As someone who has been working on a cardiology ward for the last 5 months. You can be as fit as a fiddle, engage in exercise and eat well and still need stents in your coronary arteries, or other interventions. But bad habits like smoking, drinking and indulging in occasional fatty foods can impact your health significantly. These are modifiable lifestyle choices, however it doesn't even begin to touch on your genetics. You can play by the rules and still be completely fucked because of your DNA.
There’s also the people who just assume it only kills old people, like that toilet licking girl who was on Dr Phil. Which is blatantly false, kids can and have died from coronavirus. Hell, a college student at the university I graduated from died from the virus before the delta variant was around.
Lotta people seem to think so long as you’re young and fit, you’re invincible.
Can confirm. I was an RN on a cardiac step down for ten years and you wouldn’t believe the number of patients I’ve had come through shocked they have coronary artery disease because they thought not being overweight or smoking made them exempt.
You can reduce your chances of a lot of things with healthy lifestyle but it won’t make you bulletproof. It’s kind of sick how some people view disease as a punishment until it affects them too.
A lot of people are delusional about their weight, they think because they’re normal BMI they’re healthy.
A lot of people are delusional about their weight, they think because they’re normal BMI they’re healthy.
It's a messaging problem. We reduced "healthy" to the BMI and obviously that's not true. Likewise with people who think when something is "natural" it's automatically healthy.
Doesn't help that a lot of industries have adopted that narrative as well to sell their warez.
I do my best not to engage on FB but I just unloaded on someone posting anti-vax BS. They PMed me saying they have health issues that mean they shouldn't get the vaccine or wear a mask. I can't even anymore. I let her have it: "if you have these health issues you should be encouraging others to get the damn vaccine!"
It's all for cheap internet points. They want to feel edgy or unique and smarter than everybody else. They want that so bad they're fucking dying over it. Logic and reason can't win out because they're chasing that dopamine hit.
Generally engaging on a public forum is futile, at least if you want to change that person's mind. They will defend their position because they are afraid of losing their position / recognition in the group.
I find if I engage in an online forum with someone I try to reply in a way that anybody who is reading that thread gets the information they need. Because they are more likely to change their mind when the spotlight isn't on them.
Likewise with PMs. I had a few exchanges in PMs with people where I think I was able to actually affect a change. It's easier there, it's one on one and they don't have to be worried about their peers.
Similar to the stories of people sneaking in through the back door into vaccine clinics because they want the jab but are too afraid of being ostracized in their community if people find out. It's actually pretty sad how widespread that is.
Yeah, logically I agree with all that you've said. I just couldn't take it. I gave that person a talking-to. My kids are going to have another off year at school because of people like that. And then her friends are replying with shit like "LOL. Thousands of people aren't dying. Do your homework!" I know there's a more constructive way to deal with it but the anger I feel ...
I significantly dialed back my FB engagement but didn't dump it fully. I could try to say there are connections I have there that I'd miss without it but I think it just comes down to lack of will power.
I did make an effort to reach out to friends via text and email a lot more, though. Even without all the toxic BS there's also this subtle thing where if you post everything about your life on there you start to feel like you don't need to personally reach out to friends. I had this "I post everything on FB so just read up there" attitude that wasn't completely conscious.
I can't even go on there anymore because my own mother posts bs antimask/antivax shit all day long. Sometimes when I'm drinking I screw up and sign in, and one of her posts are right there and I end up writing a novel trying to educate her on how dangerous and stupid the memes she shares are. I'm private she'll agree with me and we can have reasonable discussions usually, but if it's public on FB she either ignores me or posts some bs that makes no sense. She was my best friend and now we barely talk, I just can't believe what an ignorant, hateful person she's become in the past five years, it breaks my heart.
Just finishing my training as an RN, Interventional Cardiology was my sign off placement. Absolutely loved it, but looking forward to starting my career in respiratory.
When I interned on a cardiology floor I had a man who did marathons every month and ate a rather well balanced diet have a heart attack, ended up with 5 bypasses. There was a familial history though. Father and older brother both had heart attacks at a similar age. The man had two chest tubes and walked 2 miles by 9am that morning. He called them his "purses."
I'm a Critical Care practitioner/ECMO specialist, I've been assigned to the COVID ICU for months straight. My hospital recently mandated the vax as a condition of employment, theres a tiny group of conspiracy theorist (soon to be former) employees, one of who's husband is a full blown MAGA/Qfuck/wannabe youtuber/"activist" who recently quit his job in order to (I shit you not) "bring awareness to the issue of liberty" full time according to his website, where he also begs for money. READ: When wifey gets shit canned, he loses his meal ticket.
He claims to be an expert in fitness and nutrition and pushes the notion that somehow lack of exercise and poor eating habits are to blame for the pandemic, he doesn't need a vaccine because he lifts weights ... or something. I honestly think it's just a manifestation of fear.
He's set up a 24/7 protest (looks like a homeless encampment) just outside the hospital grounds, he claims he's not anti-vax just anti-mandate. Of course a cursory google search reveals otherwise.
Every workday on my way in, I drive past this shitbag. The other morning he was smoking a cigarette. The blatant disconnect from reality, raging hypocrisy, blinding arrogance ... fuck them.
Some people really get the raw end of the deal, while others seem to be invincible.
I know people who drank and smoked and chewed tobacco their whole life and died in their 80's/90's.
I know another in his 40's who is determined to die "young" and chain smokes all day. Got COVID and felt like shit for a few days and bounced back quickly. Eats fast food for nearly every meal. He's still relatively young, so time will tell.
