February 12, 2024 • 25 mins
Evelyn Erives welcomes guest Dr. Vinisha Garg, director of cardio-oncology at Loma Linda University Medical Center for a lively discussion about heart health. Dr. Garg shares the importance of living a heart healthy lifestyle and steps you can take to keep your heart happy.
For more information on this show's topic visit IEHP.org and LLUH.org
Reach out to Evelyn via Instagram @evelynerives or email her at EvelynErives@iHeartMedia.com
For more information on this show's topic visit IEHP.org and LLUH.org
Reach out to Evelyn via Instagram @evelynerives or email her at EvelynErives@iHeartMedia.com
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Welcome to Covering your Health, awellness podcast dedicated to covering all areas of
living a healthy and happy lifestyle,from healthy hearts to understanding health plans and
everything in between. Each episode willprovide you with a better understanding of managing
your health, preventative care, andstaying on the right path for your family's
wellness journey. The Covering Your Healthpodcast is presented by i EhP, now
(00:26):
your host Kevilina Revez. Wow,I can't believe it. Here we are
seven episodes in and with every show, I'm absorbing so much knowledge. I
feel so powerful. I feel likea student again. Actually, I'm learning
just so much, and I hopeyou are too, and you're feeling engaged,
and you're feeling just good about yourown health and maybe making small steps
(00:51):
to taking full charge for your ownwellness. Remember, you could reach out
to me on social media to makesuggestions or just a comment on a topic.
We love that. Both I andIEHP love to hear your feedback.
Now today we are discussing matters ofthe heart. February is American Heart Health
Month, so we're gonna be talkingabout all things heart health. The most
(01:15):
effective ways to prevent heart disease andsteps you can take to keep your heart
healthy. Get ready to learn alot. Maybe even grab a pencil so
that you can write some stuff down. I always end up taking a ton
of notes every single episode. Asyou know, I'm listening to the experts.
They know what they're talking about.Okay, well, here we go.
Our guest today is doctor Vinisha Garg. She's the director of cardio Oncology
(01:38):
at Loma Linda University Medical Center.Doctor Garg is a renowned expert in her
field and has been working tirelessly topromote heart health and raise awareness about the
importance of cardiovascular care. Thank youso much for being here, doctor Garg.
Thank you. It's nice to behere. I appreciate it. I
know that what you do is verytime consuming, so sharing a little bit
(02:00):
of your time today is much appreciated. We're going to start right with you
first, though, because I lovefinding out how our experts got to be
the experts and what made them wantto go into that particular field. For
you, cardio oncology, tell mehow you landed in this path. Sure,
(02:23):
yeah, maybe I'll start back kindof in the beginning. So I
grew up in southern California. Istayed here until high school, and then
I went to college and medical schoolin New York, and then kind of
throughout my journey, I've kind ofbeen influenced by doctors. So I grew
up around medicine. So medicine andhealth has always played a really important role
(02:45):
for me. I've seen a lotof family and friends do some pretty amazing
things like saving people's lives, andI've really seen a lot of it firsthand.
So it was very influential in termsof me pursuing my own career goals.
So throughout kind of schooling training,I knew medicine was a perfect fit
for me, and so after college, I decided to After college at medical
(03:07):
school, I decided to kind ofcome back to California, and I decided
to do my internal medicine residency atUCLA. So during my residency, I
developed passion for the heart and reallytaking care of cardiac patients. Kind of
seeing cardiac patients both throughout the spectrum, so through preventive health, through acute
(03:30):
heart attacks, and kind of followingthem up in the clinic and seeing how
well they do afterwards. I hadsome pretty amazing mentors while I was in
my residency at UCLA, so Idecided to stay there and complete my cardiology
fellowship there. While I was inmy fellowship, I was drawn to a
sub specialty called interventional cardiology. Thisis where you do invasive heart procedures.
(03:54):
So mostly what I do is Iplaced stints to open up heart artory blockages
when people are having heart attacks.Oh my gosh, that sounds like that.
That's the challenging stuff. That's thescary stuff in my mind. Yeah,
yeah, exactly. So, likeI see a lot of patients when
they come in, they have likecrushing chest pain, and then I'll put
the stents in and they get immediatereliefs. So it's so gratifying to see
(04:15):
that happen. And so that's reallywhat I pursued after my general cardiology fellowship,
so I did an interventional fellowship,and then when I was in my
training, I also was very fortunateto have some really great mentors who kind
of opened the door and kind ofmy eyes to see what cardio oncology is,
(04:36):
which is a field that kind ofblends cardiac care of patients who have
cancer, and so I see peoplethroughout all different stages of cancer, so
before they start their chemotherapy, duringtheir chemotherapy or treatment, and afterwards for
surveillance because a lot of medications,a lot of treatments can affect the heart,
(04:57):
and so it's nice to have acardio oncologist manage those issues, make
sure that that patients who are gettingoncologic care can actually continue their care and
they don't have to really worry aboutthe heart effects of it because somebody's kind
of monitoring them as they go.Oh, that explains it perfectly for me,
because I was thinking to myself,I don't think I've ever heard of
a cardio oncologist. I never reallythought of it. Those two things I
(05:20):
guess related in my mind, butthey're perfectly related. They absolutely are.
If you're on medicine that can affectyour heart, you need somebody who can
guide you through both parts of thatexactly. Exactly. Yeah. And it's
it's not it's it's a relatively newfield, so not too many places have
them, but it's definitely growing andit's definitely very, very very important in
(05:40):
it. I think as we continueto move forward, I think that there's
going to you're gonna see a lotmore cardio oncologists kind of around the community.
