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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You are not overweight.  You eat right most of the time and you exercise.  But you just left your doctor’s office with her wagging her finger at you telling you that if you do not get it together, she is putting you on a cholesterol lowering medication and you are not happy.  So what do you do?  Get stressed out about it and turn to food?  Heck ya!

Top 3 Cholesterol Lowering foods:

Oatmeal:  Don’t care how you serve it, I love it (actually, that’s not true.  I hate protein powder in oatmeal. Ewww.)  More importantly, it has been shown to lower your cholesterol.  Skip the Cheerios and hop on this stuff.  No time you say?  Crock pot it and eat it all week.

Walnuts, Almonds: and some other yummy nuts will help lower your cholesterol.  However, some of you need therapy when it comes to nuts so don’t eat a whole container talkin’ ‘bout, “I’m jus’ workin’ on my cholesterol.”  Ummm…yeah.

Salmon and O3: How many different ways can I say that good fats are the way to go?  I am starting to sound like a broken record.  Get on that flax oil now!

If you lost your mind from stress one day and had a salmon salad sprinkled with granola, walnuts and cranberries—I’d forgive you.

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This week is a week I like a lot!  I think we all tend to fool ourselves as to how much we do and how hard we do it.

The AHA is asking everyone to not only get moving this week, but to raise the intensity of that movement so it is challenging for you.  I know when I was younger, there was no such thing as intense workout and I couldn’t get enough.  Now that I am older, that’s changed a bit.  I love an intense workout—but I can get enough.  And I am smarter now and know when enough is enough.  But what I see in health clubs or neighborhoods are folks who move, but move at the same intensity day in and day out and then wonder why they are not changing. 

I cannot express this enough:  you do not lose weight because you move, you lose weight because you did something *different* than what your body was accustomed to and it had to work harder as a result of that. 

As long as you keep that in mind, you will be more likely to up the intensity on your own and watch your results soon follow!

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No matter how many times we hear that there is always someone who has to give in to the temptation to do more, eat more, have more, etc.  Gas pumps are rigged so that you cannot “top off” the tank yet people find a way to do it anyways, spilling some down the side of the car onto the pavement below.  We always want more, more, more…until it comes to your BMI.  Then you want to start thinking less, less, less!

I am not going to go into BMI (Body Mass Index) in depth, instead I am just going to tell you that it is a measure for some health professionals of your weight vs your height and that in order to bring it down to healthy levels, I want you to do the following:

Move

Optimize your diet

Resistance train

Enjoy life

Now ladies, you must pass this on to your mom, aunt, mentor, co-worker, whom ever you deem appropriate.  If they are not living their life the way you are, you must help them out.  Don’t beat them over the head with it, love them with it.  They will be more likely to hear what you have to say.

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…do it at your own pace and do it for real.

Are you fatalistic? All or none? In it to win it or you just couldn’t care less?

If you or a family member is like this, you are not going to go very far in the heart healthy arena.

Yes, you can psycho diet and hit your goal quickly. You’ll be down 20 pounds in 8 weeks and aren’t you fabulous? Where will you be 6 months from then, though? You could still be down in weight, but odds are you won’t be any healthier.

The AHA doesn’t want you thin, they want you healthy. Having you lose the weight and the bad habits is not about making you look good in your room. It’s about keeping you alive in your room. Nothing is worse than getting excited about your new body and possibly having a heart attack because of it. Let me clarify that statement, too, because I think it will be lost on many. When you lose weight without investing in the process, you run the risk of having a weak heart but a lighter, faster body. This is dangerous stuff and you see this with people who want to just “lose the weight first” and then bring in the good habits second. The thing is, you strengthening everything—including your heart—when you do it the right way and leave yourself weakened and vulnerable when doing it the wrong way. Commit to at least one good habit every 2 to 3 weeks and you will be more likely to keep them.

Here are 3 of the easiest changes that you can get your mom, aunt, cousin, friend or whomever to buy into without them feeling backed into a corner:

1) Movement attached to something enjoyable. Typically shopping. Go with them to a mall and make them move at least once a week. While you’re doing that, ask them their schedule and have them tell you when they have periods of downtime. Give them examples of how they can fit 10 min. of exercise into those spaces. Things that do not count as exercise: running late, giving you the run around, jumping to another topic, etc.

