Take care of your heart - Political Forum

panteth4h2o · 07-02-2007, 02:19 AM

Man, I'll tell you what. Earlier tonight, I went to the hospital to visit an in-law who suffered a massive heart attack. It doesn't look too good for him right now. He's gone downhill since I first visited him a couple of days ago, and he may require some pretty risky surgery tomorrow morning. His physical appearance looks quite bleak. He's a fairly young guy, who wasn't much past 40 years old. Supposedly, there may have been the possibility that stress was a major factor. I'm sure that his diet wasn't all that great either.

For both his and my aunt's sake, I hope and pray that all turns out well for him. But due to the damage that's already been caused, he's been told that he may not be the same if he pulls through. It's quite sad, and I feel for them both.

It made me realize the importance of our health. We can't control genetics, but we can control our stress and diet in this fast paced society. For any of you people who have seen someone in this type of condition, you may agree that it makes you think about letting go of bad habits. For myself, I know that I've become quite careless with my diet the last 5 or 6 years, especially since I'm tired and always on the go. My cholesterol level could certainly be a little lower. Also, there are certainly some things that I stress over, which I shouldn't.

Take care of your body while you are still young, because you have to live in it later on. And sometimes, "later on" is not too far down the road. For some of us, it may be closer than we think.

emptypepsi · 07-02-2007, 06:35 AM

Panteth has the right message here. I think prevention is not stressed enough in todays fast paced culture. In fact, it's sort of thrown out the window in light of our current trend of lifestyles. That should be part of the health-care discussion, but never is: prevention.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". I think there's a lot of truth to that.

I started to adopt more healthy habits a couple of years ago when I watched a couple of relatives suffer debilitating health problems. I read up on what caused them, and was going through nursing school at the time. All of that, plus having worked in a hospital for a good while now has sort of been the motivation behind such lifestyle changes.

Genetics are always a factor, but they don't drive who you are. Your choices do, and you are right in that we can all control our diet and stress level. These things play a huge part in our health. I didn't think stress was anything more than a mental thing, but the more I have learned about the body, the more I've seen what an affect it has on your entire system.

By the way, sorry to hear about your in-law.

I hope the surgery goes well.

emptypepsi · 07-02-2007, 06:59 AM

These are two informative sites about stress and heart disease, if anyone is interested. The first is sort of a discussion or debate about whether stress has an effect (giving two sides to the idea), and the second is one that sort of supports the idea with information as well. I posted both to give an all around view of the situation.

Stress and heart disease

Making the Modern World - Stress and coronary heart disease

I personally see the link between the two, and having taken a few classes on the human body, the anatomy makes more than enough sense to me.

Ygorl · 07-02-2007, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by panteth4h2o

Man, I'll tell you what. Earlier tonight, I went to the hospital to visit an in-law who suffered a massive heart attack. It doesn't look too good for him right now. He's gone downhill since I first visited him a couple of days ago, and he may require some pretty risky surgery tomorrow morning. His physical appearance looks quite bleak. He's a fairly young guy, who wasn't much past 40 years old. Supposedly, there may have been the possibility that stress was a major factor. I'm sure that his diet wasn't all that great either.

For both his and my aunt's sake, I hope and pray that all turns out well for him. But due to the damage that's already been caused, he's been told that he may not be the same if he pulls through. It's quite sad, and I feel for them both.

It made me realize the importance of our health. We can't control genetics, but we can control our stress and diet in this fast paced society. For any of you people who have seen someone in this type of condition, you may agree that it makes you think about letting go of bad habits.

Yes it does. Myself, I'm finally quitting smoking those rotten ^^$&%$%$ cigerettes. 25 years of it probably hasn't done me any GOOD. Best to quit, before quitting MEANS nothing. I'm using that new drug chantix (which I posted a thread on below here) and it DOES help. Of course having the ATTITUDE that this time I really AM quitting, no going Back HELPS TOO. I really don't miss the damn things, just the little routine I got so used to crosses my mind from time to time. I'm replacing that routine with other things.

