How to Avoid Heart Disease naturally | Effective Lifestyle for healthy heart

Siddha system of medicine is an ancient medical system of the world. The three key principles of the traditional Siddha system of medicine are Kaapu, Neekam, and Niraipu. In this discussion, we are going to cover the levels of traditional Siddha preventive methods in heart attack. It is almost like self-care mentioned by and elaborately discussed in WHO (World Health Organization).

We are going to see the primordial prevention methods, primary prevention, secondary prevention. There is a Naal Ozhukkam - daily discipline mentioned inside the Siddha literature, diet, yoga, pranayama, and Siddha herbal home remedies.

In the Siddha system, there are three main principles.

The first one is the Kaapu, prevention, and protection of any diseases from the environment and many other causative factors.

Neekam means the elimination of the disease.

Niraippu means the very, very important and unique concept in the system, restoration of people to their full potential of good health after any ailments.

We all seek to know how to avoid heart disease, so the first thing, the levels of prevention, the primordial prevention, the word primordial means existing from the beginning. It means the primordial prevention involves working to prevent inflammation, atherosclerosis, and endothelial dysfunction from the persons, thus preventing the risk factors such as high blood pressure, excess weight, that is obesity, and ultimately prevent cardiovascular events.

Primordial Prevention:

Once a rarely discussed primordial prevention is now Keystone of the American Cardiac Association. We can start practicing primordial prevention ideally from childhood; the more likely we are to achieve it and avoid heart disease. The second thing of the preventive method is primary prevention.

Primary prevention:

Primary prevention aims to keep a person from having the first heart attack. It is usually aimed at people who already have developed cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and heavy smoking. Under such conditions, primary prevention focuses on controlling the risk factors by making healthy lifestyle changes if needed, taking medications. So, in the primary preventive methods, we are giving medications to treat the risk factors of coronary evils.

Secondary Prevention:

The third thing is the secondary prevention, started after someone has a heart attack, undergoes angioplasty or bypass surgery. It involves taking medications like aspirin and some other cardiac medicines and quitting smoking, losing weight if needed, exercise, and following a healthy lifestyle.

Although the secondary prevention may sound like closing the barn door after the horse has gone, this step can prevent secondary heart attack, halt the progression of heart disease, and prevent early death.

And these are all the TSM preventive methods. The first one is lifestyle modification, diet management, and Siddha yoga methods that are well accepted by WHO (World Health Organization) definition of self-care. By the word WHO is the ability of individuals, families, or communities to promote health, prevent illness, maintain health, and cope up with illness. These are all the self-care definitions mentioned in WHO.

Naal Ozhukkam:

Naal Ozhukkam is the daily routine designed to maintain and connect us to Circadian rhythm. So traditional systems of medicine have charted the importance of connecting with nature. The disconnection from the Circadian rhythm produces dysfunction of the vital organs. This function of the vital organs has been linked to the post-health concerns, mainly heart attack. Daily discipline is understood by the best time for our daily routine like walking, exercise, bathing, meditation, prayer. Mealtime, study time, working time, relaxation time, all come under the daily routine. This is necessary to maintain a healthy body, mind, and soul. In addition to aligning our Circadian rhythm, waking up at 5 a.m. will benefit our lungs, breathing in fresh, unpolluted oxygen. If we perform yoga, go for a walk, and perform some positive thinking, positive attitude in the morning.

So, these are all some primordial methods. Early morning waking up, doing pranayama and asanas, relaxation methods, drinking adequate water, especially Neerakaram, that is fermented rice water, avoiding artificial sugar, white sugar, table salt, river, and oil, other things, and periodical bowel cleansing method to enhance the gut microbiome. Oil bath once in four days is mentioned in ancient literature, but at least once a week, we need to perform oil bath, avoid chemical products in our day-to-day usage, and be careful of the chemicals present in our food.

This combination, the early morning waking up, yoga practice, and taking ginger and honey will help many of our patients in challenging conditions like type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity, hypertension, and ischemic heart disease.

