Unity Center

There can be moments in life when everything shifts. In an instant, your world is changed forever, whether on a physical, mental, or emotional level, and your path has turned in a different direction.

When the phone rang at 6 am on a Saturday, Oct. 21^st, I was pretty sure it wasn’t good news, but I wasn’t prepared to hear that Chad had suffered a serious heart attack and was in critical condition in a hospital in Florida. In an instant, everything had changed.

A Chinese proverb says "You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair."

As the kids and I drove the 12+ hours to Hollywood, questions and doubts about all our futures made some nests in our hair. And yet, I also felt a sense of calm… “Que sera, sera” – “what will be, will be.” During a dream the night before, I had felt a sense of a spirit passing over me. I thought that either Chad’s spirit had already left and was saying good-bye, or that an angelic presence was watching over us. Since there was not one blooming thing I could do about it, I managed to stay pretty much “in the moment,” to “hide and watch” until we knew more.

One euphemism for a heart attack is a “cardiac event.” Truly, it was an “event of the heart” on all levels. For we each emerged with a heightened awareness of the gift of each moment, a sense of appreciation for the preciousness of the moments that comes when you experience the uncomfortably real possibility that there won’t be any more. A heart attack gives the gift of perspective, of reexamining daily priorities. “Don’t sweat the small stuff… it’s all small stuff...” takes on new meaning when you think you might not be around much longer.

I also felt that we were so well cared for. At first I thought how awful it was that the heart attack happened in Florida. But the timing and location were actually in divine order, for he was so close to excellent care and it was given so promptly, which probably saved his life. When he was admitted, his vital signs were not conducive to supporting life… translation: we nearly lost him. So quick recognition of his signs and immediate action were a gift.

When I needed a place to stay, Judy Reardon came walking down the hallway in ICU, announcing that we had married Ed and her in North Carolina, and that she lived 10 minutes away, had a guest room and a computer to keep in touch… which was also a perfect place for Chad to convalesce a few days before the trip home.

The guest room was even equipped with a little book, The Tao of Pooh , a familiar title that I’d never read. Too lazy to go back out to the car for my novel, I was drawn into the gentle world of Taoism, the way of flowing with whatever is rather than resisting. I had also recently read Do Less, Achieve More: Discover the Hidden Power of Giving In (by Chin-Ning Chu), and this whole experience felt very much “in the flow.”

A heart attack brings an awareness of the importance of the heart. Without it, you die. One of the oldest metaphors, the heart is associated with feelings, especially love…. and without those, our emotional body dies. When the blood-flow is constricted by clogged arteries, the heart is damaged and may lose its capacity to pump enough blood (that’s called a low “ejection fraction.”) When our emotions are constricted by clogged attitudes, our capacity to love is diminished to the degree that we judge and blame and choose to feel separate from our sisters and brothers. May you never need surgery to open yours!

Life is always a cardiac event, an affair of the heart. We just forget.

Feeling so fortunate, we are blessed to be in a position to pass on information to others. One thing you should know is that over half of all heart attacks come with no warning, no prior symptoms at all. Chad never had chest pain; he just suddenly felt he couldn’t breathe to an extreme degree that he knew something was wrong.

If you think you are having a heart attack, DO NOT DELAY. Call 911 rather than drive – they have the tools to stabilize you on the way. Time is critical. When an artery to the heart is blocked, the heart muscle doesn't die instantly., but damage increases the longer the artery stays blocked. Quick treatment can lessen the amount of damage to your heart, increase your chance of survival, and reduce the possibility of future disability. Aspirin is a blood thinner, so unless you are allergic, chew one aspirin slowly during an attack.

