A number of factors, such as diet and a lack of exercise, can make arteries stiff and cause them to become clogged with fatty deposits. They can also weaken and burst. However, there are some simple things you can do to improve your circulation and feel so much better!
Cardiologists and vascular surgeons at Palmdale Regional Medical Center not only diagnose and treat conditions affecting the blood vessels, they use teaching, testing, technology and other tools to help prevent stroke and heart attack in our community.
In this energetic segment, Joe P. Chauvapun, MD., joins the show to give great tips to help your blood circulation and also help you live a healthier life.
Tips for Better Circulation and a Healthier Life
Featured Speaker:
Learn more about Joe P. Chauvapun, MD
Joe P. Chauvapun, MD
Joe P. Chauvapun, MD is board certified in Vascular & General Surgery and a member of the medical staff at Palmdale Regional Medical Center.Learn more about Joe P. Chauvapun, MD
Transcription:
Tips for Better Circulation and a Healthier Life
Melanie Cole (Host): Your circulatory system nourishes and maintains every cell in your body, so it’s important to keep it in optimal working order for the sake of your health and well-being. My guest today is Dr. Joe Chauvapun. He’s a vascular surgeon and a member of the medical staff at Palmdale Regional Medical Center. Welcome to the show, Dr. Chauvapun. If someone were to ask you as a vascular surgeon what are some of your best bits of advice to have healthier circulation and longer life – what do you tell them?
Dr. Joe Chauvapun (Guest): What a good question. There's so many things that we could do. When we look at the TV, for example, you're always hit with infomercials about how we can improve our quality of living and longevity of life. There's always drugs that everybody is trying to sell you on TV, but I can tell you, having been in this business for about 20 years now, there's only a few key tenants that will help you to live and achieve better circulation and living longer. Everybody always talks about how it’s your smoking that’s making your circulation bad – and I do optimally agree with that. Smoking is not healthy for you. If that’s something that you are engaging in, definitely stop it.
There are other core tenants as well that can actually help you to live even longer, and so, it’s a combination of different things. If I was to ask you ‘what do you think is a key tenant to living longer – you as a layperson – what would you tell me?’
Melanie: I am an exercise physiologist, so I would say you have to exercise and keep your blood moving or it’s just not going to work for you.
Dr. Chauvapun: Oh my gosh. I'm going to induct you to the vascular surgery world, because guess what? When we actually looked at individuals who live longer, and we compare it in terms of the circulation, to see all spectrums of life being individuals who are smoking, individuals who are consuming high amounts of sugar, who are eating red meat with burgers – we were looking at who actually lived longer and who actually lived shorter. Guess what? Number one is exercise. I'm not even talking about going to the gym working out three times a day – I'm talking about basic walking. Could you believe that individuals who actually are sedentary in lifestyle will live upwards of seven years shorter than individuals who walk? Just simple basic walking. You're right on it.
Melanie: How much do you recommend is enough? I know the American College of Sports Medicine recommends 150 minutes a walk, but as a vascular surgeon, do you think we need to do it more? Do you think we need to be walking faster or further? Give us a little tenant on how much you want us to exercise.
Dr. Chauvapun: Great question. I get this question all the time in my office. When people come to me with poor circulation, they don’t walk at all. I say ‘you know what, how much can you walk,’ and people typically give me a smart aleck answer ‘well I don’t’ or ‘one minute.’ I say you know what? What a great start. Typically, they’ll ask me ‘do I need to walk two miles a day, 30 minutes?’ I say that might just be a little bit too ambitious for you. If you don’t walk at all, I'm going to encourage that you walk one minute a day, and they look at me funny like what's that going to do. I say the next day, just increase it to two minutes, and by the end of the month, you'll be doing 30 minutes a day. Guess what? If you can actually do that, number one, your circulation will be much better. Number two, you will live longer. Number three, you will actually, with more circulation as you walk – dementia, Alzheimer’s – all of those numbers go down in individuals who actually have improved circulation and walk more and exercise because there's more oxygen delivered to the brain so that you remain sharper as you get older. Isn't that great?
