Diet change and stress effects on heart

I had my 6 month PM check today and was happy to see that I only had 1 episode recorded by the PM since my last visit on 3/31/11. This comes after a 3 month period where I had 90+ incidents. 2 and a half years ago, one of the leads of my initial pacemaker, which I got in 2006, pierced the wall of my heart and I had to go for emergency surgery to remove it and eventually have a new PM installed. Since recovering, I felt that I was never 100% until recently.

There have been some major changes in my life that I have taken in the last 6 months that I believe played a role. First, I changed jobs in April going from a position in a group where the culture was toxic to one where I am much happier. In addition, I also converted to a vegetarian diet and I have felt unbelievable since. I have more energy now than I remember having in years and it correlates to this dietary switch.

The reason I am posting this is to show that there are things we can do to improve our health. Of course, this should be done in addition to following the course of treatments our dr's prescribe. I recently read Dan Buettner's book, The Blue Zones, which discusses the lifestyle of people who live in places where many reach 100 and I have also been reading many books that describe the benefits of a plant based diet and I am convinced that they have positive effects on health.

Phil

1 Comments

Great

by ElectricFrank - 2011-09-30 01:09:24

These things can make a major difference.

By the way something to be aware of with a vegetarian diet. With modern agriculture and soil depletion many of the fruits and vegetables no longer have the range of nutrients they once did. It's easy to become deficient in some of the vitamins we need. This isn't an argument against a plant based diet..just something to deal with. Similar problems exist with animal meat diets.

I also agree on the effects of stress. Actually, it isn't the stress itself that causes the problem. It's the feeling of not having control over life that is a bummer.

Sure glad you are feeling more energetic.

frank

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