Episode Transcript
[00:00:11] Speaker A: Happy Sunday, y'.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: All.
[00:00:12] Speaker A: You are listening to Fit to Be tied with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7, the capstone. And Happy Valentine's Day Eve it is. Can we make that a thing?
[00:00:21] Speaker B: I mean, I guess we can. I'm sure somebody has made it a thing. But it's kind of weird, though, because it's on a Sunday.
Well, no, Valentine's Day is on a Monday, so it's tomorrow. But Sunday would be kind of better, I guess, because then you could have, like, the whole day if you celebrate that sort of thing. Yes, but a Monday.
[00:00:37] Speaker A: I know. And I. But I feel like maybe that's good for the restaurant industry as far as people saying, like, oh, we'll go out Friday night to celebrate, we'll go out Saturday night. So it kind of spreads it out and it's still busy, versus just being one night of being super slammed. And then you have your folks that do the Galentine's Day type things, like, I'm doing something with my girlfriends, but it'll be the following weekend.
[00:00:59] Speaker B: That's fun. So did you ever watch Parks and Rec?
[00:01:02] Speaker A: I did.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: Do you remember when I. I think Leslie Knope did the Galentine's Day thing. Didn't she do it? And she had, like, all the girls. It was always, like, really funny. I always thought, like, I'd want a friend like her, that she'd be so over the top and fun. But anyway, yeah. Valentine's Day, Do y' all do anything fun?
[00:01:17] Speaker A: I'm trying to remember how sad is that?
[00:01:19] Speaker B: As a married couple with kids.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: Yes. No. Yeah, I think kids have definitely changed any kind of celebrations.
But I think we're holding out for doing anything, like, super big and romantic until May, because May is our 10 year anniversary. Oh, wow.
So we'll see.
[00:01:37] Speaker B: So maybe a trip out of town for your tenure.
[00:01:39] Speaker A: Yes. I wanted to do out of the country at one point, but then with the pandemic, I'm just gonna just pause because my fear is that I'll get a false positive in a foreign country and I'll have to quarantine there on my own time.
So I don't wanna risk.
[00:01:54] Speaker B: Yeah, and if you went to, like, an Asian country, you'd have to, like, quarantine when you. You have to get tested. You have to quarantine when you're there, you have to get tested. It's like this whole process you have to do. So it's kinda. You never really know.
[00:02:05] Speaker A: Yes. Okay, so I got Valentine's Day for you. Do you have plans tomorrow? Or did you do anything fun this weekend?
[00:02:13] Speaker B: Okay. For me, you know, I don't like holidays. I just don't believe in it. I just think it's just, I don't know, it's America. It's trying to, like, make money off of situations, whatever. Valentine's Day is one of those things. So we decided, we were like, okay, we'll definitely go eat somewhere, do something. But I was like, don't get me anything. Don't do anything. But I do want to pick out a really big box of chocolates together and I want to eat it. Like, that's literally what I want to do, is just like, go find a box of chocolates. We both agree on it. It's like, everything's good and we just eat it together and it's great. But I will say our first Valentine's Day together because I'm a big BTS fan. I love the Korean K pop group bts. You know, they're my boys. I love them. I had tickets to go see them. When the pandemic hit in Atlanta and it got canceled. Well, Jason got me an army bomb, which is this thing that you hold like in the show. It's like I'm a 1212 year old girl. I'm 37, but really a 12 year old girl. And it's this like, they call it an army bomb. It just has to go with their theme. It lights up via Bluetooth on your phone. So when you go to their concerts, they could take control of it and the whole room will be filled with everybody's like, army moms.
[00:03:20] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
[00:03:20] Speaker B: So unfortunately I never got to use it. But it was so funny because when he ordered it, he had to order it from South Korea. And so when the pandemic hit, I didn't get it till like five months later.
So that was like the best Valentine's Day present I think I ever got, which was kind of cool. But, yeah, I'm not really a fan of the holiday.
I mean, you get to go out to eat and do fun stuff.
[00:03:40] Speaker A: But I like when candy goes on sale after holidays.
[00:03:43] Speaker B: Me too.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: If I had to just be really honest, you know, I know we've talked about Reese's peanut butter shapes and then box chocolates and brands and so I don't know. But anyway, so you know, Valentine's Day and also too with today's show, because even though we're not super crazy about holidays, we are very much on point when it comes with recognizing all of the different, like, health awareness.
[00:04:10] Speaker B: Right.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: Event Type pieces. And so, listeners, as you think about the month of February, I know we're about to have to go to a break, but I want you to think about what kinds of things are celebrated in February. You know, obviously we have Black History month, but then from a health relation perspective, what does that look like to you? So that's kind of our teaser, but I think we should take a break.
[00:04:32] Speaker B: We should eat some Valentine's Day candy.