Melanie: It’s amazing and it’s such important information and how well you lay it out because some people say ‘I just can't get up there,’ but nobody has the time. They have to make the time and that’s the edict that people need to know. It’s got to be like brushing your teeth.
Dr. Chauvapun: Exactly. You hit it right on. Whenever we want anything, you have to make time for it. If it’s important enough for you, you can make that time. Did you ever used to watch The Biggest Loser? The way they get to a lot of these people – the trainers – is they ask them ‘why can't you exercise,’ and they don’t have a good answer – ‘I don’t have a reason to do it for me.’ The trainer turns around and says ‘if you can't do it for yourself, how about your kids, wouldn’t you want to be around for them, or how about the grandkids?’ Life sometimes is beyond us. It’s also involving our loved ones as well, and to see that grandkid go to college and graduate – how awesome would that be?
Melanie: It is. It’s a great bit of advice. Dr. Chauvapun, give us another one of your best tips.
Dr. Chauvapun: Second tip, your food is your medicine. If you're loading up your body with bad stuff, definitely you're going to increase inflammation. The body has this tendency to either undergo acute inflammation or chronic inflammation. Acute inflammation is actually good for you and good for the blood vessels. What causes acute inflammation? A little bit of exercise causes a little bit of acute inflammation. Chronic inflammation is bad for the blood vessel. It’s very toxic. Things that causes it are processed foods. If you put wholesome foods in your body, you will live longer definitely, and that'll help your circulation.
Melanie: Dr. Chauvapun, when people ask you ‘what's considered the bad stuff,’ – and we’re learning more and more as you mention about inflammation and these inflammatory processes and see reactive protein and these sorts of things – but if people want to know what those foods are that they should steer clear of, give us a little rundown on what you consider the bad stuff.
Dr. Chauvapun: Absolutely. When I look at the good stuff and bad stuff in life, what I always ask my patients is ‘did that naturally come from the ground?’ That should answer all of your questions. If you want some sugar, guess what? You can eat sugar cane and it’s not too bad, but when you process it and it’s like a processed sugar, it's probably not so good for you.
Melanie: Processed sugar – things that are processed, bleached, flours, pastas – that sort of thing. What about the brown versions of those things – like sweet potato versus white potato? Or wheat pasta versus white pasta? Is there a difference there?
Dr. Chauvapun: Obviously, anything that's white in color is super bad for you, and brown without all the bleaching, definitely much better. Whole wheat pasta is definitely much better than the super processed pasta. The same with rice. Brown rice is much healthier than the white rice alternative.
Melanie: Foods are so important and we hear a lot about trans-fat and saturated fat and cholesterol as contributing to arterial atherosclerosis and clogging of our arteries. Dr. Chauvapun, what do you tell people when they ask you about their cholesterol levels and this risk for heart disease?
Dr. Chauvapun: Great question. When we look at levels of cholesterol, obviously within the medical world, we keep a really close tap on the cholesterol level in which individuals are processing within their body. Believe it or not, when you're looking at cholesterol intake and how the body processes cholesterol itself, a lot of it is not only genetically driven in terms of how much you make of the cholesterol byproduct, but also how much you break down as well within the body. It's important that your healthcare professional help you regulate those values, but in terms of your fat intake, I'm all about moderations in life. If you're doing highly fatty meals all the time, that’s never good for you. Go along the line of more moderate food intake and fatty intake. Don’t cut it out. My philosophy in this is if I'm seeing a [inaudible 0:08:57] and they're asking me this question, I would tell me if you want to cut out all fat in your body, you're probably not going to do well. There's also healthy fats like the omega-3 that’s in fish. There are also healthy fats that’s in avocados. Those are great for you, so don’t demonize all fats.
Some fats are actually not bad for you. If you have a bacon a day, it’s not going to kill you. If I tell you ‘don’t think of a pink elephant,’ what do you do? The first thing that pops in your mind is a pink elephant. If I tell you ‘don’t eat,’ automatically your brain is going to think about it and it’s going to induce that craving. If you go along the line of moderate food intake and living life in moderation, you will be just fine.
Melanie: Give us your last tip because these are such great bits of information and your last tip for having healthier circulation and maybe a longer life.
Dr. Chauvapun: Are you a coffee drinker?
Melanie: I do like coffee.
