Unhealthy diet, inactivity causing heart disease: Expert
Consumption of aerated drinks, fast food and tobacco are among the major causes of heart disease, a top cardiologist said on Saturday.
“An unhealthy diet and spending more time in front of the television or computer instead of walking and exercising is making a large number of people heart patients in our country,” said Dr Haqdad Tareen in a lecture at the Quetta Press Club on the occasion of World Heart Day.
He advised people to eat fish twice a week, exercise or take up any physical activity at home for at least 45 minutes a day, if they want to save themselves from cardiovascular diseases. He pointed out that about 17.3 million people die of cardiac arrest every year across the world.
He said that obesity causes high-blood pressure, heart diseases, diabetes, joint pain, sterility and other diseases. He said young people need 2,500 calories per day and old people need 1,200 calories per day.
Eating high caloric diet like bakery items, sweets, spicy rice particularly the oil-rich biryani, fast food, and fizzy drinks make people vulnerable to cardiac disorders and diabetes. Noted physician Dr Hanif Khan was also present on this occasion.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 30th, 2012.
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One of the most imp things is to cut down the consumption of sugars and carbohydrates. Anything sweetened with sugar and made of carbohydrate is really bad. The single worst food in the West has been determined to be potato chips. All our sweets and specially snacks are fried carbohydrates that are major problem. People of S. Asia consume too much wheat and rice and with little physical activity it is causing heart disease and diabetes. The worst form of fat for clogging the arteries is hydrogenated oils or Banaspati Ghee, also called Trans fats. Due to this Trans fats are being banned in the USA. In addition the processing of wheat flour and taking out the bran has contributed toward diabetes and heart diseases. One has to avoid the finely ground wheat without bran, like white breads and “maida”.
It is mainly our culture that inhibits people from doing hard manual work. Well off people have domestic servants to do hard labor jobs. Social status of people is also determined by the number of helping hands they have. Eating rich oily foods "delicacies" is also a sign of their social status. Calling someone eating lentils "DAAL KHOR" is still considered a derogatory phrase. Elite who suffer most from cardiac disease hardly walk or seen to be walking, they consider it below their dignity to be seen walking on foot. Moreover, public parks and open spaces are fast disappearing thanks to powerful land mafia. As long as these social factors and taboos are there there is no hope.