Remember my dad back in the beginning of this campaign?  He had a heart attack.  I drove through my neighborhood doing a buck fifty to get him to the hospital.  Well after dad had a quadruple bypass, he quit smoking.  Yep.  Right there.  Did it last?  No.  But he cut back tremendously and it has made a difference.  He’s now one of those ‘I-smoke-when-the-mood-and-time-seem-right-for-a-smoke’ kind of guys.  Interesting.

I have some friends who still smoke.  You know who you are.  I do not see them as often as I would like but if I did, they wouldn’t be happy because I would give them a hard time about smoking.  It’s just so not worth it.  It costs a million dollars to do it and then costs you another million dollars to survive it.  Where is the deal here?

If you want to do anything for yourself, quit smoking.  I know it’s hard and I do not sit in judgment of anyone.  But this decision is less about you and more about those who love you.  Most of my friends who smoke are mommies.  And this means they run the risk of leaving those precious bunions (yes, bunions. You have a problem with that name?;) without a mommy, and that is not cool.  Think about it as much as you can and search for a way to quit. 

In the mean time, clean up everything else about your life if you cannot seem to stop.  This will lessen the effects of smoking but it is not a long term solution.  If you find yourself in the position of having to quit, you have my full support.  It’s hard and I don’t envy you but I do know that you can do it and you want to do it.

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My family is odd.  I am not kidding you.  In fact, my hubby is most likely reading this right now saying to himself, “You got that right.”  Now the oddness is more on my dad’s side than my mom’s side, but it doesn’t matter much…we’re some strange folk.  We’re a bit on the science side so we seem to speak a whole different language than everybody else.  We think differently and we’re naturally corny.  It is what it is.  But I also inherited some amazing genes from both of my parents that I can send a big, fat thank you to them for:  all of my numbers are low (BP, Chol, Tri, etc.), I look younger than I am (not by much but I’ll take anything I can get), my skin is great and my spine is still intact.  All in all, I have no complaints.

But you could have been given a different hand in the card game of life.  For instance, my hubby has high BP even though he works out 4 days per week, is in great shape, keeps a clean diet and plays basketball 2 days per week.  I’d say he’s stress free, too, but he lives with me so say no more there. Ha!  He’s been dealt a crappy hand and there is not much more that he can do to naturally reduce his BP.  

Knowing your family history is important.  If he didn’t know that high BP ran in his family, he most likely would not have been as diligent about diet and exercise the way he is now.  Don’t wait until it is too late.  Find out all the risk factors in your family and start to change your lifestyle according to that.  Get routine physicals to stay on top of those things and start taking preventive measures now.  Don’t wait for something to happen to be proactive.  Get to snoopin’ in the family biz right now.

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Diabetes is real.  It’s alive and well in the Black community.  And it annoys me.

Nothing bothers me more than ignorance or what I call ‘sound bite’ health tips.  If I go to a function—not necessarily a family function, could be anywhere—where there a large number of older black folk, I can lose my mind.

My community is being destroyed by diabetes and I am not “wondering why”.  Sitting at a table with the older generation and you begin to hear some serious nonsense being dispensed:

My doctor told me not to have fruit b/c it has sugar but to eat a low carb bar instead.  (Dear God in Heaven, level that doctor).

My nutritionist told me it’s better to have sugar free stuff than carbohydrates…(fill in the blank).  When probed further it was revealed they can have sugar free cookies but not whole oatmeal…really??

I could go on and on but I’m getting myself worked up again.  It’s awful the amount of misinformation that is out there in my community—and yes, I do as much as I can and support those that are dedicated to the cause full time.

Nature did not get anything wrong.  I will say that until the day I die.  WE have gotten everything wrong.  Nature is as consistent as it was a billion years ago.  There is never a time where you are going to find something man made that is better than what nature has provided.  Stick to a clean diet and you will watch your blood sugars come in line naturally and easily so you may better control them if they are still higher than normal.  Ladies, keep an eye on your moms, aunts and so on.  Make sure the information they are receiving is sound.  It will make a difference in the long run.  Believe me.

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Known as the silent killer, high blood pressure strains your heart and damages your blood vessels over a long period of time.  Most of us have no idea we are a walking time bomb.  We think because we are thin or ‘not obese’ that we do not have high blood pressure.  This can’t be further from the truth.  High BP is also genetic and sneak in and do some major damage when you least expect it.

Consistent exercise, a healthy diet like you read about on Jodiojo and quitting smoking are the best ways to combat high blood pressure.  Much ado has been made about sodium but this is not much of a concern if you are eating a clean diet.  Unprocessed foods contain minimal amounts of sodium and in some cases, people need to actually supplement their diet with sodium because there is so little in the foods they are eating.

Before hopping on meds, try modifying your diet and exercise regimen first.  You’ll be surprised at how much you can change in a relatively short time.

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