Dr. Max Gomez: Reversing Heart Disease

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It's that time of year for resolutions and reversing bad habits. Smoking and weight loss are usually at the top of the list, but what about reversing heart disease?

As CBS 2's Dr. Max Gomez reported Friday, a Cleveland clinic is offering a different type of intervention -- one that is designed for people who have already had one heart procedure, surgery or heart attack and are looking to prevent another one.

"If you implement specific lifestyle changes you essentially reduce the risk of another cardiac event," said Mladen Golubic, of Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute.

The program is based on research that shows specific lifestyle changes can reverse heart disease, and may improve other chronic conditions, Gomez reported.

"We've seen patients who have went off their blood pressure medications because they were eating better, managing stress better and exercising. And also we had patients who reduced their need for diabetic medications," Golubic said.

The lesson here, Gomez said, is that even life-threatening chronic problems such as diabetes and heart disease can be made better with lifestyle changes, regardless of age.

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