_Heart failure caused by damage to the heart that has developed over time can’t be cured. But it can be treated, quite often with strategies to improve symptoms.
Successful treatment depends on your willingness to get involved in managing this condition, whether you’re the patient or a caregiver.
With heart disease the number one killer of both men and women in this country, you would think a cure that could dramatically reduce these deaths would be big news. And yet the most effective remedy is so simple that most people can’t seem to believe it works.
Risk factors for heart disease
A number of factors are associated with the build-up of fatty deposits in the coronary arteries, including cigarette smoking, lack of physical activity and a family history of the disease.
Other risk factors include:
Most of us consume more than ten times the amount of salt we need to meet our sodium requirements (salt contains sodium and chloride). However, there is evidence that plant foods – especially wholegrain cereals, legumes, nuts, fruits and vegetables – may decrease the risk of heart disease.
Here are top foods for the heart. But this list is only a beginning. A truly healthy diet features a broad range of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes—not a select few:
Oranges
Rx Effect: Reduce blood pressure, cholesterol, and heart failure
The Evidence: Oranges contain a pharmacy’s worth of salves for the heart. The soluble fiber pectin acts like a giant sponge, sopping up cholesterol in food and blocking its absorption—just like a class of drugs known as bile acid sequestrants. And the potassium in oranges helps counterbalance salt, keeping blood pressure under control. But new research shows something even more startling: Citrus pectin helps neutralize a protein called galectin-3 that causes scarring of heart tissue, leading to congestive heart failure—a condition that is often difficult to treat with drugs. “Twenty percent of Americans over 50 have high galectin-3,” says Pieter Muntendam, MD, CEO of BG Medicine in Waltham, MA. “A 2009 study showed that a diet high in fruits and vegetables decreased the risk of heart failure by 37%.
Kale
Rx Effect: Prevents atherosclerosis
The Evidence: Your mom was right: You need to consume your dark leafy greens. “Kale has everything you would want in a superfood,” says Joel Fuhrman, MD, the author of the bestseller Eat to Live, who uses diet and exercise to help patients reverse their cardiovascular disease. For starters, kale boasts a bumper crop of heart-healthy antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, folate, potassium, and vitamin E. It’s also rich in lutein, which correlated in the Los Angeles Atherosclerosis Study with protection against early atherosclerosis. Kale even contains an unusual compound, glucoraphanin, that activates a special protective protein called Nrf2. “It creates a sort of Teflon coating in your arteries to keep plaque from adhering,” says Dr. Fuhrman.
Go for whole grains
Refined or processed foods are lower in fiber content, so make whole grains an integral part of your diet. There are many simple ways to add whole grains to your meals.
Breakfast better. For breakfast choose a high-fiber breakfast cereal—one with five or more grams of fiber per serving. Or add a few tablespoons of unprocessed wheat bran to your favorite cereal.
Try a new grain. Experiment with brown rice, wild rice, barley, whole-wheat pasta, and bulgur. These alternatives are higher in fiber than their more mainstream counterparts—and you may find you love their tastes.
Bulk up your baking. Substitute whole-grain flour for half or all of the white flour, since whole-grain flour is heavier than white flour. In yeast breads, use a bit more yeast or let the dough rise longer. Try adding crushed bran cereal or unprocessed wheat bran to muffins, cakes, and cookies.
Add flaxseed that is high in fiber and omega-3 fatty acids, which can lower your total blood cholesterol. Add ground flaxseed to yogurt, applesauce, or cereal.
Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables
Most fruits and vegetables are low in calories and high in fiber, making them heart healthy.
Keep fruit and vegetables at your fingertips. Wash and cut fruit and veggies and put them in your refrigerator for quick and healthy snacks. Choose recipes that feature these high-fiber ingredients, like veggie stir-fries or fruit salad.
Incorporate veggies into your cooking. Add pre-cut fresh or frozen vegetables to soups and sauces. For example, mix chopped frozen broccoli into prepared spaghetti sauce or toss fresh baby carrots into stews.
