As nations progress, their people invariably become victims of unhealthy lifestyles, which comprise poor diet, fatty food, addiction to alcohol and tobacco, and stress.
Inspired to help people give up that lifestyle and live to be a healthy 100, Dr Mohan Makkar, a Dubai-based alternative therapist, has written a book on the topic.
In an interview with Unwind, Dr Makkar explains the concept of RHD (Reversal of Heart Diseases), what he aims to achieve with his book and issues related to heart ailments.
Excerpts:
Do you believe that good health means living in a state of constant self-denial?
To answer that, you have to understand self-denial. Most of what we eat today is just junk — pizzas, burgers, fried chicken, fried potatoes — which are good to taste but have no nutritional value.
I allow my patients to eat anything and everything — restraining only the amount they eat. It is not what you are eating, not calorie counting, but how you eat, when you eat and the correct combination of food.
Today, the average span of human life is around 65 years. But they should be living to be a 100-plus, with all their senses intact, enjoying every second of their life.
What is your advice to someone who suffers a heart attack when there’s no one around? Is there a way you can take precautions?
When a person suffers a heart attack, he experiences pain in certain areas. If the person is driving, he should park the car and call emergency.
If walking or climbing steps, stop without taking another step, sit down. If there is no place to sit, sit on the footpath or lie on your back. The person should try to take slow, deep breaths, not panic, and call emergency.
On consultation with a cardio-doctor, he can be given Sorbitrate (a brand name for isosorbide dinitrate), a long-acting nitrate drug that acts as a vasodilator drug. Isosorbide is used to reduce the severity and frequency of angina pectoris.
You have told us about prevention. What would your advice be to people who have already undergone surgery?
You spend hundreds of thousands of your hard-earned money, then you endanger your life by undergoing surgery (the death rate is 5 per cent). This course [RHD] is not so costly. It is simple and easy to follow.
You can have your drink, eat what you want — but in a certain way. The basics of this course teach you simple facts of life which you have forgotten. When you are born, your arteries are clean. There are no blockages. The blockage occurs over a period of 35 years — at the rate of 2 per cent a year.
Once the blockages cross 70 per cent, you become vulnerable to heart attacks. Even after bypass surgery, blockages will reoccur within 7 to 10 years, depending on your way of life.
You were lucky to survive the first attack. But will you be lucky in the second attack? And remember, prevention is better than cure.
Tell us about your programme
This programme reduces hypertension, energises you, and is an ideal programme for executives of big organisations, who are always under stress and have high BP.
Group sessions can be organised on weekends. This increases quality hours for the organisation, reduces absenteeism and the time consumed in searching for errors.
(Dr Makkar can be e-mailed at makkarmohan@yahoo.com)
INFORMATION
Alarm signals
- Cholesterol
- LDL (low density lipoprotein)
- Triglycerides (simple fats)
- VLDL (very low density lipoproteins)
- HDL (high density lipoprotein)
- Ratio of cholesterol: HDL
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Obesity
- Stress
- Smoking
- Alcohol
- Lack of fibre
- Lack of antioxidants
- Lack of exercise
Pointers to good health
Watch what you eat. Do not add too much salt to your food. If you have high blood pressure, avoid eating processed, overly salted foods such as frozen pizza, canned, salted vegetables, fast food, etc.
Vegetables and spices beneficial in cases of hypertension:
- Celery: Oriental medicine practitioners have long used celery for lowering high blood pressure. There is evidence that shows celery is useful.
In a study, laboratory animals injected with celery extract showed lowered blood pressure. Eating even four celery stalks was found to be beneficial in lowering blood pressure in human beings.
- Garlic: Garlic is a wonder drug for the heart. It is beneficial for the cardiovascular system.
In a study, people with high blood pressure were given one clove of garlic a day for 12 weeks and it was found that their diastolic blood pressure and cholesterol levels were greatly reduced. Eating even one clove of garlic a day was found to have beneficial effects on managing hypertension.
- Onion: Onions are useful in hypertension. What is best is the onion essential oil. Two to three tablespoons of it a day was found to lower the systolic levels by an average of 25 points and diastolic levels by 15 points.
This should not be surprising because onion is a cousin of garlic.
- Tomato: Tomatoes are high in gamma-amino butyric acid (Gaba), a compound that can help bring down blood pressure.
- Broccoli: This vegetable contains ingredients that reduce blood pressure.
- Spices such as fennel, oregano, black pepper, basil and tarragon have ingredients beneficial in cases of hypertension.
- Carrot: Carrots have compounds that lower blood pressure.
(Excerpts from Dr Makkar’s book Heart 2 Heart Reversal of Heart Diseases, to be released this month.)
