Reducing Stroke Risk in the South

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By Tyler Cook | MAEd Student, UAB Community Health & Human Services

Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com

Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in the United States. Stroke is also preventable and treatable. Being intentional about your daily activities can minimize or increase your risk of having a stroke. Knowing your family’s health history and engaging in health promoting activities are some of the few approaches to minimize your chances of having a stroke. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “The brain controls our movements, stores, our memories, and is the source of our thoughts, emotions, and language. The brain also controls many functions of the body, like breathing and digestion (CDC, 2022). It is important to keep our brain and body healthy in order to reduce our risk for stroke.

A stroke, sometimes called a brain attack, occurs when something blocks blood supply to a part of the brain or happens when a brain’s blood vessel bursts (CDC, 2022). The leading cause of strokes are high blood pressure, followed by high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and sickle cell disease. These conditions are commonly found in
individuals within the southern regions of the United States and is the main reason why stroke risk high in the South. According to the CDC (2022), “People with a family history of stroke are also likely to share common environments and other potential factors that increase their risk. The chances for stroke can increase even more when heredity combines with unhealthy lifestyle choices, such as smoking cigarettes and eating an unhealthy diet.” However, if those lifestyle
choices are poor choices, it can increase the chances of having a stroke. Those lifestyle choices including eating high in fat foods, lack of physical activity, alcoholism, and constant use of tobacco products.

Not only do unhealthy lifestyle choices contribute to stroke risk, but risk is also greater with older age, male sex, and certain racial/ethnic minority groups (i.e., African Americans, Latino Americans). Another major contributor to stroke risk is stress. Constant and increased stress can raise blood pressure and thusly increase risk for stroke. For these reasons, consider the following healthier lifestyle practices below and let’s lower our risk of stroke in the South.

Health Tips from the CDC:

  • Eat foods low in saturated fats, trans fat, and cholesterol and high in fiber can help prevent high cholesterol.
  • Limit salt (sodium) intake
  • Keep a healthy weight in consultation with your doctor
  • Be physically active, getting at least 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity, such as a brisk walk, each week.
  • Don’t smoke
  • Limit alcohol intake to no more than two drinks per day for men, 1 per day for women.
  • Manage your medical conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, or heart disease in consultation with your doctor.
  • Work with your health care team, including health coach, pastor/spiritual advisor, counselor, etc.
  • Let’s support our family, friends and neighbors in the adoption of the health tips above

Salmon and Vitamin D

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By Jaelyn Copeland, Intern & UAB Community Health & Human Services Student

Photo by Christina Voinova on Pexels.com

Did you know Salmon is packed with Vitamin D?

Vitamin D insufficiency in both infants and adults is now recognized as a global issue. Both children and adults avoid sun exposure or use sun protection because of concerns about skin cancer, putting them at high risk for vitamin D insufficiency. As a result, diet or supplementation are their only sources of vitamin D.

Vitamin D is fortified in milk, some orange juices, and some breads, yogurts, and cheeses in the United States. Vitamin D2 is present in varying levels in irradiated mushrooms. Vitamin D is naturally contained in the flesh of oily fish. Salmon is recommended based on the dietary tables. It has been suggested that dietary sources of vitamin D, rather than sun exposure, should be the primary supply of the vitamin.

Milk is the most common fortified dietary source of vitamin D, though it typically does not contain at least 80% of what is stated on the label. Fish, particularly oily fish like salmon and mackerel, has long been regarded as a good source of vitamin D. The influence of various cooking procedures on the vitamin D content of fish is poorly understood. A study determined the vitamin D content of various fish species, as well as the influence of baking and frying on vitamin D content. Give baked salmon a try!

Source:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Office of dietary supplements – vitamin d. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. Retrieved September 30, 2021, from https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-health%20Professional/.

Rethinking that Ugly Four-Letter Word: DIET (Part 2)

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By Shayna Bryan, Intern & UAB Community Health & Human Services Student

Images from Magda Elhers and Caleb Oquendo | Graphics by Shayna Bryan

Eat a balanced variety, enough of the good stuff, not too much of the other stuff. If the principles of a healthy diet are so simple, why do so many dieters fail? Maybe our perspective is to blame.

