Empower Your Heart Health: Exclusive Nutrition Series with a Cardiac Dietitian
Hey Heart Buddies! For the month of October, I am bringing you my cardiac dietitian, Michelle Routhenstein, every Tuesday. Michelle has revolutionized my health with food - mind, body, spirit. She has so greatly impacted my life that I felt compelled to bring her to you again. She first came on the this podcast in January 2024. Now, she's back with more wisdom and important truth bombs on how to eat for optimal heart health. She isn't about fad diets or elimination. I have loved working with her and I know you will enjoy this series.
In this episode, Michelle shares insights on integrating science-based nutrition into daily life for optimal heart health. Emphasizing the importance of understanding the "why" behind dietary recommendations, she warns against blindly following advice, especially if linked to supplement sales. Michelle explains the complexities of heart functions and the dangers of excess supplementation, which can damage the liver and kidneys, indirectly affecting LDL cholesterol levels. I share my personal success story with Michelle’s guidance, emphasizing the need for lifelong nutritional education.
How to find Michelle
Michelle Routhenstein, MS, RD, CDCES, CDN
Cardiology Dietitian and Preventive Cardiology Nutritionist
Owner of Entirely Nourished, LLC
Sign up for her next Optimize Group at here. This is an affiliate link and by signing up, you support this podcast. Thank you!
About the program: Optimize is a six-week virtual heart optimization group program designed to teach you how to protect your heart through science-based nutrition. In this live program, Michelle Routhenstein, a cardiovascular dietitian, leads Zoom lectures that delve into arterial health and how to enhance your cardiovascular risk profile. She addresses underlying issues like inflammation, oxidative stress, and insulin resistance using evidence-based nutritional strategies. Throughout the six weeks, you'll also have access to a private community for questions, support, and the implementation of science-based heart-healthy changes to safeguard your heart for the long term.
Get in touch...P: (646) 979-0328 E: Michelle@EntirelyNourished.com
http://www.entirelynourished.com
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**I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. Be sure to check in with your care team about all the next right steps for you and your heart.**
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Transcript
It's really about integrating the science with your
Speaker:lifestyle to make it easily accessible, easy,
Speaker:implementable, something you enjoy to do. And also you feel the
Speaker:benefits from it and you understand what's going on and how
Speaker:it's improving all of your cardiometabolic metrics and your blood
Speaker:vessel health. And so that explanation of why is important,
Speaker:and I encourage everyone listening. When you hear someone
Speaker:online tell you don't eat this or don't do this, if they don't have
Speaker:a good reason for why, it's important that you second guess it.
Speaker:And if you also see that they're selling a supplement after they tell you to
Speaker:avoid a certain food, that should be a red flag. Cause a lot of
Speaker:times they're telling you to supplement, but they're telling you to avoid.
Speaker:And we need to be very careful on that because excess
Speaker:supplementation can also lead to liver damage and kidney
Speaker:damage, which impact your heart health. Welcome to a
Speaker:special October edition of Open Heart
Speaker:Surgery with boots. All month long we're
Speaker:diving into heart healthy eating with none other than
Speaker:my cardiac dietitian, Michelle
Speaker:Rothenstein. Each Tuesday we are serving up
Speaker:bite sized ten to 15 minutes episodes to give
Speaker:you practical tips to keep your heart in tip
Speaker:top shape. Whether you're recovering from surgery
Speaker:or just looking to show your heart a little extra love,
Speaker:Michelle's got you covered. Don't forget to check out
Speaker:our
Speaker:patreon@www.patreon.com
Speaker:openheartsurgerywithboots there we are building
Speaker:a community of fellow heart buddies where we are going
Speaker:to start meeting up on Zoom and being of support to each
Speaker:other. And I'll be curating special
Speaker:playlists to help you get started on your heart
Speaker:journey if you're just starting out. So thank you so
Speaker:much for being here. Thank you for supporting this podcast.