Yeah, no, no, Ilove that. I think that's wonderful.
And I think for some people orfor young people, I would say,
who are going into this field,Now there's another avenue that they can
kind of go into. And essence, this field is growing. How wonderful.
(06:01):
Okay, well exactly exactly. Somatters of the heart, that is
what you are all about. AndI do love that. And it makes
sense that February is heart month becausewell it's the love month, right,
we want it all the matters ofthe heart. So let's talk about it.
Let's get into this. Why isheart health education just so important?
(06:23):
Yeah, I mean so heart healthis very important. So it's extremely important
for your longevity. So the heart, as you know, is one of
the most important organs in the body. It's really responsible for pumping all the
nutrient rich, the good blood throughoutall the organs in the body. It
keeps the brain, it keeps allthe other organs functioning properly. So it's
(06:46):
very crucial to keep the heart healthybecause the heart will help keep all the
other organs healthy. So heart healthmeans kind of decreasing the risk of having
a heart attack, decreasing the riskof having strung peripheral vascular disease, which
is when people kind of have buildup of plaque in their legs or other
arteries. So similarly, people canhave plaque build up and heart arteries and
(07:11):
that can cause a heart attack.People can also get plaque build up in
their legs and other arteries too.That's called perpheral vascular disease. So it's
very important to kind of prevent that. And then on kind of another area
that's really nice in terms of hearthealth. If you do improve heart health,
it's actually been shown to have otherbenefits in terms of lowering the risk
of dementia. People usually have increasedenergy when they're healthy. From a heart
(07:36):
standpoint, there's less depression, andthere tends to be less chronic illnesses.
Oh wow, that is that coversa whole lot of things right there.
Wow. Okay, So I wasreading a stat that, according to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,about six hundred and ninety five thousand people
in the US died from heart diseasein one year in twenty twenty one.
(08:01):
That's an incredibly scary, scary number. What are some of the symptoms that
we should be looking for with heartdisease. Yeah, no, you're absolutely
right. I mean hear heart diseaseis the biggest killer in this country for
both men and women. So it'sa major concern and it's a major point
of prevention. I think, Ithink this really kind of opens our eyes
to really try to educate the communityto prevent heart disease because we really want
(08:26):
that number to be lower, anda lot of this heart disease can be
preventable. So the symptoms of heartdisease, it's a variable depending on what
type of heart condition that you have. So there's different types of heart conditions.
There's things like heart artery blockages,which are things like that can cause
heart attack. People can have heartarrhythmias or abnormal heart rhythms, people can
(08:50):
have heart failure, and different typesof heart diagnoses like that. But kind
of as a a general group ofsymptoms are things like chest pain or chest
pressure. If people can have shortnessof breath, especially when you're trying to
exert yourself or do activity, younotice more shortness of breath, swelling in
your legs, people passing out,or people feeling really lightheaded. All of
(09:13):
these could be signs of heart disease, and I think it's important to kind
of mention though, that these arethe symptoms of having heart disease. But
a lot of the risk factors thatlead to heart disease that we really aim
to prevent are frequently asymptomatic, Sothings like having high cholesterol or high blood
(09:33):
pressure. A lot of times peopleare not symptomatic with that, so people
don't feel if they have high cholesterol, and they may or may not feel
if they have high blood pressure.But both of these are really important in
terms of maintaining heart health. Wow. Okay, so that actually leads to
the next thing I was thinking inmy head. I ended up finding out
(09:54):
that I had high blood pressure acouple of years ago, and I remember
feeling like I was I was tired, and I was having shortness of breath,
and I remember feeling those those symptomsand not thinking anything had to do
with my heart. I was thinking, I'm just really stressed out, I'm
really tired, or I'm you know, I'm working with the kids. I
have three kids, you know,we're very busy and all those things.
(10:15):
And it took me to going maybeI should get this checked down at the
talkter to kind of going and figuringthat out. Yeah, that actually could
have led to something a lot worseif I hadn't figured that out. And
yeah, exactly statistically scary because ofthe way that so many people lose their
life to heart disease, which isjust so scary. You've been working in
(10:37):
this field for you know, morethan a decade. So what are some
of those really like commonly asked questionsthat you get from patients. So I
get a lot of questions in termsof how to decrease like cardiac cardiac disease
risk. I really could believe inpreventive health. I think that is really
the goal. We're sure we couldtreat heart conditions, but our goal really
(10:58):
is to do prevention to prevent theheart disease in the first place. So
I think that's that's a really big, big topic that I really aim for,
especially in my clinic, is todecrease some of these risk factors.
