How We Do Our Part for Our Hearts
There’s a lot most of us can learn about keeping our hearts healthy. Below you can find resources that will help us do our part for our hearts by understanding heart disease, risk factors, and prevention.
How to prevent, spot and treat heart disease at any stage
Mario J. Garcia, MD, explains how three main factors, not including age and family history, can increase your risk for heart disease. About half of all Americans experience at least one of these: high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking. The good news is that just a few lifestyle changes can reduce your risk. Start with a low-fat, well-balanced diet, work toward 150 minutes of exercise per week (taking the stairs and walking more counts), practice stress management and avoid smoking.
Fighting heart disease one plant at a time
Robert Ostfeld, MD, MSc. details how a diet that focuses on pants, and less on meat and dairy, reduces the risk of developing heart disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers. A little goes a long way when it comes to eating more fruits, vegetables, beans, and lentils. A healthy plant-based diet focuses primarily on fresh or minimally processed foods that include all the colors of the rainbow. For maximum health benefits, it avoids red meat like beef, pork, and lamb and processed meats like bacon, sausage, and cured deli cuts. Pointing yourself in the right direction towards a healthy heart is easier than you think. Dr. Ostfeld offers 4 simple ways to get started.
Six Heart Health Tips
Change doesn’t have to be dramatic to be effective. You can start small with these six tips for better heart health:
Power up with plants: Eat nutrient-rich fruit and vegetables that feed your gut microbiome.
Skip the surgery drinks: These are high in empty calories. Swap them for unsweetened tea or plant-based milk instead.
See your doctor regularly and manage high blood pressure and cholesterol.
Move your body as often as possible. Walk, take the stairs, or dance while doing the dishes.
Say goodbye to cigarettes: Smoking is toxic to every system in the body.
Rethink meat: Red and processed meats are linked to higher risks of heart disease, cancer and chronic illness.
Successfully Managing Heart Failure Today
Twenty years ago, a patient with advanced heart failure had only a ten percent chance of living for one year. Now, that rate is 90 percent, notes Ulrich Jorde, MD, Head of Heart Failure, Cardiac Transplantation & Mechanical Circulatory Support, and Vice Chief, Division of Cardiology, Montefiore Einstein. A greater understanding of the condition, new medications, and advances in surgical options to assist the failing heart are helping many of the six million Americans with heart failure successfully manage their condition.
COVID-19 and heart health: The big impact that is 100% avoidable
People with heart conditions are among the group hit hardest by COVID-19, and we continue to study the specific links between this infection and cardiovascular disease. While we’re certain the virus interacts with the heart in a number of ways, there’s at least one needless impact of the pandemic on people with heart disease that is 100% avoidable.
The Heart & COVID-19
How does COVID-19 affect the heart? Montefiore Einstein’s Division of Cardiology Chief, Dr. Mario Garcia, discusses how COVID-19 affects the heart, what vascular conditions can be caused by COVID-19, who is most at risk, some forms of prevention and when it is important to seek medical care.
How & When to Seek Medical Attention for Heart Failure Symptoms in the Era of Covid-19
Pre-existing Heart Conditions & COVID-19
Cardiology & COVID-19 Research at Montefiore
National Wear Red Day!
National Wear Red Day is on Friday, February 6th. This annual celebration encourages women to take charge of their heart health at a time when heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US. Montefiore Einstein doctors are here for you. Let’s beat heart disease together!