How can I improve my heart health?

[Checkenberger]

I am early 40s, both parents have heart issues including major surgeries, valve replacement/ bypass. Both in their early 70s. They both smoke like chimneys, Dad drinks far too much but does walk into the village to the pub, does all the gardening and DIY etc so reasonably fit otherwise. Mum rarely leaves the house, or couch for that matter, but is stick thin despite this. Diets are atrocious for them both. Chips with everything, all processed meat, 2 sugars in tea very few vegetables etc. Nothing will change them at this point, I've tried it all.
We are an active family, love outdoors, eat very healthy, although I probably drink too much, never touched a cigarette. I am a bit overweight.
What can I do to negate the fairly inevitable heart issues? What do I need to change and prioritise and focus on? And good habits to pass onto my children?

Plenty of protein in plants.
Vegan diet good for perimenopause too.
Not bad advice, advice based on WHO advice based on research.

I didn’t say don’t eat plants. I said you need to cut saturated fat and eat lots of protein. Nice try but the WHO does not advocate a vegan or vegetarian diet.

i'm hypermobile too, and always thought I couldn't run, but I have recently managed to - I had insoles made by a specialist hypermobility podiatrist that helped somewhat; then I had others custom-made by Enertor insoles that helped even more for my particular difficulties. I'd try one or either of those. And I had expensive running shoes (Asics) recommended by the podiatrist (I bought three or four pairs recommended by the running shop, brought them in to her, and she watched me run in them with the orthotic insoles, and then chose the best ones and I returned the others). I replaced the running shoes much more often than I expected to - they looked fine on the outside, but the foam does deteriorate over time, so despite hardly wearing them for a couple of years, I bought new ones shortly after I started up again and it helped a lot.

I also tried compression socks, expensive knee brace that worked much better than the cheaper ones, ice pads that go around shins, various ankle supports at times, etc. And started out really really slowly - couch to 5K type thing but a lot more gradual, kind of made up my own routine. And eventually, I managed it despite wobbly joints. I'm still very slow.

It's helped my fitness a lot - I use an Apple Watch, and my 'cardio fitness' score went up steadily for a while. It has now levelled off, which is frustrating, even though I'm running for longer. I also do a little dumbbells arms workout on other days.

I didn't go totally vegetarian, but reduced red meat, and generally only eat meat (usually chicken) a couple of times a week. Sometimes salmon. I tried making a lot of curry/stew/casserole type dishes, adding extra veg, and then making several more portions out of it than the recipe called for, so it was about 2/3 of a normal portion size and more veg in it. Lots of berries rather than other fruit. Reducing cheese to a very small piece once a day with some veg for lunch.

I do still drink some (G&Ts, but more tonic than anything), but never been a big drinker.

Reducing salt and upping potassium. I don't eat many bananas because of the carbs, but I do when it's a longer run that 5K. I also like the small serving bags of popcorn as a treat, only 65 calories, some salt but not a lot, as I sweat a lot of salt out. I eat nuts as a snack as well, though they are quite calorific so I'm trying to cut them down too.

Can't deny that I'm hungry a lot, and crave all the nice things that I've cut out, but my heart is healthier and I feel fitter, and I've bought smaller clothes. I still have high cholestrol (the bad sort) despite all that, and elevated blood pressure, though not enough to need medication, and fairly high blood glucose levels, so i am frustrated, but continuing on this plan for the moment even though I seem to have stalled.

Good luck.