Speaker:I am so excited to bring Michelle to
Speaker:you every Tuesday for the month of October. So let's get
Speaker:right to it. I am so excited to
Speaker:welcome my cardiac dietitian,
Speaker:Michelle on for the whole month to give
Speaker:us bite sized nuggets of
Speaker:wisdom for how to eat
Speaker:for your heart health. When I started
Speaker:my podcast in 2023, I thought
Speaker:about how can I best show up for all the heart
Speaker:patients that would come after me. And
Speaker:one of the things that is really important to me
Speaker:is if I'm going to make a suggestion, if I'm going to
Speaker:elevate a caregiver or healthcare provider that's
Speaker:really helped me, I want to make sure that
Speaker:my recommendation to you, the listener, is solid and that I
Speaker:have benefited myself from
Speaker:help that I am now sharing with you for the month of
Speaker:October. And so I didn't realize
Speaker:how important it was to
Speaker:really scrutinize my diet until I started
Speaker:working with Michelle. And I really believe
Speaker:in her work. And we are going to be spending
Speaker:the next several Tuesdays bringing you little
Speaker:nuggets of wisdom that have really elevated my
Speaker:life. It's directly impacted my husband because I cook for
Speaker:him. I have healed my relationship with food,
Speaker:and I look forward to
Speaker:each meal knowing that it is well thought out
Speaker:and that it is directly treating my endothelial
Speaker:dysfunction. I'm starting to lose weight. I
Speaker:feel confident in my body again. All these
Speaker:things that we heart patients really struggle with,
Speaker:Michelle has directly helped me with. And
Speaker:so, Michelle, thank you so much for saying yes
Speaker:to this idea, this crazy idea I had.
Speaker:And I'm so grateful to you
Speaker:that you've come into my life. And it's like one of the
Speaker:amazing, unexpected gifts of starting
Speaker:this podcast is all the wonderful people that have come into my
Speaker:life, like yourself. It's truly my pleasure and honor,
Speaker:and I'm so happy to do this. I think it's so important for people
Speaker:to understand the benefits of science based
Speaker:nutrition and what it does to our blood vessel health. So I'm super
Speaker:excited to dive into all of our topics, and I hope your audience learns a
Speaker:lot through our time together. So what is the
Speaker:purpose? Why a cardiac dietitian? Why
Speaker:you? Because I remember when I
Speaker:was in the hospital post open
Speaker:heart surgery, I saw a nutritionist once, and
Speaker:all they said was, just watch your salt intake.
Speaker:And all my cardiologists has said to me
Speaker:is, watch your salt intake. And that's it. No
Speaker:one's talked to me about inflammation. No one's talked to me about
Speaker:eating the rainbow. I mean, I'm really dumbing it down right now. But like,
Speaker:it, it was like that. That was it. And there was nothing
Speaker:else. And so help us understand, like,
Speaker:who you are, what you bring to the table, and your
Speaker:purpose, and like, your, what you are doing for heart
Speaker:patients. So I think it's important to understand
Speaker:the intricacies of heart health and how it's much more
Speaker:than eating clean or avoiding sodium. My background
Speaker:is a registered dietitian. I did my clinical residency, my
Speaker:master's degree, my undergraduate degree at NYU, and then I
Speaker:kind of was in this field of, okay, I want to specialize
Speaker:in something specific. And in my clinical residency, I
Speaker:was in the liver clinic, I was in the ICU, I was in the cardiac
Speaker:rehab clinic. I was in every single area of
Speaker:where nutrition would have a focus, and everyone was having
Speaker:heart disease related complications. And I really took that
Speaker:to, why? Why is that? Why is heart disease the number one killer? Why is
Speaker:there so much heart disease when research shows that 80% to
Speaker:90% of it is preventable? And when you really look at
Speaker:this, I took it under myself to go and really be alongside
Speaker:preventative cardiologists and lipidologists and
Speaker:electrophysiologists and heart transplant doctors and interventional
Speaker:cardiologists and understand the medical background behind heart
Speaker:disease. And you have to understand that it is, unfortunately, very
Speaker:complicated in that there are many pathways that your
Speaker:body has, and it needs certain nutrients to work. And so I would go to
Speaker:conferences where only cardiologists were at, and they're like, why are you here? It's
Speaker:all about drugs. I'm like, well, if you listen to those details, there's a lot
Speaker:more to this picture here. So I spent a lot of time really
Speaker:going into the cardiovascular space, and it's
Speaker:complicated. We have three main functions that most people don't think about.
