At the end of February, my father had a mild heart attack.  He just had a doctor's appoint went with a heart specialist yesterday and he was told he was in excellent condition, all remaining physical restrictions have been lifted, and he doesn't need to come back for another checkup until October.  He is doing amazingly well.

My dad has heart disease.  My grandmother had heart disease.  There is about a 100% chance that I have heart disease.  My dad could have avoided his heart attack had he adjusted his diet 25 years ago when he first learned that he may have heart disease.  I'm 26 years younger than my father.  Some quick math shows that now is the time for me to make some adjustments to my diet to hopefully prevent heart disease from ever having a significant effect on my own body.

Even though his dietary recommendations were much more drastic than the preventative ones that I should be taking, I tried to follow my dad's new diet as closely as I could, error heavily on the side of caution.  This meant removing as much sodium as I could from my diet, reducing my portions by half, and cutting back on red meat and potatoes.

Some of these were easier than others to accomplish.  I don't eat too much red meat, so that was a simple one.  Ditto on potatoes.  Sodium is in so many things, so it has proven to be a constant battle.  The hardest one for me was portions.  I had been eating a normal breakfast and lunch, but many snacks a day, as well as a very large meal at night.  Generally, I have done well with my portions over the last 3 months.  I have eliminated most snacks from the day, replacing the remaining one with healthy carrot sticks.  I have also cut back my dinner meal to about 1/3rd of how much I used to eat.  I'm now eating the amount that I need to eat, not the amount that I want to eat.

It is paying off.  It is a little chilly in WI today, so I had to break out some fall/winter clothing.  I'm wearing a shirt that I wasn't able to wear this past winter.  In fact, it was so tight, that I probably shouldn't have worn it last winter, either.  I'm also wearing a pair of jeans that I haven't been able to wear for almost 4 years.  They are still a little tight in the junk, but they are certainly wearable.

Last night when I was getting ready for bed, I had my shirt off when I noticed myself in the mirror.  For the first time in years, I didn't look at my reflection and think, "Ugg - what happened to me?"  Instead, I saw my reflection and thought, "Wow.  I actually look pretty decent without my shirt on for a change."

My original goal was to eat healthier and nip this heart disease thing in the butt before it gets a chance to cause some serious damage.  That was all I really wanted.  I knew that I would lose a little weight in the process, but that wasn't something I was necessarily trying for.  It's an unintended, but amazing, side effect to get my old body back, as well as find some self esteem that I had assumed was long gone.

It's a scary picture, but it was taken without benefit of caffeine, on my cellphone, in front of my house waiting for a school bus. Yep, I've been RED all day. :)

Please go to Go Red.Org for more information about heart disease prevention.

Participate In National Wear Red Day^SM

Everyone (men too!) can support the fight against heart disease in women by wearing red on February 2, 2007— Go Red For Women Day. It’s a simple, powerful way to raise awareness of heart disease and stroke. By joining together with thousands of women, companies and organizations, and cities across America, you’ll help the American Heart association support ongoing research and education about women and heart disease.

 

For more information:  http://goredforwomen.org/index.html

Sleep apnea is a serious disorder in which a person briefly and repeatedly stops breathing during sleep. People with untreated sleep apnea are more likely to develop high blood pressure, heart attack, congestive heart failure, and stroke. Women are more likely to develop sleep apnea after menopause.

 

Other factors that increase risk are overweight, smoking, use of alcohol or sleeping pills, and a family history of sleep apnea. Symptoms include heavy snoring and gasping or choking during sleep, along with extreme daytime sleepiness. If you think you may have sleep apnea, ask your doctor for a test called polysomnography, which is usually performed overnight in a sleep center.

 

If you are overweight, even a small weight loss — 10 percent of your current weight — can relieve mild cases of sleep apnea. Other self-help treatments include quitting smoking and avoiding alcohol and sleeping pills. Sleeping on your side, rather than on your back, also may help.

 

It is spring! This is a perfect time to be outdoors walking, biking, or puttering in the garden. Take advantage of the gorgeous weather and get serious about getting yourself healthy, lean and toned.

 

Get Fit For Life!

Lowering your salt intake could lower your blood pressure, and maintaining a healthy blood pressure is an important defense against heart disease and stroke. Since salt is a popular additive, you should carefully monitor the amount of sodium you are eating to avoid overdoing it.

 

Here are some tips to help eliminate excess salt from your diet:

 

• Use reduced sodium or no-salt-added products. For example, choose low- or reduced-sodium, or no-salt-added versions of foods and condiments when available.
• Buy fresh, plain frozen, or canned with "no-salt-added" vegetables.
• Use fresh poultry, fish, and lean meat, rather than canned, smoked, or processed types.
• Choose ready-to-eat breakfast cereals that are lower in sodium.
• Limit cured foods (such as bacon and ham), foods packed in brine (such as pickles, pickled vegetables, olives, and sauerkraut), and condiments (such as MSG, mustard, horseradish, ketchup, and barbecue sauce). Limit even lower sodium versions of soy sauce and teriyaki sauce — treat these condiments as you do table salt. Remove the salt shaker from the dining table!
• Use spices instead of salt. In cooking and at the table, flavor foods with herbs, spices, lemon, lime, vinegar, or salt-free seasoning blends. Start by cutting salt in half.
• Cook rice, pasta, and hot cereals without salt. Cut back on instant or flavored rice, pasta, and cereal mixes, which usually have added salt.
• Choose "convenience" foods that are lower in sodium. Cut back on frozen dinners, mixed dishes such as pizza, packaged mixes, canned soups or broths, and salad dressings — these often have a lot of sodium.
• Rinse canned foods, such as tuna, green beans, corn, etc. to remove some sodium.

 

Get Fit For Life!

www.reboundtohealth.com