I think one of the big thingsthat I get a lot in my clinic
though, is where people really arewondering whether or not heart medications are really
(11:22):
necessary. I usually get these patientsfrom or usually get these questions for my
patients who are not symptomatic, butthey have risk factors and they do have
increased risk of developing heart disease inthe next five or ten years. Many
of these patients don't really want totake medications, especially if they don't have
symptoms, So that I think isa really good teaching opportunity and education opportunity
(11:46):
in my clinics. So I alwaystry to educate my patients to try to
tell them, you know, thatthe medications aren't permanent necessarily, they're really
used to help to help bring cholesterol, help bring blood pressure, or help
bring blood sugars lower. So Ithink it's a common misconception that once you
start medications that you're on it forever, or that somehow your body's failed and
(12:07):
you'll become dependent on these medications forever. So I think in some cases,
I think lifestyle can definitely help youget off the medications. But I think
that's probably a really common question,is just whether or not the medications are
permanent, or whether or not medicationsare going to make their body not be
able to do the function that itwas supposed to. But I think the
(12:28):
medications are there to help, andI think lowering the risk factors is really
what the goal is. So Ithink that taking medications and decreasing these risk
factors have been shown to decrease heartdisease. So I think that that's kind
of the most common question that Iget from from a lot of my patients,
And what are the most common riskfactors for heart disease? So there
are several of them. I wouldsay the biggest risk factors by far are
(12:54):
diabetes and smoking, So the twoof them are major risk factors. Other
things like high cholesterol and high bloodpressure also do play a role in having
heart disease, but diabetes and smoking, and a lot of times, like
when I have to do a stenseor put stents in for people that are
(13:15):
having heart attacks. Frequently we thinkof heart disease as for older, older
patients, but a lot of timeswhen I'm putting stents in younger patients that's
even sometimes in their thirties or forties, a lot of it has to do
with them having very poorly controlled diabetesor smoking. So I would say those
are major risk factors that it canreally really affect the heart pretty significantly,
(13:35):
even at a younger age. Sowith thinking about diabetes, and you have
to think about what you put inyour body, right, because exactly that
is preventable. Diabetes are preventable.So what kinds of foods are really heart
healthy? Yeah, so, Imean there's many different types of foods that
can be heart healthy. So reallywhat we want to focus on those lowering
(13:58):
saturated fats. Saturated fats are badfats that increases your LDL, which is
the bad cholesterol. So those arethings like you know, like butter or
things with a lot of fat.A lot of oils have saturated fats,
red meats have saturated fats. Otherthings that we also focus on is lowering
(14:20):
carbohydrates so that those are obviously foodsthat can lead to diabetes, but lowering
carbohydrates and decreasing process sugars so Imean sweets, cookies, handy things like
that, and then kind of increasingyeah exactly right, always the good stuff,
(14:41):
and then kind of increasing fruits,vegetables and foods that have Omega three
fatty acids. So unfaturated fats arehealthier fats. Wait, let me ask
you maybe a silly question. Igo to the grocery store, I'm trying
to buy heart healthy foods, right, and I've read my lists and things,
and then I see labels on likecereal boxes, and it's like this
(15:01):
is heart healthy and things like that. Can we trust all of that?
What did some of those labels?Yeah? Yeah, I mean I think
you're right. I think that kindof the branding and the advertising, sure,
But I think what's more important isto kind of turn it to its
side and look at the nutritional facts. I think the nutritional facts really are
going to tell you what's in there. So you can look how much sodium
is in there, so salt canincrease blood pressure, increase the amount of
(15:26):
fluid that your body holds onto.So you can look at your sodium content
in that. You can look athow much saturated fat there is, how
much unsaturated fat there is, howmuch carbohydrates are in there. So I
think the nutritional facts are definitely helpful. And I always tell my patients that
actually in clinic when they don't knowwhere to start, first thing is when
you go to the grocery store,just look at the nutritional facts of the
(15:48):
things that you eat and see ifthere's room for improvement there. So,
if we want to do like alow salt diet, if people are getting
canned soups. If you turn itover and look, there's a lot of
sodium that's in can soups. Andso I think just being aware of it
and looking at it, and soI think that that it's definitely helpful to
kind of be aware of what toavoid and that way, when you go
to the grocery store, you cankind of direct your attention to the to
(16:11):
the nutritional facts andcy what to avoid. Yeah, oh, great advice,
great advice. So you obviously jugglea whole bunch of stuff, from practicing
at low Melinda to helping mold futurestudents, which is very very cool.
How do you stay true to yourown health? It's not always easy.
I think that it's it's it's definitelydifficult, and I think it's it's much
(16:32):
easier said than done, but it'sit's just important to kind of make it
a point in your life to findwhere there is room for improvement. So
I always try to follow kind ofa healthy diet which has low carbs,
low saturated fats, and for me, I found meal prepping can be very
helpful, especially during a busy worldyear. Yeah. Mm, so that
(16:53):
that definitely is something that can helpbecause I think it's very hard during the
week if you get home laid andto have to just start making dinner from
scratch. You know, it's veryeasy to just go to fast food,
which is obviously not always healthy.And then during the day too, you
know, I always try to stayactive, so I take the stairs as
much as I can in the hospital, and I always try to get more
(17:15):
than ten thousand steps in, especiallyon days where I may not be able
to have like a dedicated thirty minutesof exercise when I get home. For
me personally, I find that weekendsare a really good time to kind of
catch up on exercise, work workouts, plan healthy meals. Another thing that
kind of goes hand in hand withmy job is stress. So even when
(17:36):
I'm at home, I find myselfthat I'm usually like attached to my phone
going through my patient messages, respondingto patient and physician requests. So I
think stress is often overlooked as amajor cardiac risk factor. So in my
own life, I've found that distressingis very important for me in order to
be able to kind of continue todo what I love, which is which
is being a doctor and treating patients. So for me. I mean,
(18:00):
I find hanging out with my familyto be to be a nice stress relief
and then kind of doing other thingskind of around the house that help distract
me and relieve stress. Yeah,that makes perfect sense. I know,
I think that, And for me, I will say stress is probably would
be the biggest risk for me becauseyou know, especially when you're a mom,
(18:21):
and I'm sure so many people canrelate to this, you know,
just being busy and constantly on thego. And then yeah, and then
how do I make sure my kidsare eating healthy too, even though we've
got three places we have to beat in within the same hour, you
know, or things like that,that's when you turn to fast food.
