Mending a broken heart
Eat right for heart health and make wise choices at every meal, writes Meera Murugesan
SUDAH makan? It’s a quintessential Malaysian expression and one which perhaps best describes our relationship with food. Malaysians celebrate and comfort with food. They mark births, deaths and festivals with meals.
Eating is a national pastime. The fact that we have access to food 24 hours a day has resulted in an addiction that is proving deadly.
The statistics paint a dreary picture. Almost one in two Malaysians has high cholesterol, according to the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS 2015) and Institute of Public Health.
About one in five Malaysians is also obese.
Heart disease has become the number one killer of Malaysians and our dietary habits are adding fat to the fire.
Fast food and processed food, all laden with extra salt and sugar, are delivered right to our doorsteps these days. Modern life is rife with possibilities that enable us to lead very sedentary, unhealthy lifestyles.
Founder and chairman of The Heart Foundation of Malaysia, Datuk Dr J.S. Sambhi says bad eating habits are generally formed early in life and it becomes extremely difficult to make the switch as adults.
He stresses that Malaysia needs to address the subject of healthy eating right from primary schools or even earlier, as some countries — such as Finland — have successfully done. Tackling it at a later stage doesn’t result in much success.
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We need to teach children not just the importance of healthy eating but even how to prepare simple, healthy meals so they pick up these habits early and it will stay with them for life.
“The heart-breaking statistics caused by heart disease continue to remain high, especially since many Malaysians ignore the importance of caring for their heart,” says Dr Sambhi.
The risk of heart disease comes from a high-fat, low-fibre diet and a sedentary lifestyle.
Our long working hours are not helping the problem either, adds Dr Sambhi.
Most Malaysians working in big cities leave their homes very early in the morning to avoid traffic, resulting in missed opportunities for a healthy breakfast at home.
Instead, they eat a calorie-ridden meal at the nearest restaurant or food stall once they reach the office.
Lunch is often at these same spots and since most people leave their offices late, there isn’t time to get home and prepare a healthy meal for dinner either.
It’s a vicious cycle that is fuelling the country’s obesity epidemic and increasing rates of heart disease.
NHMS2015 revealed that among high cholesterol patients, 38.6 per cent (7.8 million) were not even aware they had high cholesterol.
High cholesterol is in fact one of the major factors that leads to the development of heart disease. In 2017, cardiovascular
disease remained the main cause of death in hospitals under the Health Ministry, totalling 10,284 or 22.62 per cent of the total deaths that year.
The good news is that the risk factors for heart disease are easily preventable.
If we follow a healthy lifestyle, we can easily prevent almost 50 per cent of deaths due to heart disease.
We need to cut out saturated fat and excess sugar and salt from our diet and stop smoking.
“More importantly, no matter what your age, you need to exercise,” says Dr Sambhi.