Longboat doctor hosts seminar on heart disease prevention

The leading cause of death in the U.S. is heart disease, said The Paradise Center’s Dr. Coerlida Ashby.

“People dying from heart diseases and strokes is usually unexpected,” said Ashby. “No one ever knows their risk for it and you can always find a reason for why you have it. 80% of heart disease is preventable so it is important to identify your risk early and take steps to lower it.”

The lifestyle medicine specialist led a seminar on July 24 at The Paradise Center to teach Longboaters how to calculate their risk for heart disease. Around 10 residents attended with their most recent cholesterol and blood pressure readings.

The most common misconception of heart disease is that it is mostly caused by high cholesterol. While having high cholesterol levels does play a role, Ashby said that high blood pressure is the silent killer. 

People’s risk for heart disease also can be affected by family history, metabolic health, chronic kidney diseases and chronic inflammatory conditions. Most people don’t know that they have these conditions because they are internal and don’t have painful or visible symptoms. Ashby recommends being aware of these through your physician because everyone is impacted differently due to their lifestyles.

Photo by Petra Rivera

Even though more than one in three men in America have cardiovascular disease, one in three women die due to heart disease. Ashby said that women are put at further risk because cardiovascular disease symptoms often get confused with menopausal symptoms.

With your cholesterol and blood pressure readings, Ashby recommends using the atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD)  risk calculator from the American College of Cardiology to predict the 10-year risk of a first ASCVD event.

Once you have calculated your risk, Ashby is there to help identify the reason and lower it through a personalized plan based on the principles of lifestyle medicine. 

Ashby said that changing a person’s nutrition usually lowers most people’s risk. She makes the plan in a way that people can still enjoy life instead of being on a strict diet.

Photo by Petra Rivera

Joe Benkert has been Ashby’s patient for two years and attended the lecture with his wife.

"Initially, she had me doing no sugar, no salt, no bread and no caffeine, but I deviated a little bit just because life happens," said Benkert. "I lost 30 pounds since March, and it has really helped lower my risk. She is great at making it super attainable for my life."