[00:04:34] Speaker A: Yeah, do what you gotta do. Maybe prep for that magical meal tomorrow.
We will catch you on the flip side. You are listening to Fit to be tied with Sheen and Whitney on 90.7 the Capstone.
[00:04:48] Speaker B: Wvuafm Tuscaloosa.
Welcome back. You're listening to Fit to be tied with Sheena and Whitney. And we have like a hybrid of topics that we kind of just threw out there before the break was over. Like first of all, Valentine's Day and candy going on sale, which is super great. But then also it's African American history month, and so we want to recognize that. And then also it's heart health month, right?
[00:05:14] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:05:15] Speaker B: And the reason I remember that is because I'm thinking about Valentine's Day candy, how it comes in the heart shaped box. And that's how it reminded me to talk about heart health.
[00:05:22] Speaker A: Of course. But you know, we have changed things up a little bit with the show as far as Whitney and I doing a lot more of our shows independently. But we miss having our guests.
[00:05:35] Speaker B: It's true.
[00:05:36] Speaker A: And honestly too, with certain topics, we want to make sure that we are bringing our campus partners on our experts in the field. And so today we have the pleasure of having Sherry Simpson, who is the new registered dietitian at the student health center. So, Sherry, welcome.
[00:05:52] Speaker C: Thank you. Thank you.
[00:05:54] Speaker A: Yes, absolutely. Now, Sheri, again, we just mentioned that you were the new dietitian at the student health center. But tell us a little bit about your professional and academic background because you're definitely not new to being a dietitian, just new to the student health center.
[00:06:09] Speaker C: Yes. So I've been a Dietitian for over 20 years and my history in the capstone goes pretty deep. So I've done both of my degrees here, took a little 10 year hiatus in between them to kind of figure out what direction I wanted to go. But I have a very generalized background.
I've done a little bit of work in hospitals and clinics, long term care facilities. I've worked at a culinary school.
[00:06:33] Speaker B: Oh, cool.
[00:06:36] Speaker C: And I got the opportunity to cover for Sheena during a little hiatus with baby Number one.
[00:06:44] Speaker A: Yes, yes, yes, yes. And I'm forever grateful for that. Oh, my goodness.
[00:06:48] Speaker C: And I really enjoyed it.
I've always enjoyed working with the students as a mentor and a preceptor. And also for the last five years, I've been an instructor. So I've had the privilege to teach nutrition on a variety of levels and also to a variety of majors. But I was very fortunate when the opportunity came open to work with the students at the student health center. So I've been there for about a month.
Really, really enjoying it so far.
[00:07:18] Speaker A: Yeah. Have you notice a difference just from interacting with students from a faculty perspective? And now as a clinician, I didn't know if there's just certain things you're like, oh, this is different, or oh, wait, I see a lot of the same things that I would as a faculty member.
[00:07:34] Speaker C: I think I'm seeing both.
You know, teaching nutrition, the topics of, you know, their daily routine and the foods that are available.
Seems to be. It was a lot of topic in the classroom, and then, of course, now that I'm treating students.
But I guess the only. The only thing that I'm seeing differently being a practitioner, which I saw it before when I was there last time, is I understand a little bit better what they're dealing with, so the stress and the pandemic, and I'm better understanding kind of what they're going through from their perspective. So it's been very eye opening, listening to some of their stories.
[00:08:15] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:08:16] Speaker B: And I'm kind of curious.
I feel like I'm thinking about you and kind of moving into, you know, seeing students now going from teaching. And I would think, like you said, it's very. It's similar because it's like you're having to educate all the time. I feel like there's resources that you're, you know, telling that you have at the student health center. And I'm just curious if you can share, you know, what kinds of resources and services you guys do offer.
[00:08:40] Speaker C: Absolutely.
And I've always promoted that on the teacher side. You know, if they were dealing with different issues, I'd say you have a resource, you know, and, you know, you have that available to you. But we have a variety of things. I think a lot of people don't know what a dietitian does. They think that we just help people lose weight or that's all we do. We write meal plans, those kind of things. But we can treat a lot of medical conditions with alterations in food. So there we can do treatment of stomach And GI conditions, diabetes,
[00:09:18] Speaker B: we see
[00:09:19] Speaker C: a lot of reflux, those type of things.
Also any type of disordered eating that's out there. So lots of different options there at the health center, not just. And also just general health. Sometimes students come in and they just say, you know, I don't, I've gotten out of some good eating habits. I need you to help kind of point me in the right direction and also helping them with whatever situation, you know, are they in a dorm where all they have is a micro fridge and a microwave, you know, we have to get real creative.
But then also I'm finding with my newer students, especially the freshmen, they kind of tend to gravitate towards what's close to them, what's close to their dorm as far as meals and what's close to their classes. And they don't realize the variety that's offered, you know, here on campus.
