Pea-n-Me
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2004
Unfortunately, sometimes it takes a tragedy or medical catastrophe to start making serious changes, in my experience. As part of my job, I have to counsel people - often a patient and spouse - on how to start trying to get healthier - after a myocardial infarction, ie heart attack, or some other cardiac event. Most people feel really awful about not making changes earlier, but I tell them hey, we have to look forward and not backward, and share that I struggle myself with staying healthy, too. Most of us do in some way, believe me. (I see it all - even in people who may “look” good, there can be lots of issues there. For example we still see lots of people who prefer to get their oral fixations satisfied with smoking rather than food. Or they’ve had super high cholesterol for years but didn’t want to take any medication for it. Fortunately these are the people who survived whatever it was that brought them into the hospital - sometimes just barely - but they realize that changes are warranted if they want to continue to live. I kid you not.)
Some of the posters here have hit on what I would say would be the best way for you to take hold of your health, Sam. And I commend you for recognizing it and posting about it. I hope my words have an impact, as I recently, once again, suddenly lost someone I love to heart disease.
It’s hard for me, because I probably have more of an impact on my patients than I do on my own loved ones. So I hope that what I say makes an impact on someone given it’s from a medical perspective. I’ve been taking care of patients with cardiac disease for over 35 years. Heart disease starts when we’re young due to the horrible diets we eat today here in our culture. They did studies on young American men killed in Vietnam in the1960s. As compared to their Vietnamese counterparts, they Americans already had significant plaque build up in their coronary arteries that was attributed to diet. Sixty years later, our diets here are way worse than they were then, too. We’re not doing our children any favors giving them steady diets of Mac and Cheese, chicken nuggets and fries, bacon and bbq sauce on huge burgers, and sodas and calorie-laden lattes, etc. Those should be “once in a while” foods. Same with cheese, which we eat way too much of. The diets we tend to eat today are so far removed from what a good diet should be, that it’s no wonder things like heart and [fatty] liver disease, and diabetes, are occurring fast and furiously now. But I digress…
Making small changes is really helpful, like your giving up soda. It’s just empty calories that gets stored as fat. One diet soda a day is fine (because there is some evidence that even diet soda can contribute to weight gain), but things like seltzer water and unsweetened tea or coffee are better. (You get used to it, and once you do, can’t even drink it with sugar.) Same for food. I know it takes willpower, and oftentimes more effort, and even cost, especially when there are kids in the house, but simply not buying the junk, but buying healthy alternatives instead, goes a long way toward keeping off the extra calories. Learn to read labels and watch serving sizes. Cut down on foods high in sodium as they make you retain water weight, and look and feel puffy. Shop the perimeter of the supermarket, where many of the healthier foods are. Cook yourself, rather than buy pre-made foods, though some of the pre-made salads are good and satisfy food cravings, especially ones with beans and corn and things like that. Buy lots of fruits and vegetables to have on hand, most of us eat way too few. (The poster who mentioned the Mediterranean Diet got it right.) Make your serving sizes smaller. I will post a pic at the end of a healthy dinner I made for our family recently using store bought Asian salad, pineapple and leftover grilled chicken. Everyone loved it and we’ve made it again.
I would seriously do as I think it was @mommasita suggested and make an appt with a nutritionist, ie a Registered Dietician. They will do an assessment first, to see what your usual habits are (be honest!), and then make suggestions for you, using your likes and dislikes (so tailoring it specifically to you), to help you find ways to make your diet healthier, ie the way it is supposed to be. (If you want to have a bag of chips, have a bag of chips, but make it a small bag, and only have one. Don’t deprive yourself, but have just a small amount once in a while.) And getting out and exercising is important for heart health, not just for losing weight, but it does help that, as well (and helps burn off excess sugar), and helps clothes fit better, etc. Biking is a fun family activity, but really, just getting up off the sofa and getting outside to do something is a good way to start. We lost a lot when we moved to suburbs and began taking our cars everywhere rather than walking. And I feel that all the enticing electronics we have now keep us inactive in ways we’ve never been before, as humans. It’s really been detrimental to our health as a society. I wish you luck.
