Episode 189: The Power of Weight Loss in Preventing Heart Disease

[00:00:00] Welcome back to the Back on Track Achieving Healthy Weight Loss, where I help you get on track and stay on track with your weight loss journey. I'm your host, Dr. Alicia Shelly. So let's get started.

[00:00:27] Welcome to the Back on Track Achieving Healthy Weight Loss podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Alicia Shelly. Did you know that your heart beats 100,000 times a day? And what if I told you that losing just a little bit of weight could make every single one of these beats stronger and healthier? Because heart disease is the leading cause of death. But the good news is, you have more control than you think.

[00:00:56] And today we are breaking down how weight loss can transform your heart health and the simple steps you can take to keep your heart happy. So let's dive in. Heart disease is the leading cause of death. And just losing 5-10% of your body weight can reduce your risk significantly. Heart health and weight loss are closely connected. When you have extra weight, it can affect your heart.

[00:01:21] Not only does it increase the strain on the heart, it leads to higher blood pressure and higher cholesterol. And higher cholesterol ends up clogging the arteries or getting stored in the arteries and putting you at risk for strokes and heart attacks. And peripheral arterial disease. Also, by having extra weight, it increases your risk of diabetes, which worsens heart health.

[00:01:45] Diabetes, if you are an individual that has diabetes, it can put you at risk two to four times for heart disease than a person without diabetes. Hence why if you have diabetes and you're between a certain age, your doctor is actually putting you on cholesterol medication to reduce this risk.

[00:02:04] But if you do have any of these conditions and if you are starting to lose weight, what you'll notice is that by weight loss, you can lower your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Also, it can reduce inflammation in the body just by losing weight. And we're not talking about a whole lot of weight. We're talking about 5-10% of your body weight. So if you weigh 200 pounds, then that's a good 10 pounds that you're losing that's making a huge difference.

[00:02:34] Just by losing 10 pounds, you'll make a huge difference with your heart health. Also, by losing weight, it can improve your circulation and heart efficiency. So let's talk about what are some other healthy lifestyle changes that we can make to have a healthier heart. So let's first look at the diet. One of the diets that I like for heart health is your Mediterranean diet or even the DASH diet. These diets help with reducing the salt and sodium in your body.

[00:03:02] Also, it focuses on whole foods like your fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats. So specifically in the Mediterranean diet, you're eating proteins that are fish, similar to salmon and chicken, turkey, more lean meats. And you're eating less of the red meats. Also, you're focusing on olive oil, healthier fats than maybe canola or vegetable oil.

[00:03:29] Also, you're eating more fruits and vegetables in your diet as well. Whereas the DASH diet kind of focuses on reducing sodium, which helps with bringing down your blood pressure and helping with cholesterol as well. Now, the other thing is that's so important when it comes to lifestyle changes, and it is incorporating exercise and heart health. There was a lot of benefits to incorporating more aerobic exercise like walking, running, cycling.

[00:03:54] I remember one of my patients when I first was in residency, she wanted to get off her blood pressure pill. So I encouraged her to start an exercise program. So she started walking and she was being very consistent. She wasn't walking like two hours a day. She was maybe like 30 minutes a day. But it was that consistency that allowed her to get her blood pressure down and lose a little bit of weight, but then also get off her medication, which is what we're doing this for. We want to lead healthier lives.

[00:04:23] And if we're able to control our blood pressure, our cholesterol with our health, our healthy habits, then we won't need medication. Now, of course, I say that there's some people who have a genetic predisposition and they tend to need medication. But maybe you won't need as much by incorporating some of these lifestyle changes. The other thing that's going to be important, especially as we talk about exercise, is going to be strength training or toning of the muscle.

[00:04:49] Of course, when you tone the muscle, the muscle burns more calories than fat does, but it can also help with metabolic health. So make sure you're having your weights. You don't have to be like Arnold Schwarzenegger or anything, but sometimes it's just toning some of those muscles. And you can use small weights, resistance bands to kind of help with that strength training. And usually the recommendation is like two times a week.

[00:05:12] I do find that sometimes it's so hard to incorporate exercise in our busy schedule, but just find ways to get started. Whether you're walking around at work, making sure you're getting your steps in while you're parking a little bit further away at the grocery store. So you're getting more of your steps. And sometimes you may have to do things before you get home because I don't know about you. When I get home, I'm sitting down. I'm not worrying about exercise. So sometimes it's better just to do it before you get home.