[00:10:09] Speaker B: Yeah, maybe not venturing out because maybe you're still a little like shocked, I don't know, being on campus by yourself. So you just kind of stay in your realm. And I'm kind of curious too. You know, you kind of mentioned a little bit about how being a dietitian, you know, you're treating people that have diabetes and you know, it could be reflux, things like that. And I'm over here thinking about my side of things with exercise and movement and it's kind of the same thing. It's like, it's so interesting how these tools, we talked about this, I guess last week that these tools that you have that can be very simple. It's just we don't tend to use them a lot of times. So dietitians are very similar to people in fitness because, or yoga plies or whatever your realm is, because you're kind of treating these chronic illnesses with just movement or change in diet. And it's very, very healing. So I don't know, I just thought that my brain kind of like light bulb went off and I was like,
[00:10:59] Speaker A: we're the same, you know, and I love that. And you know, I think too, Sherry, for our listeners that may not be as familiar with the student health center, I think sometimes they don't realize that we are a one stop shop in a lot of ways for their various needs. So when we think about those different services that the student health center has to offer, we have our pharmac, we have our women's health services, we have our psychiatry services in partnership with the counseling center, our women's health services. Anything that I'm missing there?
[00:11:27] Speaker C: Well, One thing that's nice, too, is they're able to connect with University Medical center. And they can also walk right down the hall if they need to have lab work done or X rays. I see lots of limping.
[00:11:41] Speaker B: They probably came to the rec center and played basketball and they're limping out
[00:11:44] Speaker C: to go to the student health center.
[00:11:45] Speaker A: I'm just kidding.
[00:11:46] Speaker B: No one gets hurt there.
[00:11:47] Speaker C: Yeah, they don't have to go outside for that, those services, which is nice.
[00:11:52] Speaker A: No, absolutely. Well, you know, one of the things. And we'll actually go ahead and jump into some of our conversation about our topic for today with American Heart Month. And so, you know, I think a big question here for all of us to discuss is what is American Heart Month? Does anybody want to.
[00:12:12] Speaker B: Well, it's funny because I remember I'm just like going back in the day of like, you know, we used to have the heart walk, and that's moved now to March or April. And that was such a good move because it was so cold in February. And so I remember always, like, when February rolled around, I was like, valentine's Day, red hearts heart walk. And that's like, literally, I know there's more to it, but that's like, literally what I think about is the heart walk, even though we've changed it. But I'm kind of curious, you know, your take on what, you know, heart month is.
[00:12:44] Speaker C: I mean, I follow along the same lines. It's just a time to recognize heart disease. I think it's something that kind of gets forgotten about until it shows its ugly head in your friends or your family member. So, yeah, definitely a time to kind of regroup and think about people that have heart disease. And heart disease is all about prevention.
[00:13:07] Speaker B: Yeah. And I'm kind of curious, too.
We know, and I'm sure we'll get into this more. But like, reducing the risk and all that kind of stuff. But like, have you seen just in students that you've met with, like, them being aware of their family members that may have heart disease or that they may have a risk? Because I know when I was a student, I didn't really think about those types of things. I wasn't like, oh, my so and so in my family has heart disease that could affect me. Do they have any type of awareness?
[00:13:36] Speaker C: I would say mild.
So there's some awareness. Usually they're pretty good about reporting their parents, family history. It's a little fuzzy when you start getting past that.
But certainly I think everybody's been affected in some way by heart disease.
[00:13:54] Speaker A: Absolutely. And as I was thinking about February as American Heart Month, I'm going to geek out on this before we go to a break. But of course, I have to do my research with all of these things. And I had noticed that with the American Heart association website, just really talked about February being designated as put that spotlight on cardiovascular disease. And if you did not know this, it was actually Lyndon B. Johnson who made the first proclamation in 1964 to really designate February as Heart Month because he, like millions of Americans at that time, also suffered from heart disease. So I think that was very interesting.
[00:14:35] Speaker B: What year did he do that?
[00:14:37] Speaker A: 1964.
[00:14:38] Speaker B: Okay, so, LBJ.
[00:14:40] Speaker C: All right.
[00:14:41] Speaker A: Yes, yes, yes. So you guys sit on that fact as we take a break and we continue this conversation on American Heart Month. You are listening to Fit to be tied with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7, the capstone.
[00:15:00] Speaker B: Wvuafm Tuscaloosa.