NCD prevention and
plant-based diets
NCDs are responsible for 71% of all premature deaths (41 million deaths a year) globally.2
Of
these, 80% are due to the four most common NCDs: cardiovascular diseases account for 17.9
million deaths, followed by cancers (9 million), chronic respiratory diseases (3.9 million) and dia-
betes mellitus (1.6 million). Of the six WHO regions, the European Region has the greatest burden
of NCD-related morbidity and mortality, at almost 90% of all deaths. Overweight and obesity
are a major NCD risk factor and affect over 59% of adults and 29% of children in the European
Region. Globally, one in every five deaths in adults is associated with unhealthy diet.
Low fruit and vegetable consumption is linked to poor health and increased risk of NCDs.
Recent studies have shown that high fruit and vegetable intake is associated with lower risks of
heart disease and stroke.
4,5 WHO recommends consuming at least 400 g (five portions) of fruits
and vegetables (excluding potatoes and other starchy tubers) per day. There is large variation in
fruit and vegetable intake across Europe. In more than half of the countries in the WHO European
Region, consumption of fruits and vegetables is lower than 400 g per day, and in one third of the
countries (particularly those in eastern Europe), the average intake is less than 300 g per day.6,7
Cardiovascular disease causes more than half of all deaths across the European Region.
Overall, evidence suggests that vegetarian and vegan diets have a protective effect against cor-
onary heart disease,8,9,10,11 but increased risk of stroke has been reported in recent analyses.10
The strongest association found so far between diet and cancer risk is for bowel cancer (also
known as colorectal cancer). Frequent consumption (four or more portions per week) of pro-
cessed meat and unprocessed red meat has been found to increase the risk of bowel cancer.12
However, calcium – mainly from dairy products – offers some protection against colorectal
cancer.13,14 Vegans, vegetarians and pescatarians have been found to have a lower risk for all
cancers compared to non-vegetarians.15 According to the World Cancer Research Fund, diets
that reduce the risk of cancer contain no more than modest amounts of red meat and little or no
processed meat.16
Diabetes is inextricably linked to obesity rates since a high body mass index (BMI) is the most
critical risk factor. Various studies have found that vegetarians and vegans generally have a
lower BMI than otherwise comparable non-vegetarians.17,18 Research suggests that low meat and
non-meat eaters have a lower risk of diabetes, largely because of their lower BMI.19 However, it
should be noted that non-meat eaters generally have healthier lifestyles than meat eaters.
Taken together, the beneficial effects of plant-based diets, including the protection they offer
against premature mortality, provide strong evidence for public health guidelines recommending
healthful plant-based diets as a means to prevent and control NCDs.20,21,22,23,24

'Nice try'
Wake up.

More protein in black beans or seitan gram for gram than chicken.
It's a myth that vegan diets don't provide enough protein. Tofu is also a helpful source of plant based estrogen which can help with hormonal changes in perimenopause. See studies about Japanese women.
The only essential nutrients missing from a vegan diet - and most omnivorous diets- is b12 and that can be adequately gained from fortified soya milk, cereals or tablets/jabs.

Reduce stress & don't get obsessed by being healthy. At @olderbutwiser advice is sensible.

Also some stuff is just genetic so again don't beat yourself up about it. But you aren't going to be like your parents because you already have a different lifestyle.

Wake up to what? Non-facts?

See previous comment. I don’t see why you think I’m disagreeing with you. Didn’t say don’t eat plants or not to follow a
healthy diet. Meat based protein can be part of a healthy diet.

Physical fitness, in particular your VO2 max (not your weight) is the #1 predictor of healthy longevity.

Walk, run, lift weights - ideally anything that gets your heart rate up and improves bone density.

I’m hypermobile and there’s no reason I can’t run. I don’t do yoga nor stretch as there’s not much point for me, yoga in particular is really pointless unless you are being very carefully observed by a good trainer.

Beyond that a reasonable diet, low amounts of alcohol and keeping your stress down.

See previous comment and WHO advice ref not eating meat. Not sure what there is to misunderstand.

Yes, why not just disregard commonly understood science? CV illness is mostly attributed to eating animal products. Sorry if that doesn't accord with your views.

I know not everyone can get one of these cardiac CT scans, but if you can - do it. It shows if you are at risk of heart disease and blocked arteries. I am in my sixties and was diagnosed with arrythmia three years ago. During diagnosis I was given the Calcium CT scan. Despite high(ish) cholesterol for years which I refused statins for due to the side effects and association with dementia I scored zero, the best it could be. I don't drink alcohol or smoke, but eat whatever I want including butter, eggs, all the stuff we are told not to for cardiovascular health. Cardiologist just said, OK you have Atrial Fibrillation (irregular heartbeat) but you do NOT have heart disease. I couldn't believe it!

Maybe it is genetic since no one that I know of in the family had heart disease, but my mother did have Atrial Fibrillation (it is cardiac related but is NOT heart disease) and died from stroke as a result. She didn't know she had it. I am lucky that mine was caught early and is treated well. I don't do gyms or weights but I walk every single day about one hour or so. I'm not fast, but I'm consistent. I am not overweight, but am podgy in all the wrong places like many are! Blood Pressure can be borderline but it's not overly high around 130/80, can go up and down a bit but averages out OK. Docs are not concerned.

I think common sense is the biggest thing to have in relation to health. Moderation in everything is the key I think. A little bit of what you fancy and all that! This is what the calcium CT scan is -

www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/heart-scan/about/pac-20384686

The WHO is not the world’s authority on CV disease. They are a public heath organisation. They aren’t even in the conversation when guidelines are made by actual medical associations. Stop making out that the only way to have a healthy diet and save your heart is to stop eating meat. It’s simply not true.

Given a choice between the WHO and someone online hellbent on meat eating, I'll stick with the science thanks.
I haven't been ill in thirty years, so I'll keep on keeping on.