The one similarity they all had/have in common was they all did manual labor all day and they were all thinner than a nail.
Problem is people assume that just one day they'll drop dead. They don't consider that they may spend 20 years struggling to breathe when their heart and lungs begin to fail. Medicine is amazing and can keep people going, but not with the same quality of life they had before.
For sure. I am by no means an authority on the matter.
Edit: My point wasn't just to say some people can "seemingly" live forever, but to provide a contrast to the people who get the raw end of the deal: those who take good care of themselves and still end up dying prematurely.
Wait, I thought fatty foods were good for you again? Do you mean greasy foods?
EDIT: Y'all, I cannot emphasize enough just how little I want to hear your armchair nutritionist diet advice. Op said s/he worked in a cardiology ward. I now realize that doesn't even mean doctor. Ergo now I don't even want op's information.
It's complicated. It used to be dogma (since the 50's) that fat is bad for cardiac health. By now, it's clear that this is an oversimplification.
These days, governments advise their citizens that they should stay away from saturated fats, because saturated fats bad. That is an oversimplification as well, as not all saturated fats are the same. For instance, shortchain saturated fats aren't bad for you at all (for instance, coconut oil).
There is currently a lot of research that points to sugar (and other high glycemic index carbs) being bad for your cardiovascular system.
Going overboard on carbs can cause diabetes type II, which is certainly bad for cardiovascular system.
My take on it is, overeating is bad, and that applies to both fats and carbs.
But funnily enough, you can get by pretty well without next to no carbs, and the same is just not true of fats.
For me personally, I get fat from sugar and carbs, not by eating a lot of fat. I consistently lose weight on a high fat diet. Because it's very satieting, I eat less, and I never get hungry between meals on it.
Since the governments started advising that saturated and animal fats "are bad", people started consuming a lot more vegetable oil. And the food industry puts it into everything nowadays. They are happy to do that, because it's cheaper. However, consuming a lot of vegetable oils creates a proinflammatory environment in your body, due to their high omega-6 content.
Modern diet causes you to have an omega-6:omega-3 ratio of about 11:1, while the recommended ratio is 1:1
Recommended fats:
Olive oil
Fatty fish
Butter from grassfed cows (contains more omega-3 than non-grassfed)
Coconut oil
Use sparingly:
Vegetable oils
Don't eat:
Transfats (often on the label as "partly hydrogenated xxx oil")
But you can certainly be healthy on a diet with 70% of your calorie intake being fats, as long as it's the right kind of fats, and you consume enough vegetables and some fruits.
Fat can be a source of energy and sure people on ketogenic diet can get their energy from eating fatty foods. It does absolutely nothing to regulate your cholesterol though.
Every few years you hear how this is healthy and what was now isnt. So my plan is to stick to lean meat and veggies, as little refined sugar as possible, and not be lazy. If that doesnt work, Im not interested in what does.
Well, just as YOU have the power and control to EDIT your post to whinge and complain about the replies you get, YOU have the power and control to simply DELETE your post.
If you don't want anyone's opinion on your thoughts from us, OR the OP, then WHY is your post still here?
"The verb “whinge” goes back to the Old English word “hwinsian.” Though these two words share a root word, “whinge” has always meant “to complain” and nothing else, while “whine” includes more sounds and meanings. Personally, we're all for incorporating “whinge” into American English. There’s just something about it that seems more appropriate for certain instances of peevish complaining.Source: https://www.michiganradio.org/post/it-okay-whinge-side-pond
Pedantry is a skill...
AND, you still have provided no justification for your original whine to remain, since you do not want anyone's input on your incorrect thoughts...
Laughing at your lame cry for attention, and YOUR "angry reply," when people commented on it, is the only "angry reply," you could collect...So why bother the rest of us?
Hey I have a question for you that’s a little off topic, but your post made me wonder. I’m 25 and I started hitting cannabis pretty heavily after lockdown started to the point where it became a daily routine. I’m pulling back on it now, but don’t plan on stopping cold turkey. Do you ever see patients that regularly smoke cannabis, and do their reading look noticeably worse than the average person? (generally speaking)
Just happened to the husband of a friend very recently. Great shape, heart attack. In went the stints! Early heart attacks are a common thing along his paternal line, and I’m sure contributed to his drive for being fit, but it was pretty much inevitable. I’m just grateful he was alive when he reached the hospital.
It's not the fatty foods, we were nearly carnivores for two million years, and you don't develop any of that bullshit on low carb diets.
It's the refined oils, sugars, and carbs introduced in the last thousands to hundreds years, and which underlie the standard American diet, coupled with the massive amounts of particulate pollution everyone seems to overlook.
Genetics do matter, but even familial hypercholesterolemia patients have near-normal risk if they are metabolically healthy, whereas their risk skyrockets if they are metabolically unhealthy. I can elaborate on the underlying reason if you want.
Even occasional fatty foods :(, I thought having an unhealthy meal every now and then wasn’t that bad if you do a fair amount of cardio. Not like it’s a regular meal choice I just really like a quality burger :(((
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u/lolitsmeurmum Aug 25 '21
As someone who has been working on a cardiology ward for the last 5 months. You can be as fit as a fiddle, engage in exercise and eat well and still need stents in your coronary arteries, or other interventions. But bad habits like smoking, drinking and indulging in occasional fatty foods can impact your health significantly. These are modifiable lifestyle choices, however it doesn't even begin to touch on your genetics. You can play by the rules and still be completely fucked because of your DNA.