The Beat Goes On – American Heart Health Month

February 2, 2015

I hear it all the time. Thank goodness February is short. It’s the most unpopular month. It’s dark and cold, snowy and grey. There’s nothing special about this beleaguered month (except for this year because it’s Leap Year).

Sure it’s cold and snowy in most places and by the end of the month, we are all longing for spring, but February has a cool factor as well. Maybe because it’s short; maybe because it’s dark, sometimes we forget that in February we celebrate very precious things including Black History Month and love…Valentine’s Day.

Most important to me, we celebrate the heart…your heart; my heart…our hearts…you know, the real heart. Since 1963, we have tried to get Americans on board to keep their hearts healthy with diet and lifestyle.

Since 1963…

A bit of history…before 1900, very few people died of heart disease. Since then, it has become the leader killer of both men and women.
 
Simply stated, the age of technology has made life easier and us more prone to heart disease. Before the Industrial Revolution, most people made their living through some sort of manual labor and were active throughout their days. Walking was the major means of transportation. Laundry was scrubbed and wrung by hand. Stairs were climbed; houses swept and cleaned manually and even butter (that artery-clogging fat) was hand-churned. We were always moving.
 
Then came automation. Our lives became less strenuous. Most manual labor was either replaced or at the very least, assisted by machinery. Cars, washing machines, elevators, and vacuum cleaners became commonplace. Modern conveniences made physical exertion less essential.
 
Now, I’m not suggesting we ditch our Dysons or abandon our Maytags. But when life got easier, we became less active and by extension, less fit.
 
Along with lifestyle changes came diet changes. Machines were developed to homogenize milk, process cheese, churn butter and make ice cream. In the past, these high-fat treats had to be made by hand. Foods like potato chips and French fries, these once labor-intensive dishes reserved for very special occasions, became staples of our diets.
 
This combination of sedentary living and rich foods as daily fare led to an increase in clogged blood vessels, heart attacks, and strokes.
 
The rate of heart disease increased so sharply between 1940 and 1967 that the World Health Organization called the world’s most serious epidemic a commonplace disease.
 
Since 1973, heart disease has claimed and continues to claim approximately 1 million lives annually. Every 33 seconds someone in the United States dies from cardiovascular disease. To give you some perspective, it’s roughly the equivalent of a September 11th-like tragedy repeating itself every 24 hours, every day of the year.
 
If we don’t make changes that alter the course we are on, by 2020 (as in this year…this one), heart disease will be the leading cause of death throughout the world.
 
In 2010, the total cost (direct and indirect) of cardiovascular disease (coronary heart disease, hypertensive disease, heart failure and stroke) in the U.S. was estimated at $444 billion. Pretty scary stuff, I’d say. 
 
So what do we do? How do we win the battle against this equal-opportunity killer? It should come as no surprise that when it comes to our hearts, what we eat matters…and change is essential to regaining and maintaining the health of your heart.
 
But I’m not talking skinless grilled chicken instead of dinner in a bucket.
 
I am of the belief that one of the reasons we don’t see dramatically improved health is that we don’t dramatically change our diets and lives. And so when our results are less than extraordinary, we fall quickly and easily back into our old habits because we didn’t see a difference.
 
You know it’s true. 
 
Simple, but real changes can make the world of difference.
 
Throughout the month of February, we will be posting a variety of tips and expert advice on the best and most natural ways to reduce your risk of becoming a heart disease statistic. A fan of keeping things simple and accessible, my advice for keeping your ticker ticking will help you navigate the murky waters of dubious advice with simple, practical ways to change your lifestyle and food choices to benefit your health and wellness.
 
In the end, I am of the mind that we need to follow the sage advice once given by Michael Pollan when he advised that we eat real food, mostly plants and not too much.