You're listening to Fit to be tied with Sheena and Whitney. And it's Heart Month not just for your beating hearts of love, but for Valentine's Day. But also, we're taking care of ourselves. We're learning about things to do to prevent heart disease. And you might have a family history of it. And, I mean, don't freak out about it because you can reduce the risk. And that's why we're here. Our show, just for those of you jumping in, we don't just talk about fitness all the time. We talk about wellness, and we talk about ways to be healthy and well and to just know what to look out for, because we're not superhuman, even though we think we are. So we're just continuing our conversation with Sheri from the Student Health center and just all of the resources that we have there. So, students, if you're listening, we're talking to you. Because sometimes you just don't listen to us. We have so much information. I'm just kidding. We love you all. But, yeah. So I'm kind of curious, you know, what conditions fall under the umbrella term for cardiovascular disease? Because when I think of cardiovascular, I'm like, oh, dang, that's big. That's huge. Like, that could be so many different things. So I'm just curious, like, can you narrow that down? Or maybe it's not narrow. Maybe it's, like, super broad.
[00:16:16] Speaker C: It's very broad. Anything. You know, cardiovascular deals with the heart and the lungs and your vascular system. So that can be strokes. That can be kind of broad term for all heart diseases. Coronary artery disease, that one peripheral vascular Disease. So, you know, people don't realize you can get clogs in arteries other than around the heart. So you can get it, especially in the lower extremities.
Hypertension falls in there, and then also heart failure, which I don't think we'll see any students with heart failure.
[00:16:50] Speaker B: Hopefully not. Yeah.
[00:16:53] Speaker A: And, you know, when we think about blood pressure in all of that, I feel like that's something that over the years we've talked about on the show is really being recognized as the silent killer. For me, personally, having blood pressure and not being a very compliant patient at times, if not most times, I can confirm that probably will be a silent killer. Try to sound morbid, but I'm just saying it's easy for people to ignore it when they're so used to existing with their high blood pressure and not actually feeling it.
[00:17:25] Speaker B: That's huge, because, I mean, I think when you were kind of like, did you feel the symptoms of high blood pressure or did you just kind of like. Like, did you actually feel it?
[00:17:34] Speaker A: No. And then I happened to get blood pressure checked, and it's like, oh, it's 172 over 128. I'm like, I'm feeling my best self right now. So.
[00:17:43] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:17:44] Speaker B: And I'm curious. This might be, like, totally personal space, and so you can just, like, not answer or say, whitney, move on. But were you able to reduce it with external things like exercise or, like, meditation or breathing, or did you have to kind of, like, get on something? I don't know.
[00:18:01] Speaker A: No. So I have had to be on medications before. But I will say it is interesting when you see that correlation between stress and blood pressure and even things that you can do acutely in that moment to get that blood pressure down. And I know a lot of our listeners know about me having to have an extended hospital stay before my children were born just because that blood pressure was so high. And so the nurses had me on this protocol to check my blood pressure every hour, every 30 minutes, depending on what was going on. And I had this very specific regimen where five to 10 minutes before I knew they were coming to check my blood pressure, I had this playlist of music. It happened to be worship music. I had to listen to the exact same songs. I needed to lie a certain way if a nurse came in, and it made me mad, like, my blood pressure would go back up.
Now I'm really thinking I need to take things more seriously about work, life, balance, and really knowing how that correlates, because I think, think, obviously we're going to be talking a lot about how diet and exercise play that huge role, but I think quality of life overall in terms of that stress management. So that was a loaded answer.
[00:19:14] Speaker B: Yeah. But I mean, I think it's good for our listeners to hear that because it's true life. And you're not an old lady over here. You're young, vibrant, and you've got kids and everything. So it's kind of like, it's interesting because things like that happen and stress is. I mean, it can be a huge culprit, but. Okay, okay, sorry. I digress.
[00:19:31] Speaker A: No, no, no, no. That was good. And so, you know, I think along those lines, what are some misconceptions or even statistics about heart disease that people might find surprising? Sher, I didn't know if in your work as a practitioner, a seasoned practitioner, you know, some things that people often find surprising about cardiovascular disease.
[00:19:49] Speaker C: Oh, wow. There's a lot.
A lot of my practice has been with chronic disease, and I'm really drawn to heart disease because I have it in my family. So I can still remember when I was a senior in college, I got a phone call that my dad had had a heart attack, and he wasn't like the picture of what you would think. He wasn't overweight. You know, he did have a stressful job, but, you know, we ate fairly well and he was active. And long story short, we found out that we have smaller coronary arteries. And so, you know, it didn't take as much to get clogged. And so I take that very seriously. But I think that people think that they're bulletproof, and this is not going to happen to them until they're older. So they think, I can eat what I want and do what I want until something happens. It's kind of like speeding, and you don't slow down until you get a ticket and you get pulled over.
A lot of what I've done is in different facilities is working with patients that come in with chest pain and come in to see a cardiologist. And when they're told that they're okay, they think they have the thumbs up, that they're good.
They'll say, no, no, no, no, I don't need to change my diet. They said, I'm fine. And I said, no, now.