2) One colorful food per day: Tell them they must eat one colorful fruit or veggie per day and they cannot have the same one two days in a row or more than 2 times in a week. That’ll make them a bit mad but they’ll get over it and begin to change or they’ll eat red peppers every day and tell you to MYOB. Beware of the latter.

3) A glass of water at 3 meals/day: You’re not saying every meal. You’re not saying they can’t have their precious diet Coke. You’re saying I just need you to have 3 glasses of water every day. If you can do that for me, I will {fill in the blank here: mow the lawn, pay your taxes, stop growing hemp in the basement, whatever} and they will be more likely to adopt this habit as well.

They say it takes 21 days to make a habit (and 3 min. to locate the nearest Coldstone Creamery—keep the away from Google!) so stay close to them for a while and encourage.

You know someone who is worth it to you. Help them along wouldja?

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“No one has ever made it to their goal and thought to themselves, now how did I do that?”
T.D. Jakes

If you are keeping up with the BetterU program like I am, you know they are now talking about tracking what you are eating and what you are doing exercise-wise so you know how you are doing and what to change if you are not getting the results that you want. This is like music to my ears.

Tracking for many seems cumbersome in the beginning and so many don’t want to do it but I wish I had a dollar for every smile that I receive when I tell a client that they are X% stronger, faster, lighter, healthier and so on. Tracking shows you progress. Your progress. As you embark on an endeavor as big as this, you need all the extra encouragement you can get because the road seems long and unending. The biggest mistake is to make the scale your only form of tracking. Seeing how your diet has evolved over the length of this program and how your workouts become easier and more frequent is rewarding. It’s cool to see things like that.

If you are helping someone else through this program, you know how important it is to give a word of encouragement to your mom, aunt, cousin, friend and so on. When you help them to track, you give yourself something to be able to use to keep them going through the weeks. However, they may not and you may not know things that you can track that show progress other than the scale. Here is a list for you:

Food choices. Let them know that they have been eating:

more good than bad
more fruits and veggies than refined carbs
more good fats
better timing with meals
more meals
drinking water
not drinking soda
drinking less soda

Exercise

more days working out than not
lifting once per week
lifting twice per week
lifting three times per week
going up in the weight
learning more advanced moves
can do “this” now when they couldn’t before
can workout longer
can walk faster
can walk longer
can walk longer AND faster

When you see it written out this way you realize there are a myriad of ways for you to keep track of your progress without having to step on the scale. What are you going to use as your litmus?

Have fun and don’t forget to track it all in your fitbook!

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This is for my ladies!

You know I am coming after my girlfriends who smoke, do not exercise or eat unhealthily. I know you all read my blog—you tell me so all the time—so I figure I would sneak in a post about your heart health and see if you noticed I was talking about you.

I just entered the “club” (as TP says, lol). That would be the 40 year old club. This means many of my girlfriends are right behind me—although I have heard that some of them are bypassing it and going straight for the 21 club. Umm…yeah. But for those of us who are brave enough to enter the club, we have more to think about now than wrinkles and “cougar” status. Heart health is key!

If you have been reading my blog, I am representing the AHA Better U program for the month of February and into March and April. Every week I will have a post on this topic giving you the lecture of a lifetime good information about how to be heart healthy. And you need to listen. (By the end I know I will be calling y’alls out by name.)

During week 2 of the Better U program it calls for you to follow Your Personal Course of Action. OH I LOVE THIS!

Let me break that down for you:

Your Personal: This means this is yours. Not mine. Yours. YOU decide what it’s going to be—so no pressure here. Go at your own pace. YOU put it into action—this means there’s some accountability on your part but it’s worth it. Lastly, YOU reap the benefits—not your doctor, not me, just you. There is a personal reward in this for you—Heart Health!

Course: This word implies plan with a known destination. You are going to PLAN for your success. There is a road to be charted, paved and followed. No mystery involved. And because it is Your Personal course, you set your own destiny, your own pace, if you want someone on the course with you, how long the course will be, etc.

Action: DO something! Quit smoking, eat better, exercise, pay your bills (Ooo, sorry. Did I just put someone out there? Bwahahaha, j/k) I don’t care what it is, just put something in action! This means to move. To head toward a result. Let’s just do this and get it over with, shall we? It must be horrible to be healthy, live a long life, enjoy your children and so on so let’s just try to make the best of it while we can.;)

Ok…that’s my heart healthy lecture of the day. Thanks for joining me in the fight for a healthy heart. I know I will reach you all soon enough. The stakes are too high. Love you!

Woop woop!:o)

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