Quote:

Originally Posted by panteth4h2o

For myself, I know that I've become quite careless with my diet the last 5 or 6 years, especially since I'm tired and always on the go. My cholesterol level could certainly be a little lower. Also, there are certainly some things that I stress over, which I shouldn't.

Take care of your body while you are still young, because you have to live in it later on. And sometimes, "later on" is not too far down the road. For some of us, it may be closer than we think.

Yes, eating sweets and starchy foods that jack up your blood sugar can steal energy from you. It does ME. So, I try to stick to kind of a caveman diet. veggies, fruits (dessert) and healthy protein sources (there are many, nuts are good) keeping animal flesh to a common sense level.

Stress can be dealt with in many ways. I really like these books (you can download for free here, but they're long enough that it's almost better buying and reading them):

FHU Foundation of Human Understanding - Bookstore

"How Your Mind Can Keep You Well" and "How to Conquer Negative Emotions" are very good. I really think you'd enjoy them. They're the kind of books one can read and re-read when/if needed.

Ygorl · 07-02-2007, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emptypepsi

Panteth has the right message here. I think prevention is not stressed enough in todays fast paced culture. In fact, it's sort of thrown out the window in light of our current trend of lifestyles. That should be part of the health-care discussion, but never is: prevention.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". I think there's a lot of truth to that.

I started to adopt more healthy habits a couple of years ago when I watched a couple of relatives suffer debilitating health problems. I read up on what caused them, and was going through nursing school at the time. All of that, plus having worked in a hospital for a good while now has sort of been the motivation behind such lifestyle changes.

Genetics are always a factor, but they don't drive who you are. Your choices do, and you are right in that we can all control our diet and stress level. These things play a huge part in our health. I didn't think stress was anything more than a mental thing, but the more I have learned about the body, the more I've seen what an affect it has on your entire system.

By the way, sorry to hear about your in-law.

I hope the surgery goes well.

What can be frustrating to people like us, (you and I) is that since we've taken the time to study (I have spent a LOT of time) this issue and learn the positive affects if one APPLIES what one learns, to a persons overall health and wellness we tend to offer (and tend to get ASKED) bits of advice about what to do for this and that from people that are genuinely interested. Which is FINE.

The hard part is, watching family members be totally uninterested in any advice, no matter HOW small, as they continue to have medical issues. Those issues become worse and worse and nothing YOU say is paid any attention to and they go to a doctor that prescribes them an expensive DRUG that causes OTHER problems. But they STILL aren't interested in anything YOU say. Because YOU aren't a DOCTOR. Doctors are Gods you know :-)

It CAN be Frustrating. Nothing one can DO though.

emptypepsi · 07-02-2007, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ygorl

What can be frustrating to people like us, (you and I) is that since we've taken the time to study (I have spent a LOT of time) this issue and learn the positive affects if one APPLIES what one learns, to a persons overall health and wellness we tend to offer (and tend to get ASKED) bits of advice about what to do for this and that from people that are genuinely interested. Which is FINE.

The hard part is, watching family members be totally uninterested in any advice, no matter HOW small, as they continue to have medical issues. Those issues become worse and worse and nothing YOU say is paid any attention to and they go to a doctor that prescribes them an expensive DRUG that causes OTHER problems. But they STILL aren't interested in anything YOU say. Because YOU aren't a DOCTOR. Doctors are Gods you know :-)

It CAN be Frustrating. Nothing one can DO though.

I know what you mean. I have met some people where the attitude rubs off, but their numbers are shallow compared to those with whom it bounced off with a nonchalant attitude. What I think matters the most is that someone gets the message in any number of ways. No matter if it is via me, someone I know, some book they read, or when faced with a real life situation.

For instance, panteth posted what appeared to be a post full of revelations on his feelings about prevention. That's an important realization, I believe, as I think the #1 most important thing is that someone understand that importance of such things, as that is paramount to achieving a long-term success WRT nutrition. When you know that which you do for yourself or to yourself (however you want to call it) is going to have a long term effect if it is done consistently, your perception tends to change.