Dr. Chauvapun: I'm a big coffee drinker, so I look for data that’s out there that reaffirms my belief, but July 10th, there was a big study that came out from USC looking at individuals who drink coffee. The study stipulates that if you drink about four cups of coffee a day – this is probably one of the largest coffee data there is – you will live longer than your counterpart. Interestingly, it doesn't matter if it is caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee, so either version will give you this longer lifespan.
Melanie: How much? Is there a too much? Is one cup a day a good way to do it?
Dr. Chauvapun: Actually, one cup might be too little. They look at four. People who are drinking upwards of four cups of coffee a day and they're actually doing much better than their counterpart. This is irrespective of your race so whether you're white, black, Asian – it doesn’t matter. You're going to have all the same benefits. Coffee drinkers live longer than non-coffee drinkers according to this study.
Melanie: Dr. Chauvapun, I want to ask you in the time that we have left for one more tip because people ask about stress and its relation to heart disease itself. What do you tell them about reducing our stress and the importance of trying to maintain that even state so that stress doesn’t get to you so much?
Dr. Chauvapun: This goes back to the second question when we were talking about inflammation. I think acute stress is great. When you're exercising, that’s acute stress – that’s actually pretty good for the body. Chronic stress, however, is so bad for the body, and that’s like if you're just in a chronic stress all the time – if you're on the go 24/7 without giving your body a break. Reducing that stress – meditation helps, getting enough sleep at night – that also helps. Those are the good things and good tenants actually allowing you to live longer and a more productive life.
Melanie: In summary, Dr. Chauvapun, what would you like to tell people about maintaining that all important circulation and hopefully living a longer life?
Dr. Chauvapun: Number one, your food is your medicine, so pick good food and you're going to live much longer. Number two, movement is medicine, so try to get about 30 minutes of walking a day or movement with exercise – resistance exercise programs are great for you. Thirdly, get some coffee – go to Starbucks, get a couple of cups – it’ll help you live longer.
Melanie: Why should they come to Palmdale Regional Medical Center for their care?
Dr. Chauvapun: Because it’s just the best place in the world, and because I work there. We look forward to seeing you.
Melanie: Thank you so much, Dr. Chauvapun. You're really a great guest to have on. You're listening to Palmdale Regional Radio with Palmdale Regional Medical Center. For more information, please visit palmdaleregional.com. That’s palmdaleregional.com. Physicians are independent practitioners who are not employees or agents of Palmdale Regional Medical Center. The hospital shall not be liable for actions or treatments provided by physicians. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.
Tips for Better Circulation and a Healthier Life
Melanie Cole (Host): Your circulatory system nourishes and maintains every cell in your body, so it’s important to keep it in optimal working order for the sake of your health and well-being. My guest today is Dr. Joe Chauvapun. He’s a vascular surgeon and a member of the medical staff at Palmdale Regional Medical Center. Welcome to the show, Dr. Chauvapun. If someone were to ask you as a vascular surgeon what are some of your best bits of advice to have healthier circulation and longer life – what do you tell them?
Dr. Joe Chauvapun (Guest): What a good question. There's so many things that we could do. When we look at the TV, for example, you're always hit with infomercials about how we can improve our quality of living and longevity of life. There's always drugs that everybody is trying to sell you on TV, but I can tell you, having been in this business for about 20 years now, there's only a few key tenants that will help you to live and achieve better circulation and living longer. Everybody always talks about how it’s your smoking that’s making your circulation bad – and I do optimally agree with that. Smoking is not healthy for you. If that’s something that you are engaging in, definitely stop it.
There are other core tenants as well that can actually help you to live even longer, and so, it’s a combination of different things. If I was to ask you ‘what do you think is a key tenant to living longer – you as a layperson – what would you tell me?’
Melanie: I am an exercise physiologist, so I would say you have to exercise and keep your blood moving or it’s just not going to work for you.
