Diet and exercise can help ward off a dangerous cluster of conditions
Preventing the ‘Perfect Storm’
By Paula Neely
Chuck Sloan, a 52-year-old automobile wholesaler from Prince George County, “died” twice during an induced coma after quadruple bypass heart surgery six years ago.
But doctors shocked his heart back to life. When he woke up, Sloan knew things had to change. At 6 feet, 310 pounds, he had to lose weight, exercise more and reduce the stress in his life. “I was motivated to live for my family,” he said.
He tried working out at a gym, but that wasn’t for him. Instead, he bought a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and goes riding with his wife nearly every weekend. “I was a couch potato. Basically, I just needed to get off my butt,” he said. He also cut back on fried foods and thinks about what he’s eating now. “I realized that just because something tastes good, it doesn’t mean you need another helping,” he said. As a result, he’s dropped 40 pounds.
He also works part time instead of full time to minimize stress. “I quit worrying about material things,” he said.
Although Sloan still needs to take 13 pills and insulin every day, his blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes are under control, and he says he feels great, thanks to the care he receives from a team of cardiologists, endocrinologists and nutritional counselors coordinated by Cardiology Associates of Central Virginia.
One of three adults has CMS
His condition is known as cardiometabolic syndrome (CMS), a cluster of conditions including high blood pressure, elevated sugar levels, high triglycerides and low HDL, and excess body fat around the waist, — 38 inches or more for men and 35 inches or more for women.
Like so many boomers, Sloan made the mistake of thinking something like this would never happen to him. But one in three adults in the United States has three or more CMS factors, and CMS affects 40 percent of people in their 60s.
If you have three or more of the conditions, you have CMS, according to Dr. Ravinder S. Kohli, of Cardiology Associates of Central Virginia and medical director of Cardiac Metabolic Services for Bon Secours Richmond Health System. “It’s the ‘perfect storm,’ ” Kohli said. Patients with CMS have two to four times the risk of developing cardiovascular disease — the leading cause of death in the U.S. —and/or diabetes.
If you have just one of the components, you don’t have CMS, but Kohli advises boomers to seek help and make aggressive lifestyle changes to delay or prevent the development of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
He stressed that many CMS factors can be modified or treated by lifestyle changes. Exercise and dietary changes combined can help reduce waist size, lower weight, reduce high blood pressure, and improve glucose and cholesterol levels.
Some patients have also been able to reduce or stop taking medications.
'Boomers need to be Agressive about their Health'
Cardiology Associates of Central Virginia offers a team of cardiologists, who work closely with endocrinologists and nutritional counselors to develop coordinated individualized plans for each patient, with an emphasis on prevention with a focus on CMS.
“A patient may come to us wanting bariatric surgery as a means to prevent obesity and other risk factors, but before we recommend surgery, we work with them to see if prevention and lifestyle change is the successful solution,” Kohli said.
When other means of supervised weight loss have failed, bariatric surgery (often called weight loss surgery) can be an effective treatment for CMS. Kohli noted that Americans have gained an average of one pound per year during the last 30 years, and two-thirds of the U.S. population is overweight or obese.
“It costs nothing to change your lifestyle, but you need to be motivated,” Kohli said. “Boomers need to be more aggressive about their health. … They need to be healthy to enjoy their retirement.”
To find out if you are at risk for CMS, he recommends screening by your family doctor. You can also receive a free confidential online screening for CMS that takes 10 minutes or less and delivers personalized assessments and suggestions through Bon Secours Heart Aware Risk Assessment at
www.bonsecours.com/mybonsecours/my_health.asp.
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Paula Neely is a Richmond freelance writer and public relations consultant.