That's when you do those kinds ofthings. So I love that you use
your weekends like that as well.That seems like a really smart way and
(18:41):
even a whole family could do it. You know, let's go for a
walk every Saturday morning, We're goingfor a walk. Let's just everybody get
out. It's good family time andit's good stress relief and it's also good
for your heart too, absolutely absolutelyright. Well, actually, speaking of
being busy, what are some moretips on our listeners can incorporate into their
own personal health routines, especially thosewith busy schedules like yours. I know
(19:06):
you said meal prepping, right,Yeah, meal prepping definitely is a good
one. And I think that there'smany different aspects in terms of coming up
with like a healthy routine. Sosome of these things are obviously eating healthy,
being active, sleeping regularly, sowe really want to make sure that
people are getting seven to eight hoursof sleep per night, minimizing stress,
and kind of minimizing exposure to badthings, so things like alcohol, tobacco,
(19:32):
things that really aren't good for yourhealth and especially not heart health.
I think that really it starts withreally simple choices. So I don't think
it's saying that you absolutely have tocompletely uproot your life and your job and
in order to incorporate this. Ithink it starts with simple choices. So,
you know, simple things like atlunch, maybe choosing the salad as
(19:52):
opposed to the greasy food, orduring a lunch break, maybe taking a
thirty minute walk, so you're incorporatingexercise into your day. I mean,
I think that there's definitely moments inour day where things maybe are a little
quieter and that may be an opportunityto be more active. We generally like
(20:12):
people to exercise at least one hundredand fifty minutes a week. So if
you kind of break that down,that's about thirty minutes a day for five
days a week. So not completelyor not completely difficult. I think.
I think that a lot of peoplewill be able to do that, maybe
working out a couple times during thework week and then a couple of times
on the weekend, and you reallywill kind of get that exercise in.
(20:37):
And I think, like you hadmentioned, I think definitely doing things if
you have a family, doing thingswith your family, So going for a
hike, going out and walking around, I think that that's beneficial for the
whole family, and you enjoy it, and so it doesn't feel like you're
doing a chore. It doesn't feellike you're doing something extra. You're just
spending time with your family. Yeah, that's my favorite. That is because
(20:59):
I hate when I feel like Ihave to work out. Yeah, I'm
like, oh, I have toget on the treadmil I would rather go,
Hey, let me just go fora walk. Let's go to the
park. You guys can play andI'll walk around the park for a little
bit. Love that. Okay,so lots of great information. I love
it. I'm all about it.I wrote down a few things. One
hundred and fifty minutes a week.You said, that's about thirty minutes for
(21:22):
five days, which seems really doable. It's scary when you think about it
and you break it down it's onehundred and fifty minutes, but really it
is doable thirty minutes if you usea little bit of that time during your
lunch break. I see the womenin our business plaza here going for walks,
and I think it's so cool.I'm like, oh, that's really
smart. Look at you guys doingthat at your lunch break. So there's
(21:45):
some really great stuff. Let's beforewe go, can you give us three
key takeaways that you hope our listenerswould adopt from our conversation today. Yeah?
Sure, So, I mean,I think the first thing I think,
which we've kind of reiterated and talkedabout, I think maintaining a heart
healthy lifestyle is really important for yourpersonal well being and your overall longevity.
(22:06):
So this will help you live longerand be happier. The second thing I
think is that anyone can start makinghealthier choices. Small changes that you can
make can have a drastic impact onyour heart. So it starts with small,
simple decisions. And I think thatthese effects, these positive effects that
you have, can last a lifetime. So it's really just starting from the
(22:29):
beginning and letting it grow. Andthe third thing I think that that's really
important is if you do feel likeyou have any heart symptom or you're interested
in kind of decreasing your risk forheart disease, then please reach out to
your doctor. I think it's reallyimportant to be your own advocate for your
health. You shouldn't be afraid toask questions how to prevent and treat heart
(22:51):
disease. So I think it's reallyimportant to seek help if you do feel
like you might have symptoms related toyour heart. That's wonderful advice. And
what I will say is what I'venoticed through the past few episodes of Covering
your Health is I feel like oneof the takeaways is always about advocating for
yourself. I feel that's like almostalways the case. Don't be nervous to
(23:12):
talk to your doctor. Just talkto them. That's what they're there for.
There are no dumb questions I mean, maybe there are dumb questions,
but I would hope that your doctorwouldn't say that you were dumb for asking
that question. Oh so great,Thank you so much. Would you like
to leave us with anything else,any other dishes of info before you go?
(23:33):
No, I mean, I thinkthat's that. I think just just
kind of take it one step outof time, and I think that that
heart health is definitely attainable for everybody. Wonderful. Thank you so much,
doctor card. We like really appreciateyou and your time, and you're a
teacher, you're all things, sowe appreciate having you here on covering your
(23:53):
Health Government and Reves. I hopeyou have a wonderful rest of your day,
and thank you and happy Heart month. Thank you, thank you for
inviting me. It's been great.Thanks and again big thank you for listening
to Covering your Health with Evelyn Ereva'sI hope you found this episode informative.
I hope that you feel empowered totake your health into your own hands.
(24:15):
Remember, heart health is crucial fora long and healthy life, and there's
several steps you can take to keepyour heart healthy. We learned today just
rewind, just back up and listenagain if you need to again. A
big special thank you to doctor VinishaGarg for sharing her expertise with us today.
