Take Care of Your Heart

In light of February being Heart and Stroke month and that fact that heart disease is the no. 1 killer of women, Jamieson Vitamins asked if I wanted to chat with Dr. Penny Kendall-Reed, a Naturopathic Doctor in Toronto about prevention and awareness when it comes to heart disease in women.  Penny is a specialist in metabolic disorders and author of the national best-selling book “The Naturopathic Diet” (and the more comprehensive book “The New Naturopathic Diet”).

The most important message that came from our chat was while us moms in particular take care of the health and well-being of our families, we tend to forget ourselves.  Case in point, right now my husband is heading to the gym to work out.  I don’t even have a membership.  Due to my husband going through angioplasty a little of a year ago, we are a bit more paranoid about his health than mine.  However, I am an overweight woman in her forties.  I need to take care of myself too.

We all need to regularly get our cholesterol levels checked as well as BP (blood pressure) inflammatory levels.  Stress exacerbates all sorts of issues connected to heart disease and stroke.    In fact 90% of doctor visits in Canada are due to stress caused ailments.  Diabetes and stress increases inflammatory levels increasing stickiness of cholesterol to the heart/artery walls – leading to more and more dangers of heart disease and heart attack.

Be aware of your own health and do not ignore or minimize anything.  If you are feeling winded or dizzy, experiencing shortness of breath, if you are looking pale or grey in complexion – go and see your doctor at once.   Some women do not show any symptoms or signs of a heart attack at all.

Look after yourself when taking care of the rest of the family.  I asked Dr. Kendall-Reed about using supplements such as fish oil when working on preventative care.  Dr. Kendall-Reed felt that the supplements due to the balanced amounts of Omega 3, etc are better than trying to eat enough fish to reach the recommended amounts.  We would need to eat a 2 out 3 meals of fish a day to get the right amounts.  She also feels that  we should be sticking to the more pricey organic farmed fish.  It is economically better to take the supplements.

She recommended the Omega-3 Super Krill as a great family friendly supplement due to the capsules small size and concentrated dosage.  Adding supplements like the Super Krill to a diet rich in dark leafy greens and all the rest of those BRIGHT coloured vegetables is the best way to start avoiding heart disease and heart attacks. For myself, this means more self care, more exercise and watching what I eat as well as what my family eats to make sure I stay healthy and away from the hospital.

Do like and check out the Jamieson Vitamins Facebook page.  It is filled with  great videos about heart disease, supplements and wellness.