What I Learned About Heart Disease: A Post for "Go Red for Women" Day
Janet Ioli
Top-rated Executive Advisor, Leadership Coach & Speaker | Career Strategist for Women Leaders
According to the American Heart Association, heart disease is the number one killer of women, causing one in three deaths each year. If that is surprising to you, it was to me too. Despite my keen interest in health and wellness, heart disease always seemed like something not applicable to me. The stereotype in my mind was that it was something that happened to older men usually as a result of heredity and inactivity. It certainly not something that would pose a threat to me, I thought. So, when I would encounter articles and information about heart health, I’d brush them aside as not relevant.
Until it was more relevant than I could imagine.
In this post on "Go Red for Women Day", which is a day to raise awareness for women’s heart health, I’d like to share what I’ve learned from my own awareness journey. My hope is that it will help women who read this take preventative measures early on and focus on healthy heart habits.
I consider myself a more than average health conscious person. I have worked out regularly and maintained my target weight for decades, and am certified by the National Board of Medical Examiners as a Health & Wellness professional. I don’t eat red meat, avoid processed and fried foods, and watch my weight like a hawk.
You can imagine my surprise when early last year, my cholesterol test came with a reading of 257. My doctor was surprised too, and gave me six months to lower it or she was going to put me on a statin drug to do so. I was mildly worried, did some research, and embarked on a cholesterol lowering regime.
In the meantime—a few months later I had my annual visit to my cardiologist, whom I see for a chronic heart rhythm irregularity I was born with for precautionary, routine monitoring. As she listened to my heart and the arteries in my neck, she paused and listened more closely to my neck.
“I’m going to order a carotid artery ultrasound scan for you,” she said nonchalantly.
“Nothing to be concerned about,” she added, probably after seeing the mortified look on my face.
“I just hear a sound so I believe an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It’s probably nothing.”
I left with an order for the test and scheduled it for the following week.
The next day, her office called me back and told me that my insurance wouldn’t cover the test, and that the doctor was cancelling the order.
“It was just a precautionary measure,” the assistant reported. “There are no symptoms to worry about at this point.”
“I’ll pay for the test myself,” I assured her and asked her to keep the order.
Two weeks later, the cardiologist called me with the results. “You have 59% blockage in your right carotid artery,” she reported.
Blockage? Was she kidding? What did that mean?
“Do I have heart disease?” I asked the doctor.
“Well,” she hesitated. “You could say that.”
I was shocked.
Now that I have processed the shock, I feel fortunate. I didn’t find out about the blockage from a stroke or a heart attack, and could take preventative measures to lower my risk of a cardiac event.
Here’s what I learned from this:
1. The diet I was on was not necessarily heart healthy
For years, I was on a low-carb diet. I ate mostly fish and chicken, but avoided grains, fruit, and vegetables other than greens. I ate nuts, nut butters, olive oil, and full fat dairy. Chocolate and ice cream were my guilty pleasures. As long as it was dark chocolate, I deemed it as good for me and indulged. I would even substitute dark chocolate and ice cream for dinner when I had a particularly strong craving. Chocolate buttercream was in the mix too. I counted calories, of course, and my weight was always steady. What I didn’t focus on at all was the fat content in my food—and particularly the saturated fat. I had no idea that the percentage of fat I was eating was a large portion of my daily diet. While high-fat diets are all the rage, I consider the high fat diet, along with hormonal changes, the reason for my cholesterol spike and resulting blockage.
2. Heart Disease can be lurking with no symptoms: regular tests are critical
If I had not gone to the cardiologist for a different reason, I would have never known about the blockage in my artery. Without that knowledge, I may not have taken any action to prevent future damage. Taking charge of our own health, including our heart health, means being proactive about asking for testing and monitoring.
3. Lifestyle factors are not optional things to do to lose weight—they are essential for maintaining overall and heart health
We all read about the person who exercises every day and eats a plant-based diet as a result of a heart attack wake-up call. Until it happens to us, we don’t always summon the motivation to make common-sense lifestyle changes. We play a game of roulette, assuming that heart disease and other diseases happen to other people, and not to us. We brush it off to heredity when it does happen to others—and assume our genes are fine and will protect us.
Heart disease is a killer. It is not something that happens to someone when they are “old”. Progression and death is preventable, even when heredity is not in one’s favor. And it is not just caused by your genes. Lifestyle choices every single day influence our overall health—and certainly our heart health. A diet low in saturated fat, processed and fried foods, and sugar is essential. So is the management of stress, regular exercise, and meaningful connections with people.
On my end, I am happy to report that I lowered my cholesterol from 257 to 165 in six months without the use of drugs, just by adjusting the fat content in my diet.
I urge you to do some research on heart health and take charge of your own destiny—even if you don’t think it will happen to you.
The sobering statistics show that chances are that it can.
Resources:
Dr. Joel Kahn—a cardiologist to follow on Youtube or LinkedIn, book “Dead Execs Don’t Get Bonuses”