She's just so wonderful, just great. And if you have any questions
(24:37):
or concerns about your heart health,please talk to your own doctor. Thank
you so much for listening, andbe sure to subscribe okay and reach out
to me at Evelyn Eriva's on allsocial media platforms. I love your feedback.
We'll see you next time. Oncovering your Health with Evelyn Ariva's
Welcome to Covering your Health, awellness podcast dedicated to covering all areas of
living a healthy and happy lifestyle,from healthy hearts to understanding health plans and
everything in between. Each episode willprovide you with a better understanding of managing
your health, preventative care, andstaying on the right path for your family's
wellness journey. The Covering Your Healthpodcast is presented by i EhP, now
(00:26):
your host Kevilina Revez. Wow,I can't believe it. Here we are
seven episodes in and with every show, I'm absorbing so much knowledge. I
feel so powerful. I feel likea student again. Actually, I'm learning
just so much, and I hopeyou are too, and you're feeling engaged,
and you're feeling just good about yourown health and maybe making small steps
(00:51):
to taking full charge for your ownwellness. Remember, you could reach out
to me on social media to makesuggestions or just a comment on a topic.
We love that. Both I andIEHP love to hear your feedback.
Now today we are discussing matters ofthe heart. February is American Heart Health
Month, so we're gonna be talkingabout all things heart health. The most
(01:15):
effective ways to prevent heart disease andsteps you can take to keep your heart
healthy. Get ready to learn alot. Maybe even grab a pencil so
that you can write some stuff down. I always end up taking a ton
of notes every single episode. Asyou know, I'm listening to the experts.
They know what they're talking about.Okay, well, here we go.
Our guest today is doctor Vinisha Garg. She's the director of cardio Oncology
(01:38):
at Loma Linda University Medical Center.Doctor Garg is a renowned expert in her
field and has been working tirelessly topromote heart health and raise awareness about the
importance of cardiovascular care. Thank youso much for being here, doctor Garg.
Thank you. It's nice to behere. I appreciate it. I
know that what you do is verytime consuming, so sharing a little bit
(02:00):
of your time today is much appreciated. We're going to start right with you
first, though, because I lovefinding out how our experts got to be
the experts and what made them wantto go into that particular field. For
you, cardio oncology, tell mehow you landed in this path. Sure,
(02:23):
yeah, maybe I'll start back kindof in the beginning. So I
grew up in southern California. Istayed here until high school, and then
I went to college and medical schoolin New York, and then kind of
throughout my journey, I've kind ofbeen influenced by doctors. So I grew
up around medicine. So medicine andhealth has always played a really important role
(02:45):
for me. I've seen a lotof family and friends do some pretty amazing
things like saving people's lives, andI've really seen a lot of it firsthand.
So it was very influential in termsof me pursuing my own career goals.
So throughout kind of schooling training,I knew medicine was a perfect fit
for me, and so after college, I decided to After college at medical
(03:07):
school, I decided to kind ofcome back to California, and I decided
to do my internal medicine residency atUCLA. So during my residency, I
developed passion for the heart and reallytaking care of cardiac patients. Kind of
seeing cardiac patients both throughout the spectrum, so through preventive health, through acute
(03:30):
heart attacks, and kind of followingthem up in the clinic and seeing how
well they do afterwards. I hadsome pretty amazing mentors while I was in
my residency at UCLA, so Idecided to stay there and complete my cardiology
fellowship there. While I was inmy fellowship, I was drawn to a
sub specialty called interventional cardiology. Thisis where you do invasive heart procedures.
(03:54):
So mostly what I do is Iplaced stints to open up heart artory blockages
when people are having heart attacks.Oh my gosh, that sounds like that.
That's the challenging stuff. That's thescary stuff in my mind. Yeah,
yeah, exactly. So, likeI see a lot of patients when
they come in, they have likecrushing chest pain, and then I'll put
the stents in and they get immediatereliefs. So it's so gratifying to see
(04:15):
that happen. And so that's reallywhat I pursued after my general cardiology fellowship,
so I did an interventional fellowship,and then when I was in my
training, I also was very fortunateto have some really great mentors who kind
of opened the door and kind ofmy eyes to see what cardio oncology is,
(04:36):
which is a field that kind ofblends cardiac care of patients who have
cancer, and so I see peoplethroughout all different stages of cancer, so
before they start their chemotherapy, duringtheir chemotherapy or treatment, and afterwards for
surveillance because a lot of medications,a lot of treatments can affect the heart,
(04:57):
and so it's nice to have acardio oncologist manage those issues, make
sure that that patients who are gettingoncologic care can actually continue their care and
they don't have to really worry aboutthe heart effects of it because somebody's kind
of monitoring them as they go.Oh, that explains it perfectly for me,
because I was thinking to myself,I don't think I've ever heard of
a cardio oncologist. I never reallythought of it. Those two things I
(05:20):
guess related in my mind, butthey're perfectly related. They absolutely are.
If you're on medicine that can affectyour heart, you need somebody who can
guide you through both parts of thatexactly. Exactly. Yeah. And it's
it's not it's it's a relatively newfield, so not too many places have
them, but it's definitely growing andit's definitely very, very very important in
(05:40):
it. I think as we continueto move forward, I think that there's
going to you're gonna see a lotmore cardio oncologists kind of around the community.
Yeah, no, no, Ilove that. I think that's wonderful.
And I think for some people orfor young people, I would say,
who are going into this field,Now there's another avenue that they can
kind of go into. And essence, this field is growing. How wonderful.
