The Sweet(est) Heart-Healthy
Mediterranean Diet is Mind-Blowing!
a wild heart adventure. As a devoted health author, I’ve al-
ways been lean and active, never smoked or drank alcohol.
So I was shocked when one day I made a call to the para-
medics. “Something isn’t right,” I said in between catching
my breath. Fifteen minutes later, I was at the hospital.
I
was told later by a young nurse; she was the one to
call out “CODE BLUE!” CPR for another fifteen minutes.
My heart had stopped. I don’t recall the ventilator, or
transport to another hospital for heart patients—a reality
I never imagined facing. The diagnosis: coronary artery
disease (CAD). The cardiologist who performed an an-
giogram told me it was likely my diet and clean lifestyle
that saved me. He recommended no open-heart surgery,
and yes to heart meds. He believed my clogged arteries
were caused 70 percent by genes (thanks, Mom and Dad).
Yeah, my mom was Type A, a hardworking human honey
bee like me.
I
agonized. I don’t want major surgery. I don’t have any
comorbidities. I never got COVID. I wanted a second opinion.
I said no to the no-name doctors
who wanted to perform
open-heart surgery. A few
weeks later, a local car-
diologist reviewed my angiogram.
He looked like the kid
in that Home Alone scene,
where he slaps his hands to his
face, wide-eyed, his amusing
reaction to the sting of after-
shave. But my heart disease was no laughing matter...
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