Healthy Healing Quick Tips

By Deanna McLain, Infection Control & Employee Health

February 2012

Give your body what it needs without spending a lot of time

• Get going on the “Essential Fatty acid” intake. 2 tbsp. of flax seed oil over your salad or add to morning oatmeal after cooking will help you metabolize fat!
• Eat ORGANIC- The prices of organic fruits and vegetables have come down as the market has become competitive. Support organic growers. Pesticides found on conventionally grown food gets stored in the adipose tissues of our body. Researchers have found that women that consume foods high in pesticides may be at a higher risk for breast cancer as well as uterine fibroids and ovarian cysts.
• Brain facts: It uses 25% of the oxygen our body processes. Exercise increases mental capacity by sending nutrients via better circulation to the “computer” that have over 100 billion cells.
• Brain health eating plan to improve memory EFA’s that you can get from spinach, arugula, and kale. Eat avocado, nuts and seeds to get healthy fats that feed the brain.
• Brain health includes staying away from tobacco, and alcohol that inhibit the release of vasopressin, thus impairing memory.
• Help slow aging by taking Ginkgo balboa. Ginkgo has been used worldwide by indigenous peoples to improve health. It fights free-radicals that attack our cells, thus causing increased ageing. Ginkgo has been shown to reduce the amount of cortisol linked to immune suppression, atherosclerosis and brain cell toxicity (brain fog).
• DHEA (dehydro-epiandosterone) has become a popular supplement in American households. It helps the body to produce testosterone and progesterone as well as estrogen and corticosterone. We may need a DHEA supplement as we age, it help lower serum cholesterol and promotes energy. Take as directed because too much is not necessarily a good thing-if you take increase doses it may inhibit your body to produce its own DHEA and cause unwanted side effects like loss of hair, increased facial hair and long-term used may increase chances of prostate cancer.
• Vitamin C boosts collagen production; your skin will look much more radiant with 1000mg, or more a day of ascorbic acid (Vit C). Make sure to drink plenty of pure water, reverse osmosis is the best. It is available at the water machine found in most grocery stores.
• Soy foods do more than increase the amount of estrogen, thus helping decrease hot flashes for menopausal women; it also lowers total cholesterol and the Low-density lipids (LDL’s).  Men to will benefit from tofu, tempeh, soy milk, and miso (it makes a great salad dressing or soup).
• What’s in you cup of Java? Caffeine. Although caffeine can have a short-term energy boosting effect it may be best to stay away from it for the following reasons: Bone health- Calcium depletion caused by caffeine increases the risk for osteoporosis; Prenancy-Cafeine crosses the placenta, doses higher than 300mg (about 3 mugs of coffee or caffeinated tea) can cause miscarriage or low-birth weight; Sleep- Stay away from this substance at dinner time and later. It disrupts brain wave patterns, causing restless sleep or disturbing dreams.

Benefits of Cardiac Rehab

A letter from Jack Williams - MPMC Healthy Heart and Lung Center patient...

I'd had stents placed after a heart attack.  I was an active seventy six year old, living in Colorado at the time and had a fitness routine that I had followed many years previous.  The stent procedure was only mildly debilitating so when cardiac rehab was suggested I didn't feel it was necessary and I recovered with my own routines. I continued my active lifestyle and got back into skiing, hiking and biking.Benefits of Cardiac Rehab

Two years later, after a skiing accident a routine scan for concussion found two aortic aneurysms, one of which was getting serious.  We decided to have the one repaired and in the process they also placed a new aortic valve.  I came out of these procedures flat on my back and knocked for a loop, struggling to get back to living again.  They told me recovery would take six months to a year.  I stubbornly thought that since I was in pretty good shape before, I could get back in quicker time than that.  They were right but I didn't know it.  I had a lot to learn.

The first indication that a rehab program might be helpful cam from a home care physical therapist who came to our house three times a week.  I could sit and feel sorry for myself for four days but for three of the, when "Mary" showed up I was back to my old adage of "move it or loose it".  You see Mary, the PT had lost a leg as a young woman and wore a prosthesis to walk.  We'd go out for a walk, I'd start whining and then I'd look down at her limping along beside me, a gutsy, cheerful little woman smiling up at me, and I just couldn't whine any more.  Mary showed me it was time to regain my life so I applied for cardiac rehab at a nearby hospital.

David, the cardiac rehab manager at the hospital laid out the rules for me.  Firstly, I was to only workout every other day.  Now I knew from my own routine that muscle recovery time was important and grew longer with age, but this seemed strange to me as the major muscle groups of my body were doing only minimal exercise as I began.  It took me some time to realize that it wasn't the muscles of my legs, arms or back that needed rest, it was the most important muscle of all - my heart.  My body kept saying "you can do anything" and my heart kept saying "not so fast".  It took a long time for this to sink in.

David was particularly helpful in catching the little things going on in my body as I worked out with monitors connected to me.  One day I'm trooping along when David told me my heart rate was way up.  He took my blood pressure and it was way low.  What the heck was going on?  "You're dehydrated, go drink some water."  I'm thinking, how does he know that?  Now, we've all been lectured on hydration over and over throughout the years but nobody had every explained what happens to the body when you're dehydrated; blood volume, blood pressure and heart rate.  As David explained all this I'm thinking -- jeez, I'm 78 years old and I'm now learning this?

The low blood pressure had another effect upon me.  I was on blood pressure meds but was having difficulty getting the proper dosage right.  When my blood pressure was too low I would get dizzy.  I'd stand up and the room would spin.  So coupled with dehydration which lowered the BP were the meds also throwing me off.  David was so helpful in explaining all this and getting me aware of what was happening   He was also instrumental in having me see that there was a light at the end of the tunnel.  That light was my active life style.

Returning to Minnesota for the summer months I enrolled in another cardiac rehab program to complete the regimen.  Here, a couple of PT's, Nancy and Laura, took over and continued my education.  As we sat discussing the program Nancy took my BP which was right where it belonged.  Then she had me stand up and she took it again as the room spun around me.  By standing up my BP systolic was dropping 20 points!  Now what?  With the help of the two PT's I was getting to understand the "what".

David's head back in Colorado must have been spinning the day I didn't take my day of rest and over did it, putting me on my back for three days.  I'm sure he wondered how a college educated engineer could be so dense.  As I got stronger my body wanted to do more but i was still getting heart messaged that said, "not so fast" and i wasn't listening.  Nancy and Laura got me back on track, again and again as each time I overdid it and crashed.  I was also getting depressed.  Their cheerful attention and humor would break my depression and get me back on my feet.

But I was still getting dizzy when i stood up.  At least now I now had a number of reasons why this was occurring.  One day my wife happened to be with us as we discussed the vertigo and Nancy asked her how much salt I was getting.  Ginger had been such a trooper throughout the heart attack, the aortic surgery and the recovery process, the management of meds, encouragement and cheerfulness as I dealt with depression.  On the wall over her head as she sat there was a cardiac rehab sign that said, "NO SALT, NO SALT" and Ginger was my head chef.  "Why he doesn't get any," she said.  Imagine the look on her face when Nancy said, "maybe he needs a little".  So now as the room would spin I could wet my finger and dip it in a little salt while Ginger frowned.

So I went through the 36 recommended sessions and after nine months I'm well on my way to recovery.  While I appreciate the MD's that have helped me through all this my heart is with the nurses and PT's that have been in the trenches with me during the process.  They're closer to you; they spend more time with you; they're the ones with more answers to your immediate questions; and they're the ones that are indispensable to the healing process.  God bless em!

Jack Williams