High Blood Pressure and Flexibility – What do they have to do with each other?
Flexibility refers to the ability of your joints to move through a full range of motion. How flexible you are in a particular joint is connected to the muscle length that attaches to that joint and how far that muscle will stretch. Having flexibility in your muscles allows for greater movement around joints. The shorter and less flexible the muscle, the tighter the joint.
What Does Flexibility Have to Do with High Blood Pressure?
What should I avoid when I have a gluten intolerance?
Gluten can be found in numerous food products. You must become a savvy shopper. Breads, cereals, pasta, crackers, cakes, cookies, gravies, and sauces may all contain gluten. Gluten may also be used in food additives like malt flavorings and modified food starches. You must read food labels and become familiar with terms that indicate the presence of gluten.
How do I shop for gluten free foods?
4 More Reasons to Exericse (. . .if you needed more!)
1. Increase your life span
Individuals who stay in shape as they age live longer, particularly when evaluating heart disease risk. An Archives of Internal Medicine study showed a workout a day may add ~4 years to your life. A sample from the Framingham Heart Study found individuals who walked 30 minutes 5 days a week lived 1.3 to 1.5 years longer than sedentary individuals. Boost your exercise intensity and studies show you may add 3.5 to 3.7 years to your lifespan.
2. Improve your quality of life as you age
Motivation – Do you have what it takes to change your habits?
If you’ve ever tried to make a diet or lifestyle change you know it’s not an easy process. You need a compelling reason to keep moving forward.
What is your compelling reason?
There are two different types of motivators – intrinsic and extrinsic.
Intrinsic motivation is when you are motivated by internal factors. This form of motivation drives you to take action for the fun of it or just because you know it’s good for you and the right thing to do. Intrinsic motivation means you do something because of the satisfaction you feel from completing a task. Hobbies are usually motivated by intrinsic factors.
Extrinsic motivation is when you are spurred to change your habits due to external forces, such as wanting to lose weight or lower your cholesterol for your family so they worry less. Another form of extrinsic motivation may be tangible rewards you give yourself for achieving a goal. The Biggest Loser provides a great example of external motivation – lose the greatest percent body weight and win $’s. Other forms of rewards you can use for extrinsic motivation may include new clothes or a new CD/book when a goal is accomplished.
Typically, intrinsic motivators tend to keep you going in the long run, but using both forms of motivation can be essential to your success. Extrinsic motivators may keep you moving forward in the short term, while intrinsic motivators are the reason you stick with it long term.
Take a step back from the craziness of everyday life and really look at the “why” behind your desire to start walking in the evenings or your goal of packing a lunch instead of eating out.
Ask yourself . . .
Have you taken action and started to move forward towards your goal? Are you just thinking about it? What type of reward could you put in place to spur you on from an external point of view? What reminder could you put in place to keep you moving forward internally?
Here’s a quick example for someone trying to lose weight:
Goal: Walk after supper for at least 20 minutes 5 nights a week.
Extrinsic Motivator: Achieve walking goal for 2 weeks and reward yourself with a new book.
Intrinsic Motivator: Place picture of yourself from 10 years ago (when you were at your ideal body weight) on the refrigerator door as a constant reminder of how great you’ll feel once you reach your goal weight.
All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Heart Health Made Easy
What is gluten intolerance?
Gluten intolerance is a digestive condition triggered when you eat a food containing gluten. The gluten initiates an immune reaction within the small intestine leading to damage to the villi on the surface of the small intestine. This results in a decreased ability to absorb nutrients from foods.
What are signs of gluten intolerance?
Heart Failure and Statin Drugs
The type of heart failure you have may determine the effectiveness of a statin medication.
Types of Heart Failure
Systolic heart failure is when the heart does not contract forcefully enough to pump blood out of the aorta and into circulation.
Diastolic heart failure is when the heart does not relax properly to allow an adequate volume of blood to fill the left ventricle.
Statin Drug Treatment and Potential Complications