Dr. Chauvapun: Oh my gosh. I'm going to induct you to the vascular surgery world, because guess what? When we actually looked at individuals who live longer, and we compare it in terms of the circulation, to see all spectrums of life being individuals who are smoking, individuals who are consuming high amounts of sugar, who are eating red meat with burgers – we were looking at who actually lived longer and who actually lived shorter. Guess what? Number one is exercise. I'm not even talking about going to the gym working out three times a day – I'm talking about basic walking. Could you believe that individuals who actually are sedentary in lifestyle will live upwards of seven years shorter than individuals who walk? Just simple basic walking. You're right on it.
Melanie: How much do you recommend is enough? I know the American College of Sports Medicine recommends 150 minutes a walk, but as a vascular surgeon, do you think we need to do it more? Do you think we need to be walking faster or further? Give us a little tenant on how much you want us to exercise.
Dr. Chauvapun: Great question. I get this question all the time in my office. When people come to me with poor circulation, they don’t walk at all. I say ‘you know what, how much can you walk,’ and people typically give me a smart aleck answer ‘well I don’t’ or ‘one minute.’ I say you know what? What a great start. Typically, they’ll ask me ‘do I need to walk two miles a day, 30 minutes?’ I say that might just be a little bit too ambitious for you. If you don’t walk at all, I'm going to encourage that you walk one minute a day, and they look at me funny like what's that going to do. I say the next day, just increase it to two minutes, and by the end of the month, you'll be doing 30 minutes a day. Guess what? If you can actually do that, number one, your circulation will be much better. Number two, you will live longer. Number three, you will actually, with more circulation as you walk – dementia, Alzheimer’s – all of those numbers go down in individuals who actually have improved circulation and walk more and exercise because there's more oxygen delivered to the brain so that you remain sharper as you get older. Isn't that great?
Melanie: It’s amazing and it’s such important information and how well you lay it out because some people say ‘I just can't get up there,’ but nobody has the time. They have to make the time and that’s the edict that people need to know. It’s got to be like brushing your teeth.
Dr. Chauvapun: Exactly. You hit it right on. Whenever we want anything, you have to make time for it. If it’s important enough for you, you can make that time. Did you ever used to watch The Biggest Loser? The way they get to a lot of these people – the trainers – is they ask them ‘why can't you exercise,’ and they don’t have a good answer – ‘I don’t have a reason to do it for me.’ The trainer turns around and says ‘if you can't do it for yourself, how about your kids, wouldn’t you want to be around for them, or how about the grandkids?’ Life sometimes is beyond us. It’s also involving our loved ones as well, and to see that grandkid go to college and graduate – how awesome would that be?
Melanie: It is. It’s a great bit of advice. Dr. Chauvapun, give us another one of your best tips.
Dr. Chauvapun: Second tip, your food is your medicine. If you're loading up your body with bad stuff, definitely you're going to increase inflammation. The body has this tendency to either undergo acute inflammation or chronic inflammation. Acute inflammation is actually good for you and good for the blood vessels. What causes acute inflammation? A little bit of exercise causes a little bit of acute inflammation. Chronic inflammation is bad for the blood vessel. It’s very toxic. Things that causes it are processed foods. If you put wholesome foods in your body, you will live longer definitely, and that'll help your circulation.
Melanie: Dr. Chauvapun, when people ask you ‘what's considered the bad stuff,’ – and we’re learning more and more as you mention about inflammation and these inflammatory processes and see reactive protein and these sorts of things – but if people want to know what those foods are that they should steer clear of, give us a little rundown on what you consider the bad stuff.
Dr. Chauvapun: Absolutely. When I look at the good stuff and bad stuff in life, what I always ask my patients is ‘did that naturally come from the ground?’ That should answer all of your questions. If you want some sugar, guess what? You can eat sugar cane and it’s not too bad, but when you process it and it’s like a processed sugar, it's probably not so good for you.
Melanie: Processed sugar – things that are processed, bleached, flours, pastas – that sort of thing. What about the brown versions of those things – like sweet potato versus white potato? Or wheat pasta versus white pasta? Is there a difference there?
Dr. Chauvapun: Obviously, anything that's white in color is super bad for you, and brown without all the bleaching, definitely much better. Whole wheat pasta is definitely much better than the super processed pasta. The same with rice. Brown rice is much healthier than the white rice alternative.
