A post-Lenten resolve for good health

We’ve just been through Lent, which afforded us the time to cleanse the soul through prayers and meditation. At the same time, through fasting and abstinence, we also had an opportunity to cleanse our bodies. Somehow, Lent reminded us to live a healthier lifestyle, abstaining not only from red ‘high-cholesterol" meat but also from other things such as liquor, coffee and cigarette smoking.

Our faith requires us to abstain from these "sinful delights" at least every Wednesday and Friday of Lent and during Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Our health, however, requires us to, as much as possible, abstain from these, for life. Red meat, excessive caffeine and alcohol, and smoking are all considered unhealthy lifestyle practices, which can increase our chances of having heart disease and stroke and of dying from either.

High cholesterol, which may be caused by a diet of red meat, is one of the major risk factors of heart disease. This fat-like substance clogs up the walls of the arteries and blocks blood flow to the heart, causing heart attack. It is usually caused by unhealthy diet and lifestyle practices. Therefore, changing one’s lifestyle – or Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) – is the most effective treatment to reduce your risk of developing heart disease or having a heart attack.

TLC is a set of guidelines established for the initial treatment of heart disease symptoms. It involves a diet, which is low in saturated fat and bad cholesterol and is rich in fiber; weight management and regular physical activity. However, most people find it difficult to go about changing their lifestyles, especially the people who are considered high-risk – the obese and smokers.

"Most of us resist making a lifestyle change because we are fearful of the change itself. To do things differently, one should reset one’s priorities, reorganize one’s life and take on a new set of values," advises Dr. Esperanza Cabral, past president of the Philippine Heart Association.

Here are some tips on how to make your first step toward a healthy lifestyle as a post-Lenten resolution:

• Eat more fish. Be wary of red meat even after the Lenten season. Make the switch from cholesterol-laden meat to heart-healthy diets such as fish, a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids, which is the "good fat." The American Heart Association endorses the consumption of fish or fish oils as a means of preventing and treating heart disease.

• Cut back on vices. During the Lenten season, we usually make a sacrifice of cutting back on vices such as smoking and alcohol drinking. Continue those little sacrifices all throughout the year until you completely quit on your vices.

• Develop a new hobby which requires some physical activity. Hopefully, the Holy Week gave us the time and motivation to develop a new hobby or sport that can keep us in good physical shape all year round.

• Manage your stress properly. Workaholism is just as bad to the health as alcohol or cigarette addiction. Maintain a good balance of work and leisure. Since stress in life is unavoidable and part of daily living no matter how simple our lives are, learn to cope with it. Remember, it’s not the stress itself which is bad, but how we react to stress.

• Consult your doctor. Now is always the right time to be check on by your doctor and make sure that you are in tip-top shape. Most people never realize they are at risk of heart attack and stroke until they have one. And the best way to prevent these complications is to let a competent physician assess your risk and manage it with the right lifestyle and medication.

Healthier options that we choose during the Lenten season should be maintained all year round. However, there are cases where TLC alone is simply not enough to keep one’s cholesterol at bay. If the patient does not respond to TLC within six weeks, the doctor usually advises drug treatment. TLC and drug treatment go hand in hand in preventing and decreasing risk of CHD.

Statins are the most potent cholesterol-lowering drug in the market today and one of the most scientifically documented drugs of this class is simvastatin. The Heart Protection Study (HPS) is a landmark 20,000-patient clinical trial published in the Lancet. The study shows strong evidence that simvastatin, taken religiously for several years, cut the risks of heart attacks and strokes in the high-risk population, particularly diabetics.

With its advent, a lot of heart-related deaths are prevented. This life-saving drug, however, comes at a high cost. The cost of statins therefore poses a challenge for high-risk patients with an average income, and even to well-off patients who are cost-conscious.

Therapharma, a division of Unilab, has introduced an affordable brand of simvastatin (Vidastat). Many local medical practitioners are confident that with high-quality and affordable cardiovascular medications, the evolving epidemic on heart attacks and strokes will be significantly reduced.