As discussed previously, your diet is everything you eat over your entire life, so changing your diet is more akin to changing your lifestyle. The best diet is one you can stick to; one that embraces the rhythms and changes of life. The most restrictive diets demand total compliance and encourage a cult-like devotion. These severe restrictions, such as those that eliminate whole categories of food, make it harder to comply and easier to give up. It sets us up for failure. While someone can give up tobacco or alcohol, we still have to eat every day of our lives.

Small changes, slowly incorporated over a long period of time, are the best way to ease yourself into a healthy diet. Here’s how you can do it:

  • Set realistic goals that you can achieve
    • Set yourself up for success, not failure!
    • Take an honest look at what your current habits are and look for ways to make changes
    • Example: I currently drink about 20 oz of water a day, my new goal is to drink 40 oz a day.
  • Reduce, instead of remove
    • It’s not necessary to eliminate certain things from your diet, especially if you like them. Look for the balance.
    • Example: I currently eat fast food 5 times a week, my new goal is to reduce that to 3 times a week. Eventually I will work towards eating fast food only once a week.
  • Reevaluate
    • If you didn’t meet your goals, set new more achievable goals! Failure is an opportunity to learn and improve, not proof that you can’t do something.
    • Example: I previously drank a case of soda (24) every week, so I set a goal to reduce that to 1 soda per day (7 per week). I didn’t meet that goal, so my new goal is to drink half a case (12) of soda per week.
  • Try new things!
    • New foods, new techniques, new cuisines!
    • Living life to the fullest isn’t meant to be about endlessly cutting back, so neither should your diet. You might surprise yourself with what you find and how your tastes change!
    • Example: I didn’t like brussel sprouts until I tried roasting them, now they’re my favorite go-to green veggie.

Love Yourself and Keep Going

Our stumbles in life do not undermine our previous efforts. Days of self-love and indulgence are part of a healthy lifestyle, both in mind and body. It’s easier to eat dessert in moderation if you don’t view it as a breach of contract. These cycles of adherence are a natural part of living. If we consider the long term, that your diet will be defined by what you consume over a lifetime, maybe we’ll have an easier time sticking to healthy eating and won’t see a failure as the end.

Did you miss Part 1? Find it here!

You can also read our posts about the Mediterranean Diet and DASH Diet.

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Sources and Further Reading:

Calorie Restriction and Fasting Diets: What Do We Know? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/calorie-restriction-and-fasting-diets-what-do-we-know

Freedhoff, Y. (2014, November 17). No, 95 Percent of People Don’t Fail Their Diets. Retrieved from https://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/2014/11/17/no-95-percent-of-people-dont-fail-their-diets

Godman, H. (2018, January 24). How fast should you change your diet to lose weight? Harvard Health. Retrieved September 20, 2021, from https://www.health.harvard.edu/diet-and-weight-loss/how-fast-should-you-change-your-diet-to-lose-weight

Mayo Clinic Staff. (2019, January 9). 8 steps to a heart-healthy diet. Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heart-disease/in-depth/heart-healthy-diet/art-20047702

Try the DASH Diet to Lower Your Blood Pressure & Promote Heart Health

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by Shayna Bryan, Intern & UAB Community Health & Human Services Student

DASH Diet, Heart Healthy

Heart disease is the number one cause of death in America. In addressing this national challenge, researchers created the DASH diet after following participants in a rigorous 5-year intervention called the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Study. Hypertension, also known as high-blood pressure, is a major risk factor for heart disease, but can be managed with a healthy diet. The DASH diet was designed to be a nutrition-based approach to address the high rates of hypertension and heart disease associated with the typical high-sodium American diet. Most studies on nutrition use dietary recalls, looking at past diet history. In contrast, the DASH study participants were provided with food and their sodium intake was carefully controlled and monitored. The results of the DASH Diet Study demonstrated that diet alone is effective at reducing blood pressure!

The CDC recommends the average adult consumes less than 2,300 mg sodium per day. The DASH diet sets this as the beginning maximum, but about 90% of Americans are consuming far more than this. The average sodium consumption per day is an astounding 3,400 mg for U.S. adults! Just lowering one’s daily salt intake down to the CDC recommendation will be a major improvement for most people and will result in blood pressure reduction in a matter of weeks. The even more ambitious low-sodium DASH diet aims to gradually reduce your intake to 1,500 mg per day.

