Reportedly the risk of a fatal heart attack was 4 times as much after a big meal. In fact, an earlier study in 2004 apparently discovered a surge of heart-related deaths around Christmas and New Year’s Day. The article which was printed earlier last week suggested several reasons for why a big holiday meal might cause more fatalities for heart patients than walking across a busy street.
The most reasonable explanation is a ”steal phenomena.” Essentially the stomach steals extra blood away from the heart in order to digest such a large meal. A normal, undiseased heart can handle lesser blood flow without too many problems. However, a heart that has blockages in the arteries cannot get enough flow past the blockages when too much blood is being stolen away to other areas of the body.
You may not need to be as much of a stickler about the perfect heart diet on holidays but you still need to be mindful of how much you eat. These new studies seem to be saying that an extra turkey leg might just be the death of you!