The past two years have witnessed a tsunami of heart attacks.
A BSF Jawan dying on duty because of heart attack, a young boy dying while playing garba, a person getting heart attack while playing badminton, many people dying with heart attack while gymming, doctors dying due to heart attack while working on their duty, young man dancing with the groom on his shoulder dies suddenly due to heart attack, a bus driver endangering the lives of all passengers because he succumbed to a heart attack while driving, a police inspector dying of heart attack while morning walk, a singer succumbed to heart attack while singing on stage.
The American Heart Association says that a healthy diet is a key to preventing and managing heart diseases. Eating a diet rich in saturated fats, trans fat and cholesterol has been linked to heart diseases.
Ayurveda says excessive amount of heavy foods, excessive amount of sour foods/drinks, more of Kashaya Rasa (astringent) is linked to heart diseases
These days it is very common to see high cholesterol, high Triglycerides in reports of people of just 30-35 years of age. I had a similar aged patient with high triglycerides. Usually, we can make out from history taking, what diet must be increasing triglycerides. But this patient kept saying he doesn’t take any of these: butter, oily food, cheese.
Now I understood he knowingly or unknowingly must be consuming high amount of palm oil. I asked him, Are you fond of maggi?
Wife said, He almost daily has it. Instant noodles contain palm oil as 20% of the entire weight of noodles. So, this was it. A simple change in the diet can keep your blood reports in good shape but you need to understand what must be causing it.
We are blessed to belong to a generation whose grandparents lived more than 80 years of their age doing household chores with all energy and vigour. Those were the years of unprocessed food, unrefined flours and oils, lot of fruits, vegetables, crop grown without chemicals, no restaurants, walk in take away food corners and lot of physical work
When it comes to your heart your diet can make all the difference. Unhealthy nutrition choices can increase the risk of heart disease
Include garlic in your diet. It lowers the bad cholesterol and is good for the heart. Meta analysis says that administration of garlic with lemon juice resulted in an improvement in lipid levels, fibrinogen and blood pressure of patients with high cholesterol levels
One such formulation I commonly use in my practice is Lasunadi vati which has both garlic and lemon juice i.e Nimbu swaras in addition to other herbs.
Dalchini and Trifala are another formulation which I advise to my patients who present with high cholesterol, high blood pressure and heart diseases.
All thanks to the laboratories who keep flooding our phones with messages of handsome blood packages. People have now become conscious about their health, and they do get these tests done. But I have seen many patients who get all tests done every year but do nothing:
No dietary changes, no medicines for high cholesterol, borderline sugars. Things won’t get resolved on their own. So, the health of your heart is in your hands. You have to take care of it. It is our collective responsibility to take care of everyone’s health. Time to go back to the ancient roots and understand what your body in general needs and what your heart in particular.
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