Speaker:When you think about heart disease, right? You think about, you have your heart
Speaker:pump, the ability for it to pump. You have that vascular system that you need
Speaker:to allow for good blood flow. That's one. You have your electrical
Speaker:system, which is the heartbeat regularity, and then you also have the
Speaker:plumbing system, your plaque buildup, the atherosclerosis. And these are
Speaker:all connected. But most people who don't study heart cardiology
Speaker:don't really look at it that way. You kind of take your heart for granted
Speaker:until something happens. And so my work and my background and being
Speaker:a cardiovascular dietitian for over 13 years is really about
Speaker:how do we optimize vascular health? How do we allow for good
Speaker:blood flow in the body and in the arteries to allow for our heart not
Speaker:to overwork. And that takes into account specific
Speaker:nutrients we need to include in our diet. You know, this no
Speaker:salt diet idea is important. We can't have a
Speaker:very high sodium diet. That's not what we're saying. But when you just
Speaker:focus on that, you don't actually look at what else you're eating. Oh, I don't
Speaker:put salt in my food. People take that also to an extreme. I have many
Speaker:clients who will say, I'm not going to have any salt. So it has to
Speaker:be zero milligrams. And so you end up becoming nutrient
Speaker:deficient. Your body needs nutrients to do all of those jobs. I
Speaker:just mentioned from electrical plumbing and pumping. And so
Speaker:we end up not actually paying attention to the
Speaker:nutrients that help our arteries and reduce stiffness in our arteries
Speaker:so our heart can do its job. Wow. It just. It's
Speaker:like a three pronged stool that you have to think about the three main
Speaker:functions. Okay, so you're saying
Speaker:knowledge is power. That's what I've realized with working with you. And
Speaker:the more I have come to understand how the heart works.
Speaker:Cause again, when, you know, I was thrust into my journey
Speaker:at age 42, it was a shock. It came out of
Speaker:nowhere, and I had to quickly learn what all my defects
Speaker:were about. What I didn't do was learn really, truly
Speaker:how the heart functions. You know, I don't think many people
Speaker:have, like, a full and clear understanding of
Speaker:how we function under our own hoods. We probably
Speaker:have a better understanding of how our cars operate than
Speaker:how our hearts work to keep us alive. At least that's
Speaker:the case for me. And it's interesting because I'm, like, a biology
Speaker:major, and I have a master's degree in teaching. But,
Speaker:you know, I never thought to, like, really understand how my heart worked.
Speaker:I didn't have the awareness to even worry about my
Speaker:heart. I had the privilege of not worrying about my heart for a long time,
Speaker:just like I have the privilege now of not having to worry about my spleen
Speaker:or, you know, all these other organs that thankfully aren't causing me trouble.
Speaker:But then I was thrust into this, like, whole situation, and
Speaker:I. I'm just fascinated that I wasn't given the education of,
Speaker:this is exactly how your heart works. This is how it's compromised right
Speaker:now. This is how you could better take care of it. Like, I wasn't
Speaker:given that education until I met you just a few months
Speaker:ago. And because I have all this awareness now, I
Speaker:am more aware when I'm eating and when I'm making
Speaker:choices for what I put in my body and, like, how it is going to
Speaker:affect my electrical system, my plumbing, my
Speaker:pumping. It's just amazing. And because of
Speaker:that, I am more and more every day
Speaker:making better choices for my overall health. So I just
Speaker:want to share that with listeners. It's like I am now in the. Driver'S
Speaker:seat, and I think that's important to recognize from an
Speaker:advocate for your own health. I'm very big about explaining the
Speaker:why behind my recommendations, because the unfortunate
Speaker:truth is that there's so many things on the
Speaker:Internet that's just wrong and doesn't have any scientific
Speaker:validity, but a person comes on, they sound like they know what they're
Speaker:talking about. You know, they look good on the outside, but that doesn't
Speaker:depict their insides. And arterial health, it's important that you're
Speaker:getting a good explanation of what is going on, and
Speaker:then when you understand what is going on and then you understand
Speaker:the nutrition implications of how that would help you click it more, it's
Speaker:going to allow for you to have a longevity factor, which is
Speaker:so important for optimal heart health. Right. If you
Speaker:do anything for a month, that's not really protecting your heart. We're really looking
Speaker:at this as a lifelong journey. And when you have these
Speaker:understandings of how cardiometabolic health works,
Speaker:how certain nutrients paired in the same, in the same pairing, helps
Speaker:to be better, absorb those nutrients and give you more energy and give you
Speaker:the vitamins in a more bioavailable way, it clicks
Speaker:so that when you're in other situations, you're more likely to do
Speaker:it long term. And that's the big component of I always stress
Speaker:if I teach you something and you do it for a month, get good results,
Speaker:but you don't continue for the rest of your life. I didn't do my job.
