualified health coach comes in.? He coaches you, your perspective and mindset shift, you do your work and change happens. Is it worth this effort?

Well, research shows that:

“The best results are achieved in [heart attack] and [stent placement or bypass] patients when medication therapy is accompanied by cardiac rehabilitation program and therapeutic lifestyle change via health coaching.

They are equal, independent and additive in their effect.”

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On top of my own experience in lifestyle change, and five years of working with stressed-out executives on their behavioural health improvement I completed the challenging Mayo Clinic coaching certification programme and became a specialist in habit change.

I chose Mayo Clinic, because already back then I knew I eventually wanted to focus my coaching practice on helping heart attack and stents patients. Helping them gradually eliminate the lifestyle-related root causes of their atherosclerosis, the same (successful) way I did with mine.

I tested Mayo’s science-based techniques on myself first, for my “last frontier” healthstyle improvements I had difficulty with, and now I help others with replacing unhealthy habits with healthful ones, bridging the clients’ knowing-doing gap in a manner that is sustainable in the long run.

I am not a cardiologist but, as you now know, I chose this speciality for personal reasons, ones that continue to drive me to grow my knowledge of this illness and its reversal, to be able to fully relate to your experience.

And if you come with a condition twist I am not familiar with, I will put the additional time (at no expense to you) to get versed in your health challenge.? The time I spend on-line with you is roughly 1/3 of all the time I put in our alliance, as like a top sport coach I rewatch our recorded conversations, working for you, while you work on your goals.

I can guarantee that I will outwork any coach you might have tried before, because I love my specialty and feel daily the benefits of sustainable healthstyle change.

However, there are two of us in this potential alliance and as the old adage goes: “People do not resist change, but resist being changed”.? It can be done with you, but can’t be done against you or even for you.

If your cardiologist gave you a lifestyle change “prescription” and you have hard time implementing it (don’t despair, 80% of people do), then health coaching with me may be for you.

If you sense that it may be for you, but still have doubts, take the word of one of my clients who, kindly put it this way:

“If you want to make a change but need someone to help shine a light on your path, then reach out to Jacek – your body and mind will thank you.” -- Vanessa B. an international executive who retired earlier to take care of her health

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My cousin’s death was my call to action.? Your life gave you yours in the form of a cardiac event.? Remember that your diagnosis is not a death sentence and because of your genetics and current habits you are not predestined to die early.

Send me a private message, if you want to learn how, within three months, we can kickstart your disease reversal, to help you live longer, feeling younger.

Jacek Witak (MSc),

The Heart Health Coach

Mayo Clinic Certified Coach

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P.S. You are a CAD patient, but are not ready for a nearly 3-month-long commitment? DM me to get on the limited 8-spot waitlist for the very brief Heart Health Jumpstart, which I will be beta testing shortly.

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