My mom had a heart attack .... will I?

Yes, and no. Family history is a strong predictor of heart disease and heart attack. However, there are many people who have a heart attack with NO family history and just as many people who DO NOT have any family members who have had a heart attack and still have a heart attack.

Look to your family tree as one predictor for heart disease.

What is your family health history? 

Your family's history is known as your family tree. The members of your family tree consist of your mom, dad, brother, sister, aunt or uncle and so forth. An example of how your family tree impacts you is if your mom has blue eyes and your dad has brown eyes you are more likely to inherit either blue or brown eyes It is unlikely you will have green eyes. However, it is possible depending on your family tree. This could happen if another member of your family, say your grandmother had green eyes. 

Now is a good time to examine your family tree when it comes to your health and wellness.

Your family's health and medical history also is also part of your family health tree. If any of your family members have had a heart attack then you are more likely to be at increased risk for having a heart attack. Women with a strong family history of heart disease are more likely to have a heart attack than the general population.

Knowing your family’s health history can help you avoid heart disease  – the No. 1 cause of death in America. 

Your family tree is not the only predictor of heart disease and heart attack. This week for Wellness Wednesday Getting Healthier Each Week this same question was discussed. To learn more about heart disease and the RISK FACTORS you CAN CONTROL & the one's you CAN NOT CONTROL click here 

There are may things you can do to help protect your heart health like choosing healthy foods, choosing to become just a little bit more active, to stop smoking and visit your doctor to evaluate your heart disease risk factors. When you do go for you medical check-up be sure to let your doctor know your family health history, it could be life-saving.

The Go Red BetterU Challengers are using American Heart Association My Life Check Simple 7. Take the test and let us know your Heart Attack Risk Score! To take the test click here.

Your partner in health,

Cindy Cohen RN

Certified Health Coach

Wellness Consultant

C2 Your Health LLC

Menu Makeover: Slow is the New Fast

The goal of the Michiana BetterU healthy cooking class is to demonstrate "fast food" does not only exist at the drive through window. I am not so sure "fast food" is really that fast.  Think about this for a minute; by the time you decide where to go to pick up food, get in your car, drive to the restaurant, order, then be served and drive home 30 – 45 minutes has passed. In the same amount of time you could have enjoyed a relaxing home cooked healthy meal with your family creating a healthier life for you and your family. 

The Michiana BetterU Challengers learned how to fight fast food with slow food during the interactive Menu Makeover healthy cooking class. In case you have not heard of the Slow Food Movement, it's a philosophy which focuses on combating the idea when it comes to food, fast food is NOT your only choice nor is it the best choice.

The Slow Food Movement, like the American Heart Association focuses on choosing healthier food options, the fresher the better. There seems to be confusion as to what healthy food is and is not. To add to the confusion are hundreds of media messages every day telling us manufactured foods are cheaper, faster and has the same level of nutrition as foods made at home from natural whole food ingredients. This is simply is not true.

The fact is any food you prepare from home, with your ingredients and that do not come out of a bag, box or freezer are always going to be healthier than any food you get anywhere else. During the cooking class we chopped, mixed, stirred, cooked then served a 5 course meal fast in just 30 minutes. I'd say that's pretty fast!

The menu included foods we think of as fast food: 

oven baked corn chips

tomato and fruit salsa

vegetable soup

fruit and vegetable green salad

oven baked chicken nuggets

fruit parfait 

and sparkling water with a dash of pomegranate juice.

Here is what else we learned: 

1. The easier the food is to make the more sodium and fat it tends to have.

2. What is unhealthy about prepared and process foods.

3. How to make healthy substitutions for prepared foods common to family menus.

4. Food is always healthier when prepared at home.

5. Healthy foods can be prepared “fast” at home.

6. A serving size of chicken, beef, pork and fish is smaller than you think.

7. The recommended servings of fruits, vegetables and whole grains are more than you think.

8. New nutrition facts label will help us make better food choices. 

In class we examined food for heart healthy labeling looking for sodium, cholesterol, fat, fiber and sugar comparing these "ready to go foods" with foods requiring some simple preparation. We prepared a full meal containing USDA recommendations for a healthy diet and reviewed healthy plate management strategies.

