“You Gotta Have Heart” – Heart Month Show

Women and Heart Disease – A Survivor’s Story

This is a heart saving story about women and heart disease – straight from a survivor.  Brought to you by the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women campaign.

Today’s message is from Stephanie, who had a heart attack at 24 after being diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 16.

At 16, Stephanie, who was overweight, had been diagnosed with diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.  Stephanie said these things were mentioned casually by her physician, but she didn’t know they were a big deal.  “Because I wasn’t well educated about those conditions, they went unmanaged for a long time.”

As a college undergraduate I ate a typical fast-food diet, I rarely cooked my own food and often ate out.  After my heart attack that all changed.  I’ve lost 70 pounds and significantly reduced my blood pressure and cholesterol.  I work out five to six times a week and my experience has pushed me to eat healthy.  My diet is heavy on protein, fiber and produce, and I’m big on reading labels.  I’ve learned that you can love your heart by paying attention to what you put in your mouth.

 Changing the way you eat and prepare food can reduce your risk.

Not all fats are created equal. Use only fats and oils with 2 grams (or less) of saturated fat per tablespoon.

Break free of frying.  Boil, bake, sauté, steam, microwave, grill, broil, roast, or poach your entrée to cut the fat and keep the flavor.

When eating prepared food, pay close attention to labels.  Hydrogrenated oils and fats are often hidden in the ingredient list.

 For recipes that let you love your heart and enjoy your meals visit the American Heart Association’s online cookbook at www.deliciousdecision.org

For more heart healthy info visit www.heart-strong.com

Vote with Your Heart – Support the Red Dress Campaign

Campbell’s asked people across America to take inspiration from a real female heart-health hero who motivates them and share their story and their red dress design. In February, American Heart Month, the winning designer and their heart-health hero will travel to New York City to walk the red carpet at the Woman’s Day Red Dress Awards with fashion expert Tim Gunn and model the winning dress.

Read the finalist’s stories and learn about the heart-health hero who inspired them. Then view their designs and vote for your favorite story and dress. For each vote, Campbell’s is donating $1 up to $625,000 to the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women® movement. Voting ends January 28, but you can continue to click to donate through March 31, 2010. 

Click here to vote: http://www.campbellsaddressyourheart.com/

Heart Health: One E-mail Can Help Women with Heart Disease

(From AHA Go Red Newsletter)

Did you know that today, a woman can be charged health insurance premiums 150% higher than a man of the same age? Unfortunately, it’s true. Studies have found that women pay significantly higher premiums than men of the same age for individual health insurance policies providing identical coverage. And these higher health care costs can put coverage out of reach for women with heart disease and even for women who are taking preventative measures to reduce their risk. And in most states, those with a pre-existing medical condition as common as high blood pressure can be denied coverage altogether or charged unaffordable premiums. That’s why we’re calling on you, as a member of the Go Red for Women movement, to make your voice heard and join us in letting Congress know that the fight against our Nation’s No. 1 killer of women requires urgent action on health care reform. On September 30th, American Heart Association advocates will be on Capitol Hill to discuss the challenges they face as heart disease survivors in affording health care coverage — and they need your help to make their message impossible to ignore.

Email your Members of Congress today and let them know women with heart disease need their support in reforming the broken health care system.

Go to http://www.heartsforhealthcare.org/default.aspx

6 Affordable and Effective Exercise Essentials

 If you need inspiration to become more physically active, a push to get going or just want to have more fun, here are six of the best, easy-to-afford and effective pieces of exercise gear.

 Using just one of these regularly will improve your fitness without straining your budget:

Resistance bands: Stretchy and fun, they do the work of weights but pack easily in a purse or pocket. Versatile for several body areas. ($3+)

Jump rope: Remember when you could jump for hours with your friends? You don’t need hours now—just 5 or 10 minutes of jumping (indoors, if you prefer) will boost your activity level and burn calories. ($3+)

Exercise mat: You’ll be more comfortable, with a safer grip, than exercising on a carpet or bare floor. That will help you be active more easily, for a longer time. ($15+)

Hand weights: Keep a set by the computer or TV and use while watching something entertaining. ($5+)

Exercise ball: Sized for your height, most of these come with their own pump for easy inflation (and reinflation). Great for strengthening various muscle groups. Use as a chair and you’ll get a bit of a workout just from balancing on it. ($15+)

Pedometer: Just put it on and in a day or two you’ll be more aware of how much (or little) you’re moving every day. Aim to increase your average daily steps by 5 percent every week until you reach 10,000 steps a day, a goal that the American Heart Association and other experts suggest. Then add more to increase benefits. ($10+)

Often, you can find fitness items such as exercise DVDs, roller skates, workout clothing and more at yard or garage sales for just a dollar or two.

If you’re interested in acquiring big home-gym equipment, yard sales and online community boards are great places to find barely used items. Recently, one site had offerings that included treadmills for $35 to $75, a weight bench for $1 and an elliptical machine for $180. Just remember that you’ll probably have to arrange for transporting the big and heavy pieces—as well as find a space for them in your home.

© 2009 National Women’s Health Resource Center, Inc. (NWHRC) All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from the NWHRC. 1-877-986-9472 (tollfree). On the Web at: www.healthywomen.org.

Can Vegetable Juice Promote Weight Loss?

