Health Corner

Parthenia Manor Senior Club

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Health Corner

Your Heart: Diabetes and heart health are

Intertwined. Here are some of the latest

Discoveries that may help you stay strong.

WE ALL WANT to be heart healthy, and because of positive changes in lifestyle and improved medical treatments deaths from cardiovascular disease (CVD) have declined by up to 52% over a recent 25-year period, according to Mayo Clinic researchers. But CVD remains the number one health risk for people with diabetes—and the primary cause of death. So what’s wrong?

Well, it seems that as we make big changes in some areas of our lives—smoking has declined by 49% since 1965—we slide dangerously backwards in others: 66% of American adults are overweight or obese, a number that has climbed steadily over the past 30 years. In addition, we are shockingly sedentary—62% of us report no leisure-time physical activity.

In the August 2006 issue of the Journal of the National Medical Association, researchers reported that they had found a dose-response link between excess weight and serious health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, cancer, kidney disease and more. Those who were overweight had the highest risk. Why is our weight so out of control? Simply put, there are two reasons: lack of exercise and too many calories.

The American Heart Association outlines steps for families to take to help children lose or avoid gaining excess weight—and they make sense for adults too. They are:

1. Reduce calorie intake—but avoid highly restrictive diets. Instead, make small changes that can easily become part of your life: for example, cutout non-diet sodas and sweetened drinks and replace them with water.

2. Become more active. Get in the habit of taking a daily walk; take up family sports such as backyard badminton; do daily exercise videos or the physically active video games as a family.

3. Parents should be good role models; when they are physically active and follow good nutritional habits, it is so much easier for the kids to get with the program.—Diabetes Focus Magazine, Fourth Quarter 2006 Issue