Now is when we, you know, we need to change. And so I think that's a common misconception overall, is that they think they don't have to make a change until they're older, until something happens. But we're having to see cholesterol levels checked in children now, which is really scary.
[00:21:16] Speaker B: That is very scary. I know when I did my wilbama screening, I haven't done it this year yet. I don't know why. Maybe I'm protesting change why I do things sometimes. But like, I remember last year when. Well, no, no, no, actually it was two times ago when I did it. I'm a vegetarian, and so I've always been a vegetarian, but I had. I guess my cholesterol was like 209 maybe. And I was like, what in the world? And it's definitely hereditary because I remember my grandmother always had high cholesterol and she was like a very healthy person. So of course I went vegan for a while. Cause I was like, let me get all the animal products out of my body. And I don't think it really changed it too, too much. But it was something that I was like, well, crap. You know, sometimes you can make those healthy lifestyle changes. You can exercise, you can do these things which are very beneficial. But then sometimes it is hereditary and it just, you know, it can happen. But yeah, that was quite a little scare. When you're like 35 and you're like,
[00:22:14] Speaker C: how do I have high cholesterol?
[00:22:15] Speaker B: I only eat cheese pizza like once a week. I mean, it's not like it's that much.
[00:22:18] Speaker A: Right, right. And then you feel like, especially when. When there is a significant family history for something. For myself, it's. It is the cardiovascular disease and diabetes. It's like, okay, these are the cards I've been dealt with.
Do I wish it was different?
[00:22:31] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:22:31] Speaker A: But at least I know this knowledge and I can do the things to be proactive about it, you know. And Sherry, I know that, you know that I've spent some clinical time in the inpatient setting and we got to work together in the same facility with regional dch. And a lot of what I did during that time I frame was doing that post CABG diet education. So those were those standing orders from the physician for a patient to see the dietitian after open heart surgery. And, you know, and it would break my heart to sometimes talk to these families because of course they're getting this diet education at the worst time in terms of they've just gotten out of surgery, they're not going to be able to process it as much as we would want them to. And. And then you get nervous about sending them home and wondering if they're gonna follow up with someone in an outpatient setting. So I am Definitely in the mind frame of. Let's try to be proactive with this instead of reactive. For sure.
[00:23:32] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think we'll be coming up on a break soon, but I'm kind of curious just to talk about being proactive, just to kind of start this conversation. We can continue on the other side of the break. But, like, lifestyle factors that contribute to hard disease. I'm just. You just kind of want to rattle them off or.
I mean, I'm sure there's plenty.
[00:23:50] Speaker C: Well, I mean, it's a big bubble. So it's your diet, of course. I'm sure we'll get into that later.
[00:24:00] Speaker A: Your.
[00:24:01] Speaker C: I hate to use the word exercise, but I know now we kind of use the word activity and also your mental health. So mental health and stress and also your family history kind of falls into those things. Did I leave anything out?
[00:24:14] Speaker A: Well, and I also noticed, too. And again, and we can probably talk more about these after the break. I know if you're a smoker, if you already have existing high blood pressure, high cholesterol, where that BMI potentially is depending on other factors, and then also your age as well. So I think 55 and older for women than age 45 and older for men. So I think it's good for us to know those numbers. But before I get in the weeds with all that, you guys, we gotta take a quick break, grab something to drink, maybe get a little physical activity, don't smoke, do all the things we gotta do to prevent heart disease. We'll catch you on the flip side with Fit to be tied
[00:24:54] Speaker B: wvuafm tuscaloosa.
Welcome back to Fit to be Thai with Sheena and Whitney and just getting all the good info like we usually do when we have this show and we have guests and we haven't had guests in a while. Actually, I think Sherry's our first guest.
[00:25:12] Speaker A: Yes. Yes.
[00:25:14] Speaker B: Of this semester. Yes.
[00:25:15] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:25:15] Speaker C: Am I special?
[00:25:16] Speaker A: Yes, you are. Yes, you are special.
[00:25:19] Speaker B: We've, like, really. Let me just tell you, we have decided this semester, we're like, you know what?
She know Whitney for life. We are doing this show. And so we were deciding to kind of cut back a little on guests. We were like, we're going to be very intentional with our guests. So. Yeah. Yes. This is a very special honor. Well, thank you. So we're very glad you're here with us. Yes.
[00:25:35] Speaker A: Honestly, I love the fact that it's the three of us today, specifically that we're all women and we are talking about heart health because we hear about heart Health being women's number one killer. And you don't always think about that. And again, when I was pulling some things up in preparation for today's show, I was reading that even though us as women, we typically get heart disease 10 years later than men do, it's still our number one killer because typically after menopause, women are more likely to get heart disease, in part because our estrogen hormone levels drop. And then also we just have a lot of stress.