[00:05:41] And it may just be taking a walk or if it's snowy where you are, you could go to the local Walmart or local Home Depot and walk around there. No one's going to stop you. And so the last lifestyle change I would like us to focus on is going to be managing our stress and our sleep. As I've mentioned in other podcasts, that stress can play an impact on your weight, especially chronic stress.

[00:06:03] So it's important that we find ways to de-stress, have ways that we decrease how we respond to different things so that it's not so stressful on us. So that not only like I mentioned before in previous episodes, the chronic cortisol can cause you to gain weight. But by reducing your stress, that can help reducing your weight, but then also helping your heart health too. Because when you are stressed, your heart is in fight or fight mode.

[00:06:29] So your heart rate's going up, your blood pressure is going up, and that can lead to more heart disease. So it's important to kind of manage your stress. It's also important to get good night's sleep. So making sure you're getting your seven to eight hours in. Sometimes it's hard because there's so much we have to do and we're trying to use every single hour to get it in. But by sleeping, allowing your body to rest, to recover, this will help, number one, reduce your stress, but then also cause you not to gain weight.

[00:06:58] Studies have shown that when people are getting less than five hours of sleep, their ghrelin hormone, which is their hunger hormone, is higher. Whereas the leptin hormone, this is the hormone that causes you to feel satisfied when you eat, is lower, which can lead to increased BMI. So it is important to make sure you're getting a good night's rest. And you may be thinking, is this all I have to do? Well, this is a start. Our goal is to kind of improve your heart health, especially in this month of February.

[00:07:28] But I just want to share with you a story of a gentleman that came to me several years ago into my clinic. And with him, he was over 700 pounds. He was young. He was 38. And he had heart failure. He had heart failure at 38. And when he came to me, his goal was to not die. That's what he told me. I'm like, why are you trying to lose weight? I asked him. He's like, I just don't want to die. And so what happened was we started working with him. He started incorporating more exercise.

[00:07:58] He came to me walking on a cane. He had to use a cane to walk. And so what he would do with exercise, he went to the pool. He would go swimming. He changed how he ate. He ate more whole foods, fruits and vegetables. And also for him, we started medication to help with his health. And also, I forgot to mention, he also had diabetes, too. So he's heart failure and diabetes. Not a great combination. But over years with his consistency, it took several years. He was able to lose over 300 pounds.

[00:08:28] And what's amazing to me is that this man who was on a cane now walks in without any assistance. He looks great. He's tan. He's like, now I'm traveling. I'm living life to the fullest. And my heart failure is improved. My diabetes is controlled. The two factors, his blood pressure is good. Like the cholesterol is better. Like all these different factors that taken together, which can lead to early mortality

[00:08:54] and worsening heart health, he's been able to improve just by losing weight and changing his lifestyle. And so my suggestion or recommendation for you is you may think like, yeah, I know. I know I need to improve my blood pressure. Yeah, I know I need to improve this. But sometimes just taking that first step at changing your lifestyle, focusing on whole foods, adding fruits and vegetables will make a huge difference. Exercising, going walking, it makes a huge difference.

[00:09:23] So focus on just losing even a small amount of weight. Because like I said, five to 10% of your body weight makes a huge difference in improving your blood pressure and cholesterol and diabetes. So focusing on the small things to help with changing your lifestyle and improving your heart health. Remember, this weight loss is a journey. It's a marathon. It's not a sprint. So we got to focus on our progress over perfection.

[00:09:50] There will be days, there will be weeks when it will not be as perfect as you want it. But as long as you keep going and overcoming that obstacle, you will get to your goal. Thank you so much for listening to this episode about heart health and weight loss. I hope you were able to learn something. And just remember one thing that your heart works hard for you every day. So let's take care of it. And until next time, stay healthy and keep moving forward.

[00:10:18] And please make that one change today. And feel free to share your progress or a question and tag me at DrShellamd on your social media. I love to answer you and be able to give you some support. And then also, if you have anybody who you think this podcast is for, feel free to share it with them, like it and subscribe. And don't forget to leave a five star review. Thank you again for joining us and we'll see you next time. Bye.