The healthy cooking class demonstrates with an organized plan, knowledge and a strategy that works cooking from home is nutritious, easy to do, economical and takes very little time.

Thank you to Martin's Supermarkets for assisting us with our cooking class and the beautiful cooking school location. Also to American Heart Association for providing helpful tools in their Nutrition Center and C2 Your Health LLC for teaching the class.

Slow is the new fast!  

Your partner in health,

Cindy Cohen RN

Certified Health Coach

C2 Your Health LLC

2014 Michiana BetterU 12 Week Challenge Celebration Join Us May 8th, 2014

Join us for the American Heart Association Go Red for Women Michiana BetterU Luncheon when we celebrate the challenges and successes of 12 women from Elkhart General Hospital seeking a healthy life. These women are an example of what you can do to develop healthy lifestyle behavior change with community support and those around you. This is a call to action for each one of us to reach out to one women in our community and  teach them what we have learned to be healthy.

Thank you to our sponsors Macy's, Merck, Teachers Credit Union, Elkhart General Hospital, C2 Your Health LLC, Body Evolution of South Bend, South Bend Medical Foundation and Martin's Supermarkets.

The Road to Better Health is Traveled in the Supermarket

Each year the Michiana AHA BetterU Challengers participate in the BetterU Challenge Supermarket Scavenger Hunt. This spot on our healthy journey is where we learn how distinguish the unhealthy foods from the healthiest foods and how to make those selections.  Thank you to Martin’s Supermarkets for hosting our scavenger hunt.  The challengers supported by their family, friends and each other enjoyed a healthy dinner and scavenged the supermarket for healthy foods guided by the AHA BetterU Health Coach, Cindy Cohen RN of C2Your Health LLC.

Some of the things we learned...

It's important to read the nutrition facts on the food label on the packaging and use this as a guide to making healthier food selections. 

It's easy to be fooled by the advertisements on the front of the food packaging. Some manufactures claim on the package something entirely different than what actually exists. For example, the front of the package my say "No Trans Fats" and the ingredient list says “hydrogenated oils” which is a trans-fat.  

Fiber is our friend and not always where you think it is. Some foods you think have fiber do not. For example, some whole wheat breads have zero fiber. The best choices are the foods that have at least   

1 gram of fiber.    

It's hard to find flavored drinks that don't contain added sugars, high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners (unhealthy). Water is always the best choice.

Many foods are loaded with more than days serving of salt (sodium) in one serving such as some soups and spaghetti sauces.

How to make sense of food certifying organizations such as organic, gluten free, and Heart Check - American Heart Association approved.

The Supermarket Scavenger Hunt Class demonstrates the road to better health is not always clear and it's important to be aware of the pot holes (TV ads) and warning signs (misleading labels) along the way. Adding new meaning to the seemingly harmless act of going to the grocery store to "buyers beware"; as Dr. David Katz, Nutrition Detectives says about some foods "Step away and no one will get hurt."

What did you learn the last time you went grocery shopping at the supermarket?

Your partner in health,

Health Coach

Wellness Consultant

C2 Your Health LLC

Becoming a BetterU: Michana Go Red for Women Challenge 2014

Heart disease is still the No. 1 killer of women, 

taking the life of 1 in 3 women each year. This means women just like you - mothers, sisters, friends - are dying at the rate of one per minute because they don't know what you know: heart disease kills.  

It's year 6 for the Michiana Go Red BetterU Challenge and we're off to a big start! This year our BetterU Challengers hail from Elkhart Community Hospital, Elkhart, Indiana. These 12 women were selected out of 45 applicants seeking a healthier life by following the American Heart Association's Guidelines for a Healthy Heart.  

These women have come together for the American Heart Association Go Red for Women Michiana BetterU Challenge to join in the fight against heart disease for all women. Though their efforts they demonstrate by developing simple healthy habits every women can make make a difference their health. We encourage these women to learn first for themselves. then teach their families and friends how to live a health filled life by developing lasting healthy habits.