Just in a nutshell.
[00:26:16] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:26:17] Speaker A: But I think it's important to know that. And I feel like sometimes I take for granted knowing that because I feel like especially all of us being in the health field, we may be in circles where we're attending events and awareness events like Wear red for women, Go red for women, all of that. But then for. For our listeners, I don't know how much that message gets out to them in terms of really knowing, hey, if you were to walk up to someone on the street and say, what is the number one killer of women?
They might say, oh, breast cancer.
[00:26:49] Speaker B: Yeah, that might be what I would say.
[00:26:50] Speaker A: So then when you would say heart disease, it's a great conversation starter.
[00:26:54] Speaker B: Yeah, it is. I mean, and, you know, like you said, you don't really think about it, but you're mentioning the stress levels that women have. And it's not saying that men don't have stress, because I firmly believe everybody has stress. But, you know, with women, I guess it's the. That nurturing aspect of, you know, you're taking care of your kids, taking care of your family, and women tend to have, I think of it like a spiderweb mindset of, like, you can do all these different things, and men are a little bit more compartmentalized. So I don't know if that adds to the stress or maybe we do feel like we have to rely on people sometimes.
I don't know. But I think that's very. A very good thing to bring up. And I also want to bring up, you know, it is Black History Month, and I can't help but forget and remember now that a lot of our African American brothers and sisters, like, suffer from heart disease. And they're another category of individuals that I think it's more prevalent in. So it's just, you know, we have to take care of each other and educate each other, and it's not to scare people. It's just like, hey, get a checkup,
[00:27:53] Speaker A: go to the doctor, see where your levels are. Absolutely. And I think, you know, as we now switch Gears to really talking about that lifestyle that we want to promote and adhere to, to for prevention and treatment of heart disease. Sherry, tell us a little bit about what a heart healthy diet looks like.
[00:28:12] Speaker C: Yeah, okay.
Well, typically, the focus of the heart healthy diet really needs to be around the fruits and vegetables is kind of where I've directed my teaching to over the years.
Once you focus on those fruits and vegetables and also talking about how you can cook those fruits and vegetables. Because in the south, you know, we tend to take something that's very healthy and add all kinds of additions of, you know, high fat ingredients like bacon grease and fat back and ham hocks and all that. All that butter.
[00:28:49] Speaker A: Can't forget butter.
[00:28:51] Speaker C: But I always teach just to kind of start with that. It seems like we always start with the meat and then work our way around the.
But if we can kind of make sure that our, you know, our fruits and vegetables are there, really focusing on lean meat as much as possible.
And if it is meat that has some fat in it, trying to do things that have healthy fat, like fatty fish and those types of things, and also looking at your preparation of those.
We do encourage low fat dairy.
There is a place for whole milk, but, you know, if you have heart disease, it is not. It's not in the cards for you.
I was excited the last couple years, though.
We finally kind of got the green light to tell people that eggs, you know, are something that can fit into a healthy diet. So we used to tell them no more than one or two. And now we know that you can actually have five whole eggs and kind of stay within the parameters. But not telling anybody that foods are forbidden.
[00:29:50] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:29:51] Speaker B: I was just thinking that. I was just thinking about, like, how we can tend to get kind of obsessive with things. I'm going back to when I was, like, vegan and I, like, deprived myself of real ice cream and how unhappy I was and like eating almond ice cream. And I just remember thinking, like, there's a point where it's a. It's a good balance because you just don't want to just be unhappy. Like, you don't want to not partake in things that, like, go eat pizza at Mellow Mushroom. Well, then balance it out. I mean, y' all are the dietitians, but, you know, I'm just thinking there's got to be a good balance.
[00:30:23] Speaker A: Absolutely. And I think, you know what's great? When you start thinking about eating styles that are helpful to prevention of heart disease, that doesn't have to be solely focused on weight loss, you know, because I think sometimes when people are focused on a weight loss diet, it's a lot about, you know, calorie deprivation. But we're really just thinking about, about quality of diet as a whole. And I know when I've done group education with folks and they're like, hey, you know, what are some good guidelines to follow? I'll let them know, hey, take a look at the Mediterranean diet. Take a look at the DASH diet. And I make this joke all the time on air that the DASH diet was not something created by the Kardashians, but it's actually an acronym for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. So not as sexy sounding diet, but evidence based and definitely there to promote cardiovascular health. And I think too, you know, I think earlier on we were talking a little bit about cholesterol and everything else. And you know, individuals will often ask that difference between your LDL and HDL cholesterol. And sher, you probably feel this way too. As a dietitian, I am all about analogies with my patients to try to make it seem as practical as possible. And so, you know, when I think about LDL cholesterol or saturated fat, I like to give clients visuals. And so I'll tell folks, I'm like, hey, have you ever cooked bacon in a frying pan? And you know, when it's nice and hot, it's like a liquid, but when it cools off, it's that white, waxy texture that kind of sticks to the pan. And that's what can happen to our arteries over time. There's that, you know, there's that layering that happens. And when you think about your good cholesterol, and this is actually something that I heard from another dietitian. When you think about HDL and LDL cholesterol, you can think of HDL cholesterol like a little BB that is like shooting through your arteries. It's going really fast. It's kind of cleaning you out. It's doing a really good job. And you can think of LDL cholesterol kind of like an awkward marshmallow that's floating through the arteries. It hits the walls, a little resin will stick on there. And then over time, if you constantly have that high hdl, it's just providing a lot of buildup that's in there. And so sorry for my weird visuals, but it just takes me back to that time because I, I don't get the opportunity as much to really talk to college students about cholesterol type things. So I was pulling out some stuff from my hospital days.
