Heart diseases are quite common in people of age group 30 to 40. These can be due to the unhealthy eating habits and lack of physical exercises. The causes may vary with the type of heart disease.
The common types of heart diseases are coronary heart disease that usually affects the arteries, valvular heart disease that affects the valves of the heart, cardio vascular disease that affects the heart as well as the blood vessels, the veins and the arteries, and cardiomyopathy that is a disease of the cardiac muscles. Heart disease due to high blood pressure is termed as hypertensive blood pressure.
The important symptoms of heart diseases are shortness of breath, chest pain or pain down the arm or pain in the abdomen, fatigue, swelling of the legs and feet, light-headedness etc. Palpitation, cold hands and feet, fainting and perspiration are some of the other symptoms. Sometimes these symptoms would not show and sudden strokes may happen threatening the life of the patient. A patient who has diabetics may not even experience the pain and would be unaware of sudden strokes causing death.
Heart diseases if not treated properly can cause paralysis or sudden death. It is necessary to consult cardiac doctors to diagnose the type of disease the person is suffering and take the proper treatment and medications.
Diet plays an important role in managing and controlling heart diseases. The patient should take fat free and salt free diet. A diet rich in fat, butter, cheese, pig mutton, sheep mutton and other cholesterol producing foods should be strictly prohibited.
The patient should take meals that include cereals, vegetables, seeds and fruits. He should avoid salt, sugar, white bread and flour preparations. Essential fatty acids (EFA) usually reduce the serum cholesterol. EFA are present in nuts, soybean, walnut oil, canola oil and flaxseed oil. Fish such as salmon, tuna, cod, flounder, mackerel, shrimp, bluefish and herring are also good sources. Lecithin is beneficial in reducing fatty deposit in the arteries. It is present in raw, crude vegetable oils grains and seeds.
A healthy diet for heart disease must consist of vegetables in raw form or half-boiled cabbage, carrot, beetroot, cucumber, onion, tomato, and whole meal bread. Fruits such as apples, pineapples, oranges, grapes are beneficial to heart patient. The patient should take grape juice, orange juice or lemon juice along with warm water. Breakfast must also contain the above fruits. Patient can take coconut water, one or two cups in between. The diabetic patients must be careful in taking sweet fruits.
Vitamin C helps prevent heart attack and reduce high blood pressure. Indian gooseberry (amla) and its preparations as chyavanaprasha are very good for heart patients. The vitamin B complex group of vitamins is also beneficial. Raw onion and garlic juice helps in reducing cholesterol. Honey prevents heart attacks if taken one teaspoonful after food. It prevents palpitation and chest pain.
1. Garlic (lahsun) is a valuable home remedy for heart disease. Swallow 3-4 cloves of garlic on an empty stomach in the morning.
2. Take powder of carom seeds (ajwain) and asafoetida (hing) twice after meals with water.
3. Pound some bark of terminalia arjuna (arjuna) and take one teaspoon of the powder two times along with milk or water. This is one of the best home remedies for heart disease.
4. Powdered cloves can be taken two times a day.
5. Boil one teaspoon of the powder of terminalia arjuna (arjuna) bark in a mixture of one cup milk and one cup water till it is reduced to half. Take this twice a day.
6. Take powdered cinnamon (dalchini) two times a day. This acts as a heart tonic and helps to lower elevated cholesterol levels.
7. A regular intake of 3 to 5 grams powdered asparagus (shatwar) or 10 to 20 ml asparagus juice is beneficial for heart patients.
8. Pound equal amounts of dried Indian gooseberry (amla) and sugar candy (misri) together. Take 1 to 2 teaspoon of the mixture twice a day along with water. This is an effective home remedy for heart disease.