Remember, just start with small changes, but keep at it.
This was a way to use up lettuce from our garden. So good. Sometimes I add blueberries or strawberries to salad, and always a few croutons for crunch.
Some of the posters here have hit on what I would say would be the best way for you to take hold of your health, Sam. And I commend you for recognizing it and posting about it. I hope my words have an impact, as I recently, once again, suddenly lost someone I love to heart disease.
It’s hard for me, because I probably have more of an impact on my patients than I do on my own loved ones. So I hope that what I say makes an impact on someone given it’s from a medical perspective. I’ve been taking care of patients with cardiac disease for over 35 years. Heart disease starts when we’re young due to the horrible diets we eat today here in our culture. They did studies on young American men killed in Vietnam in the1960s. As compared to their Vietnamese counterparts, they Americans already had significant plaque build up in their coronary arteries that was attributed to diet. Sixty years later, our diets here are way worse than they were then, too. We’re not doing our children any favors giving them steady diets of Mac and Cheese, chicken nuggets and fries, bacon and bbq sauce on huge burgers, and sodas and calorie-laden lattes, etc. Those should be “once in a while” foods. Same with cheese, which we eat way too much of. The diets we tend to eat today are so far removed from what a good diet should be, that it’s no wonder things like heart and [fatty] liver disease, and diabetes, are occurring fast and furiously now. But I digress…Making small changes is really helpful, like your giving up soda. It’s just empty calories that gets stored as fat. One diet soda a day is fine (because there is some evidence that even diet soda can contribute to weight gain), but things like seltzer water and unsweetened tea or coffee are better. (You get used to it, and once you do, can’t even drink it with sugar.) Same for food. I know it takes willpower, and oftentimes more effort, and even cost, especially when there are kids in the house, but simply not buying the junk, but buying healthy alternatives instead, goes a long way toward keeping off the extra calories. Learn to read labels and watch serving sizes. Cut down on foods high in sodium as they make you retain water weight, and look and feel puffy. Shop the perimeter of the supermarket, where many of the healthier foods are. Cook yourself, rather than buy pre-made foods, though some of the pre-made salads are good and satisfy food cravings, especially ones with beans and corn and things like that. Buy lots of fruits and vegetables to have on hand, most of us eat way too few. (The poster who mentioned the Mediterranean Diet got it right.) Make your serving sizes smaller. I will post a pic at the end of a healthy dinner I made for our family recently using store bought Asian salad, pineapple and leftover grilled chicken. Everyone loved it and we’ve made it again.
I would seriously do as I think it was @mommasita suggested and make an appt with a nutritionist, ie a Registered Dietician. They will do an assessment first, to see what your usual habits are (be honest!), and then make suggestions for you, using your likes and dislikes (so tailoring it specifically to you), to help you find ways to make your diet healthier, ie the way it is supposed to be. (If you want to have a bag of chips, have a bag of chips, but make it a small bag, and only have one. Don’t deprive yourself, but have just a small amount once in a while.) And getting out and exercising is important for heart health, not just for losing weight, but it does help that, as well (and helps burn off excess sugar), and helps clothes fit better, etc. Biking is a fun family activity, but really, just getting up off the sofa and getting outside to do something is a good way to start. We lost a lot when we moved to suburbs and began taking our cars everywhere rather than walking. And I feel that all the enticing electronics we have now keep us inactive in ways we’ve never been before, as humans. It’s really been detrimental to our health as a society. I wish you luck.
Remember, just start with small changes, but keep at it.
This was a way to use up lettuce from our garden. So good. Sometimes I add blueberries or strawberries to salad, and always a few croutons for crunch.
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You can get your values down, but it will take some work. However, it’s a very worthwhile endeavor, so you can be around for your grandchildren some day, and able to run around with them, etc. I can assure you very much that you are not alone in this. So many people are affected today the same way. We have to really get our act together as a society, or the health of our future generations are doomed.