Don’t leave out the legumes. Add kidney beans, peas, or lentils to soups or black beans to a green salad.
Make snacks count. Fresh and dried fruit, raw vegetables, and whole-grain crackers are all good ways to add fiber at snack time. An occasional handful of nuts is also a healthy, high-fiber snack
Limit unhealthy fats
Limiting how much saturated and trans fats you eat is an important step to reduce your blood cholesterol and lower your risk of coronary artery disease. A high blood cholesterol level can lead to a buildup of plaques in your arteries, called atherosclerosis, which can increase your risk of heart attack and stroke.The best way to reduce saturated and trans fats in your diet is to limit the amount of solid fats — butter, margarine and shortening — you add to food when cooking and serving. You can also reduce the amount of saturated fat in your diet by trimming fat off your meat or choosing lean meats with less than 10 percent fat.
Alcohol
It is thought that a moderate intake of alcohol may have some potential health benefits. For example, some types of alcohol (such as red wine) may contain protective factors like antioxidants, although this is still being researched. Alcohol also increases the HDL (‘good’) cholesterol and this helps clear cholesterol from the body. However, a high intake of alcohol increases blood pressure and also tends to increase triglycerides (a type of fat) in the blood, increasing the risk of heart disease. Current guidelines for alcohol intake in Australia recommend no more than two standard drinks per day for men and one for women to reduce the risks of harm related to alcohol.
Garlic – a compound in fresh garlic called allicin has been found in some studies to lower blood cholesterol
If you think you are facing any serious challenge or problem while following these tips, consult a doctor. Shushrusha hospital is the best health care centre in Nerul it have the most experienced doctors, they are proficient, fluent and are flexible as well. So don’t let your heart suffer in any case. Let the Shushrusha hospital treat you best with their best doctors and facilities.
Successful treatment depends on your willingness to get involved in managing this condition, whether you’re the patient or a caregiver.
With heart disease the number one killer of both men and women in this country, you would think a cure that could dramatically reduce these deaths would be big news. And yet the most effective remedy is so simple that most people can’t seem to believe it works.
Risk factors for heart disease
A number of factors are associated with the build-up of fatty deposits in the coronary arteries, including cigarette smoking, lack of physical activity and a family history of the disease.
Other risk factors include:
- Type of fat eaten – saturated and trans fats increase blood cholesterol and heart attack rates. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats lower the risk of heart attacks.
- Obesity – many overweight and obese people have diets high in fat, particularly saturated fat. A person who carries the bulk of their body fat around their stomach (an ‘apple’ shaped body) is at greater risk of heart disease than someone whose body fat tends to settle around their bottom, hips and thighs (a ‘pear’ shaped body).
- High blood pressure (hypertension) – blood pressure is the amount of pressure within the arteries (blood vessels that carry blood around the body). High blood pressure, or hypertension, means that the pressure in the arteries is higher than normal. This may be because the arteries are less elastic, there is more blood volume, or more blood is being pumped out of the heart.
Most of us consume more than ten times the amount of salt we need to meet our sodium requirements (salt contains sodium and chloride). However, there is evidence that plant foods – especially wholegrain cereals, legumes, nuts, fruits and vegetables – may decrease the risk of heart disease.
Here are top foods for the heart. But this list is only a beginning. A truly healthy diet features a broad range of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes—not a select few:
Oranges
Rx Effect: Reduce blood pressure, cholesterol, and heart failure
The Evidence: Oranges contain a pharmacy’s worth of salves for the heart. The soluble fiber pectin acts like a giant sponge, sopping up cholesterol in food and blocking its absorption—just like a class of drugs known as bile acid sequestrants. And the potassium in oranges helps counterbalance salt, keeping blood pressure under control. But new research shows something even more startling: Citrus pectin helps neutralize a protein called galectin-3 that causes scarring of heart tissue, leading to congestive heart failure—a condition that is often difficult to treat with drugs. “Twenty percent of Americans over 50 have high galectin-3,” says Pieter Muntendam, MD, CEO of BG Medicine in Waltham, MA. “A 2009 study showed that a diet high in fruits and vegetables decreased the risk of heart failure by 37%.