Melanie: Foods are so important and we hear a lot about trans-fat and saturated fat and cholesterol as contributing to arterial atherosclerosis and clogging of our arteries. Dr. Chauvapun, what do you tell people when they ask you about their cholesterol levels and this risk for heart disease?
Dr. Chauvapun: Great question. When we look at levels of cholesterol, obviously within the medical world, we keep a really close tap on the cholesterol level in which individuals are processing within their body. Believe it or not, when you're looking at cholesterol intake and how the body processes cholesterol itself, a lot of it is not only genetically driven in terms of how much you make of the cholesterol byproduct, but also how much you break down as well within the body. It's important that your healthcare professional help you regulate those values, but in terms of your fat intake, I'm all about moderations in life. If you're doing highly fatty meals all the time, that’s never good for you. Go along the line of more moderate food intake and fatty intake. Don’t cut it out. My philosophy in this is if I'm seeing a [inaudible 0:08:57] and they're asking me this question, I would tell me if you want to cut out all fat in your body, you're probably not going to do well. There's also healthy fats like the omega-3 that’s in fish. There are also healthy fats that’s in avocados. Those are great for you, so don’t demonize all fats.
Some fats are actually not bad for you. If you have a bacon a day, it’s not going to kill you. If I tell you ‘don’t think of a pink elephant,’ what do you do? The first thing that pops in your mind is a pink elephant. If I tell you ‘don’t eat,’ automatically your brain is going to think about it and it’s going to induce that craving. If you go along the line of moderate food intake and living life in moderation, you will be just fine.
Melanie: Give us your last tip because these are such great bits of information and your last tip for having healthier circulation and maybe a longer life.
Dr. Chauvapun: Are you a coffee drinker?
Melanie: I do like coffee.
Dr. Chauvapun: I'm a big coffee drinker, so I look for data that’s out there that reaffirms my belief, but July 10th, there was a big study that came out from USC looking at individuals who drink coffee. The study stipulates that if you drink about four cups of coffee a day – this is probably one of the largest coffee data there is – you will live longer than your counterpart. Interestingly, it doesn't matter if it is caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee, so either version will give you this longer lifespan.
Melanie: How much? Is there a too much? Is one cup a day a good way to do it?
Dr. Chauvapun: Actually, one cup might be too little. They look at four. People who are drinking upwards of four cups of coffee a day and they're actually doing much better than their counterpart. This is irrespective of your race so whether you're white, black, Asian – it doesn’t matter. You're going to have all the same benefits. Coffee drinkers live longer than non-coffee drinkers according to this study.
Melanie: Dr. Chauvapun, I want to ask you in the time that we have left for one more tip because people ask about stress and its relation to heart disease itself. What do you tell them about reducing our stress and the importance of trying to maintain that even state so that stress doesn’t get to you so much?
Dr. Chauvapun: This goes back to the second question when we were talking about inflammation. I think acute stress is great. When you're exercising, that’s acute stress – that’s actually pretty good for the body. Chronic stress, however, is so bad for the body, and that’s like if you're just in a chronic stress all the time – if you're on the go 24/7 without giving your body a break. Reducing that stress – meditation helps, getting enough sleep at night – that also helps. Those are the good things and good tenants actually allowing you to live longer and a more productive life.
Melanie: In summary, Dr. Chauvapun, what would you like to tell people about maintaining that all important circulation and hopefully living a longer life?
Dr. Chauvapun: Number one, your food is your medicine, so pick good food and you're going to live much longer. Number two, movement is medicine, so try to get about 30 minutes of walking a day or movement with exercise – resistance exercise programs are great for you. Thirdly, get some coffee – go to Starbucks, get a couple of cups – it’ll help you live longer.
Melanie: Why should they come to Palmdale Regional Medical Center for their care?
Dr. Chauvapun: Because it’s just the best place in the world, and because I work there. We look forward to seeing you.
Melanie: Thank you so much, Dr. Chauvapun. You're really a great guest to have on. You're listening to Palmdale Regional Radio with Palmdale Regional Medical Center. For more information, please visit palmdaleregional.com. That’s palmdaleregional.com. Physicians are independent practitioners who are not employees or agents of Palmdale Regional Medical Center. The hospital shall not be liable for actions or treatments provided by physicians. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.