'I figured I was healthy'
Heart attack motivates cardiac rehab patient to seek out healthier lifestyle
AMY NEFF ROTH
healthy living
Hamilton resident Paul Rhyde thought he was healthy - that is until he had a heart attack last Labor Day weekend. Rhyde, 48, went to Syracuse for emergency angioplasty and a stent."You just don't realize how far you've gotten out of shape, and that was me. No pain, so I figured I was healthy," Rhyde said.
After his return home, his doctor sent him to the cardiac-rehabilitation program at the Mohawk Valley Heart Institute in Utica. That's where he learned how to take care of himself so he hopefully won't have another heart attack.
The Greater Utica Chapter of the American Heart Association will conduct its annual America's Greatest Heart Run & Walk Saturday, March 4, to raise money for research on how to help victims of heart disease such as Rhyde.
But experts say the best way to help people is to keep them from developing heart disease in the first place by teaching them to eat right and exercise.
Common-sense choices
New studies seem to come out every day telling people exactly what's good for their hearts. But the very volume of information can confuse rather than clarify. Utica cardiologist Dr. Fred Talarico said healthy lifestyles are really pretty simple, though.
"As physicians, we get inundated (with studies) as well, and a lot of times patients come up to us about the latest thing they saw ..." said Talarico, president of the volunteer board of directors of the Greater Utica Chapter of the American Heart Association. "The way I look at it is basically a lot of it comes down to common sense ... There's no magic cure. There really is no magic, special diet."
His advice: "Exercise. Try to keep your weight down, things I deal with for myself. It's tough. It's tough. Try to, if you smoke, quit smoking. Try to exercise on a regular basis. Common-sense stuff. Avoid stress. Win the Lotto and you're all set."
Talarico also suggested eating a diet low in fat and cholesterol, restricting salt for those prone to high blood pressure, watching carbohydrates for diabetics, eating on a regular basis, taking medications properly, eating lots of vegetables and staying away from fast food.
If you have questions, take them to a doctor or nutritionist, he said, warning people not to trust everything they read on the Internet.
Safe exercise, proper diet
Some former cardiac-rehab patients live the healthiest lifestyles, Talarico said. That's probably because they learn all about healthy lifestyles - safe exercise, proper diet, lowering cholesterol, keeping blood pressure down, managing diabetes, etc. - in rehab and because they're motivated.
"When they come in to us, they're very sick so they want to improve, and they want to get better," said Lisa Anweiler, a coronary-care-trained nurse who worked with Rhyde at the Mohawk Valley Heart Institute.
But the same healthy principles taught in rehab work for everyone.
"You should be doing this before you get into problems," Anweiler said.
But baby boomers just weren't raised with much awareness about heart-healthy lifestyles, she said. She has higher hopes for younger generations who are learning about heart health in school, she added.
A new awareness
If Rhyde lacked awareness before, he certainly doesn't any more. He realizes exactly how he got into trouble, he said.
The day after his angioplasty, Rhyde weighed 235 pounds but should have weighed closer to 180 pounds for a healthy body-mass index. He didn't exercise. He stopped for a coffee and doughnut on his way to work in Utica every day.
Even though his father died young from heart disease, Rhyde hadn't seen a doctor in eight years, he said.
And as he slowly put on weight and became shorter of breath, Rhyde said he attributed it to age.
"I just thought at 48, the body was telling me I couldn't be as active as I was," he said.
Now, thanks to what he's learned at rehab, doughnuts and pizza have given way to salads, skinless chicken, vegetables and ground turkey, a hamburger substitute his wife had once rejected because it just didn't smell right, he said. For Thanksgiving, he even asked his wife to make a
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