These women spend their day in a high stress hospital environment and face the same challenges of many women such as working more than one job, going to school and juggling family responsibilities. What get's left behind is making time to pay attention of their own health. Sound familiar?

Over the next couple of months our Michiana BetterU Challengers will be sharing what they learn about themselves, their lifestyle habits, struggles to a healthier life, over-coming obstacles and their successes.

Go Red For Women has made it their mission to save lives by bringing a voice to this silent killer. The Go Red BetterU Challenge program is a 12-week program developed by the American Heart Association as a voice that takes a woman step-by-step to learn more about heart health, eating healthy and exercising.

The truth is: our lives are in our hands. We can stop our No. 1 killer together by sharing the truth. We can be the difference between life and death. To uncover the truth about heart disease and to learn how to make ending it a reality at GoRedForWomen.org.

We invite you to join us to make it your mission to fight heart disease by becoming a better you, and participating in the American Heart Association BetterU Nutrition and Fitness Program, then share with us your journey. 

Your partner in health,

 

Cindy Cohen RN
BetterU Health Coach
Wellness Consultant
C2 Your Health LLC

Challenge Yourself to be a Better You Too

The BetterU Challenge is for all of us. The BetterU Challenge provides the average person with information, education, guidance and support. By making a series of small changes over time you will make a big difference in our health and wellness by reducing their risks of cardiovascular disease over your lifetime. Reducing heart risks such as lowering blood pressure, cholesterol and weight not only improve quality of life; it saves money on doctor bills, medications, hospital admissions and sick days. Isn't that what we all want?

Even though the Go Red for Women BetterU Makeover Challenge is designed to educate women about heart disease, men can jump on board too.  More and more men are becoming interested in the health and wellness of their mothers, sisters, and daughters.  Men also need to know the principles are for them too!

While heart disease is preventable it remains the No. 1 killer of women in the U. S., thus, the association’s Go Red for Women Initiative is a 12-week program that saves lives! The BetterU program is powered by the American Heart Association’sresearch and provides guidance to transform overall health through small, simple choices.  Go Red BetterU is not about fad diets or new exercise trends. Becoming a Better You is about making lasting lifestyle changes. Fewer than half of Americans maintain a healthy weight, keep a heart healthy diet, and get regular physical activity. Millions are struggling to get motivated to begin a health regimen feeling too tired or like they just don’t have time.

The bottom line is prevention.  Now more than ever is the time to move towards creating a healthy life for your family, your co-workers and your community. It’s not easy, but it is simple when you have the right tools and support to make lasting healthy changes. The American Heart Association offers many national programs that are gaining great success in our community including the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women BetterU program.

The AHA Go Red for Women Michiana BetterU Makeover Challenge 

Twelve women from Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center were chosen from over 80 applicants to participate in the 2013 Challenge. The Challenge began with a kick-off on February 12, 2013 where we provided an overview of the challenge, one-on-one interviews with the nutrition, fitness and leadership coaching, pre-lab and health risk assessments. 

Throughout the 12-week challenge we offered the challengers bi-weekly face-to-face meetings and conference calls, periodic weigh-ins, individual wellness coaching, healthy shopping tour, healthy cooking class, and post-labs and health risk assessments. The program includes weekly goal setting, educational information, a food/exercise diary and behavior modification tools. The Michiana BetterU Blog and Facebook Page are also recommended for participants to share their successes, frustrations and helpful information with the group.