Most of the sodium we consume comes in the form of salt, which is added to processed foods for preservation and flavor. We can drastically lower our salt intake by focusing on whole foods which are naturally low in sodium.

The DASH diet emphasis the consumption of:

  • Fruits
  • Veggies
  • Whole grains
  • Lean protein
  • Low-Fat dairy

This combination is high in potassium, magnesium and calcium, and fiber, while low in saturated fats. All of these nutrients, particularly the potassium (which is abundant in vegetables) help naturally lower blood pressure and counteract the effects of excessive sodium. The DASH Diet also discourages foods high in saturated fat, such as red meat, as well as sugary beverages.

The DASH Diet is recommended by the American Heart Association and is ranked the best heart-healthy diet and second-best diet overall (it has often traded places with the very similar current #1 spot, the Mediterranean Diet, which you can read about here) by the U.S. News and World Report.

Gradual change is the key to success whenever making a positive change in life.

Here are some small changes you can make to ease yourself into DASH-style diet:

  • Add one serving of vegetables to your existing meals
  • Go meatless for 2+ days a week
  • Switch out some of your grains to whole, such as brown rice or whole wheat pasta
  • Add more herbs and spices to your meals, instead of salt
  • Snack on more whole foods, such as nuts or fruit

Below are some full meal plans designed by experts and more detailed resources.

Week on DASH

DASH Meal Planning Chart

Detailed DASH Eating Plan

Sources:

DASH Diet. (n.d.). Retrieved June 03, 2021, from https://health.usnews.com/best-diet/dash-diet

Dash eating plan. (n.d.). Retrieved June 03, 2021, from https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/dash-eating-plan

How to make the dash diet work for you. (2019, May 08). Retrieved June 03, 2021, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/dash-diet/art-20048456

Sodium. (2020, September 08). Retrieved June 03, 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/sodium.htm

LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET AND ITS BENEFITS

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By Shayna Bryan, Intern & UAB Community Health & Human Services Student

If you’ve ever spent time looking for healthy diets to follow, but wanted to avoid a highly restrictive diet (like vegan) or a commercial diet plan (like Weight Watchers), you probably have come across the Mediterranean Diet. It has been the subject of research for over 50 years and has been ranked the best overall diet by the U.S. News and World Report for four years running. The American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the World Health Organization have all endorsed the Mediterranean diet as a healthy and sustainable eating style that reduces risk for heart disease and Type 2 Diabetes. The Mediterranean Diet also may assist with weight loss in obese people and is associated with lower rates of depression, cognitive decline, cancer, and all-cause mortality.

This diet has a lot of major endorsements! So then, what’s up with this diet and why is it so special?

The Mediterranean Sea is a meeting point of three continents: Africa, Asia, and Europe. When health experts and researchers recommend the “Mediterranean Diet” they’re not talking about the food of just one people or one culture, but the common shared characteristics of the simple everyday meals made for centuries in this region of the world. Meals are built around plant-based foods, heavily seasoned with herbs and spice (though not tons of salt). These meals are made, shared, and enjoyed amongst a community of families and friends.

Here’s are the common characteristics of the Mediterranean Diet:

  • High consumption of vegetables, often raw or slightly cooked
  • Beans, nuts, legumes, seeds, potatoes, and unprocessed or whole grains
  • Olive oil as the principal source of fat
  • Fruit treated as a dessert
  • Moderate consumptions of fish, poultry, and dairy (mostly in the form of yogurt and cheese)
  • Low consumption of red meat
  • Moderate alcohol consumption, often in the form of red wine

Please check out the source below to learn more about the Mediterranean Diet. Please also share your thoughts about the Mediterranean Diet in the comments section of this post or via our page on Facebook @WilkinsonWellnessLab.

Sources:

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2019, June 21). Mediterranean diet for heart health. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/mediterranean-diet/art-20047801.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture. 2015 – 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. 8th Edition. December 2015. Available at https://health.gov/our-work/food-nutrition/previous-dietary-guidelines/2015.

U.S. News & World Report. (n.d.). Mediterranean Diet. U.S. News & World Report. https://health.usnews.com/best-diet/mediterranean-diet.

What is the Mediterranean Diet? http://www.heart.org. (n.d.). https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-smart/nutrition-basics/mediterranean-diet.