80% of premature heart disease and stroke IS PREVENTABLE.
Who suffers from CVD?
Anyone can suffer from CVD if they don't look after themselves. The World Health Organization states:
"Research has shown that males between 20 and 64 years of age in semi- and unskilled manual occupations run a three times higher risk of premature death from CVD compared to those in professional and managerial positions. Moreover, when improvements to health do occur, the benefits are unevenly distributed within society. These conditions and their causes contribute to differences in healthy life expectancy between and within European countries."Other contributing factors are; stress is associated with CVDs, and the prevalence of depression is a predictor of poor life expectancy among those suffering from CVDs.
Diet: a high intake of salt leads to hypertension, junk food and other processed foods which are also high in sodium.
Being overweight or obese. Obese adults are particularly prone to CVD and other health problems. Inactivity, smoking, and alcohol all contribute to CVDs.
Most patients living with a heart condition... angina, blocked arteries or even having suffered a heart attack or stroke already are nearly always prescribed statins, which reduce the levels of cholesterol, and are proven to save lives.
This type of medication cuts the chance of early death among people with CVD by 18%, according to a report involving 200,000 patients in 2013.
However, at the European Society of Cardiology Conference being held this week in Rome, leading experts have stated that there is a new treatment that is NATURAL and should be prescribed by doctors BEFORE turning to pills to treat CVD.
This "new" and natural treatment is none other than the Mediterranean Diet. A diet packed full of fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts, seeds and legumes, oily fish, sea food, healthy fats such as avocados and olive oil and some meat. What it's lacking is refined carbohydrates and processed foods.
We already know that the mediterranean diet protects healthy people from developing serious diseases such as CVD, diabetes and cancer, but this new study is supported with the strongest evidence to date that a diet could also be a powerful treatment for people who already suffer from CVD.
The experts think that the diet has such good results on heart patients because it is high in heart healthy fats that protect the heart, such as omega-3 fatty acids and monounsaturated fatty acids.
An Italian team examined the diet of almost 1,200 heart patients and tracked them for a period of seven years. In that time 208 died. After taking into account other contributing factors such as diabetes, smoking, cholesterol levels and age, they found that the patients who followed the mediterranean diet more closely, were 37% less likely to die during the study period than those whose eating habits were the farthest from the Mediterranean diet.
This does not mean that if you are on heart medication you should stop taking it without speaking to your doctor.
What it does mean, is that if you change your diet to a more Mediterranean style diet, then you could significantly improve your life expectancy.
Also, if you are healthy and aren't suffering from a serious illness, then your risk of developing one would be lower if you were to change your diet.
So, get Mediterranean!!!!
I can help you improve your health. If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com
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