Oprah at risk of heart attack

December 10, 6:36 AMDisease Prevention ExaminerPeggy Kraus

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Oprah at risk of heart attack.
Photo.

Oprah's in the danger zone. She's at risk of heart attack: she's obese, she is African-American, and she has been diagnosed with an underactive thyroid gland. That's a recipe for disaster.

By now, it's all over the news that Oprah is, once again, obese. In spite of her efforts to control her weight with fad diets and exercise, she has been unsuccessful maintaining permanent weight loss. In May 2008, it was reported that she was following a 21-day cleansing de-tox diet that contained no animal protein, and she was also going to ban sugar, caffeine, gluten, and alcohol from her diet. What an undertaking!

Strike one. At 5 feet and 7 inches tall, a 200 pound woman is considered to be obese. Carrying around extra weight increases your risk for having a heart attack, and it increases your risk of developing high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes. Each of these conditions also increases your risk of having a heart attack.

Strike two. African-Americans have a higher risk for heart disease than do caucasians. In fact, African-American women have the highest rate of heart diease only second to African-American men.

Skinny days are behind her.
Photo.

Strike three. Having a sluggish thyroid increases your risk for developing a blockage in the aorta. As a result, women with hypothyroidism are twice as likely to have a heart attack than their counterparts who have a normal thyroid.

What can Oprah do to improve her chances for not having a heart attack? Oprah should re-visit the vegan diet that she set her hopes on in May, but this time, eliminate only the foods that are derived from animal sources, i.e. all meat, dairy, and eggs, and stick with it. The animal proteins in the standard American diet (SAD) cause needless death and disease. In addition, she should try to significantly reduce or even eliminate any visible fat from her diet, including nuts and oils. The more fat that she puts into her mouth, the greater is her chance that it will end up as plaque in the arteries.