[00:32:49] Speaker C: I may have to steal that. That was.
[00:32:51] Speaker B: Please do, please do. I love the visuals. It's very helpful.
And that's just me as a learner. I just visual learn it. So now I'm thinking about my HDL and what we get those little guys
[00:33:01] Speaker A: firing through like BB's or little marshmallows going through.
[00:33:05] Speaker B: So speaking of HDL, what kind of foods are high or like increase your hdl?
[00:33:12] Speaker A: Well, you know, I think when I think about someone increasing their hdl, a lot of times I think about overall lifestyle factors. Like, I know that we know as a group if you smoke, that can lower your good cholesterol. So we try to encourage people to stop smoking and then physical activity, especially weight bearing. Exercise is supposed to be helpful with HDL too. Sherry, am I missing anything?
[00:33:36] Speaker C: No, you're right on track. Right on track, man.
[00:33:39] Speaker B: Good stuff.
[00:33:40] Speaker A: I know all of the things.
[00:33:41] Speaker B: All of the things.
[00:33:42] Speaker A: Yes. And then there's actually one other.
You know, if you're getting that lipid panel done, you know, a lot of times we talk about cholesterol and some of our listeners may say, hey, wait a second, sometimes I see this thing on there that's called triglycerides.
What is that? So I always like to let folks know that is another type of fat that is in our blood. And that's really, to me, I kind of see that as more so affected. Instead of it being animal fat specific, it's that fat that makes builds up from a lot of intake of refined carbohydrates. So sometimes the folks will say like, oh, well, I don't, you know, I barely eat meat, but, you know, I drink sweet tea like a fish. Why are my triglycerides so high?
[00:34:26] Speaker B: Or that explains it with my story,
[00:34:29] Speaker A: all that kind of stuff because of
[00:34:30] Speaker B: my ice cream intake.
[00:34:31] Speaker A: Well, your triglycerides high, I think that
[00:34:33] Speaker B: might have been what it was.
I think it's better now. Anyway, I'm just learning some C Difficult.
[00:34:37] Speaker A: That's me.
[00:34:38] Speaker B: Because I like those simple type of sugars and stuff. Not as much anymore.
[00:34:43] Speaker A: Or your trans fat. Sometimes you'll see that on different packaged foods. Like, I think I automatically think of honey buns, you know, and I think of trans fats. Like I'll always ask my college students, I'll say, you know, think about that little Debbie and the fact that that best Buy date is several months, if not a year long. Like, does it not freak you out that it is like staying shelf stable for that long yeah, you know, I'm like, that's where those trans fats are coming in because they're helping stabilize that food. So what does that mean?
[00:35:14] Speaker B: That's a good rule of thumb then if you're listening, like, if you're. If you're order. So my ramen noodles probably need to, like, I need to take a backseat. I don't eat like the cheap ramen noodles. Eat like the Korean ramen noodles where you can't read the language at all. But they're really good. Anyway, we should probably take a break.
[00:35:29] Speaker A: I think we should. I went on all different kinds of directions. Cher, if you're okay with it, I hope you will stick with us for our very last five minute segment. You guys are listening to Fit to Be Tied with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7 the Capstone.
[00:35:44] Speaker B: Wvuafm Tuscaloosa.
Welcome back. You're listening to Fit to Be Tied. And we're closing out another great show. And that Valentine's Day is tomorrow, but apparently you need to not get any chocolate. Cause it's not heart healthy.
I'm just playing moderation. Moderation and balance. Enjoy yourself. But then the next day, eat you a salad and some celery and get some good veggies in your system. But yeah, we've had a great conversation and just talking about the risk of heart disease, talking about ways to prevent. And Sheena, you were saying something during the break and I was like, ooh, yeah, let's talk about that when we go back on. So share with us.