Another scary statistic is that a large percentage of people die from their first heart attack. About 40% of people who experience a heart attack die from it, but 50% of men and 64% of women who died suddenly had no previous symptoms of the disease. Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) was the underlying cause for 37.3% of all deaths, or one of every 2.7, in the United States in 2003, and was a contributing cause for 58% of deaths in 2002. Nearly 2,500 Americans die of CVD each day (that’s one death every 35 seconds). CVD claims more lives each year than the next four leading causes of death combined (cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, accidents, and diabetes). The average age for a first heart attack is 65.8 for men and 70.4 for women.

Ignorance is not bliss. Though we'd like to avoid dwelling on the negative, sometimes it’s better to know so you can take steps to prevent or work on your condition.

We feel fortunate to have Dr. John Kelly (Swannanoa Family Medicine) as our family physician because of his interest in the nutrition and prevention. He recommends Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease as the best book for heart attack prevention and recovery. It recommends changes in diet, along with exercise, meditation, and visualization. Even modest changes can have great benefit.

Probably the worst thing you can do for your circulatory system (and therefore for your whole body) is to eat trans fats. To increase shelf life, they add an extra hydrogen atom… with a result that’s only one molecule away from being plastic… yes, plastic. Trans fats will stick to and cover over the epithelial cells that line your arteries, reducing their ability to send messages and receive nutrition, and reducing the flexibility arteries need. Saturated fats (animal origin) will also gum up your arteries, but not as bad as trans fats.

New York City and Paris recently outlawed trans fats in restaurants, and Denmark and Canada severely restrict their use. The FDA now requires manufacturers to list trans fats on nutrition labels… BUT watch out: If there’s less than a half a gram of trans fat per serving, the table will say zero, and they can advertise “zero trans fats”. You could get 0.49 grams of trans fat in a serving and not know it, and it quickly adds up cause they’re everywhere. So you MUST read the ingredient label.

The word "hydrogenated" is the key to hidden trans fats. If it’s in the ingredient list, put it back… and boy, it’s everywhere… margarine, frozen & packaged dinners, breads, soups, cookies, pies, cakes, chips, crackers, breakfast cereals, peanut butter, coffee crèmer, Cool Whip, dips, candies. So take your glasses to the grocery store and read the fine print! You’ll be amazed (and appalled.)

Most restaurants (especially fast foods) deep-fry in partially hydrogenated oils. Wendy’s is the only chain that uses no trans fats. A McDonald's sausage biscuit has 5 grams of trans fats, a deluxe breakfast has 11. How much trans fat should you have in a day? ZERO! Zip! Zilch!

Getting rid of bad fats is half the battle. The idea is to replace them with good fats, the Omega 3s and Omega 6s, partly thru supplements (fish oil, fresh-ground flaxseed) and partly thru diet. Cook with olive oil. For Omega 3's, two servings (3 Tbsp each) daily of: Walnuts, raw Pumpkin Seeds, or Flax seeds; or 1/2 cup serving of Salmon, Tuna, Halibut, Herring or Mackerel (broiled, baked or grilled; canned doesn't count). Also, for Omega 6's have one serving daily of raw Sunflower Seeds, RAW wheat germ (refrigerate it), or Tahini (Sesame butter). So I adapted my old Granola recipe… breakfast takes longer to chew, but we’re feeling healthier.

Lyte’s Heart-y Granola
10 cups dry ingredients: 3-5 cups of oats (quick or rolled, and/or rolled wheat), raw sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, raw pumpkin seeds, walnuts, a few pecans, raw wheat germ, unsweetened coconut.

Mix: 1/4-1/2 cup Olive oil, 1/4 c Honey, 1/2 cup Water or Apple juice, 2 tablespoons Vanilla.

Put the oats in a large baking pan, Sprinkle generously with Cinnamon. Pour on the wet mix and stir till evenly mixed. Bake in 325o oven for 15 minutes. Stir. Bake 10 minutes, Stir. Bake 10 more minutes. Let cool slightly.

Stir in the rest of the dry ingredients plus 1 cup of raisins or chopped dried fruit. Serve with non-fat milk. 

And this is how we grow a better world.

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