Reduction of excess calories, increased intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, these are helpful to overcome and prevent the risk factors of coronary events. So, reduce usage of red meat, added sugar, trans fat, sodium, excess water, and drinks, saturated fats, etc to avoid heart disease.

So, gut microbiome, I think you all know about the gut microbiome. So, our body contains 37.2 trillion cells in our body, that is more microbe cells in a person's body than human cells, that is 39 trillion cells.

The gut microbiome plays a very important role in our health by helping our immune system and many other aspects of health. We need to keep them happy. So, this function of microbes present in our GI tract, that is intestine, may contribute to weight gain, high blood pressure, and other risk factors.

For the healthy microbes in our gut, in our GI tract, eat a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fermented foods like buttermilk and fermented rice water. So, this is another method of regulating the GI tract, the intestinal gut microbiome regulation method. Once in four months, the ancient Siddha literature mentioned about the bowel cleansing method.

Castor oil, ginger juice, and honey are the combination. If we have any persons, any children in the age of five to eight years, each one teaspoon, that is castor oil, one teaspoon ginger juice, one teaspoon honey, once in four months given that early morning on the whole day, we get some loose stool, some may have vomiting, the whole detoxification happens on that particular day. The age of 9 to 12 years, each two teaspoons, 13 to 17 years, each three teaspoons, 16 to 65 years, each four teaspoons, more than 65 years, 2 to 4 teaspoons based on the healthy conditions of a particular patient. So, this is a unique method of bowel cleansing. This will help the gut microbiome.

Neeragaram, the fermented rice water, is another important nutrient for our gut microbiome. It contains all trace elements, essential amino acids, probiotics, and nutrients. So, it enhances the production of rare vitamins like B6 and B12 vitamins, which are not easily available in other foods like a vegan diet. So, this is an ideal drink during convalescence and prevents many diseases.

So, primordial prevention also mentioned about the eating pattern. This is called conscious eating. So, how to eat, how much to eat, how many times to eat is mentioned in many other literatures or Siddhars. So, 50% filled with solid food, 25% filled with liquid like buttermilk, soup, one water, 25% kept empty.

Now, how many times? So, eat once a day, become Yogi, eat twice a day, become Bogi, that's a healthy person. Yogi means sage, eat thrice a day, become Roki, diseased person. Those who eat more than thrice in a day become Palarogi, that is multimorbidity that may lead to more than two chronic health conditions that may occur if you or somebody is eating more than thrice in a day.

We should avoid white sugar, table salt, chili, and tamarind if not possible. We reduce usage of chilli and tamarind, but the white sugar and table salt are very, very toxic. So, what are the alternates for white sugar? You use honey, palm sugar, and fruits. For table salt, we can use sea salt, rock salt, or black salt. For the tamarind, Garcinia Cambogia, that is kokum, is available in the U.S market. So, we should also avoid refined oils, maida, modified or adulterated milk, artificial sweeteners and coloring agents. These are all some toxic materials we should avoid in our food.

This is one kayakalpa method mentioned in Siddha system of medicine. These are all the three key ingredients, fresh ginger, kadukkai (dried ginger), and myrobalan. So, how do we use? Simply, we remove the skin of the fresh ginger, fry it in clarified butter, soak it in honey for one day. The dosage is one teaspoon a day. The ideal time to take this elixir is five to six a.m.

The second is preparation of dried ginger elixir. Soak the dried ginger in lime water for an hour, then dry under the sunlight for at least two or three days, remove the skin, and grind it well. Mix equal quantities of palm jaggery. The dosage is one teaspoon. The ideal time for taking this elixir is 11 a.m.

The next one is the chebulic myrobalan, boil the chebulic myrobalan in cow's milk for 15 minutes, dry in the sunlight for three days, then remove the seeds and grind it. The dosage is one teaspoon with the honey. The ideal time is 7 p.m. So, these are all the three key ingredients to prevent all the primordial risk factors mentioned in the primary preventive methods, that is hypertension, diabetes, obesity, all are prevented by using this type of herbal elixirs.