By Dan Murphy
February is American Heart Month and cardiologists from the Mount Sinai Health System are sharing tips on heart disease prevention to lower the risk of heart attack, stroke, and COVID-19.
According to the American Heart Association, about one in three people with COVID-19 has cardiovascular disease, making it the most common underlying health condition. COVID-19 patients with underlying conditions are six times more likely to be hospitalized and 12 times more likely to die than patients without any chronic health problems. Nearly half of adults in the United States—more than 121 million people—have some type of cardiovascular disease. It is the leading cause of death among men and women in the United States; nearly 650,000 die from it every year. Yet heart disease is preventable 80 percent of the time.
Alon Gitig, MD, Director of Cardiology at Mount Sinai Doctors-Scarsdale and Mount Sinai Doctors-Yonkers, has agreed to share with our readers his thoughts on how to maintain a healthy heart during COVID.
This week Dr. Gitig discusses the relationship between your diet and the heart. “There are lots of fad diets out there, and many that claim that there diet will lower your risk of heart disease by lowering your weight quickly. But these studies and diets are plagued with problems because its difficult to monitory a persons diet for a long period of time and people’s recall of what they eat is unpredictable.
“So the studies are all over the map, one may say that eating eggs are good for your heart health, while another says that eggs are bad. But that doesn’t mean that all of the studies are useless, and there are large enough studies that show the same strengths and statistics for the reduction of risk of heart disease.
“In general, populations around the world have the lowest risk of heart disease, (heart attack and stroke) and some near 0 that share comment threads of diet. All of these groups have not been inundated with processed foods. American diets have a majority of processed food, and we need to eat more whole foods in their original form.
“Other commonalities of a good diet in people’s around the world is that they eat mostly plant based foods. They are eating more vegetables, grains, beans, legumes and fish. They do eat some poultry and meat but in small amounts. The Mediterranean Diet is an example of this type of diet, and can be used in making salads and cooking vegetables in olive oil. The Japanese also eat a low risk diet, with a lot more fish. Sushi is a whole food. When eating rice, brown rice is preferred,” said Dr. Gitig, who added that sugar and flour based products should also be avoided or scaled back considerably,” said Dr. Gitig.
“We all know that sugar is not good for our heart, but what is not commonly known is that flour is also bad for our diet, and is ubiquitous in people’s diet in this country. Flour is not a whole food, the grain has been pulverized and the powder that results has lost its nutrient value and creates a rise in blood sugar.”
Dr. Gitig said that all of us should examine our diets after almost one year at home under COVID. “You have an opportunity while working from home to eat healthy. You can prepare healthy lunches at home. The other way to eat while at home that I see in my patients is to east more sandwiches and make a quick PBJ and snack all day.
“There are two different directions that you can go. But now after almost one year, its important for all of us to give what we are eating some conscious thought. Don’t kick the can down the road because we don’t know how long we will be at home. It’s time to think not only about survival during COVID but that this is my life for now and I need to be concerned about my diet and my health,” said Dr. Gitig.
More next week from Dr. Gitig, and from Mount Sinai Doctors of Westchester, about heart health. For more information, visit MountSinai.org, or MountSinaidoctors.org/Westchester.
To learn more about Mount Sinai Doctors- Yonkers click here Mount Sinai Doctors – Yonkers – YouTube.
