In the month of February, we explore Health and Wellness for Seniors. Obviously, this is a topic that should be at the forefront of everyone’s mind every month and every day! Healthy eating is something that should not only be at the top of our minds when we are taking care of seniors, and their health, but as a society, we should also be mindful of what we are eating as well.
In this time in history, most of us live with more stress than our forefathers did. We have more going on, have more demands, work longer, harder, and our days can spin out of control easily. Stress is a contributor to heart disease, but there are additional factors, and our diet is a significant part of what keeps us healthy.
According to Kaiser Permanente, they list Five Key Tips for Heart Health.
- Know your numbers. Make sure you are monitoring your blood pressure, and your cholesterol numbers.
- Drink alcohol in moderation. Having 1-2 cocktails or wine 1-2 days a week is fine. Anything more can raise your cholesterol levels and your blood pressure.
- Get your heart pumping. Ideally, walk 150 minutes a day, but at a minimum, 30 minutes per day. If you can’t do the full 30 minutes, do 10 minutes at a time.
- De-stress your life. Stress, anxiety and depression contributes to high blood pressure. Sometimes you may say that it’s easier said than done, but be mindful of decisions that are best for your health. Arrive early. Don’t overbook your day.
- Eat right for your heart. Heart-healthy foods include fruits, vegetables, healthy proteins like fish, beans, nuts and low-fat dairy help keep your heart and blood vessels healthy. Choose organic.
A note about Salmon: It’s a miracle food for your heart. Choose wild-caught salmon only. Farmed (Atlantic, Norwegian) salmon is full of fat and disease. You will be making a good choice for yourself, and also doing your part to save the Southern Resident Orcas. Currently in Puget Sound — even though they are being phased out — there are Atlantic non-native net pens full of hundreds of thousands of diseased salmon. These pens leak feces and disease into our critical habitat where our current salmon are catching these diseases. As we are all aware, our chinook salmon runs are severely depleted, and they are the diet that our endangered Southern Residents depend on.