(06:01):
Okay, well exactly exactly. Somatters of the heart, that is
what you are all about. AndI do love that. And it makes
sense that February is heart month becausewell it's the love month, right,
we want it all the matters ofthe heart. So let's talk about it.
Let's get into this. Why isheart health education just so important?
(06:23):
Yeah, I mean so heart healthis very important. So it's extremely important
for your longevity. So the heart, as you know, is one of
the most important organs in the body. It's really responsible for pumping all the
nutrient rich, the good blood throughoutall the organs in the body. It
keeps the brain, it keeps allthe other organs functioning properly. So it's
(06:46):
very crucial to keep the heart healthybecause the heart will help keep all the
other organs healthy. So heart healthmeans kind of decreasing the risk of having
a heart attack, decreasing the riskof having strung peripheral vascular disease, which
is when people kind of have buildup of plaque in their legs or other
arteries. So similarly, people canhave plaque build up and heart arteries and
(07:11):
that can cause a heart attack.People can also get plaque build up in
their legs and other arteries too.That's called perpheral vascular disease. So it's
very important to kind of prevent that. And then on kind of another area
that's really nice in terms of hearthealth. If you do improve heart health,
it's actually been shown to have otherbenefits in terms of lowering the risk
of dementia. People usually have increasedenergy when they're healthy. From a heart
(07:36):
standpoint, there's less depression, andthere tends to be less chronic illnesses.
Oh wow, that is that coversa whole lot of things right there.
Wow. Okay, So I wasreading a stat that, according to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,about six hundred and ninety five thousand people
in the US died from heart diseasein one year in twenty twenty one.
(08:01):
That's an incredibly scary, scary number. What are some of the symptoms that
we should be looking for with heartdisease. Yeah, no, you're absolutely
right. I mean hear heart diseaseis the biggest killer in this country for
both men and women. So it'sa major concern and it's a major point
of prevention. I think, Ithink this really kind of opens our eyes
to really try to educate the communityto prevent heart disease because we really want
(08:26):
that number to be lower, anda lot of this heart disease can be
preventable. So the symptoms of heartdisease, it's a variable depending on what
type of heart condition that you have. So there's different types of heart conditions.
There's things like heart artery blockages,which are things like that can cause
heart attack. People can have heartarrhythmias or abnormal heart rhythms, people can
(08:50):
have heart failure, and different typesof heart diagnoses like that. But kind
of as a a general group ofsymptoms are things like chest pain or chest
pressure. If people can have shortnessof breath, especially when you're trying to
exert yourself or do activity, younotice more shortness of breath, swelling in
your legs, people passing out,or people feeling really lightheaded. All of
(09:13):
these could be signs of heart disease, and I think it's important to kind
of mention though, that these arethe symptoms of having heart disease. But
a lot of the risk factors thatlead to heart disease that we really aim
to prevent are frequently asymptomatic, Sothings like having high cholesterol or high blood
(09:33):
pressure. A lot of times peopleare not symptomatic with that, so people
don't feel if they have high cholesterol, and they may or may not feel
if they have high blood pressure.But both of these are really important in
terms of maintaining heart health. Wow. Okay, so that actually leads to
the next thing I was thinking inmy head. I ended up finding out
(09:54):
that I had high blood pressure acouple of years ago, and I remember
feeling like I was I was tired, and I was having shortness of breath,
and I remember feeling those those symptomsand not thinking anything had to do
with my heart. I was thinking, I'm just really stressed out, I'm
really tired, or I'm you know, I'm working with the kids. I
have three kids, you know,we're very busy and all those things.
(10:15):
And it took me to going maybeI should get this checked down at the
talkter to kind of going and figuringthat out. Yeah, that actually could
have led to something a lot worseif I hadn't figured that out. And
yeah, exactly statistically scary because ofthe way that so many people lose their
life to heart disease, which isjust so scary. You've been working in
(10:37):
this field for you know, morethan a decade. So what are some
of those really like commonly asked questionsthat you get from patients. So I
get a lot of questions in termsof how to decrease like cardiac cardiac disease
risk. I really could believe inpreventive health. I think that is really
the goal. We're sure we couldtreat heart conditions, but our goal really
(10:58):
is to do prevention to prevent theheart disease in the first place. So
I think that's that's a really big, big topic that I really aim for,
especially in my clinic, is todecrease some of these risk factors.
