Looking after your heart involves much more than simply eating well or exercising. To Dr Alok Chopra, a cardiologist and functional medicine expert, true heart health means considering daily lifestyle choices that could unintentionally put heart health at risk. In a recent Instagram post, dated August 11, Dr Chopra explained five important tips that reduce the risk of heart disease, while addressing some popular misconceptions.
Five important tips include:
- Avoid teen vaping: One major concern he discussed was about teen vaping. Unfortunately, with an intention to keep their children away from tobacco, many parents have mistakenly accepted vaping as a safe alternative. Although often touted as a safe alternative, according to the National Health Institutes (NIH), vaping has detrimental effects on lung and cardiovascular function and can be as damaging—if not worse than—smoking.
- Moderate alcohol consumption: The other lifestyle choice that was discussed was alcohol. Many people think that ‘social drinking’ is okay, and that consuming small amounts of alcohol, especially on the weekends, does not harm their health. Dr Chopra recommends that individuals consume alcohol once or twice a week, obviously with recommendations on the types of alcohol (e.g., red or white wine was preferred over hard liquor).
- Non-stick pans: He also warned us about the long-term use of non-stick pans. Non-stick pans are easy to cook in, but the protective coating breaks down over time, releasing harmful agents to food. There is no way to see this process happening but it has the potential to risk our long-term health. Reducing non-stick pan use is a smart idea.
- Two meals a day: Dr. Chopra also challenged the trendy gym philosophy of eating several small meals each day. He encourages us to eat just two meals a day, arguing that eating throughout the day is depriving the body of recovery and leads us to constantly store fat in the body causing both metabolic and cardiovascular stress.
- Allulose use: He also discussed the prevalent use of allulose, and how it is touted as a suitable replacement to sugar. Allulose is indeed a better alternative as it is made from table sugar but it is still sugar. His advice was to use allulose sparingly and follow “portion control.”
All of the tips discussed emphasize the basis of healthy choices we make in our daily lives. There are many other choices we must make including what we eat, how we cook, how we drink, and how often we eat. By simply making some minor choices we can create a huge difference in the long-term health of our hearts.