Kale
Rx Effect: Prevents atherosclerosis
The Evidence: Your mom was right: You need to consume your dark leafy greens. “Kale has everything you would want in a superfood,” says Joel Fuhrman, MD, the author of the bestseller Eat to Live, who uses diet and exercise to help patients reverse their cardiovascular disease. For starters, kale boasts a bumper crop of heart-healthy antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, folate, potassium, and vitamin E. It’s also rich in lutein, which correlated in the Los Angeles Atherosclerosis Study with protection against early atherosclerosis. Kale even contains an unusual compound, glucoraphanin, that activates a special protective protein called Nrf2. “It creates a sort of Teflon coating in your arteries to keep plaque from adhering,” says Dr. Fuhrman.
Go for whole grains
Refined or processed foods are lower in fiber content, so make whole grains an integral part of your diet. There are many simple ways to add whole grains to your meals.
Breakfast better. For breakfast choose a high-fiber breakfast cereal—one with five or more grams of fiber per serving. Or add a few tablespoons of unprocessed wheat bran to your favorite cereal.
Try a new grain. Experiment with brown rice, wild rice, barley, whole-wheat pasta, and bulgur. These alternatives are higher in fiber than their more mainstream counterparts—and you may find you love their tastes.
Bulk up your baking. Substitute whole-grain flour for half or all of the white flour, since whole-grain flour is heavier than white flour. In yeast breads, use a bit more yeast or let the dough rise longer. Try adding crushed bran cereal or unprocessed wheat bran to muffins, cakes, and cookies.
Add flaxseed that is high in fiber and omega-3 fatty acids, which can lower your total blood cholesterol. Add ground flaxseed to yogurt, applesauce, or cereal.
Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables
Most fruits and vegetables are low in calories and high in fiber, making them heart healthy.
Keep fruit and vegetables at your fingertips. Wash and cut fruit and veggies and put them in your refrigerator for quick and healthy snacks. Choose recipes that feature these high-fiber ingredients, like veggie stir-fries or fruit salad.
Incorporate veggies into your cooking. Add pre-cut fresh or frozen vegetables to soups and sauces. For example, mix chopped frozen broccoli into prepared spaghetti sauce or toss fresh baby carrots into stews.
Don’t leave out the legumes. Add kidney beans, peas, or lentils to soups or black beans to a green salad.
Make snacks count. Fresh and dried fruit, raw vegetables, and whole-grain crackers are all good ways to add fiber at snack time. An occasional handful of nuts is also a healthy, high-fiber snack
Limit unhealthy fats
Limiting how much saturated and trans fats you eat is an important step to reduce your blood cholesterol and lower your risk of coronary artery disease. A high blood cholesterol level can lead to a buildup of plaques in your arteries, called atherosclerosis, which can increase your risk of heart attack and stroke.The best way to reduce saturated and trans fats in your diet is to limit the amount of solid fats — butter, margarine and shortening — you add to food when cooking and serving. You can also reduce the amount of saturated fat in your diet by trimming fat off your meat or choosing lean meats with less than 10 percent fat.
Alcohol
It is thought that a moderate intake of alcohol may have some potential health benefits. For example, some types of alcohol (such as red wine) may contain protective factors like antioxidants, although this is still being researched. Alcohol also increases the HDL (‘good’) cholesterol and this helps clear cholesterol from the body. However, a high intake of alcohol increases blood pressure and also tends to increase triglycerides (a type of fat) in the blood, increasing the risk of heart disease. Current guidelines for alcohol intake in Australia recommend no more than two standard drinks per day for men and one for women to reduce the risks of harm related to alcohol.
Garlic – a compound in fresh garlic called allicin has been found in some studies to lower blood cholesterol
If you think you are facing any serious challenge or problem while following these tips, consult a doctor. Shushrusha hospital is the best health care centre in Nerul it have the most experienced doctors, they are proficient, fluent and are flexible as well. So don’t let your heart suffer in any case. Let the Shushrusha hospital treat you best with their best doctors and facilities.