I think one of the big thingsthat I get a lot in my clinic
though, is where people really arewondering whether or not heart medications are really
(11:22):
necessary. I usually get these patientsfrom or usually get these questions for my
patients who are not symptomatic, butthey have risk factors and they do have
increased risk of developing heart disease inthe next five or ten years. Many
of these patients don't really want totake medications, especially if they don't have
symptoms, So that I think isa really good teaching opportunity and education opportunity
(11:46):
in my clinics. So I alwaystry to educate my patients to try to
tell them, you know, thatthe medications aren't permanent necessarily, they're really
used to help to help bring cholesterol, help bring blood pressure, or help
bring blood sugars lower. So Ithink it's a common misconception that once you
start medications that you're on it forever, or that somehow your body's failed and
(12:07):
you'll become dependent on these medications forever. So I think in some cases,
I think lifestyle can definitely help youget off the medications. But I think
that's probably a really common question,is just whether or not the medications are
permanent, or whether or not medicationsare going to make their body not be
able to do the function that itwas supposed to. But I think the
(12:28):
medications are there to help, andI think lowering the risk factors is really
what the goal is. So Ithink that taking medications and decreasing these risk
factors have been shown to decrease heartdisease. So I think that that's kind
of the most common question that Iget from from a lot of my patients,
And what are the most common riskfactors for heart disease? So there
are several of them. I wouldsay the biggest risk factors by far are
(12:54):
diabetes and smoking, So the twoof them are major risk factors. Other
things like high cholesterol and high bloodpressure also do play a role in having
heart disease, but diabetes and smoking, and a lot of times, like
when I have to do a stenseor put stents in for people that are
(13:15):
having heart attacks. Frequently we thinkof heart disease as for older, older
patients, but a lot of timeswhen I'm putting stents in younger patients that's
even sometimes in their thirties or forties, a lot of it has to do
with them having very poorly controlled diabetesor smoking. So I would say those
are major risk factors that it canreally really affect the heart pretty significantly,
(13:35):
even at a younger age. Sowith thinking about diabetes, and you have
to think about what you put inyour body, right, because exactly that
is preventable. Diabetes are preventable.So what kinds of foods are really heart
healthy? Yeah, so, Imean there's many different types of foods that
can be heart healthy. So reallywhat we want to focus on those lowering
(13:58):
saturated fats. Saturated fats are badfats that increases your LDL, which is
the bad cholesterol. So those arethings like you know, like butter or
things with a lot of fat.A lot of oils have saturated fats,
red meats have saturated fats. Otherthings that we also focus on is lowering
(14:20):
carbohydrates so that those are obviously foodsthat can lead to diabetes, but lowering
carbohydrates and decreasing process sugars so Imean sweets, cookies, handy things like
that, and then kind of increasingyeah exactly right, always the good stuff,
(14:41):
and then kind of increasing fruits,vegetables and foods that have Omega three
fatty acids. So unfaturated fats arehealthier fats. Wait, let me ask
you maybe a silly question. Igo to the grocery store, I'm trying
to buy heart healthy foods, right, and I've read my lists and things,
and then I see labels on likecereal boxes, and it's like this
(15:01):
is heart healthy and things like that. Can we trust all of that?
What did some of those labels?Yeah? Yeah, I mean I think
you're right. I think that kindof the branding and the advertising, sure,
But I think what's more important isto kind of turn it to its
side and look at the nutritional facts. I think the nutritional facts really are
going to tell you what's in there. So you can look how much sodium
is in there, so salt canincrease blood pressure, increase the amount of
(15:26):
fluid that your body holds onto.So you can look at your sodium content
in that. You can look athow much saturated fat there is, how
much unsaturated fat there is, howmuch carbohydrates are in there. So I
think the nutritional facts are definitely helpful. And I always tell my patients that
actually in clinic when they don't knowwhere to start, first thing is when
you go to the grocery store,just look at the nutritional facts of the
(15:48):
things that you eat and see ifthere's room for improvement there. So,
if we want to do like alow salt diet, if people are getting
canned soups. If you turn itover and look, there's a lot of
sodium that's in can soups. Andso I think just being aware of it
and looking at it, and soI think that that it's definitely helpful to
kind of be aware of what toavoid and that way, when you go
to the grocery store, you cankind of direct your attention to the to
(16:11):
the nutritional facts andcy what to avoid. Yeah, oh, great advice,
great advice. So you obviously jugglea whole bunch of stuff, from practicing
at low Melinda to helping mold futurestudents, which is very very cool.
How do you stay true to yourown health? It's not always easy.
I think that it's it's it's definitelydifficult, and I think it's it's much
(16:32):
easier said than done, but it'sit's just important to kind of make it
a point in your life to findwhere there is room for improvement. So
I always try to follow kind ofa healthy diet which has low carbs,
low saturated fats, and for me, I found meal prepping can be very
helpful, especially during a busy worldyear. Yeah. Mm, so that
(16:53):
that definitely is something that can helpbecause I think it's very hard during the
week if you get home laid andto have to just start making dinner from
scratch. You know, it's veryeasy to just go to fast food,
which is obviously not always healthy.And then during the day too, you
know, I always try to stayactive, so I take the stairs as
much as I can in the hospital, and I always try to get more
(17:15):
than ten thousand steps in, especiallyon days where I may not be able
to have like a dedicated thirty minutesof exercise when I get home. For
me personally, I find that weekendsare a really good time to kind of
catch up on exercise, work workouts, plan healthy meals. Another thing that
kind of goes hand in hand withmy job is stress. So even when
(17:36):
I'm at home, I find myselfthat I'm usually like attached to my phone
going through my patient messages, respondingto patient and physician requests. So I
think stress is often overlooked as amajor cardiac risk factor. So in my
own life, I've found that distressingis very important for me in order to
be able to kind of continue todo what I love, which is which
is being a doctor and treating patients. So for me. I mean,
(18:00):
I find hanging out with my familyto be to be a nice stress relief
and then kind of doing other thingskind of around the house that help distract
me and relieve stress. Yeah,that makes perfect sense. I know,
I think that, And for me, I will say stress is probably would
be the biggest risk for me becauseyou know, especially when you're a mom,
(18:21):
and I'm sure so many people canrelate to this, you know,
just being busy and constantly on thego. And then yeah, and then
how do I make sure my kidsare eating healthy too, even though we've
got three places we have to beat in within the same hour, you
know, or things like that,that's when you turn to fast food.
