Running three times a week but he still got heart blockage
Exercise is not enough, especially when one's diet is awful.
Sun, Sep 28, 2008
The Straits Times
He was eating his way to a heart attack and might even have died suddenly - but a health screening saved his life.
Mr Victor Rodrigues, 59, a real estate company owner, said: 'The doctor said if the blockages in my arteries hadn't been discovered, I could get a stroke or suddenly drop dead while I was out running.'
He had gone for a medical check-up in October 2000 when the doctor found his cholesterol level very high. An angiogram and an exercise stress test on the treadmill were recommended at once.
The test results showed his heart's main artery was already 80 per cent blocked. MrRodrigues was wheeled into the operating theatre for a heart bypass operation. That was when doctors found two other blockages in other arteries.
Mr Rodrigues said: 'Before my heart bypass, I went running at least two or three times a week. I thought I wouldn't get heart disease.
'But that's a myth. If you don't watch what you eat, you can still get heart disease.'
He attributes his clogged arteries to his hectic lifestyle and his love for rich, oily food like Hokkien mee and char kway teow.
He said: 'I had to travel and entertain a lot in my previous job so my eating habits weren't regular and I ate a lot of rubbish.'
Following his operation, he was put on the hospital's cardiac rehabilitation programme. Apart from learning about exercises that will train up his heart, he received tips on what to eat for a healthy heart.
He also jump-started his own exercise regime by brisk walking 100m a day, then 200m and gradually building his workouts to running. Six months later, he graduated from the cardiac rehabilitation programme.
He has cut out all fried foods and eats red meat only once a month. His diet currently comprises white meat, fish, raw vegetables and fresh fruits.
He said: 'The bypass operation was very painful. For a month after that, it felt like someone was punching me in the chest every time I breathed deeply or coughed.
That memory keeps him from eating unhealthy food.
In 2005, Mr Rodrigues joined the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon as he wanted to show that heart patients can run marathons. He ran 10km. After that, he went on to do the half-marathon in 2006.
Last year, he went back to running 10km.
This year, he plans to run the half-marathon at the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon again and has been training three times a week for more than an hour each time.
Asked if he is worried about his heart health, he said: 'If I feel a bit tight in my chest then I'll walk. When you run in a marathon, you're challenging yourself and not others.'
He said of the changes he has since made to his lifestyle: 'I feel healthier. I don't get lethargic or breathless when I climb stairs and I don't have a pot belly.
'I have a very flat tummy and I'm proud of it. It's flatter than my son's and he's 31.'
KNOW YOUR RISK
The arteries start getting blocked when damage to the intimae promotes a build-up of fatty deposits. When 75 per cent or more of an artery is blocked by fatty deposits, angina occurs.
This is when there is an inadequate supply of oxygen to the heart muscle, causing chest pain.
The build-up of fatty deposits eventually hardens into plaque. When the plaque ruptures, blood platelets rush to seal it, forming a clot which - when it blocks the oxygen flow to the heart completely - results in a heart attack.
Dr Low Lip Ping, chairman emeritus of Singapore Heart Foundation, said that there are modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors for coronary heart disease.
The former include age, gender and family history while the latter comprise factors like unhealthy cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, obesity and stress.
The incidence of coronary heart disease in men starts to rise from the age of 35. Women start to catch up after the age of 50.
Ministry of Health figures show that heart disease was the second principal cause of death here last year.
"Before my heart bypass, I went running at least two or three times a week. I thought I wouldn't get heart disease. But that's a myth. If you don't watch what you eat, you can still get heart disease." - Mr Victor Rodrigues (above), 59, on the importance of eating right
This story was first published in Mind Your Body, The Straits Times, on Sept 25, 2008.
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