It has been 8 years since I was diagnosed with Heart Disease (Coronary Artery Disease). My blood tests were mostly normal and there were no real red flags. And yet, there I was: at the 98th percentile of calcification of my arteries for my age.
Once I was over the initial shock, I realized I was actually incredibly lucky. Cardiovascular disease accounts for more deaths (32%) than the next 4 biggest causes of death combined (all the cancers, respiratory disease, diabetes and dementia). According to Stanford Health, among South Asians, heart attacks are happening earlier (25% of heart attacks occur under age 40, and 50% occur under age 50) and with higher mortality rates (there is a 40% higher chance of mortality from heart attacks among South Asians than the average population).
It led to me making a lot of changes to my lifestyle (food, exercise, sleep) in ways that did not require me to give up eating and doing all the things I love. To ensure my changes were medically, scientifically and nutritionally sound, I worked very closely with a number of amazing clinicians, dietitians and exercise trainers.
I am sharing a few of the improvements I have seen in my health parameters through this journey to demonstrate how effective these changes have been while being quite simple to implement. Moving forward, I will share my learnings and observations on these interventions through my GeneClinicX Instagram account and on my LinkedIn account, that I hope can help those of you that are looking for sustainable and fun ways to stay or become healthy. Your feedback and questions are very welcome!
82 comments
Anand Date: Commendable results, Nickhil.
Radha Sundararajan: Awesome Nickhil!
Kiran Rao: Amazing Nickhil! Would love to learn more.
Nickhil Jakatdar: Kiran thanks! I will be posting on IG, LI and here occasionally!
Kiran Rao: Joined Insta (finally!) and followed you and GlucoseGyan.
Rajeev Mundra: Look forward to your posts !
Robert Fan: Congratulations Nickhil. I look forward to learning how you did it.
Nickhil Jakatdar: Robert thanks. I will be posting on social media but I also do a seminar on this topic regularly so will post those dates here as well.