Coronary angioplasty is not a cure.
Okay I get it, it only treats the area of blockage or narrowing and it may happen again and it may occur elsewhere. So it advises you have to reduce or remove your risk factors. Reading again from the brochure;
The most important things that you can do are to:
- take your medicines as prescribed
- be smoke free
- enjoy healthy eating
- be physically active
- control your blood pressure and cholesterol
- achieve and maintain a healthy body weight
- maintain your psychological and social health.
Gosh, that makes it so easy, NOT! I could enjoy eating by wacking down three cheeseburgers and a double order of fries, all done with a healthy appetite! Going to get the cheeseburgers is exercise. Thinking about the cheeseburgers and then getting them is good for my psychological health. It does not tell me how only what to do.
It took me until now to read the damn thing, that shows you how easy it is. Mind you, I do consider myself at least somewhat informed. I did have a mother who was diagnosed with heart issues at 45 years old which means I have been living with at least a passing knowledge since I was about eighteen.
Mind you you can imagine what a young person did with all the knowledge bestowed from on high, nothing! Partied hard! Smoke, drank, stayed up late, ate shit, standard stuff and all so predictable. If my heart disease is at least in part genetic, is it not a shame some of the wisdom is not inherited too. Why is it us humans have to relearn all the stuff it takes a lifetime to learn that our grandparents and parents kept telling us about?
Funny how things sometimes happen at the right time or the time when you need them to happen. I stumbled on a book in a second hand shop, local author, a prominent cardiologist called Dr Ross Walker.
"If I eat another carrot I'll go Crazy-The Five Point Plan to a Healthy Heart."
His recommended five point plan is not so didactic and is expansive. It certainly makes me think a little more outside the realms of living a monastic life of abstinence and punishment.
His plan is as follows as quoted from his book;
It took me until now to read the damn thing, that shows you how easy it is. Mind you, I do consider myself at least somewhat informed. I did have a mother who was diagnosed with heart issues at 45 years old which means I have been living with at least a passing knowledge since I was about eighteen.
Mind you you can imagine what a young person did with all the knowledge bestowed from on high, nothing! Partied hard! Smoke, drank, stayed up late, ate shit, standard stuff and all so predictable. If my heart disease is at least in part genetic, is it not a shame some of the wisdom is not inherited too. Why is it us humans have to relearn all the stuff it takes a lifetime to learn that our grandparents and parents kept telling us about?
Funny how things sometimes happen at the right time or the time when you need them to happen. I stumbled on a book in a second hand shop, local author, a prominent cardiologist called Dr Ross Walker.
"If I eat another carrot I'll go Crazy-The Five Point Plan to a Healthy Heart."
His recommended five point plan is not so didactic and is expansive. It certainly makes me think a little more outside the realms of living a monastic life of abstinence and punishment.
His plan is as follows as quoted from his book;
- Physical: How you eat, how you exercise.
- Mental: Acquisition of knowledge; how stimulating do you find your job?
- Emotional: Do you value your relationships with those close to you? Do you feel happy, how often do you laugh?
- Sensual: Is your life very mechanical and concrete or do you look for the beauty in life and nature?
- Spiritual: Do you have a sense of inner peace? Do you have a belief system that allows you to strive towards higher goals?
"It is the combination of all of thee factors that leads to health" he says. But his next statement is the one that makes me take notice and take heart, no pun intended.
" In my practice, I have witnessed two separate types of patients, the motivated and the unmotivated. I can barely remember one truly motivated patient who required repeat coronary bypass grafting. On the other hand I can remember numerous unmotivated patients whose grafts blocked within a few years"
The motivation he reflects is the motivation to change your lifestyle. "A global approach involving how we eat, how we exercise and how we manage our day to day stresses."
Whilst that appears to be more difficult it provides a meaningful path forward. The framework permits variance to suit the individual and in so doing allows effort in the areas that personally a person feels most confronted by. Finally it is a positive message which gives impetus to action. There is hope with action. What is now provided is a how, not just the what needs to be done. The how relates to your whole being not just one aspect of it. Time for a few more questions on oneself...
Whilst that appears to be more difficult it provides a meaningful path forward. The framework permits variance to suit the individual and in so doing allows effort in the areas that personally a person feels most confronted by. Finally it is a positive message which gives impetus to action. There is hope with action. What is now provided is a how, not just the what needs to be done. The how relates to your whole being not just one aspect of it. Time for a few more questions on oneself...
Thanks for sharing your journey of discovery. It certainly does seem hard to separate what is true and what is not and what to do and what to not do apart for the obvious. You also make me laugh which is good.
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