That's when you do those kinds ofthings. So I love that you use
your weekends like that as well.That seems like a really smart way and
(18:41):
even a whole family could do it. You know, let's go for a
walk every Saturday morning, We're goingfor a walk. Let's just everybody get
out. It's good family time andit's good stress relief and it's also good
for your heart too, absolutely absolutelyright. Well, actually, speaking of
being busy, what are some moretips on our listeners can incorporate into their
own personal health routines, especially thosewith busy schedules like yours. I know
(19:06):
you said meal prepping, right,Yeah, meal prepping definitely is a good
one. And I think that there'smany different aspects in terms of coming up
with like a healthy routine. Sosome of these things are obviously eating healthy,
being active, sleeping regularly, sowe really want to make sure that
people are getting seven to eight hoursof sleep per night, minimizing stress,
and kind of minimizing exposure to badthings, so things like alcohol, tobacco,
(19:32):
things that really aren't good for yourhealth and especially not heart health.
I think that really it starts withreally simple choices. So I don't think
it's saying that you absolutely have tocompletely uproot your life and your job and
in order to incorporate this. Ithink it starts with simple choices. So,
you know, simple things like atlunch, maybe choosing the salad as
(19:52):
opposed to the greasy food, orduring a lunch break, maybe taking a
thirty minute walk, so you're incorporatingexercise into your day. I mean,
I think that there's definitely moments inour day where things maybe are a little
quieter and that may be an opportunityto be more active. We generally like
(20:12):
people to exercise at least one hundredand fifty minutes a week. So if
you kind of break that down,that's about thirty minutes a day for five
days a week. So not completelyor not completely difficult. I think.
I think that a lot of peoplewill be able to do that, maybe
working out a couple times during thework week and then a couple of times
on the weekend, and you reallywill kind of get that exercise in.
(20:37):
And I think, like you hadmentioned, I think definitely doing things if
you have a family, doing thingswith your family, So going for a
hike, going out and walking around, I think that that's beneficial for the
whole family, and you enjoy it, and so it doesn't feel like you're
doing a chore. It doesn't feellike you're doing something extra. You're just
spending time with your family. Yeah, that's my favorite. That is because
(20:59):
I hate when I feel like Ihave to work out. Yeah, I'm
like, oh, I have toget on the treadmil I would rather go,
Hey, let me just go fora walk. Let's go to the
park. You guys can play andI'll walk around the park for a little
bit. Love that. Okay,so lots of great information. I love
it. I'm all about it.I wrote down a few things. One
hundred and fifty minutes a week.You said, that's about thirty minutes for
(21:22):
five days, which seems really doable. It's scary when you think about it
and you break it down it's onehundred and fifty minutes, but really it
is doable thirty minutes if you usea little bit of that time during your
lunch break. I see the womenin our business plaza here going for walks,
and I think it's so cool.I'm like, oh, that's really
smart. Look at you guys doingthat at your lunch break. So there's
(21:45):
some really great stuff. Let's beforewe go, can you give us three
key takeaways that you hope our listenerswould adopt from our conversation today. Yeah?
Sure, So, I mean,I think the first thing I think,
which we've kind of reiterated and talkedabout, I think maintaining a heart
healthy lifestyle is really important for yourpersonal well being and your overall longevity.
(22:06):
So this will help you live longerand be happier. The second thing I
think is that anyone can start makinghealthier choices. Small changes that you can
make can have a drastic impact onyour heart. So it starts with small,
simple decisions. And I think thatthese effects, these positive effects that
you have, can last a lifetime. So it's really just starting from the
(22:29):
beginning and letting it grow. Andthe third thing I think that that's really
important is if you do feel likeyou have any heart symptom or you're interested
in kind of decreasing your risk forheart disease, then please reach out to
your doctor. I think it's reallyimportant to be your own advocate for your
health. You shouldn't be afraid toask questions how to prevent and treat heart
(22:51):
disease. So I think it's reallyimportant to seek help if you do feel
like you might have symptoms related toyour heart. That's wonderful advice. And
what I will say is what I'venoticed through the past few episodes of Covering
your Health is I feel like oneof the takeaways is always about advocating for
yourself. I feel that's like almostalways the case. Don't be nervous to
(23:12):
talk to your doctor. Just talkto them. That's what they're there for.
There are no dumb questions I mean, maybe there are dumb questions,
but I would hope that your doctorwouldn't say that you were dumb for asking
that question. Oh so great,Thank you so much. Would you like
to leave us with anything else,any other dishes of info before you go?
(23:33):
No, I mean, I thinkthat's that. I think just just
kind of take it one step outof time, and I think that that
heart health is definitely attainable for everybody. Wonderful. Thank you so much,
doctor card. We like really appreciateyou and your time, and you're a
teacher, you're all things, sowe appreciate having you here on covering your
(23:53):
Health Government and Reves. I hopeyou have a wonderful rest of your day,
and thank you and happy Heart month. Thank you, thank you for
inviting me. It's been great.Thanks and again big thank you for listening
to Covering your Health with Evelyn Ereva'sI hope you found this episode informative.
I hope that you feel empowered totake your health into your own hands.
(24:15):
Remember, heart health is crucial fora long and healthy life, and there's
several steps you can take to keepyour heart healthy. We learned today just
rewind, just back up and listenagain if you need to again. A
big special thank you to doctor VinishaGarg for sharing her expertise with us today.
She's just so wonderful, just great. And if you have any questions
(24:37):
or concerns about your heart health,please talk to your own doctor. Thank
you so much for listening, andbe sure to subscribe okay and reach out
to me at Evelyn Eriva's on allsocial media platforms. I love your feedback.
We'll see you next time. Oncovering your Health with Evelyn Ariva's
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