The American Heart Association Go Red for Women BetterU program goals include: Physical Activity, Healthy Eating, Lower Heart Disease Risk Factors and Making Lasting Changes. Over 12-weeks the BetterU participants met the challenge and experienced the following improvements:

Challenge: Make Lasting Changes

¨  100% Commitment to continue with healthy lifestyle changes

¨  100% Experienced a sense of accomplishment

¨  100% More aware of healthy lifestyle choices

¨  87.5% Feeling more alert + energized + more productive

Challenge: Lower the Risk of Heart Disease

¨  100% Improved Heart Score = reduced heart health risks

¨  77% Increased overall heart score = less likely to have a heart attack

¨  100% Lost weight (group total 67 lbs. w/avg. wt. loss of 1 lb. per week)

Challenge: Make Healthier Food Choices

¨  100% Know healthy foods, low sodium, high fiber, low & good fats

¨  100% Eating more fruits, vegetables and whole grains

¨  100% Implemented lifestyle strategies to improve food choices

Challenge: Exercise Regularly

¨  100% Added exercise of some form of regular activity

¨  87.5 % Improved body mass index (BMI)

Challenge: Develop Your Leadership

¨  87.5% Experienced a positive shift in their leadership

¨  100% Have a clear vision of how they will continue applying the

BetterU program in their daily lives

¨  87.5 feel empowered to take on new leadership roles

We look forward to celebrating with the BetterU Challengers at the Go Red For Women event on May 9th,the opportunity to participate in an “unveil” during the luncheon and their successful journey to a Better You.

Your partner in health,

.

Cindy Cohen RN, BS BA

Health Coach

C2Your Health LLC

What We Learned - 7 Keys to a BetterU

The American Heart Association Go Red for Women 2013 Michiana BetterU Challenge is coming to a close. Over the last 12 weeks, 12 women from Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center have been weighted and measured, attended weekly coaching sessions, exercised on a regular basis, developed a personal mission statement, visited Martin's Supermarkets for a lesson in food label reading and a cooking class.

The BetterU Challengers have learned how lifestyle choices such as smoking, being overweight, choosing to eat unhealthy foods and inactivity increase their risks of heart disease, heart attack and stroke along with other chronic illnesses.

7 Keys to a BetterU

1. You need a plan - A program, system, or guide to point you in the right direction and give you the steps towards making lasting healthy lifestyle changes such as the Go Red for Women 12 Week BetterU Program.

2. Education is key - As they say, knowledge is power. Accurate information (not hype) from a reliable source like the American Heart Association gives you the tools to build a healthy life.

3. Follow the pattern for success - There are no secrets. The foundation to a healthy life includes eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and good fats. A healthy life is built on adding activity to include exercising 30 minutes most days of the week and sealed with managing stress. This advice has not changed in over 10 years.

4. Find strategies that work - Overcoming the old habits is not easy. Trying new strategies until you find a strategy to break old habits takes a new way of thinking about old habits. It's a trial and error process to find the ones that work. 

5. Commit and persist - Staying committed over the "long haul" takes time, energy and focus. Life is a "one day at a time" program, with a new start each morning. Persistence is a daily choice and comes with great rewards.

6. Get a buddy - A buddy, a coach, a cheerleader or a support group to hold you accountable, help you remember what your plan was, and encourage you to stick to it.

7. It takes a community - Telling others your healthy life plan, sharing what you learn along the way with those you care about not only helps you; it helps those around you too live a healthy life too. Participating in community health events like the Heart Walk inspires others to  begin or continue their path to a healthier life with you.

The BetterU Challengers shared their challenges, obstacles and stories of success on their road to better health.  Together we learned the road to better health is one step at a time, sometimes confusing, but with a plan, good strategies and a buddy it's was easier than we thought.

Your partner in health,

 

Cindy Cohen RN, BS BA

Health Coach

C2 Your Health LLC

Healthy Cooking Makeover for a BetterU

This week the Michiana BetterU Challengers participated in an interactive healthy cooking class. You might be asking "Why a healthy cooking class?" For some time now I have met a significant number of people who have been raised on processed foods, designer foods, fast foods and restaurant foods to the point they either never learned or forgot how to prepare a home cooked meal. For this reason healthy food and home cooking is generally misunderstood. 

The misunderstanding about healthy food and home cooking is it is more expensive, takes too much time and has the same level of nutrition as foods we prepare for ourselves. This is simply is not true. 

It takes too much time to prepare a healthy meal? 
Let's see ...

