Healthy appetites and bad hearts- Ambitious, punctual, successful - and at risk of a heart attack.

Dr Saad Al-Tamimy’s simple truths to avoid heart failure.

You can fight off the world’s greatest killer with a carrot. Forego the image of a dark, dripping alley for an every day life scene; you’ve just taken advantage of everyone’s howls of laughter at your latest witticism to discretely loosen your belt after a well-deserved Friday brunch - and now you take a first grateful drag of a cigarette. There’s nothing like good food and conversation at the end of the week. The visionary behind your doom is not an eccentric Bollywood director but Dr Saad Al-Tamimy, lnternalist and Cardiologist at lbn Al Nafees Hospital located in Mahooz.

Well educated in Baghdad from the Board of Internal Medicine and holding a Fellowship in Cardiology, Dr Saad has fled the violence against intelligentsia in his homeland, leaving behind a large private practice and carrying with him his expertise and a message that heart disease is the biggest killer in the world. With the growing success of Bahrain’s own Think Pink campaign and global celebrity spokespersons such as Kylie Minogue, you would be forgiven for thinking Breast Cancer, a very real danger, was the bigger threat. When it comes to our hearts it is not so much a matter of not knowing what is good for us, as simply not caring until it is too late - which makes for a terrific tear jerker at the cinema but in reality, what’s so romantic about heart failure?

Congenital heart disease aside, Dr Saad says a healthy heart is simply a matter of a healthy body. In other words, make the right lifestyle choices. You’ve heard it all before; if you smoke, stop. Control your cholesterol, your blood pressure and if you have it - and more and more people in Bahrain do - control your diabetes.

Essentially, you can eat your way to a healthy heart

“Diabetes is a coronary heart disease equivalent because the one disease - diabetes - can lead to the other - heart disease, especially if left untreated or with an added risk factor such as obesity and smoking” says Dr Saad, who places smoking, hypertension, diabetes and obesity as the most common instigators of a weakened heart.

The self-control he’s also advising does not have to be restrictive but you will have to sweat - for thirty minutes to one hour three to five times a week - window shopping at the mall does not count but a brisk, heart-thumping walk does. “Metabolic syndrome, caused by obesity and increased Body Mass Index (BMI) is another risk factor in coronary heart disease. A good indication of an ideal weight is waistline and men should seek a maximum waistline of 102cm and women should look to be no more than 88cm.” Avoid high fat content foods such as red meats, including cholesterol filled tikka and kebabs, as well as egg yolk and soft triangle cheeses. Dr Saad recommends instead eating just one egg per week, as every egg contains 300mg of cholesterol, and low-fat cheese. Do eat lots of vegetables, especially those with green leaves, as well as fruits.

Essentially, you can eat your way to a healthy heart, not least because the heart is a surprisingly adaptive organ, one that is able to undo the damage caused by hypertension - such as a thickened ventricle wall - in one month with proper treatment and early diagnosis.

Of course, it works both ways and a return to an increased blood pressure will cause the heart to again protect itself by thickening the ventricle wall, which, whilst it may prevent the artery from bursting, does hinder that artery’s ability to effectively channel blood flow. Ultimately, the drugs will work but how you dangerously you live your life is your choice.

lbn Al Na fees Hospital is located in Mahooz, Tel. +973 1782 8282 and 17828230.

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