Did you over-indulge during the Super Bowl festivities, Christmas, or the last family holiday? You’re not the only one – holiday heart syndrome and atrial fibrillation (afib) is not uncommon after eating too much. Food can help you proactively manage your health – or it can lead to missed heart beats.
In addition to explaining more about afib, today’s guest talks about figuring out what fuels your body the best and creating your own personal diet. Mellanie True Hills is the CEO and founder of StopAfib.org, a patient advocacy organization to help those living with atrial fibrillation. Their mission is “to rid the world of strokes from afib and to give people living with afib their lives back.”
Key points
- What is atrial fibrillation? What does it feel like?
- Afib lead to stroke, heart failure and other health issues
- Cure to jet lag
- How to avoid afib: it can be related to diet, weight, sleep, etc.
- Exercise safely for the heart
- Holiday heart syndrome: overindulging during super bowl, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.
- Quest to find information can bring about food bullying when people don’t agree with recommendations or ideas or their pet diet may be less than ideal
- Nutrition research is a difficult area to study – there are confounders
- Don’t stress out over research that flip flops, food research is going to change
Fab quotes
“The heart needs water in order to function properly.”
“Make sure you’re doing all the healthy kinds of behaviors.”
“Sleep is really crucial for your heart health.”
“Competitive athletes have 5x the risk for afib as the rest of the population”
“Holiday heart syndrome can come as a shock when the heart goes out of order. It’s really crucial to get help.”
“Nutrition research is not necessarily held to the same kind of standard as drug and device.”
“Very often doctors don’t know about nutrition; they’re not really in the position to provide help.”
“Figure out what fuels your body the best and create your own personal diet.”
Links
- Website: https://stopafib.org/
- Facebook Instagram & Twitter: @stopafib
- Food Bullying: How to Avoid Buying BS
- Embrace your Heart