[00:36:21] Speaker A: Absolutely. So again, in my preparation for today's show, I. I was taking a look at some things on the Internet and they have this great list of questions to ask your doctor at your annual follow up. So one of the first questions that they tell folks to ask is, what is my risk of developing heart disease? And I think that that's good because I think probably for most of us, we're gonna go into that thought process of going to the doctor and it's like, well, he or she didn't explicitly bring it up, so I must not have a risk. But I think maybe explicitly asking, would you guys agree with that?
So there was that also question about what is my blood pressure? What does it mean for me and what do I need to do about it? I think that that's huge because I think that honestly, anywhere that you go to get your blood pressure taken and I can use myself as an example. With my first pregnancy, the only reason I knew that I had such high blood pressure, I Had an eye doctor appointment, and they just. They took my blood pressure, didn't let me see it. It was just this little.
Just the little college girl intern that was in there, and, you know, she just documenting it for my chart. And I was like, hey, would you happen to tell me what my blood pressure reading was? And she was like, oh, yeah, it was 148 over 118.
And I was like, wow, that seems high for a pregnant person. And she goes, yes, ma'.
[00:37:40] Speaker B: Am.
[00:37:40] Speaker A: And like, that was it. And so that whole time during the eye doctor appointment, like, I was just like, well, she didn't seem to freak out about it. Surely my eye doctor was. Would have seen it and said something to me about it. He didn't say anything about it. So I called my OB's office and they freaked out. So I think anywhere you're going, whether it's a health screening or whatever else, do it. Because I would think your nurse at your primary care physician, they're gonna take note of that. But anywhere you're getting that checked, always ask to look.
[00:38:09] Speaker B: Yeah. Or if they tell you any information, like, ask them, what does that mean? What is my risk?
[00:38:14] Speaker A: Yes. Yes. And then I know we didn't explicitly talk about this a lot, but even to what's my blood sugar level? You know, what does that mean for my risk of diabetes? Should that indicate anything else? Because again, I think it's one of those things where it's just good to know for general frame of reference. I think sometimes we rely on our physician to explicitly say something to us if it's a problem.
But it's just nice to be informed because then you kind of have a baseline to compare. If you hear that number another time. Time, and know what it. What it previously was.
[00:38:45] Speaker B: So basically, before you go in for your checkup, if you're doing blood work or whatever, kind of do your homework and, you know, I mean, I'm gonna use Wallabama for a second because they do such a great job of giving you that quick finger prick screening where, like, it's not everything, but it's enough for you to see it and kind of be like, okay, I may have some questions about this. And I remember the first time I went, I didn't really think about it. I just, like, went and did it to get my $50. And at that time, I think it was like, you didn't get it. But if you stayed healthy, you got your hundred or whatever, they changed it. Which is better how they changed it? I like it better this way. But I mean it's good to know these things on the back end. So I encourage people to print out these questions or just ask about the numbers. I mean, just seems good.
[00:39:27] Speaker A: And there's one thing that's actually specific, Whitney, that I think you can address because the question says, how much physical activity do I need to help protect my heart? So do you know what the guidelines are in terms of minutes of physical activity per week for prevention or treatment of chronic disease?
[00:39:43] Speaker B: Yeah, so 150. So that's just CDC and ACSM and I mean that comes out to I think 30 minutes a day if my math is correct. But 150. And then also those weight bearing exercises, strength training. And we always tell people like, make it count, like all large muscle groups, like just do like do your squats, hit your quads, hamstrings, your glutes, hip flexors, do your, you know, bench press, triceps, shoulders, chest and like try to do these big exercises that are going to hit mult. They're multi joint, they're going to hit multiple muscle groups.
And it's really not that hard to do. It's very, very minimal exercise. And again, it's not for weight loss. This is just to increase or decrease the risk of disease.
Healthy benefits of exercise, mood, feeling and as we talked about with stress, stress and work, life balance and all this kind of stuff.
Incorporate a little bit of yoga into your exercise. And yoga is mostly breath, work and breathing. And I'm going to do a little shout out real quick, a little throw out there. I'm doing some yoga sessions. If you're faculty staff for Willabama, just to kind of get you thinking about how yoga can be incorporated into your day and kind of some things to think about and how, you know, we should be very grateful we have the practice and how it decreases stress and all those things. So yeah, exercise is a big component, makes you feel good.
[00:41:09] Speaker A: I'm just glad you threw that out there. That's a great way for us to end things. And Sherry, thank you so much for being on air with us today.
[00:41:14] Speaker C: Thank you for having me.
[00:41:15] Speaker A: Absolutely. Well, you guys have a happy Valentine's Day tomorrow. You have been listening to Fit to Be Tied with Shane and Whitney on 90.7, the capstone.
[00:41:28] Speaker B: Wvuafm Tuscaloosa.