Healthy home cooking can require very little actual cooking. The USDA recommendation is to eat 4 servings of fresh vegetables and 2 servings of fruits every day. In many food markets these foods come chopped so really all you need to do is open the package and dump the food on a plate. With any combination of fresh raw foods from the produce department of your food market you can create a beautiful salad. How much time does that take? Seconds. With these same vegetables put in a pot with vegetable broth a few spices and in 15 minutes it's soup. Vuala! There you have it economical and healthy fast food!

The fact is any food you prepare from home, with your ingredients and that do not come out of a bag, box or freezer are always going to be healthier than any food you get anywhere else. 

What's the healthy scoop on restaurant food? Most of the time it's not. Restaurant food can be expensive and may seem healthy as you look over the menu but the fact is many restaurant chains load their food up with hidden salt, sugar and fat so it "tastes better" and lasts longer on the shelf. In January 2013 Nutrition Action Newsletter reported in the article Extreme Eating 2013  just how far restaurants will go to boost their bottom line. 

The goals of the Healthy Cooking Makeover BetterU class were to identify:

1. what processed foods are

2. what is unhealthy about prepared and process foods

3. foods common to family menus that are processed

4. healthier food substitutions

5. how to prepare healthier foods substitutions in you kitchen.

In class we examined food for heart healthy labeling looking for sodium, cholesterol, fat, fiber and sugar comparing these "ready to go foods" with foods requiring some simple preparation. We prepared a full meal containing USDA recommendations for a healthy diet and reviewed healthy plate management strategies.

Some of the things we learned ...

• Food is always healthier when prepared from home.
• Healthy food can be prepared "fast". 
• Salt you add to your food will always be less than what comes from processed food.
• Sugar your add to your drinks will always be less then drinks that come with sugar.
• The amount of fruits and vegetables for a healthy diet are more than you think.
• The serving size for meat, chicken, fish is less than you think.

The Healthy Cooking Class demonstrates with an organized plan, knowledge and a strategy that works cooking from home is nutritious, easy to do, economical and takes very little time.

Healthy IS the new fast! 

Your partner in health,

 

Cindy Cohen RN

Health Coach

C2 Your Health LLC

To learn more about healthy cooking techniques check out AHA Nutrition Center Healthy Cooking. Looking for recipes and video demonstrations check out the AHA Simple Cooking with Heart.

Supermarket Scavenger Hunt Made Just for a BetterU - Buyer Beware

To kick-start the 2013 BetterU Challengers on their road to better health Michiana American Heart Association hosted a Supermarket Scavenger Hunt thanks to Martin's Supermarkets. The challengers supported by their family, friends and each other enjoyed a healthy dinner and scavenged the supermarket for healthy foods guided by Health Coach, Cindy Cohen RN of C2 Your Health LLC.

Erin Crawford Cressy, Behavior Coach discussed what behaviors would be helpful in developing healthy living strategies and Laura Guy, American Heart Association (AHA) reviewed healthy eating tools available from AHA.

Some of the things we learned ...

• It's easy to be fooled by the advertisements on the front of the food packaging. Some manufactures claim on the package something entirely different that what is on the ingredient list such as " No Trans Fats" on the front of the pack and hydrogenated oils on the label.
• Fiber is our friend and not always where you think it is. Foods containing at least 1gm of fiber are the best choices.   
• It's hard to find flavored drinks that don't contain additives (unhealthy); the ones with artificial sweeteners, and high fructose corn syrup, so water is always the better choice.
• Many foods are loaded with more than days serving of salt (sodium) in one serving such as some soups and spaghetti sauces.
• How to make sense of food certifying organizations such as organic, gluten free, and Heart Check - American Heart Association approved.

The Supermarket Scavenger Hunt Class demonstrates the road to better health is not always clear and it's important to be aware of the pot holes (TV ads) and warning signs (misleading labels) along the way. Adding new meaning to the seemingly harmless act of going to the grocery store to "buyer beware"; as Dr. David Katz, Nutrition Detectives says about some foods "Step away and no on will get hurt."

What did you learn the last time you went grocery shopping at the supermarket?

You partner in health,

Cindy Cohen RN, Health Coach

C2 Your Health LLC