            A recent study of 81 adults (mostly women who had the metabolic syndrome, which is “pre-diabetes”) reported greater weight loss when vegetable juice was consumed daily. People in this study who drank 8 ounces of vegetable juice daily lost 4 pounds over 12 weeks whereas those who followed the same diet but did not drink veggie juice only lost 1 pound.  All the participants followed the American Heart Association DASH diet.  The DASH diet recommends a high intake of fruits and vegetables, high fiber, low fat, low salt and low fat dairy.  The DASH diet is considered a low fat and low salt diet that can help control or prevent high blood pressure.

            This is a preliminary study and more research is needed but drinking “low salt” vegetable juice every day is a great way to increase your intake of vegetables and may help shed some extra pounds.

 For more info on the DASH diet visit http://dashdiet.org/

For more info on heart health and hypertension visit www.heart-strong.com

Polypill to prevent heart disease??

Many people with risk factors for heart disease need to take several pills – one (many times several pills needed to get blood pressure controlled) to control their blood pressure, one to control their cholesterol, and an aspirin to prevent a heart attack or stroke.

Results of an initial study of an experimental polypill were presented at the American College of Cardiology conference this week (results will be published online in the journal Lancet).  The polypill actually contains low doses of 3 different blood pressure medications (atenolol, ramipril,  and a “water pill” thiazide), plus the generic form of the cholesterol lowering medication Zocor, and low dose aspirin.  This would allow patients to take only one pill instead of five pills every day.  This study was performed in India and involved over 2,000 patients with at least one risk factor for heart disease.  Patients taking the polypill had lowering of their blood pressure and cholesterol numbers and effective anti-clotting effects.  No increase in side effects was seen, side effects were similar to patients taking the five individual medications.  Taking this single polypill could potentially cut a person’s risk of heart attack and stroke in half.

Of course further larger scale studies are warranted and FDA approval (which could take years) needs to be obtained before this combination medication would be available in the U.S.  But these are promising initial results and could possibly improve medication compliance.

Tips for Women – Coping with Stress

Tips for Coping With Stress
from the 2008 Women T.A.L.K. Survey

The National Women’s Health Resource Center’s 2008 Women T.A.L.K. survey found that 42% of women say their health has gotten worse in the past five years and stress was the most commonly cited reason (53%). Not all stress is bad, but when it flames out of control, it can take a terrible toll on your physical and emotional health, as well as on relationships. Following are some tips and practices that can help keep you from becoming overwhelmed or overanxious:

• Eat a balanced, nutritious diet. Eating well, getting enough sleep, and avoiding alcohol, caffeine, tobacco and junk food can help strengthen your immune system and your stress resistance.
• Exercise regularly because exercise promotes emotional well-being as well as physical fitness.
• Schedule your time more effectively using a calendar and to-do lists, prioritizing activities and realizing you can’t do everything. And, schedule a few minutes for yourself each day.
• Learn how to say no to requests that add extra burdens and can wreak havoc on your day.
• Insist on help with regular chores.
• Balance work and play by planning time for hobbies and recreation—activities that relax your mind and take you away from stressors temporarily.
• Practice relaxation exercises—like deep breathing or meditation—for just a few minutes each day.
• Rehearse for stressful events. Imagine yourself feeling calm and confident when anticipating a stressful situation. You will be able to relax more easily when the situation arises.
• Let yourself laugh and cry. Laughter makes your muscles go limp and releases tension, so try to keep a sense of humor. Tears can help cleanse the body of substances that accumulate under stress.
• Talk out troubles. It sometimes helps to talk with a friend, relative or member of the clergy. Another person can help you see a problem from a different point of view.
• Help others. Because we concentrate on ourselves when we’re distressed, sometimes helping others is the perfect remedy for letting go of whatever is troubling us.
• Learn to accept a difficult problem that is out of your control, which is better than endlessly worrying about it without results.
• Develop and maintain a positive attitude. View changes as positive challenges, opportunities or blessings.

Not every women needs to do all of these things. Some approaches may work for some people and others for other people. The key is to use the ones that work for you, and keep in mind that some of these become more effective with practice. Also, if stress starts making you feel especially overwhelmed and unable to cope, seek help from a professional trained to help.

© 2008 National Women’s Health Resource Center, Inc. (NWHRC) All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from the NWHRC. 1-877-986-9472 (tollfree). On the Web at: www.healthywomen.org.

10,000 Steps may not be the magic number

Several years ago the U.S. Surgeon General came out with the 10,000 steps program, encouraging every adult to walk 10,000 steps every day.  This was considered the minimum amount of daily heart healthy activity.  Now new recommendations are being evaulated by the Centers for Disease Control based on research that will be published in the May 2009 issue of American Journal of Preventive Medicine.  The new guideline recommends walking 3,000 steps over 30 minutes or 1,000 steps for 10 minutes five days a week.  This gets your heart pumping to achieve a moderate level of physical activity.  Walking is a very heart healthy activity, so get that pedometer out and start walking (your heart will thank you)….

Migraines during pregnancy increase heart attack and stroke risk

Migraine headaches have previously been shown to be a risk factor for heart disease and stroke in women, especially migraines with an aura or visual changes.  A study published in the British Medical Journal (March 2009) found that migraines during pregnancy can be lethal.  Over 33,000 pregnant women diagnosed with migraines were studied.  Women over 35 years of age were more likely to experience migraines during pregnancy.  Women who had migraines during pregnancy were 15 times more likely to have a stroke and twice as likely to develop heart disease.  All women need to know their risk factors in order to prevent a heart attack and stroke.

“Take Charge: A Woman’s Guide to a Healthier Heart” discusses risk factors for heart disease and stroke in women and provides tips on how to decrease your risk and live a healthier life. This book is available at www.heart-strong.com for only $10