TRASCRIZIONE 🔗
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Episode 1.
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If you're listening today, it means you survived.
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Take a slow deep breath with me.
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Just for this moment, there's nowhere else you need to be.
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Welcome to Thrive After a Heart Attack.
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I'm your host, Luiza Holtzberg, and I am so grateful you're here.
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If you're listening today, it's likely because you or someone you love has experienced a heart attack or another cardiac event.
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First, I want to say this.
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I'm so glad you're still here.
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And I also want you to know this.
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I see you.
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I know that life after heart attack isn't always what people expect.
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Yes, you've survived, but that doesn't necessarily mean you feel like yourself again.
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Maybe you've become hyper aware of every sensation in your chest.
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Maybe your heart skips a beat and your mind immediately wonders is it happening again?
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Maybe you used to enjoy walking around the neighborhood, but now you're afraid to push yourself physically.
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Maybe you avoid being alone because it feels safer to have somebody nearby.
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Or maybe everyone around you keeps saying You're doing great while inside you feel scared, uncertain, and exhausted.
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If any of that sounds familiar, I want you to know something.
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You're not alone.
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And more importantly, there's nothing wrong with you.
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This podcast is a place where you'll learn how to feel safe in your body again so you can make the lifestyle changes that allow you to be there for what matters most your families, your career, your grandkids, and all the beautiful moments still waiting for you.
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This work is deeply personal to me.
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When I was just five years old, I lost my grandfather to a heart attack.
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Because of that loss, I never really had the chance to know him.
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As I've gotten older, I've realized that heart disease isn't only about blocked arteries or cholesterol numbers.
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It's about time.
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It's about birthdays, family dinners, graduations, holding your grandchildren, growing old with the people you love.
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Those are the moments my grandfather never got to experience.
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Somewhere along the way I realized something.
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I can't change what happened to my grandfather, but perhaps I can help someone else's grandfather, someone else's mother, someone else's spouse, or maybe even you have more time to enjoy the people and moments that matter most.
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That became my mission.
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That mission led me to graduate school to study exercise physiology and eventually into the world of cardiac rehabilitation.
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For more than a decade I had the privilege of working alongside heart attack survivors and people with heart disease as they rebuilt their physical strength.
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I watched people become stronger.
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I watched them gain endurance.
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I watched them learn how to exercise safely again.
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But I also noticed something that often wasn't being talked about.
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Many people were healing physically while still feeling terrified emotionally.
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They were going home with medications, exercise plans, and nutrition advice.
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But nobody was really helping them navigate the fear, the anxiety, the racing thoughts, the constant what if it happens again?
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As a National Board certified health and wellness coach, certified medical exercise specialist, and heart math coach and trainer, I've come to believe that recovery isn't only physical.
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It's emotional, it's mental, it's neurological, and those pieces deserve just as much attention.
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Here's something I wish every heart attack survivor was told.
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A heart attack isn't only a medical event.
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It's also a traumatic event.
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Your brain's number one job is to keep you alive.
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After experiencing something life threatening, your nervous system naturally becomes more alert.
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It starts scanning for danger.
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Every heartbeat feels more noticeable.
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Every ache or pain gets your attention.
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Your brain is trying to answer one question over and over.
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Am I safe?
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If you've experienced anxiety, if you're checking your pulse, if you're worried every time your heart feels different, that doesn't mean you're weak.
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It doesn't mean you're failing at recovery.
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It means your nervous system is trying to protect you.
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The beautiful thing is this just as your body can heal physically, your nervous system can learn safety again.
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You can rebuild confidence.
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You can learn to trust your body again.
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Load full transcript
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And that's exactly what we'll be working toward together.
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There are many wonderful resources that teach heart healthy eating, exercise, medications, blood pressure, cholesterol, all those things matter.
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We'll absolutely talk about them.
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But what makes this podcast different is that we're also going to focus on something that often gets overlooked.
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How do you stop living in fear?
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How do you quiet the constant what if?
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How do you trust your body again?
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How do you move from simply surviving to truly thriving?
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That's what this podcast is all about.
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Every week we'll take a whole person approach to recovery.
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We'll talk about heart healthy nutrition and practical ways to eat well without feeling overwhelmed.
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We'll explore restorative sleep and why quality sleep is essential for both your heart and your nervous system.
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We'll discuss safe, effective movement so you can rebuild confidence in your body's ability one step at a time.
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And we'll spend a lot of time talking about emotional and mental fitness, including mindset, emotional regulation, resilience, stress management, and heart math techniques that can help bring your heart and brain back into a calmer, more balanced state.
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I like to say this podcast is about physical fitness, emotional fitness, mental fitness with a sprinkle of nutrients to fuel it all.
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One small step at a time.
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If there's one thing I hope you take away from today's episode, it's this.
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You do not have to recover all at once.
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Healing isn't about perfection, it's about small, steady steps, one healthier meal, one short walk, one calming breath, one encouraging thought.
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Those small moments add up, and over time they become a new life.
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This week I'd like to invite you to try one simple practice.
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When fear shows up, and it probably will, pause just for a moment.
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Instead of criticizing yourself for feeling anxious, quietly ask, is my body trying to protect me?
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Then remind yourself, my body is learning that I'm safe.
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That small shift can become the beginning of a whole new relationship with your body.
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Thank you so much for spending this time with me today.
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I'm truly honored to be a part of your recovery journey.
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And if you're listening as the spouse, partner, adult child, family member, or friend of someone who has experienced a heart attack, thank you.
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Your support, your patience, and simply being there matter more than you may ever realize.
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Recovery is rarely a journey someone takes alone.
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And I hope this podcast becomes a source of encouragement, understanding, and hope for you as well.
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If today's episode resonated with you, please follow Thrive After Heart Attack on your favorite podcast app so you don't miss future episodes.
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And if you know someone who is recovering from a heart attack or someone who loves and cares for survivor, then I would be so grateful if you shared this episode with them.
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Sometimes hope begins with a single conversation.
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Before we wrap up, I want to leave you with one simple reminder.
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Today you don't have to fix everything.
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You don't have to eat perfectly.
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You don't have to exercise for an hour.
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You don't have to have all the answers.
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You simply need to take one small step.
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Because healing happens one small step at a time.
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And speaking of small steps, in our next episode, we're going to talk about an important and sometimes overlooked part of heart attack recovery.
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Sleep.
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So many survivors tell me, I'm exhausted, but I can't sleep.
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Maybe you have trouble falling asleep.
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Maybe you wake up in the middle of the night.
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Maybe every little sensation in your chest makes you wonder if something is wrong.
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If that's you, I want you to know you're not alone.
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We'll talk about why sleep often becomes so difficult after a heart attack, what's happening inside your brain and nervous system, and how creating a calming evening routine can help your body begin to feel safe enough to rest again.
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Because sometimes healing doesn't begin with doing more.
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Sometimes it begins with finally getting a good night's sleep.
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Until then, remember one small step at a time for a stronger heart.
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Keep on thriving.