Speaker:It's really about integrating the science with your
Speaker:lifestyle to make it easily accessible, easy,
Speaker:implementable, something you enjoy to do. And also you feel the
Speaker:benefits from it and you understand what's going on and how
Speaker:it's improving all of your cardio metabolic metrics and your blood
Speaker:vessel health. And so that explanation of why is important,
Speaker:and I encourage everyone listening. When you hear someone
Speaker:online tell you, don't eat this or don't do this. If they don't
Speaker:have a good reason for why, it's important that you second guess
Speaker:it. And if you also see that they're selling a supplement after they tell
Speaker:you to avoid a certain food, that should be a red flag. Cause a lot
Speaker:of times they're telling you to supplement, but they're telling you to avoid.
Speaker:And we need to be very careful on that because excess
Speaker:supplementation can also lead to liver damage and kidney
Speaker:damage, which impact your heart health. You need those organs
Speaker:for optimal blood flow, and you also need those organs for optimal
Speaker:ldl breakdown and metabolism so that atherogenic
Speaker:LDL can be properly excreted in your body as well.
Speaker:Truth balm right there, that's major. And from where I
Speaker:sit then, I wondered, those that are struggling with LDL
Speaker:numbers, I mean, that could be for several different reasons,
Speaker:but I wonder, though, if people are so heavily supplement
Speaker:like, if they're taking so many supplements, if it's just causing
Speaker:this like, negative feedback loop with the kidneys and the
Speaker:liver, that could elevate the LDL. Is that a thing? So
Speaker:LDL for supplements in LDL, it's actually a little complicated.
Speaker:A lot of supplements, when we look at the research, they actually go
Speaker:rancid by the time you consume them. So if you're having a rancid
Speaker:oil, that's going to increase your ldl cholesterol. So we have to be
Speaker:careful in terms of our supplement usage on
Speaker:that front. But the other thing you have to realize is there's been a recent
Speaker:study, actually in August, that showed that there are a lot of supplements
Speaker:that cause liver failure and liver damage. One of them is an
Speaker:alternative to a statin drug. We see red yeast rice can do that,
Speaker:and that's why it was taken off of the actual pharmaceutical market. And it
Speaker:just showed how it could affect your liver. So if your liver is not
Speaker:working, your enzymes are elevated, it's under stress, it's
Speaker:not going to be able to break down ldl cholesterol as effectively.
Speaker:So is it going to be the cause of LDL to be high? No. But
Speaker:could it be a component to lDl being high because you
Speaker:can't break it down and lower the value? Perhaps. So it's
Speaker:not going to be your main cause from that aspect. But we know that it
Speaker:has a component in the puzzle. And we need to be looking at everything.
Speaker:We need to be looking at this as a whole picture approach. And I think
Speaker:many people will say, michelle, I don't eat junk food. I don't eat processed
Speaker:foods. How do I have plaque formation in my arteries? And
Speaker:it goes way beyond that. Okay, there you have it, folks.
Speaker:Tune in for the rest of October because Michelle
Speaker:is full of so much wisdom that we're gonna leave it right there
Speaker:for, for this Tuesday. But I think we're gonna pick up with
Speaker:that next Tuesday of just the downstream effects
Speaker:of this on your body. So, Michelle, thank you,
Speaker:listeners. Please join us next Tuesday for another
Speaker:little bite sized nugget and find Michelle in the show
Speaker:notes. We are gonna be talking about how you can work with Michelle.
Speaker:This is all about elevating her services. I so
Speaker:strongly believe in what she's doing. So thanks, Michelle. We will be
Speaker:back next Tuesday. Thank you.
