Heart Patients Checking Alternative Treatments Proper Nutrition Remains A Key Element In Recommendations

Not so long ago, a diagnosis of heart disease meant you were handed a standardized printout of foods to eat and foods to avoid. It was one diet fits all.

But times have changed, and so has nutrition counseling for heart health.

Now people seek an approach that complements their philosophy and lifestyle.

Many are looking to alternative-medicine options as well as consulting with their local cardiologist.

Make no mistake: Heart disease is big business. America Heart Month may be winding down - there’s one week left in February - but the number of Americans with heart disease keeps steaming ahead.

Estimates are that 700,000 Americans die each year from heart disease and that 58 million people have some form of cardiovascular disease.

Dalene Lodor, at the local American Heart Association office, says heart disease was the leading cause of death in 1996 in Washington state, claiming 16,619 lives. That’s 39 percent of deaths in the state, followed by cancer at 24 percent.

Counseling for heart-disease links touches on many lifestyle factors.

“We like to take a multilevel approach,” says Fran Collins, a nurse-practitioner at Dr. Linda Hole’s Wholistic Family Medicine office. “We concentrate on spiritual aspects as well as emotional, mental and physical.”

Hole and Collins help people determine what’s keeping them unhealthy. They may recommend nutritional supplements as well as hand out cholesterol information from the American Heart Association.

Hole combines traditional treatment with Eastern-oriented medicine such as Chinese herbs, energy work (QiGong), acupuncture, and old-fashioned prayer.

“We believe nutrition is very, very important,” says Hole, who offers QiGong and healing classes for the public. Hole believes in helping people find the things that “make your heart sing.”

Collins helps people plan a diet low in fat, processed foods and sugar, while high in whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

“We inform people about healthy choices, but then it’s up to them,” says Collins.

“People can come here, and they have choice as far as what they want and their method of treatment,” says Debbie Nelson, nutrition counselor and nurse at Dr. Will Corell’s Family Practice office.

“We can do traditional medicine. Usually people don’t choose that because they’ve been there, done that, so they’re looking for some other ways of healing.”

Business manager Susan Filley, who is married to Corell, describes the practice as integrative, combining conventional Western family practice and internal medicine with natural medicine remedies, nutrition and chelation.

Chelation therapy, originally developed as a method to remove lead and other toxic minerals from the body, is a controversial treatment for cardiovascular disorders. It utilizes an intravenous infusion of a manufactured amino acid, ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA). Patients usually receive 20 treatments, twice a week, and then are reassessed.

Corell’s office combines supplements, a dietary approach that emphasizes low-carbohydrate and high-protein foods, and chelation for success in managing heart disease.

“People are wanting an alternative,” says Filley. “I guess alternative means choice to me, about the type of medicine they take and how they want to treat their bodies. We do a lot of education here.”

Dietitian Patty Seebeck of The Heart Institute is comfortable with people checking out alternatives before committing to invasive techniques such as heart surgery.

“I think it’s wise for anyone to research all the possibilities, but I also know that I see patients who come in with occluded (clogged) arteries, and they go back out after a bypass and feel so much better,” says Seebeck, who’s been the institute’s nutrition services coordinator for five years. Many people come to this state-of-the-art facility when they’ve had an “event,” which Seebeck describes as the whole range of symptoms indicating a heart attack.

At The Heart Institute, which houses 50 cardiologists under one roof, patients are referred to HeartAction, a comprehensive program with a specialized nurse practitioner as case manager. Her job is to prescribe medications, set up exercise and nutrition goals, and refer patients to lifestyle classes, such as stress management. Seebeck does both individual and group nutrition classes.

“I think The Heart Institute does a good job on many levels of letting people know that we’re a good resource for them,” says Seebeck, referring to The Heart Institute’s community visibility with the Lite ‘N Hearty restaurant program, radio and television segments, and grocery store promotions.

, DataTimes