People going on diet trends, skipping meals, just doing the bare minimum of what their Doc tells em' -- they don't tend to stick with it long term, if even for a short while to alleviate the symptoms. But having the right attitude and information, no matter how you get to it, can initiate all sorts of changes on its own.

I was going to actually major in Nutrition, as I got into reading about it and general Health so much. However, I decided to stick to my current major and keep Health/Nutrition in the frame that I enjoy it as - an informative hobby.

emptypepsi · 07-02-2007, 06:27 PM

WRT family - I know that side of it all too well. It truly is hard to watch, especially in the case of the drugs. And I mean, it wouldn't be so hard if it were just the one drug, or the two drugs. The truth is that is often (as a result of an accompanying lifestyle) results in many multiple medications that interact and caused other problems, as you mention.

Ygorl · 07-02-2007, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emptypepsi

I know what you mean. I have met some people where the attitude rubs off, but their numbers are shallow compared to those with whom it bounced off with a nonchalant attitude. What I think matters the most is that someone gets the message in any number of ways. No matter if it is via me, someone I know, some book they read, or when faced with a real life situation.

For instance, panteth posted what appeared to be a post full of revelations on his feelings about prevention. That's an important realization, I believe, as I think the #1 most important thing is that someone understand that importance of such things, as that is paramount to achieving a long-term success WRT nutrition. When you know that which you do for yourself or to yourself (however you want to call it) is going to have a long term effect if it is done consistently, your perception tends to change.

People going on diet trends, skipping meals, just doing the bare minimum of what their Doc tells em' -- they don't tend to stick with it long term, if even for a short while to alleviate the symptoms. But having the right attitude and information, no matter how you get to it, can initiate all sorts of changes on its own.

I was going to actually major in Nutrition, as I got into reading about it and general Health so much. However, I decided to stick to my current major and keep Health/Nutrition in the frame that I enjoy it as - an informative hobby.

I was going to move into food science (down at WSU) after getting my BS. But after getting an Associates and then the BS, I'd had enough of the college life.

Though I probably could be making some damn fine income had I gotten into food sciences coupled with chem. knowledge.

Oh well, I don't regret it. I don't think I could have taken another two or three years of college life and cuture. That shit can kill you. Literally.

Ygorl · 07-02-2007, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emptypepsi

WRT family - I know that side of it all too well. It truly is hard to watch, especially in the case of the drugs. And I mean, it wouldn't be so hard if it were just the one drug, or the two drugs. The truth is that is often (as a result of an accompanying lifestyle) results in many multiple medications that interact and caused other problems, as you mention.

Hopefully you can bypass the heartbreaking scenario of arguing with everyone that your grandma needs to get OFF a med. but everyone will NOT listen to one word of it. The dr. keeps prescribing it. She dies earlier than she needed to.

Nothing you can do for some people.

You can provide them the tools (the info. and/or knowlege) and they will use them .. or NOT.

emptypepsi · 07-02-2007, 07:31 PM

Now that I'm thinking about it, I may as well throw it out there...

Panteth, and Ygorl if you haven't seen or read it already -- there is a pretty informative book for the person who is somewhat up on health and nutrition, and even works if you're not. It dispells a lot of rumors going around or that are popular WRT nutrition and health, and talks about general health issues on a macro basis. It's called "Eat, Drink, and be Healthy" by Walter C. Willett. I'm not too big into reading health books on their own, but this one was worth the sittings it took to get through it 9though, it isn't really very long). I actually use it as a reference in ways, though that isn't the type of book it is generally.

Again - it covers a lot of things, like heart nutrition, how important water is, the "big deal" about calcium (and what else is needed WITH calcium to make it effective in our diets), and many other things. I think both of you guys would enjoy it, both for a current interest in nutrition, and for Panteth who may igniting a small interest in a way, perhaps.