Go Red! for Women Weekly Digest 0312

Last week, it was strongly advised that you visit www.goredforwomen.org/hearthealth and enter your numbers. Within approximately ten minutes, you will have your own personal set of numbers and risk factors for heart disease. With this information comes the power and responsibility needed for change.

In your hands, this checkup becomes a weapon against impairment or death. Contemplate the results. How do they make you feel? What can you learn from them? What questions do they provoke?Most importantly, what will you do with these pieces of information?

Here are some pieces of information to help you to decipher your pathway:

1. Total cholesterol levels should be lower than 200, better if below 150.

2. The LDL(lousycholesterol) ought to be below 100 and closer to 70.

3. The HDL(good cholesterol) ought to be above 45 for men, 55 for women.

4. Triglyceride levels ought to be below 150

5. Blood pressure should be around 120/80.

6. The four best health practices are: activity, diet, stressbusters, quitting smoking.

This is why the diet and exercise topic came up last week. Why? These are the two areas in which all of us have crucial input. We buy our own food and are responsible for our own locomotion. Therefore, the power is in our hands to fight off heart disease!

GO RED! FOR WOMEN HEART HEALTH CHECKLIST 0312:
1. Start taking a multivitamin.
2. Begin eating 3-5 vegetables and fruits daily.
3. Make an appointment with the doctor/followup appointment and get started with a PLAN to care for your heart!

With every heartfelt desire for your success, and
From my heart to yours,
Doula Angelita

Heart Health Ambassador

San Jose American Heart Association

GO RED WEEKLY DIGEST: EXERCISE

For the average person, the fact is that they know exactly what to do to keep healthy. It is not simply a matter of knowledge; rather it has much to do with both support and motivation. This is why it is important to surround yourself with those who will provide reinforcement and a gentle net of encouragement to help you achieve your goals. In this session of Go Red! Weekly, we will talk about getting exercise.

One of the important things about exercise is to do what is good for your body without causing damage or harm. No one is asking a couch potato to become a marathon runner overnight, nor asking those with bad knees to do a lot of weight-bearing exercise right away if at all. The important thing to keep in mind is to do what is comfortable for your body to do for a minimum of time. Begin slowly and then work your body up to a customized routine.

Many people despair of having to exercise at all. It is true: it is uncomfortable, it takes time, it is not easy and of course, sitting in a comfortable chair with a box of chocolates and the television remote is so much more accomodating. But, this is also the easy path to heart disease and to poor overall health. The path of least resistance is not the path that is the best for you nor your future.

Now, what will it take to get you into an exercise routine that you can commit to? First, you need the aforementioned and fabled support group. Even one person who will go for a walk with you, or call you up to see if you did take your walk, or who will listen when you call to say how much the walk took out of you...or gave to you...this person is gold and you need to hang onto them like grim death. When starting a new regimen, this is a crucial part of your strategy. Think about it: Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers make millions doing just that, so why don't you?

Second, do an exercise that is meaningful to you. What did you used to enjoy doing? Dancing? Swimming? Yoga?Lifting weights? Hiking? Bicycling? Whatever it was, adapt it for your fitness level now. Take a class for beginners, put on the timer for ten minutes, pedal around the block. This will give you an idea of your fitness level, as well as keep your interest piqued.

In the meantime, why not try walking? You can go at your own pace, there's no fancy equipment for you to buy, all you need is yourself, a coat if it is chilly and your keys. If walking isn't your thing, then there are exercises that you can do in your chair, there are muscle-building workouts for both the upper and lower body. Once you get moving, keep moving for heart's sake.

The heart is the organ which controls the movement of blood, oxygen and nutrients throughout the body. It cleanses and purifies, it pumps ceaselessly, and it never complains even when parts of it begin to show signs of disease or even die through bad diet and lack of exercise. This organ is so important to your body that without it even the brain cannot function! Not only is it the seat of emotion, it is the seat of life and to not care for it as best as you can is unconscionable.

#Hearthealth is #besthealth. What will you do for your heart today?